AUGUST 25, 1899.] 
ture for the first half of the century would 
reveal the fact that the writers, with here 
and there a notable exception, were in- 
clined to theorize upon insufficient data 
and devoted little time to the accumulation 
of trustworthy facts. The presentation 
and discussion of carefully observed facts 
can almost be said to have begun with the 
second half of the century, and this is the 
only part of the subject that now commands 
serious attention. 
A reference to the very latest réswmé of 
this subject as presented in the ‘ History 
of the New World called America,’ by 
Edward J. Payne, Vol. II., Oxford, 1899, 
is instructive here. In this volume Mr. 
Payne expresses his belief in the antiquity 
and unity of the American tribes, which he 
considers came from Asia in preglacial and 
glacial times, when the northwestern corner 
of America was connected with Asia, and 
when man ‘“‘as yet was distinguished from 
the inferior animals only by some painful 
and strenuous form of articulate speech 
and the possession of rude stone weapons 
and implements, and a knowledge of the 
art of fire-kindling. Such, it may be sup- 
posed, were the conditions under which 
man inhabited both the Old and the New 
World in the paleo-ethnieage * * * * 
Even when a geological change had sepa- 
rated them [the continents] some inter- 
course by sea was perhaps maintained—an 
intercourse which became less and less, 
until the American branch of humanity 
became practically an isolated race, as 
America itself has become an isolated con- 
tinent.” (Preface. ) 
Mr. Payne discusses the growth of the 
languages of America, the various social 
institutions and arts, and the migrations of 
these early savages over the continent, 
north and south, during the many centuries 
following, as one group after another grew 
in culture. He considers all culture of the 
people autochthonous. “It may, however, 
SCIENC#. 229 
be suggested that, as in the Old World, the 
earlier and the smaller tribes tend to 
dolichocephaly, while the better developed 
ones are rather brachycephalous—a conclu- 
sion indicating that the varying propor- 
tions of the skull should be taken less as 
original evidence of race than as evidence 
of physical improvement.’’ 
This volume by Mr. Payne is replete 
with similar statements of facts and theories, 
and shows how difficult it is for us to un- 
derstand the complications of the subject 
before us. It cannot be denied that, taking 
into consideration the number of authors 
who have written on this subject, Mr. 
Payne is well supported in his theory of the 
autochthonous origin of all American lan- 
guages, institutions and arts; but the ques- 
tion arises: Has not the old theory of Mor- 
ton, the industrious and painstaking pioneer 
of American craniology, been the under- 
lying cause of this, and have not the facts 
been misinterpreted? At the time of Mor- 
ton the accepted belief in the unity and 
universal brotherhood of man was about to 
be assailed, and it seems, as we now look 
back upon those times of exciting and 
passionate discussions, that Morton may 
have been influenced by the new theory 
which was so soon to become prominent— 
that there were several distinct crea- 
tions of species of the genus Homo and 
that each continent or great area had its 
own distinct fauna and flora. Certainly 
Morton ventured to make a specific state- 
ment from a collection of crania which 
would now be regarded as too limited to 
furnish true results. 
The anthropologist of to-day would hardly 
venture to do more than to make the most 
general statements of the characters of any 
race or people from the examination of a 
single skull ; although, after the study of a 
large number of skulls from a single tribe 
or special locality, he would probably be 
able to select one that was distinctly char- 
