ANTHROrOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 379 



Lave served liim as models, and, by copyini; these instruments ■uitli Lis own 

 Lund and with strict exaetness, Le has drawn from them sounds which have 

 restored to lite nuisieal systems buried in oblivion IJur thirty centuries. These 

 remiukable researches reiiuirc, no doubt, the control of criticism and the sanction 

 of time, but it may confi<leutly be said that even now they open to science a 

 vesom-ce not only suggestive but wholly new. Not that we are to Lope that the 

 study of musi-al systems can ever actpiire an historical and ethnological value 

 equal to that of linguistics. Music is a mode of expression less rich and far less 

 precise than articulate language, and can only furnisli terms of comparison nnich 

 more restricted. It is certain, moreover, that it is less closely connected with 

 the life of the people, witL tLeir nationality, and tlie facts cited by jVL Fetis 

 Limself prove tliat nations whose languages i)ertain to stocks entirely distinct 

 Lave adopted tlie same musical system. But tlie means of investigation witL 

 wLicL antLropology Las been tbus endowed are not tlio less valuable, since they 

 reveal to us at once the artistic aptitudes of certain races and tLe communica- 

 tions wliich have been established between them in times previous to Listory. 



I Lave thought proper to dwell somewhat on these researches, so new and so 

 interesting, of which our society has enjoyed the first fruits, and which make, for 

 the first time, their appearance in science. Arriving now at subjects if not more 

 classic, at least more commonly known, I may restrict myself to more summary 

 statements. 



General anthropology Las occupied, as usual, a large space in your labors. 

 TLe question of tlie influence of cliuiatic mediums wLicL gave rise, tLree years 

 ago, to so extended and complete a discussion, presented itself anew on occasion 

 of tLe important memoir of M. Carlier on acclimation in America. No one could 

 treat tins subject more competently tban tLe autLor of tlie Ilistoire dii peuple 

 Amerkain. Although his long researches Lave borne principally on tlie popu- 

 lations of Nortli America, M. Carlier Las also studied the acclimation of the negro 

 race in the Antilles and in Brazil. That the races of the old world are acclimated 

 in the States of the Union is demonstrated b}^ the rapidity with which the 

 population has there increased; but to appreciate tlie signitication of tLis move- 

 ment, it is necessary to distinguisL tlie intrinsic increase from tliat wLicL is due 

 to immigration. TLis is wLat M. Carlier Las done, and we cannot too liighly 

 praise the sagacity with which he has availed himself of all the statistical docu- 

 ments, unfortunately incomplete, which have been collected in the United States 

 since the beginning of the century. From these laborious researches it results 

 that the intrinsic increase of the population Las sensibly slackened for 20 years 

 past. The inquiries of our learned colleague have moreover established, contrary 

 to the generally received opinion, that three-fourths of the immigrants are foreign 

 to the Anglo-Saxon race. TLe etLnical importance of tins fact is considerable. 

 M. ilameau, struck, like mvaxy otlier obseiwers, with the differences which exist 

 between the Englisli of Europe and tlie Anglo-Americans, Las attributed tliese 

 modifications to tLe influence of climatic mediuius, wLile, according to 51. Carlier, 

 tLey are due principally to tlie influence of cross-breeding. The interesting dis- 

 cussion which arose on this subject between our two colleagues seems to have 

 left the subject undecided as regards the 13 primitive colonies which, at the close 

 of the last century, founded the American Union. But for the 23 States which 

 Lave been fonned since tlien, and several of wLicli date but from yesterday, it is 

 diflicult to invoke a climatic influeiu^e wLicL can only Lave been exerted on two 

 or at most tliree generations. M. Carlier Las insisted tliat tlu^ modifications pro- 

 duced by climate cannot l)e luanifested in so sLort a lai)S(! of time. 



To coin])lete Lis investigation, our colleague Las studied the acclimation of the 

 negro, not only in the United States but also in the Antilles and Brazil. This 

 ])art of his memoir jirocured us some interesting communications from j\I. ]\lartin 

 de j\Ioussy on the state of the negroes in South America, and from M. Simonot 

 on the questions of hybridity suggested by the study of the mulattocs. if the 



