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INTRODUCTION

T seems strange that man should study everything in heaven and earth and largely neglect the study of himself, yet this is what has virtually happened. Anthropology, the study of man, is the youngest of the sciences, but who will say that it is the least important?

We may, perhaps, find one reason for this neglect in the peculiar complexity of the subject and the difficulty there is in approaching it from a dispassionate point of view; there are so many preconceived opinions which have to be removed, and this is always a thankless task. Even now the scope and significance of anthropology have scarcely been. recognised.

Some well-meaning and enthusiastic students have been so impressed with the importance of the particular department with which they are more especially interested that they have neglected others. A disparagement even has sometimes been more implied than actually expressed. Others have been overwhelmed with the details they have accumulated, and have not seen the wood on account of the trees. The whole subject is so vast that very few have had the requisite training, or have, or rather have made, the time to compare the results of one branch with those of another. We thus have the trained specialist on the one hand, and the more or less serious amateur on the other, too often not only working independently of each other, but even ignorant of the other's labours, and even of his

existence. Fortunately this lack of co-operation and co-ordination is rapidly decreasing, and a living science of anthropology is emerging which will be acknowledged by the sister sciences as its methods and objects become more definitive.

At the risk of being tedious, I think it is desirable to define our terms at the outset.' On the Continent the term anthropology is restricted to what we in England term physical anthropology or somatology, to use a term which is now being widely employed by our American colleagues -that is, the study of man as an animal. This comprises not only the comparative study of the structural differences between members of different races of mankind, but also the comparison of man with the higher apes. We prefer to retain the word anthropology for the study of man in its widest aspect.

Ethnography is the description of a special people, whether it be a small tribe, the natives of a restricted area, or a large nation; it includes a comparative study of human groups, and has for its aim the elucidation of the interrelationships of tribes, races, and other bodies of men; thus it deals with the classification of peoples, their origin, and their migrations.

Ethnology may also be divided into several branches, the four more important of which are Sociology, Technology, Religion, and Linguistics.

Sociology is the study of human communities, both simple and complex, and an attempt is now being made to trace the rise of simple communities and their gradual and diverse evolution to the complex civilisations of ancient and modern times. History, in the ordinary acceptance of the

1 In the final chapter will be found a classification and international nomenclature of the various departments of anthropology which has been proposed by Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia.

term, deals more especially with the later phases of this metamorphosis, but an endeavour is being made to get behind history, as it were, and to attempt to account for the data upon which historians work. The physical conditions of a country, including the climate, the vegetation, and the indigenous animals, affect the life of the human inhabitants of that country; in other words, the mode of life of a primitive people is conditioned by its environment. The method of living affects the family life, and so we find that certain types of family organisation are related to definite habits of life. As civilisation advances, the State acquires powers and regulates families as well as individuals, but the characteristics of different forms of government are themselves due to the type of family organisation which obtains among those various peoples. According to this method of investigation, we start with physical geography and find ourselves drawn into statecraft and political economy.

Other fruitful lines of study are to be found in tracing the evolution of tools, weapons-in fact, of all manufactured objects. As an example of this line of inquiry, or technology, I shall take the common cart, and while tracing its evolution we shall at the same time see that such studies open up wider questions than are at first apparent.

The origin, evolution, and migration of designs and patterns is a fascinating subject, and one replete with human interest, as being associated with some of the deepest and most subtle ideas of mankind. I have already published a small book' on this subject.

The anthropological study of religion is at the same time fascinating and extremely difficult. It is not my intention to tread far along this slippery path in the present volume. Those who would like to see the trend of recent inquiries

1 A. C. Haddon, Evolution in Art, as Illustrated by the Life-Histories of Designs. Contemporary Science Series, 1895.

should read the masterly works of Professor E. B. Tylor, the late Professor Robertson Smith, Dr. J. G. Frazer, and of E. Sydney Hartland. A good deal of what is included in that complex of beliefs, sayings, and practices which is known as folk-lore, comes under the designation of religion as that term is understood by anthropologists.

Archæology tries to reconstruct the ancient history of man from the remains of the past which are brought to light in various ways. Just as a historian studies contemporaneous documents in order to revivify obscure historical periods, so the archæologist pores over flint implements, fragments of pottery, and other relics, in order to reconstruct the life of our remote ancestors. Earthen vessels are comparatively easy to make, and though they are brittle, their fragments, when properly baked, are well-nigh indestructible. The history of man is unconsciously largely written on shards, and the elucidation of these unwritten records is as interesting and important as the deciphering of the cruciform inscriptions on the clay tablets of Assyria. The book of pots has yet to be written.

It is interesting to know what our forefathers did, to gauge the rank of their culture, and to trace the improvements which gradually took place; but it would be still more interesting if we could recover what they thought and what they believed. It is well to know their tools and their weapons; it is better to know how they treated one another, and what were their ideas of the non-material aspect of their existence. For these, after all, are the most important departments of human life. Now for this we have two methods of inquiry.

In a general survey of mankind we find that there are peoples in all stages of culture, and we also notice that there is an intense conservatism in all matters of social or religious importance. When a people is isolated, it is believed that

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