JULY 23, 1897.] 
variation a great series of the scapule of 
the larger felide might present, but a small 
one shows nothing like that of the human 
race, and I might even add that of the 
Caucasian.” ‘ 
But because certain parts of man’s skele- 
ton bear close resemblance to the gorilla, 
other parts to the chimpanzee, still others 
to the orang and gibbon, does it follow that 
man, in his race history, has been succes- 
sively a gibbon, an orang, a chimpanzee 
and a gorilla? Surely it would seem no 
one would claim for man such a pedigree 
as this, but this has been done, if not open- 
ly, it at least has been tacitly implied. And 
hence the need of definite scientific methods 
which make such reasoning impossible. 
Naturally, all the methods of zoological 
investigation are not applicable in the study 
of the human species, but at least two are 
of the utmost value; they are the statis- 
tical, or mathematical, and the morpholog- 
ical. The use of the statistical method in 
anthropology, and its extension in zoology, 
is due very largely to Mr. Francis Galton. 
Its basis is an application of the laws of 
chance, and Galton has devised special ap- 
paratus to illustrate its application. The 
method is of great value in comparative 
studies, such, for example, as the various 
indices, which are determined from measure- 
ments on the skull. Thus, if we take the 
length of the skull in a thousand individ- 
uals, and arrange the results according to 
their distribution, we shall have a curve, 
the character of which will be determined 
by the uniformity of the individuals mea- 
sured. If they are all of one race, and that 
race is free from admixture with other 
races, we shall expect to find a curve which 
is high in the center and of a uniform char- 
acter. If, on the other hand, the race is a 
mixed one the curve will be broad in pro- 
portion to its height and will be irregular 
in its course. In other words, the charac- 
ter of the curve is largely determined by 
SCIENCE. 
feat 
the number of disturbing causes. Just 
as in Galton’s apparatus, the character of 
the curve described by shot which falls 
upon a compartment, striking in its passage 
pins, will be determined by the height from 
which it falls and the number of pins it en- 
counters in its passage. by means of these 
curves, that is, by the use of the statistical 
method, the greater part of anthropometric 
investigations are shown. 
In the second method, the morphological, 
we deal with form and arrangement, and 
the unit is not the individual, but the 
species. The method proceeds by homology 
and it recognizes in variation an indication 
of the slow modification of the race or 
species. In other words, morphology is 
simply an extension of comparative an- 
atomy. It calls to its aid embryology and 
histology, or the study of minute structure. 
A character which appears occasionally in 
man and is always present in the apes is 
not to be called ‘simian’ until its pedigree 
has been carefully determined and it can be 
shown to have been a transmitted charac- 
ter or an actual reversion. A close adher- 
ence to the methods of morphology may 
not unravel all the problems which are pre- 
sented in man’s strucure, but it will make 
impossible many of the so-called deductions 
which thus far have been put forth in the 
name of physical anthropology. 
(b) Problems of Physical Anthropology. 
We have to consider in this place not so 
much what has been done as what remains 
to be done, for, although much has been 
accomplished, the field of investigation still 
remains very broad. In the first place, we 
do not yet know the exact lines of man’s 
descent. His cousinsare pretty well known, 
but his immediate ancestors are not yet dis- 
covered. There is yet to be learned even 
the approximate time of man’s appearance 
as man upon earth. That time has been 
stated within the last year by one writer to 
