292 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



Two years later he reported : " The collection of objects . to 

 illustrate anthropology now in possession of the Institution is 

 almost unsurpassed, especially in those which relate to the present 

 Indians and the more ancient inhabitants of the American conti- 

 nent." Deprecating the frequent dissipation of small private 

 collections of such objects at the death of their owners, he forcibly 

 urges that "the only way in which they can become of real impor- 

 tance, is by making them part of a general collection, carefully 

 preserved in some public institution, where in the course of the 

 increasing light of science, they may be made to reveal truths 

 beyond present anticipation." * 



In his last Report — for 1877, (just published, and which he 

 did not live to see in print,) he says : "Anthropology, or what may 

 be considered the natural history of man, is at present the most 

 popular branch of science. It absorbs a large share of public 

 attention, and many original investigators are assiduously devoted 

 to it. Its object is to reconstruct as it were tlie past history of man, 

 to determine his specific peculiarities and general tendencies. It 

 has already established the fact that a remarkable similarity exists 

 in the archaeological instruments found in all parts of the \yorld, 

 with those in use among tribes still in a savage or barbarous condi- 

 tion. The conclusion is supported by evidence which can scarcely 

 be doubted, that by thoroughly studying the manners and customs 

 of savages and the instruments employed by them, wo obtain a 

 knowledge of the earliest history of nations which have attained 

 the highest civilization. It is remarkable in how many cases, 

 customs existing among highly civilized peoples are found to be sur- 

 vivals of ancient habits." He then argues from the significance 

 thus developed of many trivial practices and unmeaning ceremonies 

 handed down from immemorial time, the importance to a full com- 

 prehension of the customs of modern society, of a scientific study 

 of the myths and usages of ancient peoples. "American anthro- 

 pology" he remarks, "early occupied the attention of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution ;" and alluding to its first piiblished work, he 

 says, "from the time of the publication of this volume until the 

 present, contributions of value have been made annually by the 



*i^nUhsonian Report for 1870, pp. 35, 30. 



