72 Anniversary Address on the Progress of Ethnology. 



Greek than to the resemblance of really cognate dialects, such 

 as the High and Low Dutch, the Spanish, Italian, and French, 

 or the Polish and Russian. The Celtic were the people of 

 Gaul, and of Britain. The traditions of Ireland uniformly 

 deduce the people of that island from Spain, and ultimately 

 from the east, and not from Britain or Gaul. Their language, 

 in the phonetical structure of its words, is much nearer to 

 the old Italic dialects, and also to the Sanskrit, than it is to 

 the Welsh or Celtic. The Irish were a people greatly supe- 

 rior to the real Celts in poetical genius, and in all mental en- 

 dowments, and after their conversion to Christianity, became 

 one of the most intellectual nations in Europe, and were 

 the civilisers of a part of it. We have no proof that their 

 language was ever prevalent in Britain or in Gaul, where all 

 the topographical names are easily explicable by a Welsh 

 etymology, as are all the words of the Celtic language pre- 

 served by the classical writers. It is, therefore, a great mis- 

 take to speak of the descendants of Oisin and of Fingal, as 

 if they were of the same Celtic lineage with Brennus, and 

 the disciples of the Druids. 



There is but one point of view in which ethnology comes 

 into any relation to civil or political questions, and this rela- 

 tion is very remote, and a matter of doubt. It has been made 

 an element in moral statistics. One of the celebrated writers 

 on this science attributes the different proportions of violent 

 crimes in different parts of France to the diversity of races 

 in the population of that country. M. Quetelet says, that 

 within the limjts of ancient Austrasia, where the population 

 is in great part of German descent, there are fewer crimes 

 against the person than in other districts inhabited by the 

 descendants of the Celtic and Iberian races. This observation 

 is worth recording, but when so many modifying influences 

 are operating, it is impossible to estimate the efficacy of 

 any particular cause in so remarkable a result. 



