Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/303



HE object of this article is not to present a history of anthropology in America, but to sketch briefly some of the work at present done, so as to show the aims and methods of our workers in the science.

That anthropology is yearly attracting greater attention among us is shown by the way in which institutions of learning are recognizing its importance. Not many years ago a scientific journal made the statement that but one institution of learning in the United States, the University of Rochester, had the science upon its curriculum. The way in which it was introduced there is somewhat interesting. At that time the scientific work offered to students at Rochester was admittedly insufficient in quantity, but the way seemed hardly clear to the employment of any additional teaching force to do extra work. At this stage of affairs Prof. Joseph Gilmore, in charge of the Department of Rhetoric and English Literature, offered, in some degree at least, to meet the need, to announce an optional course in anthropology. The work was very elementary, extending over but a single term, and covering the field considered in De Quatrefages's little volume, The Natural History of Man. From the beginning the course was a favorite one, and many students elected it, The effect was good and the example has been followed. Since that time instruction in anthropology has entered into the work of a considerable number of American colleges and universities. It is suggestive to inquire how and why it has been introduced. At Yale, Prof. Sumner has for several years given such courses, because he felt that students unacquainted with the science could not profitably undertake