134c Dr Hodgkin on the Progress of Ethnology. 



A third class of papers may, very usefully, regard the me- 

 thod of investigation, the nature of the observations which are 

 required, and the inferences which may be drawn from the 

 materials furnished by those who have been engaged in differ- 

 ent fields. 



The cultivation of this branch of the subject will be like 

 furnishing new formula to the mathematician, and new tests 

 to the chemist, by the aid of which fresh observations may 

 not only be made amongst groups of men of whom we are 

 barely conscious of the existence, but even amongst those who 

 may have been known for the longest period. 



It is obvious that the subject of ethnology may be studied 

 both analytically and synthetically. For the first, it is neces- 

 sary to be in possession of criteria by which we may safely 

 infer from physical characters the intermixtures or affinities 

 which may exist, where we have little or no assistance from 

 history or tradition to guide us. Even where these aids have 

 been accessible comparatively little has been done. 



With regard to the other, the synthetical branch, still less 

 has been attempted. It is certain that there is abundance of 

 curious and important matter to be made out, by applying this 

 mode of investigation to our subject; since there are indications 

 that certain combinations, of which the elements are known, 

 have produced physical characters resembling those of groups of 

 which the origin is most obscure. Not to mention minor examples 

 which have fallen under my own observation, and which, al- 

 though they were sufficient to suggest the value of this mode 

 of enquiry, I have not had the means of carrying out ; I would 

 cite, by way of illustration, the more striking example which 

 is furnished by a mixed race, resulting from the alliance of 

 the woolly-headed African Negro with the stiff and straight- 

 haired Indians of South America, which present a remarkable 

 resemblance to some of the Australian natives. 



The opportunities for examining a great variety of inter- 

 mixtures, are more accessible at the present day than at any 

 former period. The slave trade has conveyed Negroes from 

 different parts of Africa, possessing widely different charac- 

 ters, to North and South America, to the West Indies, and 



