TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 105 



contemporaneously, a "wise discovery or invention, it is mucli more likely on the 

 calculation of chances, and considering the much greater number of fools and 

 blockheads ('Thoren und Dummkopfen'), that in two coimtries widely apart 

 closely similar follies should be simultaneously invented. And then, if the invent- 

 ing fool happens to be a man of influence and consideration, ichich is, b>j the wai/, 

 an excecdinghj freqnetit coincidence, both the nations are Ukely to adopt the same 

 foolish practice, and the historian and antiquarian, after the lapse of some cen- 

 turies, is likely to draw from this coincidence tlie conclusion that the two nations 

 both sprang from the same stock." Judge and speculate for yourselves how the 

 spirit which breathes in this passage was excited, but note its scientific value too. 

 We must not forget that it is possible, in thought, at least, to dissociate the psy- 

 chological unity of man from his specific identity even ; and that, as regards iden- 

 tity of race, it is only reasonable to expect that when similar needs are pressing, 

 similar means for meeting them are not imlikely to be devised independently by 

 members of two tribes who have for ages been separated from their original stocks. 

 The question to be asked is, does the contrivance about which we are speculating 

 combine, or does it not combine in itself so large a number of converging adapta- 

 tions as to render it upon the calculation of chances unlikely that it should have 

 been independently invented? Yet this veiy obvious principle has been neglected, 

 or Lindenschmit would not have found it necessary to say that, by laying too much 

 stress upon certain points of national identity in the stones ixsed for the formation 

 of cromlechs or dolmens, the HiinenvoLk might be made out to have chosen to 

 settle only in those parts of Germany where erratic blocks of granite or other such 

 large stones could be found ! (Archiv fiir Anthropologie, iii. p. 115, 1868). 



Sir John Lubbock's recently published work on ' The Origin of Civilization ' 

 may, I anticipate, cause the history and genealogy of manners and customs to enter 

 largely into the composition of our lists of papers. There is no need for me, as 

 the author of the book is here himself to speak, as annoimced, for himself, to occupy 

 your time in recommending his work ; but I may be allowed to say that the utility 

 of such pursuits as those which Sir John Lubbock's book treats of receives some 

 little illustration from the fact that, as we learn from him and from Mr. Tylor, the 

 human mind blunders and errs and deceives itself in these subjects in just the same 

 way as it does in the kindred, though more immediately arising, pressing, and im- 

 portant matters of social and political life. In these latter spheres of observation 

 we are apt occasionally to mistake one of those intermittent reactions of opinion, 

 produced as eddies are produced in a river by the deposit of sand and mud at an- 

 gles in its onward course, for a deliberate giving up of the principles upon which 

 all previous progi-ess has been dependent. The straws which float upon the surface 

 of a backwater may be taken as proofs that the river is about to flow upwards, and 

 a feeble oarsman in a light boat may be deceived for some moments by the back- 

 ward drifting of his small craft. Now an analogous blunder is often made in mat- 

 ters of purely historical interest ; and we may do well to learn from the experience 

 thus cheaply earned. " The histoiy of the human race has," says Sir J. Lubbock, 

 p. 322, I. c, '' I feel satisfied, on the whole been one of progress : I do not of course 

 mean to say that every race is necessarily advancing ; on the contrary, most of the 

 lower are almost stationary :" but Sir John'regards these as exceptional instances, 

 and points out that if the past history of man had been one of deterioration, w^e 

 have but a groundless expectation of future improvement ; whilst on the other, if 

 the past has been one of progress, we may fairly hope that the future wiU be so 

 also. 



Mr. Tylor's words are equally to the purpose, though, as forming the end of a 

 chapter merely and not the end of a book, they are less enthusiastic in tone 

 (p. 193, Tylor, ' Early History of Mankind'). They run thus :— 



"To judge from experience, it would seem that the world, when it has once got 

 a firmer grasp of new knowledge or a new art, is very loath to lose it altogether, 

 especially when it relates to matters important to man in general, for the conduct 

 of his daily life, and the satisfaction of his daily wants, things that come home to 

 men's 'business and bosoms.' An inspection of the geographical distribution of 

 art and knowledge among mankind seems to give some gi-ounds for the belief 

 that the history of the lower races, as of the higher, ia not the_, history of a course 



