300 BULLETIN OF THE 



globe, but also their affiliations, their changes in mental and 

 moral development, and also the question of the geological epoch 

 of the appearance of man upon the earth. . . . The ethnologi- 

 cal specimens we have mentioned are not considered as mere 

 curiosities collected to excite the wonder of the illiterate, but as 

 contributions to the materials from which it will be practicable 

 to reconstruct by analogy and strict deduction, the history of the 

 past in its relation to tlie present."* 



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

 illustrate anthropology now in possession of the Institution is 

 ahiiost unsurpassed, especially in those which relate to the present 

 Indians and the more ancient inhabitants of the American conti- 

 tinent." Deprecating the frequent dissipation of small private col- 

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

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

 portance, is by making them part of a general collection, care- 

 fully 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. "f 



In his last Report — for 187T, — 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 the past 

 history of man, to determine his specific peculiarities and general 

 tendencies. It has already established the fact that a remark- 

 able similarity exists in the archgeological instruments found in 

 all parts of the world, with those in use among tribes still in a 

 savage or barbarous condition. The conclusion is supported by 

 evidence which can scarcely be doubted, that by thoroughly 

 studying the manners and customs of savages and the instru- 

 ments employed by them, we 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 survivals 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 compre- 

 hension 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 published work, he 

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

 present, contributions of value have been made annually by the 



* SmifliRoninn Rpport for 1868, pp. 2(5 and 33. 

 t Smithsonian Report for 1870, pp. 35, 36. 



74 



