Vlll PREFACE 



to the Newcastle-on-Tyne meeting of the " Museums Associa- 

 tion " and published in the report for 1895. 



2. The essays on general Biological questions treat very 

 considerably of a subject of even wider interest, the per- 

 manence or transmutation of species, especially in its bearing 

 upon the doctrine of evolution. It might be thought that 

 nothing more need now be said upon this subject, but it is 

 certain that there is still much misapprehension in relation 

 to it; and it may be interesting to some to know the 

 arguments which have been brought forward at various stages 

 of the great controversy by one whose scientific life began 

 before the publication of the Origin of Species, and to whom 

 it has fallen to present the principal problems connected with 

 it in various aspects and to various classes of intelligence and 

 education. If some of the essays may not be upon the level 

 of our present knowledge as to facts, the principal lines of 

 thought which run through them are not materially changed 

 by the additions made to that knowledge, and so it has been 

 thought best to leave them as originally written, except for 

 an occasional verbal alteration. The dates at which they 

 were first published should, in all cases, be carried in mind. 

 Sometimes a repetition of ideas or even of verbal expressions 

 found elsewhere may be met with, but these have been 

 allowed to stand, so that each essay may be complete in 

 itself. 



3. Upon the third subject, the main point of which is the 

 advocacy of a more systematic study of Anthropology in this 

 country, there has been, as it seems to me, less advance than 

 in either of the other two ; and in putting forth its claims 

 for greater recognition I felt for a long time as one crying 

 in the wilderness. I am glad, therefore, to have the oppor- 

 tunity of bringing much which has been said in some of 

 these addresses once more before the notice of those who 

 may have opportunities of forwarding the work, and also 

 acknowledging various recent signs of progress, among which 



