418 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



land. Scientific bodies, like the British Association and the 

 learned societies of England, do not treat colonists as foreign 

 members. They assign to them the same rights and duties 

 as if they resided in the British Islands, evidencing in this 

 way a truly imperial spirit in regard to the dependencies 

 of the British Crown ;— a spirit which would repudiate the 

 Greek or Chinese policy of keeping colonies at a distance until 

 they become strong enough to give trouble, and then casting them 

 off, and would adopt instead the Roman principle of universal 

 citizenship of the empire, extending over all its dependencies 

 throughout the world. 



This digression leads me to glance next at the Section of 

 Geography and Ethnology, under the presidency of Sir Henry 

 Bawlinson, the decipherer of the Nineveh inscriptions, and a 

 courteous and amiable man. This is one of the most popular of 

 the sections. Its stirring narratives of foreign travel in the 

 central deserts of Asia, and in unexplored regions of Africa, attract 

 all hearers ; and the presence of the men actually engaged in these 

 adventurous expeditions, increases the attraction. At the late 

 meeting there were interesting communications as to the discovery, 

 by Mr. Baker, of additional sources of the Nile, beside those made 

 known by Speke, an exhibition of large paintings of the remark- 

 able Victoria Falls on the Zambesi, and interesting discussions as 

 to the proposed Palestine exploring expedition, and the expediency 

 of another expedition with the view of reaching the North Pole. 



A curious and somewhat disturbing element in this section is 

 the presence of the anthropologists, as they call themselves, a 

 small but active body of scientific men, who have established a 

 society in London with the view of studying the natural history of 

 man. The object is, no doubt, good ; but, unfortunately, it neces- 

 sarily becomes mixed up with discussions about the unity of the 

 human race, the probable descent of men from apes, and many 

 other questionable subjects, which repel prudent and conscientious 

 men, and are attractive to people who are eminent in nothing but 

 in differing from other sensible persons. But the anthropologists 

 are ambitious. They publish a journal, and they desiderate a 

 separate section of the British Association. This was declined at 

 the opening meeting of this year, but a compromise was entered 

 into, and the greater part of the papers were handed over to the 

 Geographical Section, coming under the head of ethnology. A 

 very elaborate paper of this class was one by Mr. Crawford on the 



