588 



SCIUJ^fCU. 



[Vol. IX., No. 228 



fication of his plan of arraugiug the collections of the 

 national m-jsenm. As this plan is the outcome of his 

 philosophical view of the ijroblems of ethnology, we 

 must scrutinize these in order to judge as to the 

 ^merits of his system. 



His principal object is the study of each and every 

 invention among peoj)les of all races and countries. 

 I am well aware that this idea was and is shared by 

 many scientists ; and at this very moment I read with 

 interest Mantegazza's proposal of erecting a ' psycho- 

 logical museum,' i.e., a museum of ethnological ob- 

 jects arranged according to the ideas to which they 

 belong. Professor Mason's rank among American 

 ethnologists, however, and the weight he can give to 

 his opinions by the arrangement of the large collec- 

 tions of the national museum according to his theories, 

 induce me to criticise his views more particularly. 



My view of the study of ethnology is this : the 

 object of our science is to understand the phenomena 

 called ethnological and anthropological, in the widest 

 sense of those words, — in their historical development 

 and geographical distribution, and in their physio- 

 logical and psychological foundation. These two 

 branches are opposed to each other in the same way as 

 are biology and the so-called systematic ' organology,' 

 or, as I have called it in another place (Science, ix. No. 

 210), when treating on the stiidy of geography, ' physi- 

 cal science and cosmography ; ' the former trying to 

 deduce laws from phenomena, the latter having for 

 its aim a description and explanation of phenomena. 

 I tried to show that both branches are of eqiaal scien- 

 tific value. 



Let us inquire which method must be applied to 

 carry on ethnological researches of either kind. Eth- 

 nological phenomena are the result of the physical 

 and psychical character of men, and of its develop- 

 ment under the influence of the surroundings : there- 

 fore tw.o problems must be studied for attaining 

 scientific results. The preliminary study is that of 

 the surroundings : the final aim of the researches is 

 the knowledge of the laws and history of the devel- 

 opment of the physiological and psychological char- 

 acter of mankind. ' Surroundings ' are the physical 

 conditions of the country, and the sociological phe- 

 nomena, i.e., the relation of man to man. Further- 

 more, the study of the present surroundings is in- 

 sufficient : the history of the people, the influence of 

 the regions through which it passed on its migra- 

 tions, and the people with whom it came into con- 

 tact, must be considered. All of these are phenomena 

 which may directly be observed by a well-trained 

 observer, or may be traced with greater or less accu- 

 racy by historical researches. 



The second part of ethnological researches is far 

 more difficult. The physical and psychical character of 

 a people is in itself the result of the action of the 

 surroundings, and of the way in which the present 

 character was attained. Each stage in the develop- 

 ment of a people leaves its stamp, which cannot be 

 destroyed by future events. Thus it appears that 

 the elements of the character of a people are ex- 

 tremely complex. There are two ways of treating 

 this problem. 



One of the remarkable features of such problems 

 is the occurrence of similar inventions in regions 

 widely apart, and without having a common origin. 

 One method of studying them — and this is 

 Professor Mason's method ■ — is to compare the phe- 

 nomena, and to draw conclusions by analogy. It is 

 the deductive method. The other method is to 



study phenomena arising from a common psychical 

 cause among all tribes and as infliienced by their 

 surroundings ; i.e., by tracing the full history of the 

 single phenomenon. This is the inductive method. 

 For this method of study, the tribal arrangement of 

 museum specimens is the only satisfatory one, as it 

 represents the physical and ethnical surroundings. 



I will explain these ideas by giving an example. It 

 has frequently been proposed to establish a museum 

 illustrating the adaptation of organisms to surround- 

 ings. The aim of this study is to find the physiolo- 

 gical laws or the combination of causes which have 

 the effect of causing these adaptations. The classi- 

 fication and arrangement must, of course, be made 

 according to surroundings, in order to show their 

 influence on different kinds of organisms. 



An ethnological collection is analogous to this. 

 The objects of study are researches on psychology. 

 The method of researches is a study of the surround- 

 ings. The surroimdings are physical and ethnical : 

 therefore the arrangement must also be physical and 

 ethnical, as this is the only way to show the single 

 phenomenon in its peculiar character and surround- 

 ings. 



It has been the tendency of science to confine the 

 domain of deductive methods more and more, and 

 not to be content with arguments from analogy, 

 which are the foundation of most errors of the 

 human mind, and to which may be traced the religious 

 and other ideas of man in a primitive state of culture, 

 and, to a certain degree, even in a state of advanced 

 civilization. Science is constantly encroaching upon 

 the domain of the argument from analogy, and de- 

 mands inductive methods. 



Nevertheless the psychological and scientific. value 

 of the argument from analogy cannot be overrated : 

 it is the most effective method of finding problems. 

 The active part it plays in the origin of philosophi- 

 cal systems and grand ideas which sometimes burst 

 upon scientists is proof of this. But, as far as induc- 

 tive methods can be applied, — and we believe that 

 their domain will continue to increase, — induction 

 must scrutinize the ideas found by deduction. There- 

 fore I should call Professor Mason's system a sug- 

 gestive one, but not fit for scientific researches, as it 

 does not allow the application of the inductive 

 method. 



But even this acknowledgment niust be limited. 

 The technological idea, which Professor Mason has 

 made the leading one in the arrangement of the collec- 

 tion of the national museum, is only one side, and a 

 very limited one, of the wide field of ideas which 

 must be leading in a ' psychological museum,' as 

 Mantegazza calls it. 



The rattle, for instance, is not merely the outcome 

 of the idea of making noise, and of the technical 

 methods applied to reach this end : it is, besides 

 this, the outcome of religious conceptions, as any 

 noise may be applied to invoke or drive away spirits ; 

 or it may be the outcome of the pleasure children 

 have in noise of any kind ; and its form may be 

 characteristic of the art of the people. Thus the 

 same implement belongs to very different depart- 

 ments of a psychological museum. 



Furthermore, let us inquire what is the psycho- 

 logical principle upon which Mason's system is 

 founded. The leading idea is technology. The 

 foundation of technics is the faculty of acting suit- 

 ably : consequently the purpose of the implement 

 must be made the principle of division. For in- 



