246 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1158 



of local developments in shaping customs and 

 beliefs and giving them their distinctive char- 

 acteristics. What I object to on the part of 

 ethnologists is not the use of psychological 

 arguments, which are necessarily at the root 

 of the whole matter, but the resort to an effete 

 system of psychology which is utterly repudi- 

 ated by practically all real psychologists, ex- 

 cept Wundt and his disciples. 



When a small band of immigrants, intent 

 upon exploiting the mineral wealth, forces its 

 way into a barbarous country, and, in virtue 

 of its superiority of weapons or of skill and 

 knowledge, is able to dominate the local people, 

 and compel it to work for them, the stamp of 

 the alien civilization, its practises, its customs 

 and beliefs, can be imprinted upon a large 

 servile population. ISTor must it be assumed 

 that the new learning is adopted wholly and 

 without change. For every people has its own 

 cherished beliefs and customs which no power 

 can wholly eradicate. What happens in such 

 cases is that the new practises are blended with 

 the old; and in course of time, as the mixture 

 becomes more and more intimately rational- 

 ized, a new and distinctive cultural compound 

 is developed, which can not strictly be regarded 

 either as the indigenous or the introduced 

 culture, but a new structure which has been 

 built up by the spirit of the local population 

 out of the new and the old materials. Thus 

 even when the same elements of a new culture 

 are introduced into a series of localities the 

 resultant civilizations are not identical; but 

 each takes on its distinctive characters, which 

 are determined partly by the circumstances 

 under which the new leaven has been im- 

 pressed, and partly by the nature of the pre- 

 existing culture, and possibly to some extent 

 by the character and abilities of the people of 

 the country. For a people's aptitude and in- 

 clination to adopt alien practises clearly counts 

 for a good deal in this process. Essentially 

 the same external influences were brought to 

 bear, in varying ways and in different degrees, 

 upon India, Indonesia, Australia, eastern Asia, 

 Oceania and America; but how strikingly dif- 

 ferent were the results in each of these 

 domains ! 



The subject, however, is much too vast and 

 intricate profitably to be discussed in a letter. 

 I have already collected enough material for 

 several large volumes on the part played by 

 the " working of the human mind " in the 

 history of civilization. All that I aim at 

 achieving at present is to persuade ethnologists 

 to do what is constantly being done in every 

 true science, namely, impartially to examine 

 the foundations upon which its theory rests. 

 If they will consent to do this I have no doubt 

 as to the outcome.' 



G. Elliot Smith 



The Univeesity op Manchester, Eng. 



THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY 



The American Physiological Society held its 

 29th annual meeting in association with the Fed- 

 eration of American Societies for Experimental 

 Biology and the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science in New York City December 

 27, 28, 29 and 30. The meetings were all held at 

 the Cornell Medical College buildings where con- 

 venient arrangements had been provided also for 

 the other societies of the federation. One of the 

 most pleasant features of the meeting was the ar- 

 rangement for luncheon, which brought together 

 the members of the different societies. 



On December 28 the annual federation banquet 

 was held at the Hotel McAlpin with a large at- 

 tendance. A similar dinner was held at the Chem- 

 ist Club December 29. 



The new members elected to the society were: 



William T. Bovie, Harvard Medical School, Bos- 

 ton. 



William John Crozier, Bermuda Biological Station 

 for Research, Agars Island, Bermuda. 



Admont H. Clark, Johns Hopkins Medical School. 



Frank A. Hartman, University of Toronto. 



S. H. Hurwitz, Hooper Foundation, San Francisco. 



R. W. Keeton, Northwestern University. 



Edward C. Kendall, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. 



Charles E. King, University of North Dakota. 



Dean de Witt Lewis, Rush Medical College. 



David I. Maeht, Johns Hopkins Medical School. 



Frank C. Mann, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. 



Victor C. Myers, New York Post-graduate Hospital 

 Medical School. 



Oscar H. Plant, University of Pennsylvania. 



8 1 think it is only right that your readers 

 should be informed that my article in Science, 

 August 11, 1916, was written in May, 1915, and 

 that by a careless mistake, the uncorrected stenog- 

 rapher 's copy was sent to you. 



