Transcriber’s Note
A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version ofthis book. They are marked and the corrected text is shown in the popup.A description of the errors is found in the list at the end of the text.
AN ADDRESS
BEFORE THE
Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Historical Society,
AT
Trenton, New Jersey, January 28, 1896.
BY
DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D., LL. D., D. Sc.
Professor of American Archæology in the University of
Pennsylvania and of General Ethnology at the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
1896.
Mr. President:
* * * * * * *
The intelligent thought of the world is ever advancing to a fullerappreciation of the worth of the past to the present and the future.Never before have associations, societies and journals devoted tohistorical studies been so numerous. All times and tribes are searchedfor memorials; the remote corners of modern, medieval and ancientperiods are brought under scrutiny; and going beyond these again, thesemi-historic eras of tradition and the nebulous gleams frompre-historic milleniums are diligently scanned, that theiruncertain story may be prefaced to that registered in “the syllables ofrecorded time.”
In this manner a vast mass of material is accumulating with which thehistorian has to deal. What now is the real nature of the task he setsbefore himself? What is the mission with which he is entrusted?
To understand this task, to appreciate that mission, he must ask himselfthe broad questions: What is the aim of history? What are the purposesfor which it should be studied and written?
He will find no lack of answers to these inquiries, all offered withequal confidence, but singularly discrepant among themselves. His[4]embarrassment will be that of selection between widely divergent views,each ably supported by distinguished advocates.
As I am going to add still another, not exactly like any already on thelist, it may well be asked of me to show why one or other of thosealready current is not as good or better than my own. This requires meto pass in brief review the theories of historic methods, or, as it isproperly termed, of the Philosophy of History, which are most popularto-day.
They may be classified under three leading opinions, as follows:
1. History should be an accurate record of events, and nothing more; anexact and disinterested statement of what has taken place, concealingnothing and coloring nothing, reciting incidents in their naturalconnections, without bias, prejudice, or didactic application of anykin