48o 



NATURE 



\August 29, 1878 



being done by using them in the exceedingly inappropriate 

 manner in which they were naturally used by political writers. 

 His conclusions then were entirely in accordance with those 

 which Mr. Lewis had just now brought before them. He (Prof. 

 Huxley) believed that if there was a proposition in ethnology 

 which was capable of historical proof it ^^•as that, so far as 

 physical characteristics were concerned, the ancient Gauls — as 

 was the opinion of the Roman and Greek historians — were 

 persons of precisely the same physical peculiarities as the ancient 

 Teutons known to the same historians. In fact, there was a 

 most extraordinary correspondence to the phraseology in which 

 the Teutons are described by a well-known writer, and those in 

 ■which the earlier historians described the Gaulish invaders of the 

 Roman Empire and the Greek Kingdom. That he believed to 

 be beyond all question, and so far as physical characteristics 

 went, he did not believe that there wasU shred of evidence to show 

 that the persons who spoke Celtic dialects at the time they made 

 their appearance in Western Europe were in any physical respect 

 different from those who spoke the older Teutonic dialect, and 

 not only that there was no difference, but there was a most extra- 

 ordinary resemblance, inasmuch as those stocks when they came 

 into contact with the civilised world were described in the same 

 terms — as sturdy, fair-haired people, with fair skins, and what he 

 thought without any exaggeration may be described as a remark- 

 able shortness of temper. He would not enter now into the 

 interesting questions which Mr. Lewis had raised. The delibe- 

 rate conclusions which were drawn from this subject with regard 

 to the real distinction of race in our islands were, that the people 

 of some particular race were marked by a tendency to certain 

 social organizations and certain peculiar mental constitutions. 

 Now he dared say that might be so. He could not — no person 

 who was a professional zoologist could — fail to entertain the 

 most exalted ideas of the influence of race, and he had no doubt 

 there was great influence ; but what he did very much doubt was 

 whether they had the smallest means of knowing what at the 

 same time was the amount of influence exerted on the people of 

 this country by the different ethnological elements which compose 

 it. Let any one who listened to the talk about national character- 

 istics, and what was said about particular institutions being 

 impossible for some of the people of these islands and possible 

 for others — let him carry his mind back for the last twenty 

 years and think what was at that time said about the German 

 people. Great writers of public opinion at that time were never 

 tired of enlarging on the saying of one great German, that while 

 the Empire of France was on the land, and that of the British 

 on the sea, the Germans had the empire of the air ; but they 

 proved themselves during the last fifteen years to be about as 

 practical and hard-fisted a people as any that existed at 

 the present time in the universe ; and we did not hear anything 

 of the Teutonic dreamers since the battle of Sedan. He 

 believed that we knew so little about the races that it was im- 

 possible to disentangle what any particular nation was. We did 

 on the other hand, know that there was a great deal of human 

 nature in all kinds of men, and of social conditions which 

 exercise an enormous influence. He thought he would en- 

 deavour to make out what in any given race at the present 

 time was due to the pre-existing social and political relations — 

 and when he had sifted that he would have some reason to talk 

 of residuum as being the consequence of race influence. He 

 himself did not believe, taking any one section of the British 

 empire — whether Scotch or English or Irish— he did not believe 

 that race has any appreciable influence upon their social and 

 political condition of the present day. That was to say, his 

 impression was that if the south-eastern parts of the British 

 empire, the county of Kent) for instance, had been subject to 

 just the same sort of conditions for 400 or 500 years as, he 

 would say, Connemara and Galway, he should expect the results 

 to be as nearly as possible the same ; and it was a curious fact 

 of ethnological study that those parts of Ireland which are 

 supposed to exhibit in the most marked manner these character- 

 istics, sometimes complimentary and sometimes uncomplimentary, 

 were those in which it could be proved to demonstration that the 

 Norman and English elements were most predominant. 



Captain R. F. jBurton read a paper entitled Notes on the 

 Tribes of A/idian.— The country once belonged to the Moabites, 

 Ammonites, and Amalekites of Scripture, but the tribes now 

 inhabiting it were comparatively modern. They were a mixed 

 race. The inhabitants of the uplands were fairer in complexion 

 and more fleshy and muscular than the dwellers in the lowlands, 

 who were more dark and slender. Some of the higher classes 



were decidedly handsome, having erect muscular figures, straight 

 features, black hair, and olive-coloured skins, fine eyes, restless 

 and piercing, though their beards were rather thin. Longevity 

 was rare amongst them in consequence of incessant fatigue, 

 indifferent nourishment, and want of cleanliness. The inner 

 man was not so easily described. Their chief characteristics 

 were strong social affections, eternal suspiciousness, extreme 

 pugnacity, and proportionate revengefulness. Their sociability 

 was extreme, and they made great sacrifices for one another. 



Prof. W. H. Flower read a paper On the Methods and Results 

 of Measuring the Capacity 0/ Crania. — Of all the measurements 

 by which they could determine the difference between the human 

 skulls of people of one race and of a foreign race, perhaps the 

 most important was that which gave the cubic capacity of the 

 great cavity of the skull which contained the brain. Many ways 

 of ascertaining it had been tried. Some persons laid great stress 

 on the weight of the brain, but for his part he thought that on 

 the whole if the capacity of the skull could be got it would be 

 more valuable. The weight of the brain differed very much 

 according to the age or physical conditions of the person when 

 he died, and there were certain diseases which went to increase 

 the specific gravity. But when the actual capacity of skull was 

 found they had the actual capacity of the brain at the time of 

 health. There was another very important reason why they laid, 

 stress on obtaining the capacity of the crania in preference to the 

 other method. It was because all their museums now contained; 

 a number of skulls from different parts of the earth, some of 

 which were very inaccessible to scientific observation, and it was, 

 of course, impossible to ascertain the actual weight of the brains 

 of these people after death. Then, again, hew could they get 

 the capacity of the skull by the weight of the brains in cases 

 where the races had become extinct, such as the Tasmanians, 

 many of the Polynesians, the ancient Britons, and the ancient 

 Irish, and others, specimens of whose skulls they possessed, and 

 by which they could ascertain the capacity of the brain ? He 

 supposed he would be expected to say at once whether he attri- 

 buted any great and direct importance to the weight and age of 

 the brain as an indication of intelligence. Well, he thought it 

 was one of the very many points that had to be considered in 

 this question; but he thought there were a great many other 

 things to be remembered in this view of the question. For 

 instance many people had large brains and did not know how to 

 use them, and some who know how to use them did not try to 

 do it. They would see that many of the races that were natu- 

 rally considered the higher races, and had taken the lead in. 

 the civilisation of the world, had undoubtedly larger cranial 

 capacities than the peoples who were at the bottom of the 

 ladder of civilisation. He would never accept the mere fact 

 of a man's head being large as an indication of superior intelli- 

 gence, but it was one point to be considered. The measurement 

 of the skull was not only an important but it was also a difficult 

 work, more difficult in fact than a great many people supposed, 

 and a great many of the uncertain results that had been 

 obtained on this subject were owing to the persons who 

 had taken the matter in hand not having yet discovered the 

 best and most certain method of carrying out the investigation., 

 A large number of measurements published were only of an 

 approximate value, owing to the numerous fallacies and difficul- 

 ties experienced in arriving at a satisfactory method of measure- 

 ment. Nothing, apparently, could be easier than to take a 

 skull and stop the cavities, and pour some fluid into it and then 

 pour it out and measure it, but they could not do this with the 

 skull, as the bone was very porous and full of minute invisible 

 holes, through which the fluid soaked as it would through a 

 sponge. It was only by making the skull waterproof that they 

 could seek to measure its cavity by a fluid. He had a skull by 

 him which had been so prepared. The large holes had been 

 filled with wax and the skull soaked in melted paraffin, which 

 filled up the minute cavities, and when it was cooled it was as 

 impervious to any fluid as delf . But the materials that had to 

 be used in testing the capacity of the skull must be something 

 solid. Various things, such as shot, grain, &c., had been used. 

 He would pass over the various methods that had been tried and 

 failed, and which would be found recorded in the Transactions 

 of the Anthropological Society of Paris, and speak of tv/o 

 methods which at the present time meet with the greatest amount 

 of success. One was the method of Mons. Broca, and the 

 other the method of Mr, Busk, The latter had shown such good, 

 reasons for his plan that he thought it particularly safe to try it, 

 and after doing so he had adopted it with some modifications., 



