374 



NA TURE 



[August 19, 1897 



I have been carried away by the Hberty allowed for conjecture 

 into the regions of pure imagination, and must now return to 

 the realms of fact, and one fact on which I desire for a short 

 time to insist is that of the existence at the present day, in 

 close juxtaposition with our own civilisation, of races of men 

 who, at all events but a few generations ago, lived under much 

 the same conditions as did our own Neolithic predecessors in 

 Europe. 



The manners and customs of these primitive tribes and peoples 

 are changing day by day, their languages are becoming obsolete, 

 their myths and traditions are dying out, their ancient processes 

 of manufacture are falling into oblivion, and their numbers are 

 rapidly diminishing, so that it seems inevitable that ere long 

 many of these interesting populations will become absolutely 

 extinct. The admirable Bureau of Ethnology instituted by 

 our neighbours in the United States of America has done 

 much towards preserving a knowledge of the various native 

 races in this vast continent ; and here in Canada the annual 

 Archaeological Reports presented to the Minister of Education 

 are rendering good service in the same cause. 



Moreover the Committee of this Association appointed to 

 investigate the physical characters, languages, and industrial 

 and social conditions of the North-western tribes of the Do- 

 minion of Canada is about to present its twelfth and final report, 

 which, in conjunction with those already presented, will do much 

 towards preserving a knowledge of the habits and languages of 

 those tribes. It is sad to think that Mr. Horatio Hale, whose 

 comprehensive grasp of the bearings of ethnological questions, 

 and whose unremitting labours have so materially conduced 

 to the success of the Committee, should be no longer among 

 us. Although this report is said to be final, it is to be hoped 

 that the Committee may be able to indicate lines upon which 

 future work in the direction of ethnological and archaeological 

 research may be profitably carried on in this part of Her 

 Majesty's dominions. 



It is, however, lamentable to notice how little is being, or 

 has been, officially done towards preserving a full record of the 

 habits, beliefs, arts, myths, languages, and physical characteristics 

 of the countless other tribes and nations more or less uncivilised, 

 which are comprised within the limits of the British Empire. 

 At the meeting of this Association held last year at Liverpool, 

 it was resolved by the General Committee " that it is of urgent 

 importance to press upon the Government the necessity of 

 establishing a Bureau of Ethnology for Greater Britian, which 

 by collecting information with regard to the native races within 

 and on the borders of the Empire will prove of immense 

 value to science and to the Government itself." It has been 

 suggested that such a bureau might with the greatest advan- 

 tage and with the least outlay and permanent expense be 

 connected either with the British Museum or with the Imperial 

 Institute, and the project has already been submitted for the 

 consideration of the Trustees of the former establishment. 



The existence of an almost unrivalled ethnological collection 

 in the Museum, and the presence there of officers already well 

 versed in ethnological research, seem to afford an argument in 

 favour of the proposed bureau being connected with it. On 

 the other hand, the Imperial Institute was founded with an 

 especial view to its being a centre around which every interest 

 connected with the dependencies of the Empire might gather 

 for information and support. The establishment within the 

 last twelve months of a Scientific Department within the In- 

 stitute, with well-appointed laboratories and a highly-trained 

 staff, shows how ready are those concerned in its management 

 to undertake any duties that may conduce to the welfare of the 

 outlying parts of the British Empire ; a fact of which I believe 

 that Canada is fully aware. The Institute is therefore likely 

 to develop, so far as its scientific department is concerned, into 

 a bureau of advice in all matters scientific and technical, and 

 certainly a Bureau of Ethnology, such as that suggested, would 

 not be out of place within its walls. 



Wherever such an institution is to be established, the question 

 of its existence must of necessity rest with Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment and Treasury, inasmuch as without funds, however 

 moderate, the undertaking cannot be carried on. I trust that 

 in considering the question it will always be borne in mind that 

 in the relations between civilised and uncivilised nations and 

 races it is of the first importance that the prejudices, and especi- 

 ally the religious or semi-religious and caste prejudices, of the 

 latter should be thoroughly well known to the former. If but 

 a single "little war" could be avoided in consequence of the 



NO. 1451, VOL. 56] 



knowledge acquired and stored up by the Bureau of Ethnology 

 preventing such a misunderstanding as might culminate in war- 

 fare, the cost of such an institution would quickly be saved. 



I fear that it will be thought that I have dwelt too long on 

 primaeval man and his modern representatives, and that I should 

 have taken this opportunity to discuss some more general sub- 

 ject, such as the advances made in the various departments of 

 science since last this Association met in Canada. Such a sub- 

 ject would no doubt have afforded an infinity of interesting 

 topics on which to dilate. Spectrum analysis, the origin and 

 nature of celestial bodies, photography, the connection between 

 heat, light, and electricity, the practical applications of the 

 latter, terrestrial magnetism, the liquefaction and solidification 

 of gases, the behaviour of elements and compounds under the 

 influence of extreme cold, the nature and uses of the Rontgen 

 rays, the advances in bacteriology and in prophylactic medicine, 

 might all have been passed under review, and to many of my 

 audience would have seemed to possess greater claims to atten- 

 tion than the subject that I have chosen. 



It must, however, be borne in mind that most, if not indeed 

 all, of these topics will be discussed by more competent authori- 

 ties in the various Sections of the Association by means of the 

 Presidential addresses or otherwise. Nor must it be forgotten 

 that I occupy this position as a representative of Archaeology, 

 and am therefore justified in bringing before you a subject m 

 which every member of every race of mankind ought to be 

 interested— the antiquity of the human family and the scenes ot 

 its infancy. 



Others will direct our thoughts in other directions, but the 

 further we proceed the more clearly shall we realise the connec- 

 tion and inter-dependence of all departments of science. Year 

 after year, as meetings of this Association take place, we may 

 also foresee that " many shall run to and fro and knowledge 

 shall be increased." Year after year advances will be made in 

 science ; and in reading that Book of Nature that lies ever open 

 before our eyes, successive stones will be brought for building 

 up that Temple of Knowledge of which our fathers and we have 

 laboured to lay the foundations. May we not well exclaim 

 with old Robert Recorde ? — 



" Oh woorthy temple of Goddes magnificence : Oh throne of 

 glorye and seate of the lorde : thy substance most pure what 

 tonge can describe ? thy signes are so wondrous, surmountinge 

 mannes witte, the effects of thy motions so diuers in kinde : so 

 harde for to searche, and worse for to fynde — Thy woorkes are 

 all wonderous, thy cunning unknowen : yet seedes of all know- 

 ledge in that booke are sowen — And yet in that boke who 

 rightly can reade, to all secrete knowledge it will him straighte 

 leade" (Preface to Robert Recorde's "Castle of Knowledge," 

 1556.) 



SECTION A. 



MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. 



Opening Address by Prof. A. R. Forsyth, M.A., Sc.D., 

 F.R. S., President of the Section. 



One of the most important events of the past year, connected 

 with the affairs of this Section, has been the reception by the 

 Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, of a deputation to represent 

 the need for the establishment of a National Physical Labora- 

 tory to carry out investigations of certain definite types. Such 

 institutions exist in France and Germany, and have proved of 

 the highest usefulness in a field of work that includes the wide 

 range from pure research to the most direct applications of science 

 to industry. The desire for such an institution in England 

 has long been felt, and as far back as 1891 Prof. Oliver Lodge, 

 when presiding over our Section at the Cardiff meeting, argued 

 in its favour. It has frequently been discussed since that date, 

 particularly in 1895, when Sir Douglas Galton dealt with it so 

 ably in his presidential address at Ipswich, and also in a com- 

 munication to our Section. The subject was then formally re- 

 ferred to a committee of physicisfs, who, at last year's meeting 

 in Liverpool, presented a report containing a working scheme 

 for developing the Kew Observatory into an institution of the 

 desired character. The recommendations of the report were 

 approved by a unanimous vote of this Section ; and were subse- 

 quently adopted by the Association. Thereupon a joint com- 

 mittee, representing the various scientific bodies throughout the 

 United Kingdom interested in the matter, was constituted to 



