TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 689 
Srction H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION—HeENRyY BALFour, M.A. 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18. 
The President delivered the following Address :— 
Ir has frequently been remarked, and not without some justification, that Anthrc- 
pology is an exceedingly diffuse science, and that it lacks the compactness and 
relatively well-defined field of enterprise enjoyed by most other sciences. This 
characteristic has even been employed by many as an argument against regarding 
Anthropology as a subject of any considerable value for educational purposes, the 
suggested lack of cohesion being thought to militate against this science ever being 
allowed to occupy a similar position in the educational curricula and examination 
systems of this country as that to which the older sciences have for the most part 
been admitted. For my own part, I cannot but consider the validity of this 
argument as open to question, The term Anthropology, used in its unrestricted 
and, as I venture to think, proper sense, does, I readily admit, embrace a vast and 
varied field, and it inevitably overlaps, and even wanders far and at times freely 
into the domains of other sciences. How should it and how can it be otherwise? 
We, surely, would be guilty of grievously undervaluing and paying scant respect 
to our genus were we to imagine that the science devoted to its comprehensive 
study could be otherwise than far-reaching—call it diffuse if you will—and that 
‘it could be expected to avoid driving its roots deeply into other sciences whose 
chief practical interest lies, after all, in their adaptability to the service of Man. 
In admitting the partial justice of the accusation as regards diffuseness, 
Anthropology, it seems to me, is really pleading guilty to the possession of an 
educational quality of which it may rather boast than feel ashamed. A science 
which is so far-reaching, and yet whose nucleus or focussing point is so well 
defined, seems of itself to furnish the materials in great part for a liberal education, 
if properly handled, and to lend itself to the preparation of the inevitable 
syllabuses, adapted to the different grades both of general education and of higher 
scholarship. 
I readily admit that the word Anthropology is unfortunately cumbersome ; but 
it would seem to be inevitable, since no one has yet provided the science with a 
compact general name which may serve as an efficient substitute ; and, since we 
must retain it, we may at least expect the word to work for its polysyllabic exist- 
ence, by covering a wide area and serving as the most general term denoting the 
study of Man in a wide and all-embracing sense. 
It is not my purpose to discuss here the educational value of Anthropology, 
but frankly and even gladly to admit that Anthropology, in spite of its late 
recognition as a distinct science worthy of encouragement, has in recent years 
progressed with rapid strides, and has already reached a stage of developmental 
Bere ae which it is necessary to differentiate the several branches of stud 
1904. ¥¥ 
