510 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 



to bring into focus all the energy that is available for such work, that the 

 Council^of the Royal Anthropological Institute has endeavoured, and is en- 

 deavouring, to organise an Imperial Bureau of Anthropology. 



The purposes which such a Bureau would serve may be summarised as fol- 

 lows : — ■ . 



(i) The formulation of standard methods of anthropological and anthro- 



pometrical investigation. 



(ii) To assist Government Departments, private bodies and individuals with 

 expert advice, wherever any new anthropological investigations are undertaken 

 or are in contemplation, to indicate areas where such investigations can be 

 profitably conducted, and to assist in their organisation. 



(iii) To communicate directly, .or through local committees, with active 

 workers in the field, to assist them with information as to the progress of similar 

 investigations elsewhere, and as to the results of previous investigations when- 

 ever an area is re-surveyed. 



(iv) To collate and to publish in standard form the reports of investigators 

 and the numerous anthropological data received from time to time at the Royal 

 Anthropological Institute from its many local correspondents throughout the 

 Empire, to distribute such publications to the various Governments and Govern- 

 ment Departments concerned, and to public and private bodies and persons 

 engaged in anthropological investigation. 



(v) To publish periodical reports, under competent editorship, dealing with 

 the progress of anthropological knowledge and of anthropometry, which would 

 be capable of collation into the decennial Census reports. 



4. Suggestions for an Anthropological Survey of the British Isles. 



By H. Peake. 



The influence of anthropology on the study of history has been to demonstrate 

 that the course of human actions has been, to a great extent, controlled by geo- 

 graphical conditions. This has led to a demand for maps illustrating the con- 

 nection between man and his environment, but such maps cannot be made with 

 sufficient accuracy until a preliminary survey has been undertaken. This paper 

 advocated a survey of the British Isles on these lines, and the production of a 

 number of maps on the 1-inch scale, accompanied by memoirs illustrating all 

 phases of human activity, or conditions by which they may have been influenced. 



It is proposed that a society should be formed, governed by a council con- 

 sisting of the principal experts in the various subjects to be dealt with, and 

 that the country be divided into a number of districts, or geographical units, 

 each containing about two hundred square miles. That in each unit a registrar 

 be appointed, to co-ordinate the work in that area, and that those engaged in 

 research be encouraged to compile maps and memoirs, either of one unit from 

 several points of view, or of several contiguous units from one point of view. 

 That the country be divided eventually into several large natural regions, con- 

 sisting of several counties, and that when all the maps and memoirs relating 

 to one particular subject in all the units of a region have been completed, a 

 monograph should be published, in which the work of all contributors should 

 be acknowledged. 



The scheme, to be successful, requires the sympathy and assistance of the 

 learned societies interested in such subjects, besides the help of those who are 

 engaged in such lines of research. It will be a continuation of the work carried 

 out by the Geological Survey, and of the regional monographs compiled under 

 the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. 



5. Report on the Organisation of Anthropometric Investigation in the 

 British Isles.- — See. Reports, p. 130. 



