TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 691 
other developed into independent Sections. With this segregation of the various 
component elements of Biology, the old generalised title ceased to appear on the 
list of the British Association. This, perhaps, will be the fate of the term 
‘ Anthropology,’ as the growth of the subjects which have developed under the 
wing of this very comprehensive science gradually causes, for the sake of practical 
convenience, a number of subordinate titles to replace the time-honoured and 
inclusive term. Should it thus happen, in response to the growth of the science, 
that this term is destined to follow the far wider term ‘ Biology’ into a position of 
dignified ease, we shall be wise to bear continually in mind that Anthropology is 
the main stem from which the various branches have sprung, and to whose 
nourishment and growth it should be the principal aim of their individual 
activities to contribute. In an age of ever-increasing specialization we may from 
time to time require a reminder of the fact that the true value of researches in the 
special fields of a science must be estimated by the degree to which their relationship 
to the whole can be and is rendered manifest. The work of specialists will neces- 
sarily lose half its value if there isa dearth of generalists who will gather 
together the threads and weave them into a substantial fabric, which shall show 
the importance of each individual piece of work to the progress of the science as 
a whole. 
Once Anthropology became recognised as a definite science, and one worthy of 
encouragement, the number of its devotees increased steadily and apace, and the 
range of its work widened rapidly. Indeed, it would appear as though there 
were an almost feverish desire to make up for time lost through the phenomenal 
tardiness of the discovery of a seemingly obvious fact, which is that ‘Man’ is in 
very truth a ‘proper study for mankind,” Energy is not wanting, though this 
feverishness is kept in rigid subjection by the chilling and reducing effect of 
starvation for want of funds. The lack of adequate financial support is pain- 
fully apparent in Great Britain when we compare the conditions prevailing here 
with those obtaining in other countries. 
I will not endeavour to cope with the many and varied aspects of Anthropology 
and its complex ramifications, nor will I attempt to enumerate the many distin- 
guished men of science to whose stimulating work we chiefly owe the progress already 
achieved in Anthropology ; the more prominent pioneers are well known to you, and 
several, I am glad to say, are yet with us. Their works remain as important land- 
marks in the developmental record of the Science of Man. I have, instead, 
selected as my principal theme one branch of the subject. My main object is to 
review, necessarily briefly, one of the factors which have played a part in stimu- 
lating scientific inquiry into the past and present conditions of Man, and in furthering 
the development both of the scientific and the popular interests of Anthropology. I 
wish to confine myself to the consideration of the contribution of one man towards 
the subject, a contribution which is the more valuable since it deals with wide 
principles, and thus affords a basis upon which a vast army of students may found 
valuable work, It amounted to the establishment of a particular school of research 
into the history of human culture, into which fresh workers are constantly being 
attracted, and which has stood the test of time through half a century. 
It was about the middle of last century that an officer in Her Majesty’s Army 
began to apply the lessons which he had learnt in the course of some of his pro- 
fessional experimental work to studies pursued by him as a hobby in a far wider 
field of science. The story of the famous ethnographical collection of Colonel 
Lane Fox is well known, and I need but briefly refer to it. During his investi- 
gations, conducted with a view to ascertaining the best methods whereby the 
service firearms might be improved, at a time when the old Tower musket was being 
finally discarded, he was forcibly struck by the extremely gradual changes whereby 
improvements were effected. He observed that every noteworthy advancement 
in the efficiency, not only of the whole weapon but also of every individual detail 
in its structure, was arrived at as a cumulative result of a succession of very slight 
modifications, each of which was but a trifling improvement upon the one imme- 
diately preceding it. Through noticing the unfailing regularity of this process ot 
gradual evolution in the case of firearms, he was led to believe that the same 
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