September 29, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



387 



proceeded. In recent years, however, there 

 has been a very decided movement opposed 

 to Bastian and the whole evolutionary 

 school. In some cases this has formed 

 part of that general revolt not merely 

 against Darwinism which is so prominent 

 in Germany, bnt it seems even against the 

 whole idea of evolution. In other cases the 

 objection is less fundamental, and has been 

 not so much to the idea of evolution itself 

 as to the lines upon which it has been cus- 

 tomary to endeavor to study this evolution. 



This movement, which by those who fol- 

 low it is called the geographical movement, 

 but which, I think, may be more fitly styled 

 "ethnological," was originated by Ratzel, 

 who was first led definitely in this direction 

 by a study of the armor made of rods or 

 plates or laths which is found in North 

 America, northern Asia, including Japan, 

 and in a less developed form in some of the 

 islands of the Pacific Ocean.* Ratzel be- 

 lieved that the resemblances he found could 

 only be explained by direct transmission 

 from one people to another and was led by 

 further study to become an untiring op- 

 ponent of the Elementargedanke of Bas- 

 tian and of the idea of independent evolu- 

 tion based on a community of thought.^ 

 He has even suggested that the idea of 

 independent origin is the anthropological 

 equivalent of the spontaneous generation 

 of the biologist and that anthropology is 

 now going through a phase of development 

 from which biology has long emerged. 



The movement initiated by Ratzel has 

 made great progress, especially through the 

 work of Graebner" and of P. W. Schmidt.^ 



* Sitzber. d. AJcad. d. Wiss. Miinchen, Hist. CI., 

 1886, p. 181. 



^ See especially AnthropogeograpMe, 1891, Th. 

 II., 705, and ' ' Die geographische Methode in der 

 Ethnographie, " Geograph. Zeitsdh., 1897, III., 

 268. 



° See especially Graebner, ' ' Methode der Eth- 

 nologie, " Heidelberg, 1911, and " Die melanesische 



It has resulted in an important series of 

 works in which the whole field of anthro- 

 pological research is approached in a man- 

 ner wholly different from that customary 

 in this country.^ I must content myself 

 with one example to illustrate the differ- 

 ence of standpoint which separates the two 

 schools. Few subjects have attracted more 

 interest in this and other countries than 

 the study of primitive decoration. In the 

 decorative art of all lands there are found 

 transitions from designs representing the 

 human form or those of animals and plants 

 to patterns of a purely geometrical nature. 

 In this country it has been held, I think I 

 may say universally, that in these transi- 

 tions we have evidence for an evolutionary 

 process which in all parts of the world has 

 led mankind to what may be called the 

 degradation and conventionalization of 

 human, animal or plant designs so that in 

 course of time they become mere geomet- 

 rical forms. 



To the modern German school, on the 

 other hand, these transitions are examples 

 of the blending of two cultures, one pos- 



Bogenkultur und ihre Verwandten, ' ' Anthropos, 

 1909, IV., 726. Tlie annual Ethnologica, edited 

 by W. Foy, is devoted to the illustration of this 

 school of thought. 



' See especially ' ' L 'origine de 1 'Idee de Dieu, ' ' 

 Anthropos, III.-V., 1908-10, and "Grundlinien 

 einer Vergleichung der Eeligion u. Mythologie der 

 austronesischen Volker, " DenJcsch. d. ATcad. d. 

 Wiss. Wien, Phil.-hist. Kl., 1910, LIII. Schmidt 

 differs from Graebner in limiting the application 

 of the ethnological method to regions with general 

 affinities of culture. Otherwise he remains an 

 adherent of the doctrine of independent origin. 

 (See " Panbabylonismus und ethnologischer Ele- 

 mentargedanke," Mitt. d. anthrop. Gesellsch. in. 

 Wien, 1908, XXXVIII., 73.) 



' It must not be understood from this account 

 that all German anthropologists are adherents of 

 the ethnological school. There are still those who 

 follow the doctrines of Bastian, which have under- 

 gone an interesting modification through the adop- 

 tion of the biological principle of convergence. 



