254 ANTHROPOLOGY xvn 



largely help, when anatomical characters fail to separate and 

 define. 



The anthropological museums of this country, as well as 

 elsewhere, are all of recent growth, and they are making 

 progress everywhere with steadily accelerating speed. This 

 cannot be better illustrated than in the place where we are 

 at the present time. Many of those who are now in this 

 room can remember when the materials for the study of 

 either branch of the subject in Oxford were absolutely non- 

 existent. I can myself recall the time when the site of the 

 handsome building which now houses the scientific treasures 

 of the University was a bare field. All who know the 

 modern history of Oxford must be aware that it was mainly 

 owing to the enthusiastic zeal and steady perseverance in the 

 cause of scientific education of one who is happily still among 

 us, the veteran Kegius Professor of Medicine, Sir Henry 

 Acland, that that building was erected. The possession of a 

 well -selected and representative collection illustrating the 

 anatomical characters of the human species is chiefly owing 

 to the energetic labours of Professor Eolleston, one of the 

 brightest and noblest of Oxford's sons, a man of whom I 

 cannot speak without feelings of the strongest affection and 

 most profound regret for his untimely loss to the University 

 and the world. 



The collection illustrating the arts and customs of primitive 

 people the University owes to the ingenuity and munificence 

 of General Pitt-Eivers, who not only provided the material 

 on which it is based, but also the original and unique scheme 

 of arrangement, which adds so greatly to its value as a means 

 of education, and is so admirably calculated to awaken an 

 interest in the subject, even in the minds of the most super- 

 ficial visitor. In speaking thus of the method of displaying 

 the Pitt-Kivers collection, I must not be supposed to imply 

 any disparagement of others arranged on different plans. 

 Provided there is a definite and consistent arrangement of 

 some sort, it is well that there should be a diversity in the 

 treatment of different collections, and for such a vast and 

 exhaustive collection as that under the care of Sir Wollaston 

 Franks, at the British Museum, the geographical system 



