V BRITISH ETHNOLOGY 263 



in physique or in language. On the former point 

 there is the distinct testimony of Strabo ; as to the 

 latter, St. Jerome states that the " Galatians had 

 almost the same language as the Treviri." Now, the 

 Galatians were emigrant Volcae Tectosages, and 

 therefore Celtae ; while the Treviri were Belgse. 1 



At the present day, the physical characters of 

 the people of Belgic Gaul remain distinct from 

 those of the people of Aquitaine, notwithstanding 

 the immense changes which have taken place 

 since Caesar's time ; but Belgae, Celtae, and Aqui- 

 tani (all but a mere fraction of the last two, 

 represented by the Basques and the Bretons) are 

 fused into one nationality, "le peuple Framjais." 

 But they have adopted the language of one 

 set of invaders, and the name of another ; their 

 original names and languages having almost dis- 

 appeared. Suppose that the French language 

 remained as the sole evidence of the existence of 

 the population of Gaul, would the keenest philo- 

 loger arrive at any other conclusion than that this 

 population was essentially and fundamentally a 

 " Latin " race, which had had some communica- 

 tion with Celts and Teutons ? Would he so much 

 as suspect the former existence of the Aquitani ? 



Community of language testifies to close contact 



between the people who speak the language, but 



to nothing else ; philology has absolutely nothing 



to do with ethnology, except so far as it suggests 



[ l This proposition is disputed. 1894.] 



