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Anniversary Address, for 1848, to the Ethnological Society of 

 London, on the recent Progress of Ethnology. By the Presi- 

 dent, James Cowles Peicuard, M.D., F.R.S., Corre- 

 sponding Member of the Institute of France. (Communi- 

 cated by the Society.) 



In addressing the members of the Ethnological Society on 

 the occasion of another Anniversary Meeting, I may venture 

 to assure them, that the studies which it is the purpose of 

 their Association to promote, continue year after year to gain 

 a more extensive place in the public attention. I do not 

 found this remark on the mere probability of the assertion ; 

 though there can hardly be room for doubt, that, in the ge- 

 neral increase of knowledge, and when the energies of the 

 human mind are awakened to every species of inquiry which 

 it is endowed with faculties to pursue, the history of our own 

 species will cease to be neglected. I make the observation 

 on the evidence of facts. The-most obvious of them is, the 

 establishment, in various places, of associations expressly 

 devoted to the cultivation of Ethnology. In the next place 

 may be noted, the great number of memoirs, connected with 

 ethnological inquiries, which have been read during the last 

 four years, before societies in which the subjects of discus- 

 sion are not so limited ; and, I may add, that these inquiries 

 have engaged the attention of persons eminent for learning 

 and ability, whose example and authority give an impulse 

 to the pursuits of ordinary men. I may also advert to the 

 frequent appearance of new works, — some of them periodical 

 publications, — designed to illustrate the history of nations 

 and of the human race. Such works now issue from the press 

 in various parts of the world, where, some time ago, we should 

 not have expected to find anything of a similar description. 

 I shall only allude at present to an excellent journal of scien- 

 tific and historical information published at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and to a new periodical work which makes it appear- 

 ance at Singapoi'e, in the Malayan peninsula, and is intended 

 for the collection of information connected with the ethno- 

 logy of the Indian Archipelago. I may also allude to a pe- 

 riodical publication which now regularly comprises ethno- 

 logical articles, printed by the Missionaries of the London 



