440 



NATURE 



[September i, 1904 



conditions prevailing here with those obtaining in other 

 countries. 



I will not endeavour to cope with the many and varied 

 aspects of Anthropology and its complex ramifications, nor 

 will I attempt to enumerate the many distinguished men 

 of science to whose stimulating work we chiefly owe the 

 progress already achieved in Anthropology ; the more 

 prominent pioneers are well known to you, and several, 1 

 am glad to say, are yet with us. Their works remain as 

 important landmarks in the developmental record of the 

 Science of Man. 1 have, instead, selected as my principal 

 theme one branch of the subject. My main object is to 

 review, necessarily briefly, one of the factors which have 

 played a part in stimulating scientific inquiry into the past 

 and present conditions of Man, and in furthering the de- 

 velopment both of the scientific and the popular interests 

 of Anthropology. I wish to confine myself to the consider- 

 ation of the contribution of one man towards the subject, 

 a contribution which is the more valuable since it deals 

 with wide principles, and thus affords a basis upon which 

 a vast army of students may found valuable work. It 

 amounted to the establishment of a particular school of 

 research into the history of human culture, into which fresh 

 workers are constantly being attracted, and which has stood 

 the test of time through half a century. 



It w^as about the middle of last century that an officer 

 in Her Majesty's Army began to apply the lessons which 

 he had learnt in the course of some of his professional 

 e.xperimental work to studies pursued by him as a hobby 

 in a far wider field of science. The story of the famous 

 ethnographical collection of Colonel Lane Fox is well known, 

 and I need but briefly refer to it. During his investigations, 

 conducted with a view to ascertaining the best methods 

 whereby the service firearms might be improved, at a time 

 when the old Tower musket was being finally discarded, 

 he was forcibly struck by the extremely gradual changes 

 whereby improvements were effected. He observed that 

 every noteworthy advancement in the efficiency, not only 

 of the whole weapon but also of every individual detail in 

 its structure, was arrived at as a cumulative result of a 

 succession of very slight modifications, each of which was 

 but a trifling improvement upon the one immediately pre- 

 ceding it. Through noticing the unfailing regularity of 

 this process of gradual evolution in the case of firearms, he 

 was led to believe that the same principles must probably 

 govern the development of the other arts, appliances, and 

 ideas of mankind. With characteristic energy and scientific 

 zeal Colonel Lane Fox began at once, in the vear 1851, to 

 illustrate his views and to put them to a practical test. 

 He forthwith commenced to make the ethnological collection 

 with which his name will always be associated, and which 

 rapidly grew to large proportions under his keen search for 

 material which should illustrate and perhaps prove his theory 

 of progress by evolution in the arts of mankind. 



Although as a collector he was somewhat omnivorous, 

 since every artefact product fell strictly within his range of 

 inquiry, his collection, nevertheless,' differed from the 

 greater number of private ethnological collections, and even 

 public ones of that day, inasmuch as it was built up 

 systematically with a definite object in view. It is un- 

 necessary for me to describe in detail the svstem which he 

 adopted in arranging his collection. His principles are well 

 known to ethnologists, either from the collection itself or 

 from his writings, more especiallv from the series of lectures 

 Avhich he gave at the Royal United Service Institution, in 

 the years i867-6q, upon "Primitive Warfare": from his 

 paper read before the Anthropological Institute in 1874 on 

 "The Principles of Classification," as adopted in the 

 arrangement of his anthropological collection, which was 

 then exhibited at the Bethnal Green Museum ; from that 

 portion of the catalogue raisonne of his collection which 

 was published in 1877 ; and from numerous other papers 

 dealing with special illustrations of his theorv. SuflRce it 

 to say that, in classifying his ethnological material, he 

 adopted a principal system of groups into which objects of 

 like form or function from all over the w'orld were associated 

 to form series, each of which illustrated as completely as 

 possible the varieties under which a given art, industry, or 

 appliance occurred. Within these main groups objects 

 belonging to the same region were usually associated 

 together in local sub-groups. And wherever amongst the 



NO. I818, VOL. 70] 



implements or other objects exhibited in a given series there 

 seemed to be suggested a sequence of ideas, shedding light 

 upon the probable stages in the evolution of this particular 

 class, these objects were specially brought into juxtaposition. 

 This special grouping to illustrate sequence was particularly 

 applied to objects from the same region as being, from their 

 local relationships, calculated better to illustrate an actual 

 continuity. As far as possible the seemingly more primitive 

 and generalised forms — those simple types which usually 

 approach most nearly to natural forms, or the use of which 

 is associated with primitive ideas — were placed at the 

 beginning of each series, and the more complex and 

 specialised forins were arranged towards the end. 



The primary object of this method of classification by series 

 was to demonstrate, either actually or hypothetically, the 

 origin, development, and continuity of the material arts, 

 and to illustrate the variations whereby the more complex 

 and specialised forms belonging to the higher conditions 

 of culture have been evolved by successive slight improve- 

 ments from the simple, rudimentary, and generalised forms 

 of a primitive culture. 



The earlier stages in these sequence series were more 

 especially the object of investigation, the later developments 

 being in the greater number of cases omitted or merely 

 suggested. It was necessary for Colonel Lane Fox to 

 restrict the extent of the series, any one of which, if developed 

 to the full extent, would easily have filled a good-sized 

 museum. The earlier stages, moreover, were less familiar, 

 and presented fewer complications. The general principles 

 of his theory were as adequately deinonstrated by the ruder 

 appliances of uncivilised races as by the more elaborate pro- 

 ducts of peoples of higher culture ; and, moreover, there was 

 doubtless a great attraction in attacking that end of the 

 development series w'hich offered a ' prospect at least of 

 finality, inasmuch as there was always a chance of discover- 

 ing the absolute origin of a given series. Hence the major 

 part of his collection consisted in specimens procured from 

 savage and barbaric races, amongst whom the more rudi- 

 mentary forms of appliances are for the most part to be 

 found. 



The validity of the general views of Colonel Lane Fox as 

 to evolution in the material arts of Man was rapidly accepted 

 by a large number of ethnologists and others, who were 

 convinced by the arguments offered and the very striking 

 evidence displayed in their support. I have heard people 

 object to the use of the term " evolution " in connection with 

 the development of human arts. To me the word appears 

 to be eminently appropriate, and I think it would be exceed- 

 ingly difficult to find one w'hich better expresses the 

 succession of extremely minute variations by means of which 

 progress has been effected. That the successive individual 

 units of improvement, which when linked together form the 

 chain of advancement, are exceedingly small is a fact w-hich 

 anyone can prove for himself if he will study in detail the 

 growth of a modern so-called "invention." One reason 

 why we are apt to overlook the greater number of stages 

 in the growth of still living arts is that we are not as a rule 

 privileged to watch behind the scenes. Of the numberless 

 slight modifications, each but a trifling advance upon the 

 last, it is but comparatively few which ever meet the eye 

 of the public, which only sees the more important stages ; 

 those, that is to say, which present a sufficiently distinct 

 advance upon that which has hitherto been in use to warrant 

 their attracting attention, or, shall we say, having for a 

 time a marketable value. The bulk of the links in the 

 evolutionary chain disappear almost as soon as they are 

 made, and are known to few, perhaps none, besides their 

 inventors. Even where the history of some invention is 

 recorded with the utmost care it is only the more prominent 

 landmarks which receive notice ; the multitude of trifling 

 variations w^hich have led up to them are not referred to, 

 for, even if they be known, space forbids such elaborately 

 detailed record. The smaller variations are, for the most 

 part, utterly forgotten, their ephemeral existence and their 

 slight individual influence upon the general progress being 

 unrecorded at the time, and lost sight of almost at once. 

 The immediately succeeding stage claims for the moment the 

 attention, and it again in its turn becomes the stepping- 

 stone upon which the next raises itself, and .so on. 



Before proceeding further, let me give as briefly as I can 

 an example of a development series worked out, in the main. 



