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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1210 



source; and leaning as heavily as uncon- 

 sciously on a kind of crude lay psychology of 

 the individual. So strong was the impress 

 of the idea of an unfolding sequence inhering 

 in phenomena themselves, in this earlier 

 ethnology or self-styled " science of man," 

 that the actual relations of its phenomena in 

 time and space were rarely looked into sys- 

 tematically. In consequence, its causal fac- 

 tors were determined with equal randomness. 

 The explanations of causality of which the 

 evolutionary anthropology of a generation ago 

 consisted, were hypothetical and plausible. 



The element of time, easily recoverable, at 

 least as regards its relative phases, in pre- 

 history and most fields of archeology, can be 

 only indirectly reached in ethnology proper, 

 which deals with living peoples innocent of 

 writing. Ordinarily, all that we have of them 

 is a momentary cross section of the long 

 stream of their customs. Obviously, the 

 course of this channel can be reconstructed 

 factively only through a detailed determina- 

 tion of the data in terms of some other ele- 

 ment which may subsequently be converted 

 into factors of time. This other element is 

 that of space; or, as it is usually named in 

 this connection, geography. Experience to 

 date has revealed no other method, except the 

 speculation, mystical or rationalizing, con- 

 cealed or avowed, of the older workers. 



The spatial factors were strongly appre- 

 ciated by Eatzel and his school, though still 

 partly in terms of formal physical geography. 

 Chance, however, brought it that in this 

 country a body of students less driven through 

 their general social environment to attempt 

 interpretation than their European colleagues, 

 found themselves envisaged at arms' length, 

 as it were, by a mass of first-hand and living 

 ethnological data. Once these were tasted, 

 they proved emotionally palatable to many 

 minds; with the result that materials were 

 gradually accumulated on a really enormous 

 and unprecedented scale. 



It is curious how slowly the realization of 

 this opportunity dawned. Ethnology was prac- 

 tised in this country fifty and seventy-five 

 years ago, and if the students were less in 



number, they were, man for man, probably 

 more illustrious, as the names of Hale, Gal- 

 latin, Morgan, Brinton, and Powell attest. 

 These eminent men truly conducted re- 

 searches, where many a successor has done 

 little more than assemble material. But 

 the personal contact of all of these pioneers 

 with the Indians at their door was limited, 

 and several disdained it wholly. The ex- 

 plorer, the traveler, the missionary, the mili- 

 tary leader, sometimes the compiling his- 

 torian or instituting official of civilization, 

 were their purveyors of substance. Only 

 slowly was it felt that as good and far better 

 information could be got by the inquirer 

 whose business was ethnic knowledge than by 

 the voyager or resident whose purpose was 

 incidental, and that such acquisition, instead 

 of being an arduous preliminary task, was in 

 itself a grateful pleasure. Much of the old 

 native life long resisted the brunt of our 

 civilization; an infinitude more lay imme- 

 diately below the surface. The Indian, far 

 from impeding serious inquiry, in most cases 

 was only interested in facilitating it. An 

 enormous tribal diversity lent the color of 

 variety to every increasing endeavor. And, 

 as the spread of the frontier and the educa- 

 tion of the Indian tended to obliterate the 

 continuance of native custom, they also 

 rendered access to the people, and intelligent 

 communication with them, easier, less ex- 

 pensive, and more profitable. To-day, the 

 generation of American ethnologists is reared 

 in field studies. Its novices take work on an 

 Indian reservation for granted as the first 

 step on the professional ladder. It is true 

 that acquisition for a time so far outstripped 

 utilization that the reproach was sometimes 

 leveled from transatlantic quarters that pur- 

 pose had been forgotten and direction lost. 

 But it is equally important to realize that no 

 equally extensive and continuous body of de- 

 tailed ethnic data has ever been accmnulated 

 on the primitive people of any other area as 

 on those of the United States, Canada, and 

 Alaska. 



In time, the mere mass of material forced 

 its classification ; and its arrangement by types 



