JuiY 10, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



35 



Gall, however erroneous in application, 

 have assisted its growth, for they stimulated 

 research regarding the variations of the 

 head, skull and brain, and were the main 

 incentive to Morton's remarkable work 

 "Crania Americana." And the discus- 

 sions of the mono- and polygenists, par- 

 ticularly those of the nineteenth century, 

 were of great importance in this connec- 

 tion. 



The first effort at some organization of 

 forces in the new line was made as early 

 as 1800, when a small body of scientific 

 men formed themselves, in Paris, into a 

 Society of Students of Man (Societe des 

 observateurs de I'homme). It was in this 

 little circle that the term anthropology 

 (used previously as a title for some works 

 on man of philosophical and in a few 

 instances of simple anatomical nature) 

 was employed in something like its present 

 significance. This attempt at organization 

 was, however, premature and had to be 

 given up two years later (1803), after but 

 little had been accomplished. In 1832 the 

 Paris Museum of Natural History, under 

 the influence of Professor William Ed- 

 wards, transformed its chair of anatomy 

 into that of natural history of man, and 

 to this Serres, in 1839, added anthropol- 

 ogy ; but the time was still not ripe for the 

 subject to assume much importance. From 

 1839 to 1848 Paris had a Society of Eth- 

 nology, which included the physical branch, 

 again with but little result. It was not 

 until the commencement of the second half 

 of the nineteenth century, with the advent 

 of Paul Broca and his collaborators, and 

 the foundation of the Paris "Societe d 'an- 

 thropologic" (1859), that the actual birth 



1889 (repr. pp. 1-19); F. Boas, Science, Oct. 

 21, 1904, pp. 513-524; references to more or less 

 direct contributions to the subject in R. Martin, 

 o. c. ; and the " Recent Progress in American 

 Anthropology," Am. Anthrop., Vol. 8, No. 3, 1906, 

 pp. 441-556. 



of the new branch of science took place. 

 This is less than fifty years ago ; and how 

 difficult the beginnings were even then will 

 be appreciated from the following recently 

 published* details. When permission to 

 establish the society was sought, the min- 

 ister of public instruction, notwithstand- 

 ing the rank and fame of the men who 

 with Broca applied for the sanction, re- 

 fused to have anything to do with the 

 matter. He sent the petition to the prefect 

 of police, but the prefect was equally un- 

 willing and returned the document to the 

 ministry as he received it. It was not until 

 after the influential intervention of Am- 

 broise Tardieu, that one of the chiefs of the 

 police department was persuaded the scien- 

 tific gentlemen in question were not quite 

 as dangerous to the welfare of the empire or 

 society as was suspected, and not finding, 

 besides, any law that forbade the gathering 

 of less than twenty persons, he informed 

 the eighteen future anthropologists that 

 their meetings would be tolerated. But 

 Broca was made responsible for anything 

 that might be said at the meetings against 

 the government or religion, and every meet- 

 ing was to be attended by a plainly dressed 

 officer. 



From the establishment of the Societe 

 d 'anthropologic the progress of the new 

 branch of research was more rapid. Be- 

 fore long similar societies were organized 

 in England, Germany and other countries; 

 the publication of anthropological journals 

 was commenced; an efficient system of an- 

 thropometry, with the required instru- 

 ments, was devised, principally by Broca, 

 and detailed instructions in the system 

 were published by the same author; col- 

 lections and important lines of research 

 were begun in different parts of Europe 

 and also in the United States; and in 

 1876 was founded the Paris School of 

 * " L'Ecole d'Anthropologie de Paris," 1876- 

 1906, 8vo, Paris (F. Alcan), 1907. 



