374 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



had been observed from time immemorial. I found a universal 

 craving for the means of study, for literature, and for specimens. 

 In one Continental University, famous for its anthropological 

 work and activity, I found that Australia was represented by a 

 plaster cast of a single aborigina,! skull. Tn a British University, 

 with one of the most-complete and best-catalogued collections in the 

 world of local Anthropology, the comparative collection was poor; 

 not a single Australian specimen was included. In one of the most 

 famous American Universities, the Professor of Anthropology said 

 he had not a bone of an Australian aboriginal. A celebrated 

 neurologist in another university was lamenting that it v/as im- 

 possible for him to examine and study the brains of our aboriginals 

 and marsupials. 



The Anthropology of the most interesting, and educationall}'' 

 the most valuable primitive race on the face of the earth at the 

 present time is aLmost unrepresented in places where there are men 

 earnestly desiring the means of study. The comparatively little 

 that has been done is of great value. I depreciate nothing, but 

 admire intensely, the disinterested work that has been accom- 

 plished. In every be ok on Anthropology, Australia bulks largely 

 in the index. But in Australia itself, comparatively little is being 

 done, no University has a chair or lectureship on Anthropology, 

 nor a collection of specimens that would adequately illustrate a 

 single lecture. The museums that possess specimens have no means 

 of studying them, so as to make the results available for the use 

 of the scientific world at large. 



Centuries ago, nature " side-tracked " a race in Australia. At 

 the present time, despite some drawbacks or interference from out- 

 side, that race remains, to a large extent, in primitive conditions. 

 It is capable of casting light on the evolution of human races in a 

 way, and to an extent, that probably no other can equal. It 

 gives us the key, from a study of present customs, to the origin 

 and meaning of the mythology of the Greeks and the Romans, and 

 of mythology generally. It supplies us with data regarding the 

 bodily variations occurring in primitive races, and the place and 

 value of variations in estimating the zoological stratum or horizon 

 to which races belong. Its customs supply us with materials for 

 a critical study of the origin and development of folk-lore, art, 

 writing, language, mental emotions, morality, religion, marriage. 

 The primitive pages are here in abundance, but only for a little 

 while. The Sibylline books are presented open to us as a gift; 

 and, as a people, we can't be bothered. The Governments 

 officially, and public bodies, appear to do little except to create 

 difficulties and impose restrictions on the workers here and else- 

 where. It is extremely painful to state these facts; but, on an 



