762 REPORT— 1894. 



Section H.— ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 President of the Section— Sir W. H. Flower, K.O.B., LL.D., Sc.D., F.li.S. 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 9. 

 The President delivered the following Address : — 



It is not usual for the President of a Section of this Association to think it necessary 

 to give any explanation of the nature of the subjects brought under its cognisance, 

 or to emphasise their importance among other branches of study ; but so general 

 is the ignorance, or at all events vagueness of information, among otherwise well- 

 instructed persons, that I will ask your permission to devote the short time accorded 

 to me before the actual work of the Section begins to giving some account of the 

 history and present position of the study of Anthropology in this country, and 

 especially to indicate what this Association has done in the past, and is still doing, 

 to promote it. 



It is only ten years since the Section in which we are now taking part acquired 

 a definite and assured position in the organisation of the Association. The 

 subject, of course, existed long before that time, and was also recognised by 

 the Association, though with singular vicissitudes of fortune and position. It 

 first appeared officially in 1846, when the ' Ethnological sub-Section of Section D ' 

 (then called 'Zoology and Botany') was constituted. This lasted till 1851, 

 when Geography parted company from Geology, with which it had been previously 

 • associated in Section C, and became Section E, under the title of ' Geography and 

 Ethnology.' In 186G Section D changed its name to ' Biology,' with Physiology 

 and Anthropology (the first occurrence of this word in our official proceedings) as 

 separate ' Departments ; ' but the latter does not seem to have regained its definite 

 footing as a branch of Biological Science until three years later (1869), when 

 Section E, dropping Ethnology from its title, henceforward became Geography 

 alone. The Department for the first two years (1869 and 1870) was conducted 

 under the title of Ethnology, but in 1871 it resumed the name of Anthropology, 

 given it in 1866, and it flourished to such an extent, attracting so many 

 papers and such large audiences, that it was finally constituted into a distinct 

 Section, to which the letter H was assigned, and which had its first session at 

 the memorable meeting at Montreal, exactly ten years ago, under the fitting and 

 auspicious presidency of Dr. E. B. Tylor. 



The history of the gradual recognition of Anthropology as a distinct subject 

 by this Association is an epitome of the history of its gradual growth, and the 

 gradual recognition of its position among other sciences in the world at large, a 

 process still in operation and still far from complete. Although the word Anthro- 

 pology had certainly existed, but used in a different sense, it was not till well 

 into the middle of the present century that it, or any other word, had been 

 thought of to designate collectively the scattered fragments of various kinds of 

 knowledge bearing upon the natural history of man, which were beginning to be 

 collected from so many diverse sources. Indeed, as I have once before upon a 

 similar occasion remarked, one of the great difficulties with regard to making 



