Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/79

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IN EUROPE.
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third agency of this work at the buildings of the School of Medicine. During his lifetime, under the directorship of Broca himself, and since then usually under Dr. Paul Topinard, they are very largely the work of these two men. The laboratory contains a full series of all instruments that have been made for anthropological investigation, and the material in the museum practically illustrates the whole history of such work in France.

The Professors de Mortillet are father and son, and they have been connected with all the work on prehistorics that France has done. Gabriel de Mortillet has brought order out of chaos, system out of confusion, by his terminology of prehistoric chronology. His system is accepted very widely throughout western Europe. It is somewhat the fashion in America to decry it, but we believe that the nomenclature will become more and more fixed. It will not probably fit our American conditions, but for France and its neighbors it apparently expresses facts. G. de Mortillet's little book, Le Préhistorique, is a model of compact statement and sound criticism. The larger work, the Musée Préhistorique, is the result of joint labor of father and son, and is based upon the unrivaled collections from drift gravels and caverns of France, which they have so beautifully arranged at the museum at St. Germain. Prof. Adrien de Mortillet is a skillful artist, and his lectures are always illustrated with rapidly drawn crayon sketches.

A sketch of French work that omitted Dr. Paul Topinard would be very faulty. An old pupil and friend of Broca, he has done much to carry out his master's work. No one, save Broca, has done more to direct French work in anthropology. In many ways his influence has been felt as teacher in the school, as Director of the Broca Laboratory, as editor of the Revue d'Anthropologie in the past, and of L'Anthropologie at present. Some years ago his little book, L'Anthropologie, an introduction to physical anthropology, caused a real sensation and gained deserved recognition. Later, a much larger work, Elements d'Anthropologie Générale, appeared, a most valuable manual for the laboratory and for students. Within a few months he has brought out a new book upon the relation of man to the animal world.

In England there is considerable work in progress, though not so much as we might expect when we remember that it was there that Lubbock's works and the famous books of Tylor, Spencer, and Maine appeared. The British Museum has some rich collections in ethnography and prehistoric archaeology. The department is in charge of Mr. A. W. Franks and Mr. Charles Reade. The best cataloguing in Europe is done here. Every specimen is