Juty 23, 1897.] 
full of suggestion as to man’s primitive con- 
dition. It isasif the geologist could visit 
some remote spot and behold the earth as 
it existed in Tertiary times. Would he 
neglect the opportunity? In many of the 
peoples of Africa and Oceania we find 
types of bodily structure which are not de- 
seribed in the anatomical text-books of 
Gray or Quain. There we may see impor- 
tant differences from the European type in 
cranial capacity, in the size and structure 
of the brain, in the relative lengths of the 
arm and leg, in the pelvis, in the muscula- 
ture of the hand and foot, in fact in the en- 
tire bodily structure ; and these differences 
are significant. In the heart of Africa are 
dwarfs that in bodily structure and mental 
calibre are very far removed, indeed, from 
the European. In other parts of the world 
dwarf races have lately been discovered. 
Are they the survivals of primitive times, 
or are they the degenerate offspring of a 
onee vigorous ancestry? These are a few 
of the subjects still awaiting investigation. 
The field is surely broad, but how little 
cultivated! The proper study of mankind 
may be man, but curiously enough man 
does not seem to have cared to study man- 
kind. As one of America’s foremost stu- 
dents of anthropology has pointed out, man 
“has never seriously and to the best of his 
abilities made a study of his own nature, 
its wants and its weakness, and how best 
he could amend the one and satisfy the 
other.’ The reason for this is hard to dis- 
cover, but for the present we are most con- 
cerned in the consequences ; and to illus- 
trate the extent to which a lack of the 
desire to study man will lead, we may take 
a single example. Among the general in- 
structions to the officers of the Challenger 
Expedition we find the following :* “‘ Every 
opportunity should be taken of obtaining 
*T am indebted for this information to Natural 
Science, Vol. VII., No. 41, Special ‘Challenge’ Num- 
ber, pp. 7 and 74. 
SCIENCE. 
113 
photographs of native races to one scale; 
and of making such observations as are 
practicable with regard to their physical 
characteristics, language, habits, imple- 
ments and antiquities. It would be ad- 
visable that specimens of hair of unmixed 
races should in all cases be obtained.”? And 
what was the result? From an expedition 
which in its importance ranks only after 
that of Columbus and Magellan; which con- 
sumed years of time and cost the British 
government in round figures $600,000— 
from this expedition the total contribution 
to the knowledge of the races of men were 
some notes by two of the officers, a few un- 
satisfactory photographs, a few bones of 
skeletons and sizty-four skulls! There is a 
serious side to such a neglect of opportunity 
as this. 
In 1803 Tasmania’s population was 7,000 ; 
to-day there is not a single representative 
left. In 1842 the Maoris of New Zealand 
numbered 140,000; to-day there are less 
than 30,000. When Macaulay’s New Zea- 
lander gazes on the ruins of London there 
will be no New Zealander; the name ‘ Ma- 
ori’ even will be as unfamiliar then as is 
now the name of some obscure Germanic 
tribe of the times of Tacitus. Whatis true 
of New Zealand is rapidly becoming true of 
all the islands of the Pacific; it is true of 
nearly all the North American continent 
and for large areas of the Southern. 
The field for the study of physical man 
is broad, but the scene is ever changing, 
and it behooves us to-day, if we would not 
merit the just condemnation of the ages to 
come, to observe, to record, to make use of 
the camera, the phonograph, the calipers 
and the color-seale. But how often on any 
of the great scientific expeditions is there 
any one fitted by previous training to ob- 
serve correctly and accurately the races of 
men that may be encountered? Recall, if 
you please, the numerous expeditions which 
have penetrated Africa, crossed Asia and 
