Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/379

 328 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s. t i f 1899

You must not fall into the habit of confusing the terms as is done in common speech. In science we must use form to mean one thing and kind to mean another, and unless we adhere to this it is impossible to make scientific advance. Every man loves to use words as his neighbors use them, for speech is but a convention, and unless the convention is understood by others it is an unknown tongue ; but no man has a right to demand of an- other that he use his words with the same meanings as himself if the other defines his meanings, and still less has he the right to demand that another should use a word with many meanings and thus obscure his language.

Man produces the clay when he digs up the kind of clay, or he may produce the kind of clay by mixing ingredients; but when he molds the clay into a brick he determines the form. He may mold the clay into a vessel, then he also determines the form in which it is useful.

Man produces forms of things that he may utilize air, water, rocks, plants, and animals. He utilizes air when he produces things that insure proper ventilation. A chimney is a form for this purpose ; an opening in a room and a shaft in a building are forms of this character; a fan is a form designed to secure a better movement of the air.

For the utilization of water primitive man constructs a gourd into a drinking cup, or he molds clay for the purpose of holding water, or he constructs wicker-work jugs for this purpose ; so man digs wells and constructs reservoirs, and lays pipes for the transportation of water, and in higher civilization he constructs filters for the purification of water. Thus, innumerable forms are constructed by man for the utilization of water.

In the same manner many forms are produced for the utiliza- tion of rock material. The rocks are built into houses as rock structures proper ; the clays are molded into bricks or adobes to be built into houses. Iron is extracted from the rock and molded into innumerable forms for men's use. Copper, gold,

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