442 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 403. 



lai'ly in physical anthropology and in pre- 

 historic archeology, was so great that the 

 development of these two branches of 

 science in Germany may be said to center 

 in Virchow's activity. 



At the time when Virchow took up his 

 work, anthropology was still in its first 

 beginnings. During the eighteenth cen- 

 tury Von Soemmering and Blumenbach 

 in Germany, and Camper in Holland, had 

 directed their attention to a study of the 

 anatomical characteristics of the races of 

 man, but the new anthropology did not 

 arise until the second half of the past cen- 

 tury. The strong impetus which the theory 

 of evolution gave to all sciences, combined 

 with the immediate interest in the early 

 history of European nations, and the in- 

 creasing knowledge of foreign races were 

 the principal factors that contributed to the 

 formation of modern anthropology. 



Virchow, through his eminent faculty 

 for organization, has advanced the whole 

 field of anthropology. He took a leading 

 part in the formation of the German An- 

 thropological Society, of the Berliner Ge- 

 sellschaft fur Anthfopologie, Etlmologie 

 und Urgeschichte, and in the establishment 

 of the monumental Archiv fiir Antliropol- 

 ogie which occupies a high rank in anthro- 

 pological literature. The two societies soon 

 became the centers of anthropological ac- 

 tivity in Germany. The German Anthro- 

 pological Society devoted its energies to the 

 study of the physical characteristics and of 

 the earliest history of the Germans. Under 

 Virchow's lead this society undertook to 

 collect statistics relating to the distribution 

 of the color of skin, eyes and hair in Ger- 

 many, and observations were collected in 

 all the public schools of the country. The 

 results of this extended inquiry, which in- 

 clude a cartographic representation of the 

 distribution of types in Germany and a 

 discussion of their probable history, were 

 published by Virchow. 



The Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropo- 

 logie, Etlmologie, und Urgeschichte soon be- 

 came a center to which flowed a flood of 

 anthropological material from all parts of 

 the world, and where important scientific 

 questions were discussed by the most com- 

 petent authorities. Through its intimate 

 relations with German travellers the society 

 became of valuable assistance in the devel- 

 opment of the Berlin Ethnographical Mu- 

 seum, which owes its origin and greatness to 

 Adolf Bastian. Owing to Virchow's in- 

 fluence the society gradually acquired a 

 large and valuable collection of human cra- 

 nia and skeletons. Among the subjects dis- 

 cussed before the society European arche- 

 ology always held a prominent place, and 

 Virchow took a lively part in this work 

 which has contributed much to the growth 

 of the prehistoric collections in Berlin. 



As director of the Pathological Institute 

 and Museum of the University of Berlin, 

 Virchow had further opportunities to ad- 

 vance our knowledge of the anatomy of 

 races, and he accumulated much valuable 

 anthropological material in this Institute. 

 His studies of prehistoric archeology 

 brought him also into close contact with 

 students of folk-lore and he became one 

 of the founders of the Museum fiir Volks- 

 trachten. 



It will thus be seen that Virchow took 

 the leading part in the organization of an- 

 thropological work in Germany. There- 

 fore, it is no wonder that his views have 

 wielded a far-reaching influence, so much 

 so, that without a knowledge of his work the 

 peculiarity of German physical anthropol- 

 ogy and of German prehistoric archeology 

 can hardly be understood. 



Most important is his attitude toward the 

 theories relating to the descent of man. His 

 views regarding this question were deter- 

 mined by his fundamental researches on 

 the functions of the cell in the animal or- 

 ganism. He formulated his views in the 



