September 14, 18S3.] 



SCIENCE. 



363 



once from diagnosis to safe prescription, when natural 

 seleclion and liuuian legislation shall CK-iiixrale in 

 the more spcody survival of the tiltest! 'J'he time 

 seems to nie to have arrived when our great anthro- 

 pological societies and institutions sliould institute a 

 systematic, co-operative study of ])sychology. 



In a land wliere the archeologist inay tally off 

 most of liis finds by savage implements iu use at liis 

 very door, it seems like presumption to speak to you 

 of the advantages of the most careful arehcological 

 methods. But there is a difference between the old 

 and the new archeology. There are times in the 

 settlement of a new country, when every man is his 

 own carpenter, smith, and physician. But how soon 

 your energies liave worked out of tlial! Now I speak 

 only of professional archeology and its advantages. 

 How many mistakes of his predecessors lias Mr. 

 Putnam alone corrected? We have all read with 

 l>leasure his recent correction of Dr. Hildreth's mis- 

 takes about iron in the mounds. It is -so with your 

 archeological collections: only those gathered in a 

 scientific spirit will have any lasting value. But in 

 tlie accumulation and preservation of such, you are 

 the storers of force of the greatest value. You are 

 recovering the scattered fragments of an ancient 

 mosaic which will one day be reset, and its legend 

 will be the lost history of prehistoric man. 



The third benefit to which I will call your attention 

 is the opportunity which the science affords for tlie 

 exercise of every talent, even the highest. The dif- 

 ficulty of any problem depends upon the number or 

 the degree of its unknown quantities. Wlien facts 

 were few. and the data of the science were beclouded 

 with many sources of error, no wonder that men of 

 logical minds left these investigations to those of a 

 more im.iginalive disposition. Their crude, prelim- 

 inary efforts have given place to organized work, 

 flirected by men of the greatest executive ability, 

 a.ssisted by skilful specialists, and endowed l)0lb by 

 l)rivate munificence and by public appropriation. 

 Not to go beyond the limits of our own country, we 

 all point witli pride to the Peabody museum, the 

 Archaeological institute of America, the American 

 antiquarian society, the museums of New York city 

 and of Philadelphia, tlie Smitlisoni.an institution. 

 National museum, Bureau of ethnology. Army 

 medical museuni, and the Anthroimlogical society at 

 Washington, the academies of Cincinnati, St. Louis, 

 and D.avenport. and the historical societies of many 

 of our states, including the Minnesota collections. 



Now, tlie special merit of such great centralization 

 of resources is that everybody can study something. 

 It is possible for every craft and profession thus to 

 prosecute its researches and to make its contributions. 

 During the past winter, papers were read before the 

 Anthropological society at Washington by compara- 

 tive anatomists, biologists, archeologists, geologists, 

 phj'sicians, paleographers, sign-linguists, philolo- 

 gists, patent-examiners, artists, statisticians, sociol- 

 ogists, clergymen, metaphysicians, and ethnogra- 

 phers. And this does not exhaust the scheme. 

 Mothers, school-teachers, those in charge of the 

 insane, the criminal, and the defective classes, law- 



yers, mechanics, musicians, philanthropists, legis- 

 latoi-s, may all contril>ute to this science some handi- 

 work which will help to make the pile complete. To 

 be still more personal, i)ermil me to say to each one 

 before me, that there is anthropological work which 

 your peculiar occu|)alion fits you to do better than 

 any one else on earth. For example, a distinguished 

 ornithologist, Mr. lienshaw, has recently identified 

 all the birds in the well-known mound-pipes. An 

 artist, Mr. Holmes, has succeeded in bringing order 

 out of confusion in the shell ornaments of the 

 mounds. A patent-c.xaminer, Mr. Seely, traces back- 

 ward aboriginal art. A general in the British army, 

 Pitt-Rivers, worked out the history of the elaboration 

 of the implements of war. An educator, Mr. Peck- 

 ham, has recently given us the result of a laborious 

 investigation on the growth of children. The geolo- 

 gists must interpret for us the significance of our 

 discoveries in the drift. Where can I stop? I will 

 boldly avow that the day of tyros Is gone. There is 

 a great multitude of collectors throughout our states 

 who will have to go to school to Professor Putnam, 

 or Dr. Ran, or Dr. Thomas, before they will have 

 the faintest conception of the significance of their 

 treasures. 



The inevitable result of speciat research is general- 

 ization. Kepler, Newton, Count Rumfonl, Kirchhoff, 

 Bunscn, and D|^rwin_, are names that stand for these 

 processes in material science. To Herbert Spencer 

 we are indebted for the first effort in this direction 

 respecting human phenomena, and bis work will be 

 revised and corrected by those who will approach 

 the task with better instruments and more reliable 

 material. 



In this heaving mass of humanity, returning into 

 itself ever with vast gulf-streams and eddies, each act- 

 uated by its special forces, there is, after all, orderly 

 motion. We discover th.at <mr little circle is part of 

 a greater circle, and for a moment the mind is satis- 

 fied in the contemplation of this wider truth. Recov- 

 ering, and renewing our investigation, the fact is 

 reached, that this and its congeneric circles are part 

 of a greater movement more complicated and i)er- 

 plexing. By the pursuit of this wider knowledge the 

 intellect is strengthened, and thereby i-^ brought about 

 the n.atural selection of the mind. While many tire, 

 or are unable to comprehend the situation, others 

 press on, and grow strong by the effort. 



The Last advantage of which my time will allow 

 me to speak is the assistance which such studies 

 render to philanthropy and legislation. 



Standing on the deck of a steamer, and looking at 

 the land left behind, we seem to be but a mile or two 

 away. We are surprised with the information, that 

 what seems so near is many miles distant. It is so 

 with human history. In our childhood we believed 

 that the first man walked the earth only a few cen- 

 turies ago. All the events known to us then could 

 easily liave occurred in that brief period. The in- 

 crease of knowledge expands the boundaries of time, 

 and the origin of man is now lost in the mists of the 

 past. Could any thing fill our minds with greater 

 love for our race than the magnificent struggle they 



