308 Dr Prichard on the Belations of Ethnology 



rangement, be made a department of zoology, it is easy to 

 shew that the main purport of ethnological inquiries is one 

 distinct from zoology ; and the reference of both these sub- 

 jects to one section of the British Association can only have 

 arisen from inadvertence. Of this I shall be able to con- 

 vince the members of the Society now present, if they will 

 allow me to call their attention for a brief space to the posi- 

 tion which Ethnology ought to hold, and which it is destined 

 hereafter to maintain, among the various divisions of human 

 knowledge. 



Ethnology is the history of human races, or of the various 

 tribes of men who constitute the population of the world. 

 It comprehends all that can be learned as to their origin and 

 relations to each other. It is distinct from natural history, 

 inasmuch as the object of its investigations is not what is, 

 but what has been. Natural history is an account of the phe- 

 nomena which Nature at present displays. It relates to pro- 

 cesses ever going on, and to effects repeated, and to be re- 

 peated, so long as the powers of Nature, or the properties of 

 material agents, remain unchanged. Ethnology refers to the 

 past. It traces the history of human families from the most 

 remote times that are within the reach of investigation, in- 

 quires into their mutual relations, and endeavours to arrive 

 at conclusions, either probable or certain, as to the question 

 of their affinity or diversity of origin. All this rather belongs 

 to archseology than to natural history. It may, indeed, be 

 truly said that the investigations, by means of which we en- 

 deavour to arrive at conclusions in Ethnology, involve many 

 topics which are within the province of natural history. 

 The facts and analogies which natural history presents, are 

 the data on which a great part of the proofs or arguments 

 adopted by the ethnologist are founded. But these con- 

 tributions of natural history are only a part of the resources 

 by the aid of which we carry on the investigations belong- 

 ing to our favourite pursuit ; and we shall find that it bor- 

 rows fully as much from other departments of knowledge, 

 quite separate from the study of Nature and her productions. 

 The results at which the ethnologist arrives, do not fall 

 within any department of natural history. They are archseo- 



