96 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 913. 



because the languages of primitive man 

 are disappearing rapidlj', thvis depriving us 

 of valuable material for comparative studj'. 



Ethnology, the last division of an thro- 

 pologj'^, covers a vast field. Its main ob- 

 ject may be briefly described as the dis- 

 covery of the laws governing the activities 

 of the human mind, and also the recon- 

 struction of the history of human culture 

 and civilization. The methods applied by 

 ethnologists are twofold. The investiga- 

 tion of the history of the culture of definite 

 areas is carried on by means of geographical 

 and of archajological methods. The methods 

 are geographical in so far as the tj'pes 

 inhabiting a country, their languages and 

 their customs, are compared to those of 

 neighboring tribes. They are archiieological 

 in so far as they deal with the prehistoric 

 remains found in the country in question. 

 In this case we apply inductive methods for 

 the solution of historical questions. The 

 investigation of the laws governing the 

 growth of human culture is carried out by 

 means of comparative methods, and is 

 based on the results of the historical analy- 

 sis referred to before. These laws are 

 largely of a psychological nature. Their 

 great value for the study of the human mind 

 lies in the fact that the forms of thought 

 which are the subject of investigation have 

 grown up entirely outside of the conditions 

 whice govern our own thoughts. They 

 furnish, therefore, material for a truly com- 

 parative psychology. The results of the 

 study of comparative linguistics form an 

 important portion of this material, because 

 the forms of thought find their clearest ex- 

 pressions in the forms of language. 



It appears, from these brief statements of 

 the scope and methods of anthropological 

 research, that an acquaintance with the 

 whole field is indispensable for the sociolo- 

 gist ; that a knowledge of results and meth- 

 ods will be of advantage to the psycholo- 

 gist, and that the statistical method de- 



veloped in physical anthropology will be 

 very helpful to the student of biology. In 

 a general way, a knowledge of the outlines 

 of anthropology seems to be of educational 

 value, particularly in so far as it broadens 

 the historical views of the student, because 

 it extends his view over cultures and civ- 

 ilizations that have grown up uninfluenced 

 by our own. The advances made by our 

 own race will appear to him in a trUer light 

 when he is able to compare them with the 

 work done by other races, and if he under- 

 stands how much our own civilization owes 

 to the achievements of people whoappear to 

 be at present on a low level of culture. The 

 methodological value of the teaching of 

 anthropology lies in the fact that it shows 

 the possibility of applying inductive meth- 

 ods to the study of social phenomena. 



Fbanz Boas. 



BOTANY. 



There are some phases of botanical 

 teaching that do not belong in the present 

 discussion. University teaching, where se- 

 lected, well-trained, devoted students pur- 

 sue original investigation under the criti- 

 cism and advice of great specialists, is 

 excluded, for there is here no question of 

 methods, but only of men. It represents 

 the ideal relation of teacher to student, the 

 true ideal for all botanical teaching. We 

 have in this country some, but far too little 

 of it. Again, college work proper, consist- 

 ing in advanced thorough courses upon the 

 practicum plan and in the investigation 

 spirit, hardly belongs here. Such work has 

 been stimulated by university example to a 

 high degree of excellence, and in botany 

 much of it is being done to-day in our col- 

 leges, a fact with an important bearing upon 

 our present subject, for thus are being 

 trained the teachers of the near future who 

 are to elevate the teaching of the schools. 

 But in the teaching of systematic elemen- 

 tary courses in botany, where these are not 



