554 
NATORE 
[OcToseEr 5, 1899 
called perpetual motion. Modern science seems to show that it 
is equally vain to seek for anything that is perpetually and 
absolutely at rest. 
I have alluded to the kinetic theory of gases because we know 
more of the constitution of that form of matter than we do of 
any other, but having regard to the progress of science to which 
I have referred, is it too much to hope that some of you will live 
to see a second Newton, who will give you a second Principia, 
which shall clear away the difficulties which surround the con- 
stitution of matter whether ponderable or imponderable ? 
One word more, bring enthusiasm to your studies ; without it 
the best instruction (this you will have) and the best apparatus 
will do nothing for you. Make your work the first aim, and do 
not let athletics, or anything else, take precedence of it. Here, 
again, I cannot help thinking that the Germans get a little the 
better of us. With them work is absolutely in the forefront ; I 
am not at all sure that it is so with the average young English- 
man of to-day. No one appreciates the value of athletics, when 
kept in their proper place, more keenly than Ido. But against 
the substitution of athletics for the more serious objects of life, I 
should like to enter my strongest protest, and it will be a sorry 
day for England if such a change ever takes place. 
Lastly, I would say to you, while giving the acquiring of 
knowledge that may assist your own business or profession the 
first place, not be too utilitarian, do not narrow the search 
for knowledge down to a search for utilitarian knowledge, for 
knowledge that you think will pay. I remember a strong pro- 
test of De Morgan’s against the number of men who take their 
station in the business of life without ever having known real 
mental exertion ; he put it that knowledge which ought to open 
the mind was decided on solely by its fitness to manure the 
money tree. 
Therefore, above all things, pursue knowledge. It is that 
pursuit which will stand by you to the end as at once the 
greatest and the most enduring of pleasures. Friends may die ; 
the most tender attachments must be severed ; advancing years 
will very soon debar you from any serious pursuit of athletics ; 
the acquisition of wealth will take away from you the pleasure 
of ‘making a position,” which is probably the keenest, and 
surely the most legitimate, incentive of middle life; but the 
pleasure of acquiring knowledge will console you to the last, so 
long as you have strength to open a book, or to hold a test- 
tube. Cry after knowledge ; seek for her as silver ; and search 
for her as for hidden treasure. 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
SECTION H. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
OPENING ADDRESS BY C. H. READ, 
SECTION. 
THE difficulties that beset the President of this Section in pre- 
paring an address are chiefly such as arise from the great 
breadth of our subject. It is thought by some, on the one 
hand, to comprehend every phase of human activity, so that if 
a communication does not fall within the scope of any other of 
the Sections into which the British Association is divided, it 
must of necessity belong to that of anthropology. On the other 
hand, there are many men, wanting neither in intelligence 
nor education, who seem incapable of grasping its general 
extent, but, mistaking a part for the whole, are fully content 
with the conclusions that naturally result from such a parochial 
method of reasoning. The Oxford don who stated, a year or 
two ago, his belief that anthropology rested on a foundation of 
romance can only have arrived at this opinion by some such in- 
adequate process, and the conclusion necessarily fails to carry 
conviction. The statement was, however, singularly ill-advised, 
for anthropology gives way to no other branch of science in its 
reliance upon facts for its existence and its conclusions. Had 
the reproach been that the facts were often of a dry and repel- 
lent character we might have pleaded extenuating circumstances, 
but I fear it must have been admitted that there was some justice 
in the complaint, though we could fairly point to instances 
where master minds have made even the dry bones of anthro- 
pology live, and that without trenching upon the domain of 
romance. 
It is not, however, my purpose to-day to enter upon a general 
defence of anthropology as a branch of science. It has taken 
NO. 1562, VOL. 60] 
PRESIDENT OF THE 
far too firm a hold upon the popular mind to need any such 
help. Tintend rather to treat of one or two special subjects 
with which I am in daily relation, in order to see whether some 
practical means cannot be found to bring about a state of things 
more satisfactory than that at present existing. 
The first of these branches is that of the prehistoric antiquities 
of our own country. It will not be denied that there can be no 
more legitimate subject of study than the remains of the in- 
habitants of our islands from the earliest appearance of man up 
to the time when written history comes to the aid of the archzeo- 
logist. There is no civilised nation which has not devoted some 
part of its energies to such studies, and many of them under far 
less favourable circumstances than ours. The chiefest of our 
advantages is to be found in the small extent of the area to be 
explored—an area ridiculously small when compared with that of 
most of the continental nations, or with the resources at our com- 
mand for its exploration. The natural attractions of our islands, 
moreover, have also had a great influence on our continental 
neighbours, so that their incursions have not been few, and no 
small number of them decided to remain in a country where the 
necessaries of life were obtainable under such agreeable condi- 
tions. The effect of these incursions, so far as our present 
subject is concerned, is that there is to be found in the British 
Islands a greater variety of prehistoric and later remains than is 
seen in most European countries, a fact which should add con- 
siderably to the interest of their exploration. At the same time 
also it must be borne in mind that it is by such researches alone 
that we can arrive at any true understanding of the conditions of 
life, the habits and religious beliefs, or the physical characters 
of the varied races who inhabited Britain in early times. 
It may seem unnecessary to urge, in face of these facts, that 
all such memorials of the past should be, in the first place, pre- 
served ; and, in the second, that any examination of them 
should be undertaken only by properly qualified persons. Un- 
fortunately, however, it has never been more necessary than it 
is at the present time to insist upon both points, and the fact 
that these prehistoric remains are scattered impartially over the 
whole country, with the exception, perhaps, of the sites of 
ancient forests, makes it almost impossible to devise any special 
measures for their preservation. An additional difficulty is to 
be found in the fact that many ancient remains, such as the 
barrows of the early Bronze Age, are altogether unrecognised as 
such, and in the process of cultivation have been ploughed 
down almost to the level of the surrounding surface, until at last 
the plough scatters the bones and other relics unnoted over the 
field, and one more document is gone that might have served in 
the task of reconstructing the history of early man in Britain. 
Such accidental and casual destruction is, however, probably 
unavoidable, and, being so, it is scarcely profitable to dwell 
upon it. We can, perhaps, with more advantage protest against 
wilful destruction, whether it be wanton mischief or misplaced 
archeological zeal. An enlightened public opinion is our only 
protection against the first of these, and will avail against the 
second also, but we are surely entitled to look for more active 
measures in preventing the destruction of archzological monu- 
ments in the name of archeology itself. It is a far 
more common occurrence than is generally realised for 
a tumulus to be opened by persons totally unqualified 
for the task either by experience or reading. An account 
may then be printed in the local journal or newspaper. When 
such accounts do appear it is often painfully obvious that an 
accidental and later burial has been mistaken for the principal 
interment, while the latter has been altogether overlooked, and 
no useful record has been kept of the relative positions of the 
various objects found. The loss that science has suffered by this 
indiscriminate and ill-judged exploration is difficult to estimate, 
for it should be borne in mind that an ancient burial, once ex- 
plored, is destroyed for future searchers—no second examination 
can produce results of any value, though individual objects over- 
looked by chance may repay the energy of the later comers. So 
much varied knowledge is, in fact, required for the proper 
elucidation of the ordinary contents of a British barrow that it 
is almost impossible for any single person to perform the task 
unaided. A wide experience in physical anthropology must be 
combined with ar acquaintance fully as wide with the ordinary 
conditions of such interments and the nature, material, and 
relative positions of the accompanying relics, all of. which must 
be brought to bear, with discriminating judgment, on the facts 
laid bare by the digger’s spade. Added to this, the greatest 
precaution is needed that nothing of value be overlooked. In 
