PREFACE. XV 



dition of the science than the contradictory statements 

 contained therein ; but in the hands of travellers it may 

 greatly help to rectify much of our present confusion. 



There has hitherto been no work in the English lan- 

 guage on Anthropology which could be recommended as a 

 text-book for travellers and students generally. Since 

 the time of Prichard no work has issued from the press of 

 this country of general utility. There have been many 

 special treatises, but none at all comparable to the present 

 volume. In America, the important and comprehensive 

 works of Nott and Gliddon have helped to supply a want; 

 but they are so violent in opinion, and there is such a uni- 

 versal impression that they were written "with an object," 

 that their value as text-books is very much lessened. 

 Dr. Waitz shares with many authors, a suspicion that 

 these works were written to prove the distinct origin of 

 superior and inferior races of mankind, and at times, 

 perhaps, he fails to do the American authors justice. 



The present work has rarely been noticed in this 

 country ; but in France it has been freely criticised. It 

 has also been well received in Germany, and Dr. Waitz's 

 firmest theoretical opponents have willingly admitted the 

 zeal, immense research, and erudition he has shown in 

 the collation of his materials. Neither is it written 

 in a narrow party spirit, but the author is candid and im- 

 partial, and the whole tone of his work is characteristic 

 of a truly philosophical mind. 



With regard to my own duties as editor, I have only 

 to explain that the original has been followed as closely 

 as possible consistently with rendering a readable trans- 

 lation of language so thoroughly idiomatic as are the 

 writings of Professor Waitz. The great number of 

 references which the work contains has led me to depart 



