Its business is simply to describe.

But, without exceeding the limits of its scope, it can and must proceed from the particular to the general; aiming at nothing less than a descriptive formula that shall sum up the whole series of changes in which the evolution of man consists.
That will do, perhaps, as a short account of the ideal scope of anthropology.

Being short, it is bound to be rather formal and colourless.

To put some body into it, however, it is necessary to breathe but a single word.

That word is: Darwin.
Anthropology is the child of Darwin.