316 Dr Prichard on the Belations of Ethnology 



Brown, that the equatorial distribution of the great families 

 of plants is extended to a considerable degree through the 

 Southern Hemisphere, or that the Austral regions approxi- 

 mate much more to the equatorial in this leading character 

 of vegetation than the northern climates of corresponding lati- 

 tude, we are at liberty to infer, that the sum-total of those 

 agencies of climate which affect organized beings is much 

 more similar to that which exists under the equinoctial line 

 in these countries than in the northern latitudes. I shall 

 merely mention this conclusion in connection with the well- 

 known fact, that the varieties of the human race which exist 

 in the great southern continents, have much greater resem- 

 blance to the tribes who are natives of the torrid zone, than 

 any of the aboriginal people inhabiting the northern parts of 

 the world. 



I have now gone over the branches of natural science which 

 principally give assistance to students of ethnology, and it 

 remains for me to make some remarks on the resources which 

 history and archaeology may be expected to furnish in aid of 

 the same inquiries. 



When we speak of historical inquiries as contributing to 

 the promotion of ethnology, the meaning of the expression is 

 not limited to information to be collected from historians. 

 Much, indeed, is to be found in the works of such writers as 

 Herodotus, Aristotle, Diodorus, Caesar, Pliny, Strabo, and Ta- 

 citus, that is useful for investigating the history of those na- 

 tions in Europe and Asia, which came within the knowledge of 

 the Greeks and Romans ; but all such information would be 

 not only confined, but disjointed and fragmentary, without 

 some more comprehensive method of investigation that may 

 serve to bring the notices scattered through ancient writers, 

 into a distinct and evident connection with the history of 

 people actually known to us. Historical researches that 

 may be applicable to ethnology, must occupy a wide field. 

 They must collect all the diff'erent lights that can be brought 

 to bear on the history of nations, whether from the testimony 

 of ancient writers, or from manners, customs, and institu- 

 tions — from old popular traditions, poetry, mythology — from 

 the remains of ancient art, such as architecture, sculpture 



