(For the Hebdomadal Council only)
Report of the Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Natural Science for considering the conditions under which Anthropology might be admitted as a Principal Subject in the Honour School of Natural Science. [Professor Price, Professor Burdon-Sanderson, Professor Thomson, Dr. Tylor, Mr. Balfour.]
[March 19, 1895]
The Committee recommend--
1. That a Candidate for Honours in Anthropology should be required to have previously satisfied the Examiners both in the Preliminary Examination in Animal Morphology, and also in two other subjects.
2. That the Examination be partly practical.
3. That a Candidate offering Anthropology shall give at least three month's notice of his intention to the Chairman of the Board of the Faculty of Natural Science [as in the subjects Animal Morphology, Geology, and Botany].
4. That the Examiners be appointed by the Committee which nominates Examiners in Animal Morphology, Botany, and Geology.
5. The adoption of the Schedule below, together with general Regulations similar to those respecting Animal Physiology, Animal Morphology, and Botany (given on pages 61, 62, Examination Statutes), but modified as required by the subject matter of Anthropology.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Zoological position of Man, with special reference to points of agreement and difference between Man and the Anthropomorpha, as regards
(a) Structure;
(b) Function and habits;
(c) Growth and development.
Evidence as to the antiquity of Man from Geology, based upon the position of human remains, and upon the associated animal remains; sequence of pre-historic periods.
Comparative anatomy of races of Man, including such description as may be necessary of
(a) Skeleton;
(b) Integument (skin and hair);
(c) Organs of the body.
Anthropometry, as applied to (a) the living, (b) the separate bones of the skeleton, especially the skull (Craniometry).
Colouration, especially with regard to skin, hair, and iris.
Physical classification, geographical distribution, and probable lines of migration of races (Ethnology). Effects upon races of their environment (e.g. climate, soil, local condition, food-supply). Variations of race-type by intercrossing. Liability of different races to special diseases.
Value of language, arts, customs, mythology, religion, &c. in determining affinity, dispersion, and intercourse of races.
Expression of feeling and thought by features and voice; gesture-language; interjectional and imitative sounds. Theories of origin of language. Application of evidence from Comparative Philology as a means of classifying families of language by grammar and vocabulary.
Development of culture in pre-historic and historic times as evidenced by a comparative study of
(a) Arts of industry and war and their appliances (e.g. implements, weapons, dwellings, clothing, means of locomotion).
(b) Staple foods of various races; animals and plants domesticated by man; agricultural and pastoral conditions; use of stimulants and narcotics.
(c) Commerce.
(d) Development of arithmetic and mensuration.
(e) Communication and record of objects and pictures; phonetic writing and alphabets, &c.
(f) Arts of pleasure (music, dancing, dramatic representation, graphic and plastic arts; games, &c.).
(g) Traditions, customs and ceremonies, mythology, poetry.
(h) Theories as to cause of diseases; their treatment. Practice of artificial deformation.
(i) Magic and sorcery; their connexion with spiritual agencies.
(j) Moral condition, social and political organization. Family ties; rules of peace and war; marriage and descent; family, clan, and tribe divisions; communal and individual property; vengeance and criminal law; development of military, judicial, and administrative authority.
(k) Religions of mankind. Definitions of souls and spiritual beings generally; ideas of future state; treatment of dead; prayer, sacrifice, and other rites of worship. Social and political influence of religion.
(l) Survival of primitive conditions in the culture of the lower races.
Practical Examination.
The subjects for practical examination will comprise:--
Recognition of the more distinctive separate bones of the human skeleton. These should be described and, where necessary, measured; and any features which may appear of importance should be pointed out.
A practical knowledge of the methods of taking the various measurements of the skull. Recognition of typical skulls of well-defined varieties of Man and the Anthropomorpha.
Identification of typical varieties of Man from photographs, with description of their characteristic features. Such description of the living as will include those points which are of importance from an Anthropological standpoint; the accounts should be illustrated where necessary with sketches.
Estimation of the tints of hair and skin colouration, and the recognition of different kinds of hair.
Identification of well-marked portions of the skeletons of the commonest domestic animals, and also of the extinct mammalia contemporaneous with Man.
Identification of typical weapons, implements, articles of dress and ornament, artificial deformation of the person, magic and other appliances, and works of art, &c., of living and extinct races, either from the actual objects or from illustrations. Of such objects Candidates will be expected to write accounts describing the race or races to which they belong, their use, geographical distribution of allied forms, and, when required, their place in the developmental history of the class of objects to which they belong. Indication, upon blank outline maps of the world, of the geographical position of some of the more important races and varieties of mankind and the distribution of the more distinctive arts, customs, appliances, religions, &c.
February 7, 1895
Originally transcribed during the Relational Museum project, transferred to this site 2013.
