Dr Hodgkiii on the Progress of Ethnology. 125 



pears to have been first called to the subject of Ethnology, 

 by the observation of the marked difference of physical cha- 

 racters which he noticed in the population of France, as he 

 was making a journey through the country. He sought to 

 trace these varieties to their origin, and thus to connect them 

 with history. He found the subject not only to expand, but 

 to increase in interest, as he applied himself to the inquiry ; 

 and he published a very interesting essay on the subject, in 

 the form of a letter to M. Thierry, in which he records the 

 observations which he made, and the inferences which he had 

 drawn from them. This essay is strongly marked by Dr Ed- 

 wards's philosophic mind, and is well worthy of perusal and 

 study. 



Ethnology very much engrossed Dr Edwards's attention 

 during the latter years of his life, and he designed to write a 

 comprehensive work on the subject, but he has not left the 

 materials which he had collected sufficiently advanced for pub- 

 lication. 



He saw the importance of co-operation for the collection of 

 perishing materials, and, acting on a suggestion which he had 

 received, he succeeded in forming the Ethnological Society of 

 Paris, by the union of some of the most distinguished mem- 

 bers of the Institute and other savans in that city. 



The Parisian Society, under the presidency of Dr Edwards, 

 pursued its labours, and produced an interesting volume of 

 Transactions, and the Committee of the British Association 

 has widely circulated a comprehensive set of Ethnological 

 Queries, which have produced several sets of answers from 

 practical observers. The subject has likewise been advocated 

 in successive years in sectional meetings. In Germany, and 

 also in the United States of America, Ethnology, either as a 

 whole or in its details, is now receiving increased and syste- 

 matic attention, and some of the collateral sciences are pur- 

 sued with special relation to it. 



Philology, in particular, has taken an Ethnological turn, as 

 will be readily conceded when we consider the remarkable 

 works of Adelung, Vater, Wm. Von Humboldt, Bopp, Balby, 

 and Klaproth, in Germany ; of Marsden and Dr Prichard in 

 England ; and of Heckewelder and Du Ponceau, in America. 



