516 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 512. 



view laws may be exemplified by individual 

 events, which, however, lose their specific 

 interest once the laws are discovered. The 

 actual event possesses no scientific value in 

 itself, but only so far as it leads to the dis- 

 covery of a general law. This view is, of 

 course, fundamentally opposed to the pure- 

 ly historical view. Here the laws of nature 

 are recognized in each individual event, and 

 the chief interest centers in the event as an 

 incident of the picture of the world. In a 

 way the historic view contains a strong, 

 esthetic element, which finds its satisfaction 

 in the clear conception of the individual 

 event. It is easily intelligible that the com- 

 bination of these two standpoints led to the 

 subordination of the historical fact under 

 the concept of the law of nature. Indeed, 

 we find all the sciences which took up the 

 historical standpoint for the first time, soon 

 engaged in endeavors to discover the laws 

 according to which evolution has taken 

 place. The regularity in the processes of 

 evolution became the center of attraction 

 even before the processes of evolution had 

 been observed and understood. All sci- 

 ences were equally guilty of premature 

 theories of evolution based on observed 

 homologies and supposed similarities. The 

 theories had to be revised again and again, 

 as the slow progress of empirical knowl- 

 edge of the data of evolution proved their 

 fallacy. 



Anthropology also felt the quickening 

 impulse of the historic point of view, and 

 its development followed the same lines 

 that may be observed in the history of the 

 other sciences. The unity of civilization 

 and of primitive culture that had been di- 

 vined by Herder now shone forth as a cer- 

 tainty. The multiplicity and diversity of 

 curious customs and beliefs appeared as 

 early steps in the evolution of civilization 

 from simple forms of culture. The strik- 

 ing similarity between the customs of re- 

 mote districts was the proof of the uni- 



form manner in which civilization had de- 

 veloped the world over. The laws according 

 to which this uniform development of cul- 

 ture took place became the new problem 

 which engrossed the attention of anthro- 

 pologists. 



This is the source from which sprang the 

 ambitious system of Herbert Spencer and 

 the ingenious theories of Edward Burnett 

 Tylor. The underlying thought of the 

 numerous attempts to systematize the whole 

 range of social phenomena or one or the 

 other of its features — such as religious be- 

 lief, social organization, forms of marriage 

 —has been the belief that one definite sys- 

 tem can be found according to which all 

 culture has developed, that there is one 

 type of evolution from a primitive form 

 to the highest civilization which is appli- 

 cable to the whole of mankind, that not- 

 withstanding many variations caused by 

 local and historical conditions, the general 

 type of evolution is the same every^vhere. 



This theory has been discussed most 

 clearly by Tylor, who finds proof for it in 

 the sameness of customs and beliefs the 

 world over. The typical similarity and the 

 occurrence of certain customs in definite 

 combinations are explained by him as due 

 to their belonging to a certain stage in the 

 development of civilization. They do not 

 disappear suddenly, but persist for a time 

 in the form of survivals. These are, there- 

 fore, wherever they occur, a proof that a 

 lower stage of culture of which these cus- 

 toms are characteristic has been passed 

 through. 



Anthropology owes its very existence to 

 the stimulus given by these scholars and to 

 the conclusions reached by them. What 

 had been a chaos of facts appeared now 

 marshaled in orderly array, and the great 

 steps in the slow advance from savagery 

 to civilization were drawn for the first 

 time with a firm hand. We can not over- 

 estimate the influence of the bold general- 



