614 



soiujsrcij. 



[Vol. IX., No. 229 



is an impossibility ; but we may have a museum of 

 arts, including the arts industrial and aesthetic. 

 But, while such a museum might be possible, it is 

 impracticable, for a collection of the arts of all 

 peoples of all times would be of such magnitude 

 that it could not properly be made and preserved 

 within practical conditions of economy. That 

 which the great institutions of the world really 

 attempt is an archeologicfi!! museum, — a museum of 

 the antiquities of the higher races, and of the past 

 and present of the lower races. In the administra- 

 tion of such a museum it may be considered best to 

 segregate a part thereof for exhibition, as indicated 

 in a previous part of this letter ; but their arrange- 

 ment by tribes on ethnic characteristics of any kind 

 is an impossibility. Their arrangement by geographic 

 districts is possible, but the lessons taught thereby 

 are not of prime importance, and the cost of such an 

 exhibition would be excessively expensive, — quite 

 out of proportion to the value of the results. The 

 scientific or technologic classification is all that re- 

 mains, and this has yet to be developed. 



Will the editor of Science indulge me in one more 

 remark, as a corollary to what I have said ? 



There is a science of anthropology, composed of 

 subsidiary sciences, which I group as follows : the 

 biology of man, which is the study of the animal 

 man, and may be considered as belonging to biology 

 proper, or anthropology ; there is a science of psy- 

 chology, which is a part of anthropology ; there is a 

 science of technology, which includes all the arts of 

 mankind ; there is a science of sociology, which in- 

 cludes all the institutions of mankind ; there is a 

 science of philology, which includes the languages 

 of mankind ; and there is a science of philosophy, 

 which includes the opinions of mankind ; but there 

 is no science of ethnology, for the attempt to clas- 

 sify mankind in groups has failed on every hand. 

 Perhaps the most distinctive group of men yet 

 discovered in the world are the Eskimos. They 

 have in a general way physical characteristics 

 which separate them from other ^Deoples, but these 

 distinctions fade out on the western coast of America 

 and eastern coast of Asia They have arts peculiar 

 to an arctic habitat, biit their arts are not exclusively 

 their own. Their institutions are yet practically 

 unknown. Their opinions, as represented in their 

 mythologies, are imperfectly known, but they yet 

 furnish no characteristics by which they can be 

 segregated from many other peoples ; and Mr. Dall 

 has shown that their languages are not wholly un- 

 connected with other languages of the north. But 

 when the attempt is made to set up other races in 

 the world, it wholly fails. The unity of mankind is 

 the greatest induction of anthropology. 



J. W. Powell. 

 Wastiington, June 11. 



I have to say a few words in reply to Major 

 Powell's criticism of my letter in Science of May 20. 

 It will be seen that in regard to several points which 

 are discussed in my letter of June 17, and Major 

 Powell's letter of to-day, there is no difference of 

 opinion between Major Powell and myself, as his re- 

 marks would imply. 



Major Powell infers that my remarks refer to 

 archeological collections of pre-Columbian peoples. 

 If he will kindly look at the contents of my two let- 

 ters, he will see that- no mention has been made of 

 such collections, but that we disciissed the general 

 question of studying and arranging ethnological ma- 



terial. The mere fact that we do not know to which 

 tribes archeological specimens belong excludes them 

 from our discussion, and demands a different kind of 

 treatment. I fully agree with Major Powell's re- 

 marks on this subject, but venture to say that they 

 do not belong to the question at issue. 



A few words more on Major Powell's remarks 

 on the classification of tribes and the alleged impos- 

 sibility of arranging a tribal museum. The problem 

 has been solved by numerous museums, even much 

 larger than the national museum. The ideal plan of 

 their arrangement is to exhibit a full set of a repre- 

 sentative of an ethnical group, and to show slight 

 laeculiarities in small special sets. Experience shows 

 that this can be done with collections from all parts 

 of the world without over-burdening the collection 

 with duplicates, and without making artificial classi- 

 fications — only by grouping the tribes according to 

 ethnic similarities. Such groups are not at all in- 

 tended to be classifications, as Major Powell infers 

 in his remarks on this subject. The principal differ- 

 ence between the plan advocated by Major Powell 

 and adopted by Professor Mason, and that of other 

 museums, is, that the latter exhibit the individual 

 phenomenon, while the former make classifications 

 that are not founded on the phenomenon, but in the 

 mind of the student. De. Fkanz Boas. 



New York, June 18. 



Small-pox hospitals. 



In your issue of the 20th of May I notice a state- 

 ment concerning the peculiar effect of small-pox in 

 the vicinity of hospitals for that disease. Some years 

 ago, small-pox was local here, and upon the termina- 

 tion of the case the bedding was burned in the yard 

 of the premises ; and I am informed, that, in the di- 

 rection in which the smoke was driven by the wind, 

 several cases of small-pox developed, while the sur- 

 rounding neighborhood was otherwise free from it. 



Among our acclimated people this disease is more 

 dreaded than yellow- fever. The people here are op- 

 posed to burning bedding of yellow-fever patients, 

 but favor burying or sinking in the channel. Our 

 atmosphere never being purified by frost, our reli- 

 ance must be upon the winds to purify and disinfect. 

 Here every thing rapidly decays, and passes away 

 into the atmosphere. ^ Hoeatio Cbain. 



Key West, June 7. 



The scientific swindler again. 



About six weeks ago a delightfully intelligent and 

 amiable deaf-and-dumb man appeared in Pottsville, 

 and was entertained hospitably by Mr. Bard Wells, 

 late of the geological survey of Pennsylvania, to 

 whom he gave some valuable books, and from whom 

 he took some, also a compass. He left Pottsville 

 suddenly without paying his hotel-bill. 



About two weeks afterward he called at the office 

 of the survey, in Philadelphia, after office-hours, 

 and represented himself to the janitress as an assist- 

 ant on the survey, sent by the assistant in charge of 

 the office to get certain survey reports. Having no 

 written order to show, he was refused admittance, 

 and went away very angry. 



I see that he has turned up at Syracuse. It is as- 

 tonishing that the fellow can have managed to escape 

 capture so long. J. P. Leslex. 



