SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 239 



the result, as far as the end I had in view, would have been more 

 valuable. The chief gain I derived from it was this : it brought me 

 face to face, in a more extensive manner than happens to most in- 

 quirers, with the method of statistical inquiry and showed me how 

 far that manner of inquiry is likely to help us in settling racial affini- 

 ties. It brought home to me the fact that the statistical method is 

 one which raises rather than answers questions ; it produces data but 

 it cannot explain them. The second lesson my inquiry taught me, 

 and one which I mean to apply to every piece of work of this kind I 

 may undertake, is that any statistical inquiry to be of value must be 

 made on structures whose function and significance are completely 

 understood, and the measure of whose function can be accurately 

 represented by the data recorded. That is to say, my inquiry ended 

 at the point where it should have commenced, namely, in a complete 

 investigation by physiological and comparative methods, into the 

 meaning and use of each part of the outer ear. 



It would have been a matter of the greatest satisfaction could I 

 have brought before you a piece of work which was more worthy of 

 our University, and a better acknowledgment of the debt which I, in 

 common with thousands of men of the North of Scotland, owe her. 

 These 400 years she lias provided her graduates with the means of 

 joining the ranks of those who, all the world over, seek to keep 

 natural knowledge not only living but also growing. 



