October 21, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



523 



anthropological problems can not follow 

 the methods of the biologist and of the 

 linguist. Neither can the anthropologist 

 of our period fill the demands for infor- 

 mation of all those who may need anthro- 

 pological data. It might almost seem 

 that the versatility required of him will 

 set a limit to his usefulness as a thorough 

 scientist. However, the solution of this 

 difficulty is not far off. We have seen 

 that a great portion of the domain of an- 

 thropology has developed through the ap- 

 plication of the new historical point of 

 view to the mental sciences. To those 

 who occupy themselves with this group of 

 problems anthropological knowledge will 

 be indispensable. Though the anthropo- 

 logical point of view may thus pervade the 

 treatment of an older branch of science 

 and help to develop new standpoints, the 

 assistance that anthropology renders it 

 does not destroy the independence of the 

 older science which in a long history has 

 developed its own aims and methods. Con- 

 scious of the invigorating influence of our 

 point of view and of the grandeur of a 

 single all-compassing science of man, en- 

 thusiastic anthropologists may proclaim 

 the mastery of anthropology over older sci- 

 ences that have achieved where we are still 

 struggling with methods, that have built up 

 noble structures where chaos reigns with 

 US; the trend of development points in an- 

 other direction, in the continuance of each 

 science by itself, assisted where may be by 

 anthropological methods. The practical de- 

 mands of anthropology also demand a defi- 

 nition and restriction of its field of work 

 rather than constant expansion. 



The historical development of the work 

 of anthropologists seems to single out 

 clearly a domain of knowledge that hereto- 

 fore has not been treated by any other sci- 

 ence. It is the biological history of man- 

 kind in all its varieties ; linguistics applied 

 to people without written languages; the 



ethnology of people without historic rec- 

 ords, and prehistoric archaeology. It is true 

 that these limits are constantly being over- 

 stepped, but the unbiased observer will rec- 

 ognize that in all other fields special knowl- 

 edge is required which can not be supplied 

 by general anthropology. The general 

 problem of the evolution of mankind is 

 being taken up now by the investigator, of 

 primitive tribes, now by the student of the 

 history of civilization. We may still recog- 

 nize in it the ultimate aim of anthropology 

 in the wider sense of the term, but we must 

 understand that it will be reached by co- 

 operation between all the mental sciences 

 and the efforts of the anthropologist. 



The field of research that has been left 

 for anthropology in the narrower sense of 

 the term is, even as it is, almost too wide, 

 and there are indications of its breaking 

 up. The biological, linguistic and ethno- 

 logic-archasological methods are so distinct 

 that on the whole the same man will not be 

 equally proficient in all of them. The time 

 is rapidly drawing near when the biolog- 

 ical branch of anthropology will be finally 

 separated from the rest and become a part 

 of biology. This seems necessary, since all 

 the problems relating to the effect of geo- 

 graphical and social environment and tho^e 

 relating to heredity are primarily of a 

 biological character. Problems may be set 

 by the general anthropologist. They will 

 be solved by the biologist. Almost equally 

 cogent are the reasons that urge on to a 

 separation of the purely linguistic work 

 from the ethnological work. I think the 

 time is not far distant when anthropology 

 pure and simple will deal with the customs 

 and beliefs of the less civilized people only, 

 and when linguistics and biology will con- 

 tinue and develop the work that we are 

 doing now because no one else cares for it. 

 Nevertheless, we must always demand that 

 the anthropologist who carries on field re- 

 search must be familiar with the principles 



