Evening star., 1912-11-10

| have lust had a most interesting in
teryiew with the man who has made this
effort-Dr Ales Hrdlicka, learned ma
tive Of Bohemia, who is curator of ply
sical anthropOlogy in our National Mu-
scum here. / visited him yesterday at his
laboratory in the new museum building.
Save for time spent in making exped1-
tions into many countries Of the old and
new world, Dr. Hrdlicka has lived In
America since he came here to receive
part of his collegiate education. more
than thirty years ago. For ten years he
has been the governments chief author
ity on the physical characteristics of the
races. His laboratory contains all man.
ner of instruments of precision for meas
uring man-his head, his features. his
body, his limbs, his muscular strength.
Within its long sweep of connecting halls
are row after row of cases filled with
precious, and often unique, specimens
representing human racial characteristics
and anomalies, and crowned with plaster
life casts which he has made directly
from many interesting race types
DR.. Hrdlicka had just returned from an
expedition to Mongolia and Siberia and
this by no means readily obtained ac-
only suggests their scientific value, but
contains wealth of delightfully."- colored
description of a country practically un-
known to Americans, to even Europeans.
Opinions as to the origin of the Ameri-
can natives have been largely speculative
have been fettered on one side by lack
of direct investigation. and on the other
by ancient traditions, said DR.. Hrdlicka.
AFTER the discovery by Columbus many
Of the early Spaniards concluded that as
no mention was made of the American
aborigines in Hebrew traditions they
could not be strictly regarded as men
equal to those named in biblical accounts.
This view led to wholesale enslavement
and destruction of the Americans until
it was counteracted by papal bull,
whose effect was that thenceforth the
origin of the Indians was sought In
other parts of the world. The seeming
necessity of harmoniZing the Indians
origin with biblical knowledge led to
orner curious opinions. One of these was
that our abOrigines were descendants or
the Canaanites expelled by Joshua, and
another was that they We're descendants
from Asiatics who had themselves de-
scended from Magog. the second son OF
Japhet. while still another, whose rem
nants we continue to meet, was that the
American aborigines represented the lost
tribes of Israel. During the nineteenth
century we encounter more rational the
ories. For example, that the American
natives originated in the new world. that
they sprang from early Christian Ethio-
plans or even Egyptians settling in Yucca
tan: that they came from the lost At
lantis, or that they were from parts of
different people who reached America
from the west, over other lost lands that
have since receded beneath the sea.
The Philadelphia ethnologist. Prof. d. &.
Brinton. held that they came in ancient
times over such land connection with
Europe. while a South American scientist
has lately expounded the theory that
mankind in genera, originated in South
America and thence migrated over an
cient land connection to Africa, pressing
onward to Asia and from there, in rea-
lively recent times, to North America,
across the north of the Pacific ocean.
The majority of authors OF the last CEN
tury including Humboldt. inclined, how
ever. to the belief that all of the Ameri-
can natives excepting the Eskimo were
descendants of immigrants from north
eastern Asia, particularly from the Tar
tars or Mongolians.
For many years We have watched re-
ports of travellers from eastern Asia
continued the doctor, and time and time
again we found among their photographs
physiognomies that strongly resembled
American Indian types. Some of the