SEPTEMBER 17, 1897. ] 
statements of the meaning attached to the 
essential term by more catholic anthropol- 
ogists. So Humanity may be defined, by 
exclusion, as the condition or quality or 
character of possessing attributes distinct 
from those of animals, vegetals and miner- 
als; or, by inclusion, as (1) attributes or 
characteristics confined to human beings, 
comprising (a) the condition or quality of 
being human, 7. e., of acting, feeling and 
thinking after the manner of human beings, 
(6) the character of being humane, and (¢) 
the character of being well bred; (2) man- 
kind collectively ; (3) secular learning and 
literature. 
The supreme importance of humanity as 
thus defined is indicated by the fact that it 
is the foremost subject-matter of thought 
and speech and literature among all peo- 
ples, its prominence increasing from sav- 
agery through barbarism and civilization 
and culminating in enlightenment. The 
essential distinctness of humanity as thus 
defined appears when its serial relations to 
the other primary objects-matter of knowl- 
edge are considered. Just as living things 
rise above the mineral world by the pos- 
session of vitality, and just as animals rise 
above plants by the possession of motility, 
so do human beings rise above all other 
things by the possession of specific attri- 
butes rooting in mentality and maturing in 
the complex activities of collective life; or 
just as inorganic matter is the basis for the 
essentially distinct organic existence, so or- 
ganic matter and processes form the basis for 
the essentially distinct superorganic activi- 
ties of human existence. The importanceand 
distinctness of humanity are, indeed, such 
that it behooves naturalists to recognize a 
fourth realm or world—to extend science 
from the great realms of the mineral, the 
vegetal and the animal into the incom- 
parably broader and richer realm of the 
purely human; and this extension is the 
chief end of modern anthropology. 
SCIENCE. 
415 
IOUT, 
Human knowledge is constantly increas- 
ing. The body or aggregate of knowledge 
is imponderable, and may not be counted 
or measured or weighed; yet it is an 
entity of prime importance and of univer- 
sal recognition. Itself indefinite and vary- 
ing from mind to mind, the sum of knowl- 
edge may be divided, albeit roughly, and 
analyzed, albeit crudely, and the days and 
years and centuries of its progress among 
men and peoples may be so studied that its 
tendencies, and perhaps even the laws of its 
growth, may be followed, albeit slowly and 
uncertainly. Although so indefinite, it is 
well worth while to try, and try again and 
still again, to analyze knowledge and trace 
its progress; for knowledge is the end and 
aim of intelligence, and human progress is 
measured not more by increase in knowl- 
edge of things than by increase in knowl- 
edge of knowledge. 
Many students have found it convenient 
to divide or classify knowledge as individual 
and common, general and special, empiric 
and scientific, deductive and inductive, etc., 
according to the point of view; and these 
divisions are of use in that they represent 
first steps in analysis, though it is to be 
remembered that they are more or less 
vague or arbitrary, one or both. It may 
not be bootless slightly to extend this pro- 
visional analysis in order to trace more 
clearly the lines and stages in the growth of. 
intellectual product. 
For the sake of gaining clear ideas of re- 
lation, it is sometimes useful to project per- 
ception by the aid of mental imagery, and 
thereby to visualize the invisible in the eye 
of the mind. So the great aggregate of 
knowledge is often likened unto a numer- 
ical sum, or a reservoir or river fed by 
many affluents; but a better figure may be 
found in scientific ideation, and the impon- 
derable body may be pictured as an 
indefinite nebula or plasma, constantly 
