H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 159 
as far as he could} and in detail, what the original culture was, before that 
influence took effect. It was not considered a part of the ethnographer’s 
work to study in detail the changes produced in the native culture by the 
contact with Europeans. But a precise knowledge of these changes and 
how they occur is often of great value for theoretical sociology, and even 
more for the provision of a scientific basis of exact knowledge for colonial 
administration. The ethnographer’s first task remains the same, that of 
learning all that it is possible to discover about the culture as it was 
originally. Only after that has been done with some measure of complete- 
ness, is it possible to understand the changes that European influence 
brings about. But if anthropology is to be of real assistance to colonial 
administration the field-worker must now undertake to study and interpret 
the changes which he finds taking place in the culture he is investigating, 
Such studies are, however, of little or no value either for sociological 
theory or for practical purposes when the culture in question is in process 
of complete disintegration or destruction, as, for instance, amongst the 
Australian aborigines or some of the tribes of North American Indians. 
In the new anthropology, therefore, the work of field research has 
become much more difficult and of much wider scope. The selection and 
training of persons for that work is also more difficult. The field-worker 
should be equipped with a thorough knowledge of all the latest develop- 
ments of theoretical sociology. At the present time this cannot be 
obtained from books, but only by personal contact with those who are 
working in the subject. Then he should have learnt the technique of 
field-work, both as to observation and interpretation. Further he must 
have a knowledge of all that has been so far learnt about the culture of 
the culture region in which he is to work, and if possible some knowledge 
of the languages also. Finally the success of a field-worker in ethnography 
often depends on certain qualities of temperament and character. Not 
_ everyone can win the confidence of a native people. 
It is obvious that the ideal field-worker is not easy to find, and needs 
some years of training. Yet the rewards of the career are much less even 
than those of other sciences. One of the great difficulties in this science 
is that of finding workers and providing the means for them to carry out 
their work. Research in social anthropology is generally expensive. It 
_ eannot be carried out, as so much scientific work can, within the precincts 
of a university. A most urgent need is the provision for such research 
by means of research fellowships which would enable the anthropologist 
_ who has been trained for field-work to carry out such work over a span 
of years without having to abandon it in favour of a teaching or other 
_ appointment, such as at present is the only way of attaining an assured 
and continuous income. 
Yet the future of the comparative sociology of non-European peoples 
lies entirely with the field-worker. The day has gone by when we could 
accept the scientific authority, in this study, of any one who has never 
himself made an intensive study of at least one culture. In the past we 
have owed a good deal to those who have been called * armchair anthro- 
pologists.’ But in the present situation of the science no insight, however 
genial, can fully compensate for the absence of direct personal contact 
with the kind of material that the anthropologist has to study and explain. 
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