THE STUDY OF MAN. 317 



shreds, the toe persists, and he would be a bold prophet who 

 would venture to forecast how many generations of booted an- 

 cestry would suffice to eliminate it from the organization of the 

 normal man. 



Nevertheless, although it is difficult to demonstrate, in the 

 present imperfect state of knowledge, the method whereby race- 

 characters have originated, I think that the most of our anthro- 

 pologists at least covertly adopt the philosophy of the ancient 

 proverb, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's 

 teeth are set on edge." 



But there are other branches of anthropology of far greater 

 interest than these simple problems upon which we have tarried 

 so long. The study of man's intellectual nature is equally a part 

 of our subject, and the outcomes of that nature are to be traced 

 in the tripartite record of human progress which we call the his- 

 tory of culture. It is ours to trace the progress of man's inven- 

 tions and their fruits in language and the arts, the direct products 

 of the human mind. It is also ours to follow the history of man's 

 discovery of those secrets of Nature to the unfolding of which we 

 give the name of science. The task is also ours to inquire into 

 that largest and most important of all sections of the history of 

 culture which deals with the relation of human life to the unseen 

 world, and to disentangle out of the complex network of religion, 

 mythology, and ritual those elements which are real truths, either 

 discovered by the exercise of man's reason, or learned by him in 

 ways whereof science takes no account, from those adventitious 

 and invented products of human fear and fancy which obscure 

 the view of the central realities. In this country it matters less 

 that our time forbids us to wander in these fascinating fields 

 wherein the anthropologist loves to linger, as the munificent ben- 

 efaction of Lord Giff ord has insured that there shall be an annual 

 fourfold presentation of the subject before the students of our 

 Scottish universities. There is no fear that interest in these ques- 

 tions will flag for want of diversity in the method of treatment, 

 or of varieties in the standpoints of the successive Gifford lec- 

 turers. 



From the ground of our present knowledge we can but faintly 

 forecast the future of anthropology, when its range is extended 

 by further research, and when it is purged of fancies, false analo- 

 gies, and imperfect observations. It may be that there is in store 

 for us a clearer view of the past history of man, of the place and 

 time of his first appearance, of his primitive character, and of his 

 progress. But has this knowledge, interesting as it may be for 

 its own sake, any bearing on the future of mankind ? Hitherto 

 growth in knowledge has not been accompanied with a com- 

 mensurate increase in the sum of human happiness, but this is 



