Septkmbkb 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



487 



CLASSIFICATION AND ARBANGEMENT OF 

 THE EXHIBITS OF AN ANTHRO- 

 POLOGICAL MUSEUM * 



Scope of the Anthropological Field.— The 

 history of man, including all that he is 

 and does and all that he has been and has 

 done, is a wide and important subject, and 

 is fortunately susceptible, in large part, of 

 lucid and effective treatment in the mu- 

 seum. The available materials are of two 

 principal classes; the first relates to man 

 himself as a biological unit, and the second 

 to the works of his hands, the creations of 

 his developing mind. These two divisions 

 of the subject are readily separated and 

 require independent treatment in the mu- 

 seum. The first division is known as Phys- 

 ical Anthropology, often called Somatol- 

 ogy; the second may in contradistinction 

 be called Culture Anthropology, since it 

 embodies the vast range of the essentially 

 human activities. 



The Somatic Division.— It we discuss 

 man independently of his arts— his artifi- 

 cial activities— we treat of him from the 

 standpoint of the naturalist or biologist. 

 Physical anthropology includes the study of 

 man as a species of animal, of his races and 

 varieties, his external characters, his anat- 

 omy, physiology and pathology. It includes 

 his ontogeny — the development of the indi- 

 vidual—his inception and embryonic evolu- 

 tion, his advances to maturity, his descent 

 to the grave and return to the elements 

 whence he arose. It includes his phylogeny 

 —the development of the species from lower 

 forms of life; the evolution of every part 

 of his frame— the skin, bones, muscles, cir- 

 culatory system, nervous system and other 

 special organs; and the relation of these 

 parts one and all to corresponding parts 

 of the lower animals. This is a magnificent 

 field for illustration and, in capable hands, 



* The scheme elaborated in this paper is now 

 being carried out in the United States National 

 Museum as rapidly as conditions will permit. 



may readily fill a museum with exhibits of 

 superlative interest and value. It is true 

 that man is properly treated along with 

 the lower orders of creatures as one of a 

 great system of biological units, and he 

 should therefore be included in all general 

 biological presentations in museiuns. But 

 anthropology requires more than this sys- 

 tematic biological treatment. Man's phys- 

 ical evolution and anatomical structure cor- 

 relate directly with all his activities; race 

 and culture are intimately connected. The 

 naturalist could more consistently separate, 

 in his museum presentation, the bird from 

 her nest or the bee from its comb, than 

 could the anthropologist divorce human 

 handiwork from the man. There is ex- 

 cellent reason, therefore, for making an es- 

 pecial study and exhibition of physical man 

 in immediate association with culture ex- 

 hibits. It is necessary to bring together 

 everything that relates to the great human 

 unit. The anthropological museum should 

 present physical man in the most complete 

 and exhaustive manner. However, it is 

 not the purpose at present to take up this 

 branch in detail, but rather to give almost 

 exclusive attention to the phenomena of 

 culture. 



The Culture Division.— It the physical 

 phenomena of man include all that connects 

 him with the brute, his culture phenomena 

 inckide all that distinguishes him from the 

 brute. If we wish to realize more fully the 

 scope of the latter division of the subject, 

 which includes the objective evidences of 

 culture, we have only, in imagination, to 

 sweep away all the multitude of things 

 that it has brought into the world ; destroy 

 every city, town and dwelling; every ar- 

 ticle of furniture, picture, sculpture, book, 

 textile fabric, fictile product ; every article 

 of clothing and ornament; every vehicle, 

 machine, iitensil and implement— and, in 

 fact, every trace of human handiwork; set 

 aside the use of fire and cooked food ; ban- 



