248 ANTHROPOLOGY xvi 



management in the Society itself. Its affairs have been 

 presided over and administered by some of the most eminent 

 and able men the country has produced. Huxley, Lubbock, 

 Busk, Evans, Tylor, and Pitt-Kivers have in succession given 

 their energies to its service, and yet the number of its members 

 is falling away, its usefulness is crippled, and its very existence 

 seems precarious. Some decline to join the Institute, others 

 leave it, upon the plea that, being unable from distance or other 

 causes to attend the meetings, they cannot obtain the full return 

 for their subscriptions ; others on the ground that the Journal 

 does not contain the exact information which they require. 



There surely is to be found a sufficient number of persons 

 who are influenced by different considerations, who feel that 

 anthropological science is worth cultivating, and that those 

 who are laboriously and patiently tracing out the complex 

 problems of man's diversity and man's early history are doing 

 a good work, and ought to be encouraged by having the 

 means afforded them of carrying on their investigations and 

 of placing the results of their researches before the world 

 who feel, moreover, that there ought to be some central body, 

 representing the subject, which may, on occasion, influence 

 opinion or speak authoritatively on matters often of great 

 practical importance to the nation. 



There must be many in this great and wealthy country 

 who feel that they are helping a good cause in joining such a 

 society, even if they are not individually receiving what they 

 consider a full equivalent for their small subscription many 

 who feel satisfaction in helping the cause of knowledge, in help- 

 ing to remove the opprobrium that the British Anthropological 

 Society alone of those of the world is lacking in vitality, and 

 in helping to prevent this country from falling behind all the 

 nations in the cultivation of a science in which for the 

 strongest reasons it might be expected to hold the foremost 

 place. It is a far more grateful task to maintain, extend, and 

 if need be improve, an existing organisation than to construct 

 a new one. I feel, therefore, no hesitation in urging upon all 

 who take interest in the promotion of the study of Anthro- 

 pology to rally round the Institute, and to support the endeavours 

 of the present excellent president to increase its usefulness. 



