BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [8] 



Such a guide is here presented. Nothing has been included con- 

 cerning measurements of the specimens or the living subjects, for the 

 reason that this requires much detail and personal instruction. Begin- 

 ning with the present year (1904), such instructions can be obtained 

 free at the Laboratory of Physical Anthropology in the United States 

 National Museum. 



COLLECTIONS. 

 CEANIA AND SKELETONS. 



The skull and skeletal parts of man are relatively easy to obtain, 

 and are of great aid to anthropology. 



The skull, besides many other interesting features, preserves best 

 the zoological as well as the racial characteristics of the individual, and 

 also the general form and size of by far the most important human 

 organ, the brain. The other parts of the skeleton, particularly the 

 pelvis, scapulas, and the long bones, besides aiding in zoological and 

 racial determination, render it possible to estimate the stature and 

 peculiarities of muscular activity in the individual and offer opportu- 

 nities for investigating growth, decline, and numerous other physiolog- 

 ical conditions. 



Moreover, skull and skeletal remains are the only physical remnants 

 of man's most ancient to his most recent predecessor; hence the only 

 objects from which it may be hoped to trace the biological evolution 

 of man and of his varieties, and to learn the changes that have taken 

 place in peoples still represented, or even in special families. 



In addition, the osteological remains of peoples, particularly the 

 less civilized, preserve marks, such as artificial deformation, painting, 

 staining, carving, trephining, dental or other mutilation, etc., which 

 throw light on a number of interesting phases in the ethnology of 

 these groups of humanity. 



These brief remarks show the value to anthropology of ample and 

 comprehensive skeletal material, including that of the whites, often 

 neglected; but they also embody the conditions — to be dealt with 

 below — regarding the proper methods of gathering this material. 



Skeletal remains are widely distributed. This subject has to be 

 approached with the greatest delicacy and with profound respect for 

 those reverential beliefs concerning the dead to be found among all 

 peoples, the savage as well as the civilized. The sources of collection 

 are numerous and may be considered under three headings: 



(1) Those among the whites and other civilized peoples; 



(2) Those among primitive peoples; and 



(3) Those of extinct peoples and early man. 



