264 BRITISH ETHNOLOGY. v 



almost the same language as the Treviri." Now, 

 the Galatians were emigrant Volcas Tectosages, and 

 therefore Celtas; while the Treviri were Belgae.* 



At the present day, the physical characters of 

 the people of Belgic Gaul remain distinct from 

 those of the people of Aquitaine, notwithstanding 

 the immense changes which have taken place since 

 Caesar's time; but Belgae, Celtse, and Aquitani (all 

 but a mere fraction of the last two, represented 

 by the Basques and the Bretons) are fused into one 

 nationality, " le peuple Francais." But they have 

 adopted the language of one set of invaders, and 

 the name of another; their original names and lan- 

 guages having almost disappeared. Suppose that 

 the French language remained as the sole evidence 

 of the existence of the population of Gaul, would 

 the keenest philologer arrive at any other conclu- 

 sion than that this population was essentially and 

 fundamentally a " Latin " race, which had had 

 some communication with Celts and Teutons? 

 AVould he so much as suspect the former existence 

 of the Aquitani? 



Community of language testifies to close con- 

 tact between the people who speak the language, 

 but to nothing else; philology has absolutely noth- 

 ing to do with ethnology, except so far as it sug- 

 gests the existence or the absence of such contact. 

 The contraiw assumption, that language is a test 

 of race, has introduced the utmost confusion into 



[* This proposition is disputed. — 1894.] 



