Viil PREFACE. 
This method of treatment has another important reason for its justifi- 
cation. It seemed desirable to make the hints and suggestions as brief as 
possible, so that the whole volume would form a convenient handbook for 
the collector in the field. In preparing this chapter, in its earliest stage, 
illustrations were accumulated from many sources. Had they been used 
the work would have been more than doubled in size, and as its practical 
purpose would not be subserved thereby they were chiefly eliminated. 
Asthe work of the Bureau has extended from time to time, it has been 
found necessary to prepare a series of volumes like the present, each to be 
an introduction to some branch of anthropologic research. The previous 
edition of the present ‘“‘Introduction” was the first of the series; since that 
time the following have been published: 
Secon, ‘Introduction to the Study of Sign Language among the 
North American Indians,” by Lt. Col. Garrick Mallery, U.S. A.; and 
Tuirp, “Introduction to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the 
North American Indians,” by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, U.S. A. Several others 
are in course of preparation and will soon be issued. 
This field of research is vast; the materials are abundant and easily col- 
lected; reward for scientific labor is prompt and generous. Under these 
circumstances American students are rapidly entering the field. But the 
area to be covered is so great that many more persons can advantageously 
work therein. Hundreds of languages are to be studied; hundreds of gov- 
ernments exist, the characteristics of which are to be investigated and 
recorded. All these peoples have, to a great extent, diverse arts, diverse 
mythologies, as well as diverse languages and governments; and while the 
people are not becoming extinct but absorbed, languages are changing, 
governments are being overthrown, institutions are replaced, and arts are 
becoming obsolete. The time for pursuing these investigations will soon 
end. The assistance of American scholars is most earnestly invoked. 
J. W. Powe tt. 
Wasuineton, March, 1880. 
