Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Professor Max Muller, who presided over the Anthropological Section of
the British Association, said that if one tried to recall what
anthropology was in 1847, and then considered what it was now, its
progress seemed most marvelous. These last fifty years had been an age
of discovery in Africa, Central Asia, America, Polynesia, and
Australia, such as could hardly be matched in any previous century.
But what seemed to him even more important than the mere increase of
material was the new spirit in which anthropology had been studied
during the last generation. He did not depreciate the labors of
so-called dilettanti, who were after all lovers of knowledge, and in a
study such as that of anthropology, the labors of these volunteers, or
franc-tireurs, had often proved most valuable. But the study of man in
every part of the world had ceased to be a subject for curiosity only.
It had been raised to the dignity and also the responsibility of a
real science, and was now guided by principles as strict and rigorous
as any other science. Many theories which were very popular fifty
years ago were now completely exploded; nay, some of the very
principles by which the science was then guided had been discarded.
Among all serious students, whether physiologists or philologists, it
was by this time recognized that the divorce between ethnology and
philology, granted if only for incompatibility of temper, had been
productive of nothing but good.
CLASSIFICATION.
Instead of attempting to classify mankind as a whole, students were
now engaged in classifying skulls, hair, teeth, and skin. Many solid
results had been secured by these special researches; but as yet, no
two classifications, based on these characteristics, had been made to
run parallel. The most natural classification was, no doubt, that
according to the color of the skin. This gave us a black, a brown, a
yellow, a red, and a white race, with several subdivisions. This
classification had often been despised as unscientific; but might
still turn out far more valuable than at present supposed. The next
classification was that by the color of the eyes, as black, brown,
hazel, gray, and blue. This subject had also attracted much attention
of late, and, within certain limits, the results have proved very
valuable. The most favorite classification, however, had always been
that according to the skulls. The skull, as the shell of the brain,
had by many students been supposed to betray something of the
spiritual essence of man; and who could doubt that the general
features of the skull, if taken in large averages, did correspond to
the general features of human character? We had only to look around to
see men with heads like a cannon ball and others with heads like a
hawk. This distinction had formed the foundation for a more scientific
classification into brachycephalic, dolichocephalic, and mesocephalic
skulls. If we examined any large collection of skulls we had not much
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