Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

[27] For numerous examples, see Dr. Wilhelm Schneider’s work, Die Naturvölker, Th. II., ss. 290, 294, etc.

[28] Our countryman, Lewis H. Morgan, was the first to place this subject in its true light in his work Ancient Society (New York, 1878). He doubtless carried the theory too far in certain directions, but in others it has not yet been sufficiently appreciated by historians.

[29] See M. Kulischer, “Der Dualismus der Ethik bei den primitiven Völkern,” in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1885, s. 105.

[30] See “The Earliest Form of Human Speech as revealed by American Tongues,” in my Essays of an Americanist, p. 390. (Philadelphia, 1890).

[31] “On the Origin of Language,” in Proceedings of the Amer. Assoc. for the Adv. of Science, 1887, p. 279.

[32] The proof of this is furnished by Gustav Roskof, Das Religionswesen der Rohesten Naturvölker (Leipzig, 1880), and Wilhelm Schneider, Die Naturvölker, II. Theil (Paderborn, 1886). The assertions to the contrary by Herbert Spencer, Sir John Lubbock, and various French writers, arise from a lack of study of the evidence, or a misunderstanding of terms.

[33] I have endeavored to show this, so far as it applies to native American religions, in my volume, American Hero-Myths (Philadelphia, 1882).

[34] See my Essay, The Cradle of the Semites (Philadelphia, 1890), and Sir Daniel Wilson, “Trade and Commerce in the Stone Age,” in Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, 1889.

[35] This is shown not only by the presence of artefacts and shells from the Pacific in old graves on the Atlantic coast, but by the well-preserved traditions of the Eastern tribes. See my Essays of an Americanist, p. 188 (Philadelphia, 1890).

[36] Such at any rate is the opinion expressed last year (1889) by the most celebrated living anthropologic anatomist, Professor Virchow, in an address before the German Anthropological Association. (Correspondenz Blatt der Deutschen Anthrop. Gesell., Sept., 1889, s. 96.) Except for the weight of his great name, I should hesitate to say as much; and as it is, I entertain some doubts as to the accuracy of the statement.