Woman's Share in Primitive Culture

Abstract

ANTHROPOLOGY—the science of man—has been sadly neglected in the past, but there are signs that it will be more extensively studied in the future. We believe it was a president of the Anthropological Institute who pointed out, a short time ago, that while such societies as the Zoological, Geological, Linnean, and others were in a flourishing condition, the Institute which has for its object the study of man had only a membership of three or four hundred. This strange state of things is difficult to account for, though probably it is due to some extent to the absence of ethnological material to work upon in the British Isles. It is very well known that, in the United States, the Bureau of Ethnology publishes most elaborate reports upon anthropological topics; but the opportunities for such study in America are far greater than they are here. Prof. Mason is one of the foremost workers in the field of ethnology understood in its widest sense, and he is particularly qualified to trace the story of the part played by woman in the culture of the world. The volume in which he does this is the first of an anthropological series intended for the intelligent reader, but instructive enough to satisfy the student. The author describes the work of woman in all the peaceful arts of life, and shows that the past achievements have had much to do with the life history of civilisation. The book is very well illustrated, and is a desirable acquisition to the library of every one interested in woman's work. A large share of attention is given to women of American races; but, as the author is curator of the Department of Ethnology in the U.S. National Museum, this might have been expected.