138 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



tolerated and frequently adopted the gods of their subjects as 

 their own. 



Mr. Houghton thinks that he has disposed of my induction 

 by pointing out certain cases in India where non-Aryan peoples 

 are known to have adopted an Aryan language. But he over- 

 looks two vital facts. In the first place, I am assured, on 

 excellent authority, that non-Aryan tribes learn Hindustani or 

 Bengali when they adopt Hinduism as their religion ; they are 

 thus an exact parallel to the Egyptians. Secondly, he ignores 

 the fact that, were it not for the retention of their own speech 

 by the Khasis, the origin of that tribe would have been lost for 

 ever. Yet Mr. Houghton admits that in Gaelic, Welsh, Basque 

 and such languages, survivals in mountainous regions, we have 

 good evidence that these languages were once spoken by 

 peoples who now use other tongues. But this is simply to admit 

 my contention that language, when properly understood and 

 used, must be included as a valuable criterion of race along with 

 osteology, pigmentation and system of descent. 



My critic thinks that the non-Aryans in Greece may have 

 learned their Aryan speech from some conquerors who swept 

 over them and departed leaving not a wrack behind. But if 

 there was sufficient time for them to impress their tongue upon 

 the conquered, they must have left some material relics. But 

 where are these to be found in Greece ? The Achaean domina- 

 tion was not long, yet we have now many material proofs of 

 its occurrence. Now the old view, supported by Mr. Houghton, 

 assumes that not only did the non-Aryan aboriginals of Greece 

 take over the Aryan tense-system in all its perfection from a 

 band of invaders, who rushed down upon the land, then dis- 

 appeared for ever, but, as the Greek tense-system reached a 

 greater perfection than is found in any other Aryan language, 

 they are compelled to hold that a non-Aryan people actually 

 made an Aryan tongue more perfectly Aryan than that found 

 amongst admittedly Aryan peoples. 



In my address I maintained that, as physical characteristics 

 are in the main the result of environment, social institutions and 

 religious ideas are also largely the product of environment. 

 " Several of our most distinguished Indian and Colonial ad- 

 ministrators," I wrote, " have pointed out that most of the 

 mistakes made by British officials (such as Indian civilians) are 

 due to their ignorance of the habits and customs of the natives, 



