Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-02-03
cuLMfnArlon OF ALL STUDIES
such Is Archaeology and EthnoIoEy
Its Pursufx fn America

Its Pursuit fH America.
In the diversion Of American arch
aeology and ethnology at Harvard,
full-fedged department of the univer-
sity, that institution has n school that
is in advance of any other in the coun-
try, and that is equaled by only one in
Europe. In Paris there is school of
anthropology. an institution, the first
of its kind in the world, which is not
connected with any college or univer-
sity. In the other great centers of
education on the continent anthro-
pology may be studied as special fea-
ture. but in no one of them has it been
permitted the dignity or Importance of
a department. At Harvard. however,
it is full division, entitled to the same
consideration as languages or natural
history. Of course, Prof. F. Whitman
is at the head of the Cambridge school,
and in it's establishment there has been
realized a project the Importance of
which has been made evident by his
own experience in the branch of re-
search to which he has devoted his life
The courses are conducted by Prof.
Putnam and his assistant, Instructor
Frank Russell, in the lecture rooms and
laboratories of the Peabody museum.
the splendid library of which is open to
the students. The lectures include
utiiitarian.and aesthetic arts, social life
of natural races, which will include gov
eminent, aboriginal marriage, primi-
tive law and morals. Religion is the
subject of another course of lectures,
mythology of still another, and Ian
guage, in all its varieties, spoken, ges-
tural and written, of a fourth. Other
lectures will consider the distribution
of man over the earth and his diversion
into groups, races and migrations.
Man leaves behind him, when he dies,
his bones, his tools and his monuments,
and these are the things from which
have been derived all the items of our
knowledge of him and his progress up
to the time when he learned to write.
And even in the historic age the story
would be much less complete but for his
inscriptions, his art and his relics.
After these matters are all in hand,
there is, geology to be studied, both
theoretical and practical. The whole
story of mans early residence in New
Jersey is dependent upon the position
of certain bits of worked stone in GER
tain banks of dirt. The value of the find
is therefore dependent absolutely on
the geological knowledge and reputa-
ton of the man who finds them and the
care with which he records the circum-
stances of their discovery.
Thus it may be seen that archaeology
is the elimination of all studies, and ne
who has been thus prepared is ready to
go through the world with his eyes
open, and is able to gain knowledge and
enjoyment in a thousand ways which
are closed to ordinary mortals. De-
spite the completely of the subject,
workers in this department have hap
pened to enter it by accident, and not as
result of intention. So Prof. Putnam
has had in mind the preparation of stu
dents especially for the work by giving
them under the most favorable condi-
tons and environment the great prin-
ciples underlying the science, SO that
they may secure the necessary training
in a regular and systematic manner,
and come into the Investigations of
archaeology ready to begin where, I'M
der the former lack of system, it was
necessary to stop. With this idea in
mind, Prof. Putnam has been at work
for n number of years quietly advanc-
ing the interests of the department
whenever opportunity presented itself.
1t is now on such basis that it is recog-
nized as a full department of the uni
versity, the first degrees in it to be
given at the expiration of the present
academic year. There are now Is stu
dents. the majority of whom intend to
follow archaeology as profession, and
such is the demand for skilled workers
that the graduates Of the present year
have already engagements to take
charge of museums at the completion
of their studies.-Boston Transcript.
NATURES GARDENS IN ALASKA.
Reds nf Flowers Amid the Shows of