Septbmbee 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



489 



wanted is a simple natural grouping of the 

 very diversified ethnic phenomena. 



Glancing a third time over the field and 

 noting especially the culture of the various 

 groups of people, we find that it varies with 

 the region rather than with the race or na- 

 tion, and that there is a significant rela- 

 tion between it and environment. What 

 uncivilized men do and have done in any 

 region depends much on the climate and 

 natural productions of that region. The 

 arctic provinces have one ciilture, the trop- 

 ical another ; the arid plains have one group 

 of activities, the humid region another. The 

 inland district has a race of hunters and de- 

 velops hunting arts, the maritime people 

 becomes a race of fishers and develops fish- 

 er's arts, and so on. Culture is thus so 

 much the outgrowth of the region that its 

 products may be assembled by geographical 

 areas, and these may be large or small as 

 occasion demands. The continents, great 

 islands and groups of islands are subdi- 

 vided into minor areas. These are called 

 by anthropologists specialization areas, be- 

 cause they have given special characters to 

 the culture developed within them. They 

 hav^ nothing to do with political lines and 

 they disregard modern civilization, because 

 it has broken over all natural limits, and by 

 means of railroads and ships carries its 

 generalized culture to the ends of the earth. 

 But as these areas are largely those in 

 which specialized cultures have had their 

 inception and early development, it is by 

 them that the student can best study and 

 the curator best illustrate the phenomena of 

 humanity. "Within the space assigned to 

 each of these geographic groups in the mu- 

 seum should be assembled specimens of 

 everything ethnical that the area produces, 

 no matter what the race, the nation, the cul- 

 ture stage or the time represented, except- 

 ing always the intrusive generalized ele- 

 ments of civilization, which must be treated 

 separately in museums of national history 



or in museums covering special limited 

 fields, as art museums and industrial mu- 

 seums. 



THE GEO-ETHNIC AERANGEMENT. 



Now the museum materials intended to 

 illustrate a given geographic-ethnic terri- 

 tory should be such in character and so ar- 

 ranged that the student or visitor passing 

 through the hall or halls in which they are 

 installed may gather quickly a clear impres- 

 sion of the people and culture of the area 

 represented. I say first people because, after 

 all, it is the people we are studying, and a 

 display of all the culture phenomena of a 

 region without some definite illustration of 

 the people concerned would be wholly un- 

 satisfactory. The man himself as he ap- 

 pears in his every-day life is the best il- 

 lustration of his own place in history, for 

 his physical aspect, the expression of his 

 face, the care of his person, his clothes, his 

 occupations, his general appearance and 

 social relations, tell the story with much 

 clearness. 



So, since we cannot display the people 

 themselves, we should begin each of our eth- 

 nical exhibits by building a lay-figure 

 group showing a typical family of the area 

 illustrated— the men, the women and the 

 children— engaged in ordinary occupations 

 and surrounded by the things they make, 

 and use and love. Physical characters 

 should be portrayed with all possible accu- 

 racy and a correct impression of the dis- 

 position and social attitude of the members 

 of the group should be given. Then around 

 this family group should be arranged in 

 separate cases series of ob.jects illustrating 

 their arts, industries and history. 



Following the family group, the next 

 most important culture unit is the dwell- 

 ing group, which may be modeled in minia- 

 ture (say one twelfth or one twenty-fourth 

 actual size), and illustrate their houses and 

 constructions of all kinds as well as some- 



