“Crammed as full of hard facts as wellnigh 400 pages of large 8vo. can contain: all these facts attested by footnote authorities marshalled knee-deep at the bottom of every page; with a list of contents so copious as to eclipse everything of the kind in any recent scientific volume, and yet followed by an index more minute and ample; this work is a magazine of the infant science of Man; a model of German industry, erudition, and philosophical devotion; and a credit to the Society which has sent forth, in a shape so serviceable, what might otherwise have proved a tantalising mass of learned collectanea.... We have perused this translated volume with alternate wonder and amazement at its strange assemblage of facts, its curious classifications, its marvellous revelations of human peculiarities; and we do not hesitate to say that more food for speculation, a more cosmopolitan and comprehensive glance over all the developments of savage and civilised man has been collected here, than could have been dreamed of by those who may not have given it a perusal.”—Dorset County Chronicle, Nov. 18, 1863.
“Dr. Waitz would appear to have collected together all the authorities and contradictory statements of former writers.... The present work will be hailed with pleasure by all who are interested in the study of anthropology, and will, it is hoped, induce a more universal acquaintance with the science.”—Observer, Nov. 8, 1863.
“The Anthropological Society of London have done well in publishing a translation of Dr. Waitz’s Anthropologie der Naturvölker, of which this volume is the first instalment. Dr. Waitz’s work is by far the most complete that exists on the subject of which it treats. It is the fullest collection of facts, interwoven with, and made to bear upon, all the theories (and their name is legion) which have been advanced in explanation of the endless diversities and resemblances that exist among mankind. Dr. Waitz himself is wedded to no particular theory, and in this volume, at least, advances none, but he points out with great clearness the effects that may be fairly attributed to the various influences, external and internal, physical and psychical, which affect the human form and national character.”—The Press, Dec. 5, 1863.
“This volume will help to put the science of anthropology in a proper light before the scientific men of this country. Whatever faults we may have to find with this work, we feel sure that its publication marks an epoch in the study of anthropology in this country. The anthropologist can now say to the inquirer, Read and study Waitz, and you will learn all that science has yet to reveal.”—Anthropological Review, No. 3.
“The Anthropological Society deserve great praise for the energy and activity they display in prosecuting their object.... We find in this volume a fair statement and discussion of the questions bearing on the unity of man as a species, and his natural condition. He gives a very clear account of the different views held on these questions, and a full collection of the facts, or supposed facts, by which they are supported. The chief fault of the book is, indeed, this very fulness and fairness in collecting all that can be said on both sides of a question.... We must regard the work as a valuable addition to the books on this subject already in our language, and as likely, by the thought and inquiry it must suggest, to promote the great end of the Society—a truer and higher knowledge of man, his origin, nature, and destiny.”—The Scotsman, Dec. 7, 1863.
“We need hardly say, that it is quite out of our power to give any detailed account of this volume. It is itself a volume of details. Its nature, character, and value, may be gleaned from the criticism bestowed upon it by the Anthropological Society, and by the fact of its being their first offering to their members. There can be no doubt that it is the best epitome of matters anthropological now contained in our language; and will be of great service to the student as a book of reference.”—British Medical Journal, December 26, 1863.
“The difficulties which a reader experiences who studies Waitz’s original German version—difficulties attendant on the involution of his style, and the frequent mistiness of his forms of expression—vanish in the English edition, which also differs from its German prototype, inasmuch as the embarrassing references which Waitz intercalated in his text are prudently cast down by Mr. Collingwood to the foot of the page.... The student will but have to read it through, in order to feel himself endowed with an enormous power of acquired facts, which, if he duly assimilates, will enable him to wield a tremendous weapon in controversy against the unskilled anthropologist.”—Reader, November 7, 1863.
London: Longman, Green, and Co., Paternoster Row.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REVIEW;
AND
Journal of the Anthropological Society of London.