Anthropology

The science of man. It may be divided into three departments, viz.: biology, the the study of man as an animal; psychology, the study of human mind and its development; and ethnology, the study of man in his social, industrial, racial and political relations. It has to do with questions concerning the origin of man, and with all the stages of his development from the primitive to the most recent period. Two main views exist as to man's origin-one based on a literal interpretation of Scripture, which regards man as a separate creation, distinct from and superior to the animal kingdom in general; the other founded on recent scientific research and theory, which considers man to be a lineal descendant of the lower animals. Anthropologists have long depended on the measurement of the skull as a leading element in the cla ification of races, but it is found that measurements of all parts of the body are important in this determination. French anthropologists have been particularly active in this direction, and have made more than 100 measurements of a single individual. Sculptors have also adopted certain rules of measurement, for the purpose of obtaining a canon of proportion for the most harmoniously developed human body. As regards the measurement of human height, nearly 200,000 persons were measured at draft stations during the American civil war, while the Anthropometric Committee of the British A ociation have collected similiar measurements of peoples from all parts of the earth. In addition to height, tables are given of weight and of various dimensions of the body, the observations having grown more minute and varied as their scientific value has become more evident. In 1882 a collection of data of this character was begun in the French prisons, as a means of identification of criminals, in connection with photographs of the various parts of their bodies. This system has much developed, and promises to render absolute the detection of any suspected person, of whom measurements exist. In the U. S. Army the use of tattoo marks, vaccination marks or other scars, etc., in connection with height and color of hair and eyes, are depended upon for the detection of deserters. method in anthropometry, long practiced in China, and coming into use elsewhere, is the taking of impre ions of the fine lines and circles at the extremities of the thumbs and fingers. These seem to be alike in no two individuals, and in the East are used as seal marks on important documents. A