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Show XII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY It is worthy of note that, while the science of man has advanced rapidly during the last twenty years through the efforts of able investigators in different countries, the advance has been particularly rapid in the United States. No small part of this advance must be ascribed to the farsighted governmental policy of maintaining researches among the aboriginal tribes of the American continents, yet a part of the progress would seem to be due to the wide range in ethnic phenomena with which American students are favored. The investigator in this country may easily come in contact with representatives of every race and of every important strain of blood; at the same time he may study every important grade in culture, from the savagery of some of the Indian tribes, through the barbarism of others, up to the civilization and enlightenment represented by the greater part of our population. Among the consequences of this favorable condition for study have been the stimulation of observation and the encouragement of strictly scientific methods of research. Another result is found in the amassing of trustworthy data, in unequaled amount, for comparative study. The general result is expressed in extension and refinement of ethnic science, and to some degree in the application of ethnology to practical affairs. The systemization of the science resulting from consideration of its subject- matter as exhibited in the operations of the Bureau was set forth somewhat fully in the last report, and the same system is followed in the present report The science for which the Bureau was organized under the act of Congress treats but slightly of the somatic characteristics of the native tribes of America; the researches extend rattier over those characteristics exhibited by men in the tribal state as they are portrayed in cultural elements. These elements of character arise in the methods pursued by the tribesmen for the purpose of securing pleasure, welfare, justice, expression, and opinion; these pursuits involve activities which are esthetic, industrial, governmental, linguistic, and educational, and the activities give rise to the sciences of esthetotogy, technology, sociology, philology, and sophiology. |