462 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1219 



It is now nearly thirty years since the ap- 

 pearance of Brinton's "American Eace." 

 Primarily an attempt at a lin^istic classifi- 

 cation, especially of the South American 

 tribes, this volume gives in a very summary 

 form a general survey of all the peoples of 

 the New World. The generation which has 

 elapsed since then has been extraordinarily 

 prolific in the accumulation of new data, but 

 until the publication of Dr. Wissler's volume, 

 no serious attempt had been made either to 

 gather together and correlate this great mass 

 of new material, or to give a really adequate 

 account of the peoples of America and their 

 culture. The debt, therefore, which not only 

 anthropologists but all who are in any way 

 interested in the aborigines of the New World, 

 owe to the author is great, for not only has 

 he judiciously summarized and correlated the 

 results of a host of special investigators, but 

 he has drawn from these results general con- 

 clusions of wide importance, which gain 

 greatly in their force by the careful con- 

 sideration shown for the form and order of 

 the presentation and discussion of the ma- 

 terial. 



The first thirteen chapters are given to a 

 consideration of the major facts of the culture 

 of the Indian throughout both continents. 

 Beginning with the material culture, the fine 

 arts, social grouping and regulations, ritual- 

 istic observances and mythology are treated 

 in order. On the basis of these facts, the 

 peoples of the two continents are grouped in 

 fifteen culture areas, whose limits and char- 

 acteristics are defined. Next the archeologi- 

 cal data are summarized, with the result that 

 twenty-four typical areas are recognized. 

 Archeology having introduced the time ele- 

 ment, such evidence as exists on the chron- 

 ology of American cultures is presented, both 

 dependent on stratigraphic as well as actual 

 historic data. The linguistic and somatic 

 characteristics and classifications are next 

 passed in review, and the broad foundation 

 thus completed for the suggestive and stimu- 

 lating final three chapters. In the first of 

 these the separate results of the classification 

 on cultural, linguistic and somatic data are 



correlated, and the influences and importance 

 of migration and of environment are dis- 

 cussed. In the second, the larger questions 

 of culture origins and of the association of 

 culture traits are considered, with the result- 

 ing conclusion that culture must be studied 

 and explained from the historical standpoint 

 rather than the biological, which is here not 

 applicable. Finally, in the concluding chap- 

 ter, the ultimate questions of the origin and 

 relationships of American culture and of "the 

 American peoples are outlined. Here the case 

 for the virtual independence and purely local 

 origin of New World culture is clearly and 

 convincingly stated, although from the phys- 

 ical standpoint, the ultimate Asiatic origin of 

 the Indian is demonstrated with equal force. 

 In an appendix useful tables of linguistic 

 stocks are given, bringing together for the 

 first time in handy compass, the material for 

 both continents. A selected bibliography, 

 mainly of the more recent authorities, closes 

 the volume. 



It would be of little value to attempt to 

 summarize in the space available, the great 

 mass of material in the book; one can only 

 point out a few of the more important gen- 

 eral conclusions reached. One of these is 

 this, that in the domain of material culture, the 

 higher developments were nearly all concen- 

 trated in the area of intensive agriculture, 

 and that it is probable that these higher 

 cultural elements spread not singly, but often 

 in association, e. g., that the knowledge of 

 and the making of pottery and textiles, spread 

 with the use of agriculture. On the social 

 side, the fundamental unity of type is pointed 

 out, and evidence brought forward to show 

 that clan organization, dual grouping, age- 

 grades, secret societies and the totemie com- 

 plex are not necessary stages in the evolution 

 of society, but rather local developments, 

 based on special conditions. This funda- 

 mental unity of the peoples of America and 

 the independence of their culture is empha- 

 sized in many ways, and the point well made 

 that all the varied attempts to derive the 

 whole or portions of this culture from Asiatic 

 or Polynesian sources, overlook the chrono- 



