NA TURE 



[August i6, 1894 



of Antiqaaries of London, the Folk-lore Society, the Dialect 

 Society, and the Anthropological Institute. Representatives of 

 these different bodies have been formed into a committee, of 

 which Mr. E. W. Brabroolc is now chairman. It is proposed 

 to record in a systematic and uniform character for certain 

 typical villages and the neighbouring districts (I'l the physical 

 types of the inhabitants, (2) their current Ir.-iditions and beliefs, 

 (3) peculiarities of dialect, (4) monumental and other remains 

 of ancient culture, and t5) historical evidence as to continuity 

 efface. The numerous corresponding societies of the .\ssocia- 

 tion scattered over various parts ot the country have been 

 invited to cooperate, and the greater number of them have 

 cordially responded, and special local committees have been 

 formed in many places to carry out the work. 



The result of a preliminary inquiry as to the places in the 

 United Kingdom which appeared especially to deserve ethno- 

 graphic study, mainly on account of the stationary nature of 

 the population for many generations back, was given in the first 

 Report of the Committee presented at the Nottingham meeting 

 of the Association last year, in which it was shown that in the 

 British Isles there are more than 250 places which, in the 

 opinion of competent authorities, would be suitable for ethno- 

 graphic survey, and in which, notwithstanding the rapid changes 

 which have taken place during the last fifty years in all parts 

 of the country, much valuable material remains for the com- 

 mittee to work upon. Without doubt, as interest in the 

 subject is aroused, this number will be greatly increased. 



A most important step in securing the essential condition 

 that the information obtained should be of the nature really 

 required for the purpose, and that the records of diflcrent 

 observers should be as far as possible of equal value and com- 

 parable one with another, has been the compilation of a very 

 elaborate and carefully prepared schedule of questions and 

 directions for distribution among those who have signified their 

 willingness to assist, and as a guarantee that the answers 

 obtained to the questions in the schedules will be utilised to the 

 fullest extent, certain members of the committee specially quali- 

 fied for each branch of the work have undertaken to examine 

 and digest the repprts when received. 



It may be remarked in passing that the Anthropological 

 Society of Paris has within the past year formed a Commission 

 of its members to collect in a systematic manner the scattered 

 data which, when united and digesied. shall form "une anthro- 

 pologic vcrilablement Rationale dc la France," and has issued a 

 circular with schedules of the required observations. These 

 are, however, at present limited lo the physical characters of 

 the population. 



Among the many services rendered to the science of Anthro- 

 pology by the British Association, not the least has been the 

 aid it lias afforded in the publication of that most useful little 

 manual entitled "Notes and Queries on Anthropology," of 

 which the first edition was brought out exactly twenty years 

 ago (1874), under the supervision and partly at the expense of 

 General Pitt-Rivers. Since that time the sut)ject has made such 

 great advances that a second edition, brought up to the require- 

 ments of the present time, was urgently called for. A Com- 

 mittee of the British Association, appointed to consider and re- 

 port upon the best means of doing this, recommended that the 

 work should be placed in the hands of the Anthropological 

 Institute of Great Biitain and Ireland. This recommendation 

 was approved by the Association, and grants amounting to £,^o 

 were made to assist in defraying the cost of publication. The 

 council of the Anthropological Institute appointed a committee 

 of its members to undertake the revision of the different sub- 

 jects, with Dr. J. G. Garson and .Mr. C. H. Reail as editors 

 respectively of the two parts into which it is divided. The 

 work was published irthe end of the year 1892, and is invaluable 

 to the traveller or investigator in pointing out the most im 

 portant subjects of inquiry, and in directing the observations he 

 may have the means ol making into a methodical and systematic 

 channel. 



Besides those I have already mentioned, the Association has 

 aided many other anthropological inve-tigallons by the ap- 



C ointment of committees to carry them out, and in some cases 

 y the more substantial method- of giving grants from its funds, 

 and by defraying the cost of publication of the results in its 

 journal. Among these I may specially mention the scries of 

 vc , ' reports upon the physical characters, languages, 

 »'■ and social condition of the north-western tribes 



of ;..- . :iion of Canada, drawn up by Mr. Horatio Hale, 



NO. 1294, VOL. 50] 



Dr. F. Boas, and others, the importance of which has been 

 recognised by the Canadian Government in the form of a grant 

 in aid of the expenses. 



Another very interesting investigation into the habits, cus- 

 toms, physical characteristics, and religion of the natives of 

 Northern India, initiated by Mr. H. H. Kisley, and carried 

 on under his supervision by the Indian Government, though 

 it has received little more than moral support from the Asso- 

 ciation, may be mentioned here on account of the illustration it 

 affords of the value of exact anihropometrlc methods in 

 distinguishing groups of men. Although a practised eye can 

 frequently tell at a glance the tribe or caste of a man brought 

 belore it for the fust time, the special characters upon which 

 the opinion is based have only lately been reduced to any 

 definite and easily comparable method ol description. In Mr. 

 Risley's examination, the nose, for instance (which I have 

 always held to be one of the most important of features for 

 classificatory purposes), instead of being vaguely described as 

 broad or narrow, is accurately mea.sured, and the proportion of 

 the greatest width lo the length (from above downwards), or 

 the " nasal index," as it is termed (though it must not be con- 

 founded with the nasal index as defined by Broca upon the 

 skuin, gives a figure by which the main elements of the com- 

 position of this feature in any individual may be accurately 

 described. The average of mean nasal indices of a large 

 number of individuals of any race, tribe, or caste offer means 

 of comparison which bring out most interesting lesults. By 

 this character alone the Dravidian tribes of India are e.islly 

 separated from the Aryan. " Kven more striking is the curiously 

 close correspondence between the gradations of racial type 

 indicated by the nasal index and certain of the social data 

 ascertained by independent inquiry. If we take a series of 

 castes in Bengal, Behar, or the North-Western Provinces, and 

 arrange them in the order of the average nasal index, so that 

 the ciste with the finest nose shall be at the top, and that 

 with the coarsest at the bottom of the list, it will be found 

 that this order substantially corresponds with the.icceptcd order 

 of social precedence. The casteless tribes — Kols, Rorwas, 

 Mundas, and the like — who have not yet entered the Brah- 

 manical system, occupy the lowest place in both series. Then 

 come the vermin-eating Musuhars and the leather-dressing 

 Chamdrs. The fisher castes of Baurl, Bind, and Kewat are a 

 trifle higher in the scale ; the pastoral Goala, the cultivating 

 KurmI, and a group of cognate caste^— from whose hands a 

 Brahman may take water — follow in due order; and from them , 

 we pass to the trading Khatris, the landholding Bdbhans, and 

 the upper crust of Hindu society. Thus, it is scarcely a paradox 

 to lay down as a law of the caste organisation in Kaslern India ' 

 that a man's soci,il status varies in inverse ratio to the width of 

 his nose." The results already obtained by this method of 

 observation have been so important and interesting that it is ; 

 greatly to be hoped that the inquiry may be extended through- ' 

 out the remainder of our Indian Kmpire. I 



But for want of time I might here refer to the valuable work I 

 done in relation to the natives of the Andaman Islands, a race' 

 in many respects of most exceptional interest, first by Mr. E. , 

 H. Man, and more recently by Mr. M. V. Portman, and fori 

 the same reason can scarcely glance at the great progress that in 

 being made in anthropological research in other countries than! 

 our own. The numerous workers on this subject in the United' 

 .States of America are, with great assistance from ihe Govern- 

 ment, very properly devoting themselves to exploring, collect-! 

 ing, and |>ublishing. In a .systematic and exhaustive manner, 

 every fact that can still be discovered relating lo the history,! 

 language, and char.acters of the aboriginal population of their 

 own land. They have in this a clear duty set before them, and 

 they are doing it in splendid style. I wish we could say thati 

 the same has been done with all the native populations inl 

 various parts of the world which have been, to use a current 

 phrase, "disestablished and disendowed" by our own country- 

 men. We are, however, now, as 1 have shown, not allogethei 

 unmindful of what is our duly to posterity in this respect; 1 

 duty, perhaps, more urgent than that of any other branch C. 

 scientific investigation, as it will not wail. It must be donCi i 

 ever, belore the rapid spread of civilised man all over thP, 

 world, one of the most remarkable characteristics of the ag( 

 in which we live, has obliterated what still remains of thi 

 original customs, arts, and beliefs of primitive races ; if. Indeed 

 it has noi succeeded — as it too often docs — in obliterating th' 

 races themselves. 



