Daniel Garrison Brinton Daniel Garrison Brinton ( May 13 , 1837 – July 31 , 1899 ) was an American archaeologist and ethnologist . Biography . Brinton was born in Thornbury Township , Chester County , Pennsylvania . After graduating from Yale University in 1858 , Brinton studied at Jefferson Medical College for two years and spent the next travelling in Europe . He continued his studies at Paris and Heidelberg . From 1862 to 1865 , during the American Civil War , he was a surgeon in the Union army , acting during 1864 - 1865 as surgeon - in - charge of the U . S . Army general hospital at Quincy , Illinois . Brinton was sun - stroked at Missionary Ridge ( Third Battle of Chattanooga ) and was never again able to travel in very hot weathers . This handicap affected his career as an ethnologist . After the war , Brinton practiced medicine in West Chester , Pennsylvania for several years ; was the editor of a weekly periodical , the Medical and Surgical Reporter , in Philadelphia from 1874 to 1887 ; became professor of ethnology and archaeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia in 1884 ; and was professor of American linguistics and archaeology in the University of Pennsylvania from 1886 until his death . He was a member of numerous learned societies in the United States and in Europe and was president at different times of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia , of the American Folklore Society , the American Philosophical Society , and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . At his presidential address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in August 1895 , Brinton advocated theories of scientific racism that were pervasive at that time . As Charles A . Lofgren notes in his book , " The Plessy Case , " although Brinton " accepted the ' psychical unity ' throughout the human species , " he claimed " all races were ' not equally endowed , ' which disqualified [ some of ] them from the atmosphere of modern enlightenment . " He asserted some have " . . . an inborn tendency , constitutionally recreant to the codes of civilization , and therefore technically criminal . " Further , he said the characteristics of " races , nations , tribes . . . supply the only sure foundations for legislation , not " a priori " notions of the rights of man . " Brinton was an anarchist during his last several years of life . In April 1896 , he addressed the Ethical Fellowship of Philadelphia with a lecture on " What the Anarchists Want , " to a friendly audience . In October 1897 , Brinton had dinner with Peter Kropotkin after the famous anarchist ' s only speaking engagement at Philadelphia . Kropotkin had refused invitations from all of the city ' s elites . On the occasion of his memorial meeting on October 6 , 1900 , the keynote speaker Albert H . Smyth stated : " In Europe and America , he sought the society of anarchists and mingled sometimes with the malcontents of the world that he might appreciate their grievances , and weigh their propositions for reform and change . " Works . From 1868 to 1899 , Brinton wrote many books , and a large number of pamphlets , brochures , addresses and magazine articles . His works include : In addition , he edited and published a Library of American Aboriginal Literature ( 8 vols . 1882 - 1890 ) , a valuable contribution to the science of anthropology in America . Of the eight volumes ; six were edited by Brinton himself , one by Horatio Hale and one by Albert Samuel Gatschet . His 1885 work is notable for its role in the Walam Olum controversy .