THE JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY. No. I.-JULY, 1870. ART. 1.-THE AIM AND SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY. It might be thought that, after the existence and active working in England, for seven years, of a Society devoted to the study of Anthropology, there can be little question as to the real aim and scope of the science. It is, nevertheless, unfortunately true, that there is not a perfect understanding on this subject, even among the students of anthropology themselves. It is to be expected that they will not always agree as to the inferences to be deduced from accepted data; but it is otherwise as to the object of their science and the limits within which their inquiries are to be carried on. I cannot better explain the reason for the uncertainty on these points which does really exist than in the words used by Dr. Broca, when seeking to define Anthropology. He says that, to define this science as the natural history of mankind, "might, in most minds, give rise to the idea that it is a purely descriptive science; that it confines itself to distinguish and classify the various races according to their physical type; and this interpretation must be carefully guarded against, and the more so since there has been a time when anthropology, still in its infancy, was confined within such narrow limits.' The last sentence would have been more exact if it had said "practically confined"; for it is only just to the memory of the late Dr. James Hunt, the founder of the Anthropological Society of London, to say that, in his first introductory address, he declared anthropology to be "the science of the whole nature of man." Dr. Broca is, however, practically correct, and the * See Anthropological Review, vol. v (1867), p. 195. + Ditto, vol. 1, p. 2. VOL. I. B |