444 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



pbilology has I'ipened into the science of languages, and the 

 comparative study of the reoiains of antiquity has widened out 

 into a history of the technical processes employed by the ancients, 

 and given us an insight into the gradual rise of the fi ne arts from 

 the rough carvings and paintings of the savage down to the 

 admirable creations of the civilised workman. 



In obedience to the tendency above described, we have set 

 about collecting all the available evidence of man's past existence 

 upon earth, for the purpose of producing a picture, as complete as 

 possible, of man's progress from the earliest times up to the 

 present day, and in this manner the science of Anthropology 

 has been founded. Although one of the youngest of sciences, it 

 nvimbers already numerous adherents in every part of the civilised 

 world ; societies for the pursuit of Anthropology have been 

 established in England, the Continent of Europe, the United 

 States, and the far East, nor has Australia been left without its 

 band of distinguished contributors ; and contemporary literature 

 includes several periodicals exclusively devoted to the interests of 

 Anthropological science. The limits of this sliort paper will not 

 allow me to quote the extensive list of writers belonging to every 

 nationality who have studied the remains of the civilized races of 

 antiquity, or investigated the life and habits of the aboriginal 

 tribes still to be found in the interior of tlie great continents and 

 upon the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The numerous works 

 published on the subject of Anthropology already constitute a vast 

 treasure of information, and are readily accessible in the public 

 libraries founded by the munificence of the Australian Govern- 

 ments and private citizens. 



On a review of the work accomplished during the last twenty 

 years, we find that the labours of the Anthropological student 

 and explorer have been rewarded by a series of the mostsurpinsing 

 discoveries, sufficient in themselves to completely change the views 

 formerly entertained as regards the early history of mankind. 

 The apparently impenetrable curtain, which, until lately separated 

 us from the life of the pre-historic races, has been lifted up, and 

 through the long vista of ages suddenly revealed to our astonished 

 gaze, we behold our remote ancestors slowly toiling up towards 

 the stage of civilisation made known to us in the first pages of 

 history. 



Abandoning for once the often doubtful testimony of books, 

 the student of Anthropology has seized the spade and the pickaxe 

 and in turning over the soil of Italy, Greece, Syria, and Egypt, he 

 has obtained ample proof of the existence of races and nations 

 which have left little or no trace in the pages of history. We are 

 now better able to judge of the conditions under which man lived 

 in the earliest period of his existence on earth, of the influence of 

 race and climate which left their impress upon all he has done, 

 of the various stages of his progress towards civilisation, and of 

 the means he employed to raise himself above a state of degradation 



