130 REPORT—1857. 
nature to be of beautiful, tall, and strong persons of well-formed and well-coloured 
faces :—‘ Tanquam itaque Natura probans quid per se valeat fingere, non cessat et 
figurare quousque in robur perfectum, pulcherrimis et proceris corporibus, et colo- 
ratissimis vultibus, homines istos proyehat et producat,” 
On the Intellectual Characteristics of the Ancient Irish. 
By Joux O'Donovan, LL.D. 
The author laid particular stress upon a passage in Bede's ‘ Ecclesiastical History,’ 
lib. iii. c. 7, to prove their love of learning and their wish to impart it to the Saxons, 
while their neighbours the Cymri or Welsh people were unwilling to communicate 
any literary or religious instruction to the Saxons. He next glanced over the history 
of various Irishmen who distinguished themselves on the Continent by their learning, 
as Columbanus of Bobbio, St. Fursey of Peronne, St. Fridolin, St. Gall, Virgilius, 
Solivagus the Geometrician ; Alcuin, Dungal, Joannes Scotus Erigéna; whose jearn- 
ing and scepticism were most remarkable for the age in which he flourished ; Mari- 
anus Scotus, &c. 
On the Surnames of the Irish People, their Meanings, and the various changes 
= which they have undergone since the English Invasion of Ireland. By 
Joun O'Donovan, LL.D. 
On this subject, to which he had devoted much time and study, the author in- 
tended to publish a dictionary of Irish surnames, in which he would give the history, 
location, and census of all the families of Irish and Anglo-Irish descent now in Ire- 
land, with references to all the ancient Irish and Anglo-Irish documents and records, 
in which the origins and particular histories of these families are to be found, and to 
the churches in which they have been interred. 
On the Probable Migrations and Variations of the Earlier Families of the 
Human Race. By Rear- Admiral FitzRoy, F.R.S. 
In one of the first places which the author visited on the opposite side of the — 
world, he found no fewer than twenty-eight varieties of man. They were all di- 
stinct, known by different names, and classified by no less an authority than Hum- 
boldt. It was the city of Lima, in Peru; where one now may watch the colour, 
features, and form of almost every variety in the world. He was greatly struck by 
this aggregation of colours and appearances. We all know that in Lima 400 years 
since, there were only three distinct varieties ; 500 years ago there was but one race 
(apparently) in Lima, the aboriginal Peruvian; next the Spaniards (or Whites) 
came, and with them Negroes from Africa: from which three sources have sprung 
in the short space of 300 years all those varieties which are now so distinctly marked. 
In some parts of India, also, there are numerous races, and in the Mauritius there 
are likewise many varieties. 
It is desirable to keep in mind three particular epochs in the world’s history, 
namely,— 
1st. The commencement of this century. 
2ndly. About 3000 years aga; and 
3rdly. The earliest dispersion of the human race. 
First, as-to the world’s population at the beginning of this century. “At that time 
there were in existence in Van Diemen’s Land, a few remnants of an aboriginal race, 
which have since vanished. There were in Africa the genuine black man, the brown 
Moor or Berber; the red man, or Caffre; the Hottentot, and the Bushman. The 
latter are frequently regarded as degenerated varieties, but those who have seen the — 
interior of that country know that they cannot be so classed. In America, from 
Cape Horn to the Arctic Circle, we then found the same race of men—the same 
colour and hair. Having (twenty-five years ago) brought home four natives of 
Tierra del Fuego, who remained with him for three years, the author was natu- 
rally much struck on seeing an Esquimaux brought to England by Captain Ommaney, 
precisely like the Fuegians in all respects; and as we know the habits of those 
who wander in canoes along the South American and the North American coasts 
: 
