TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 895 



20 per cent, of feet the organ has lost one or more of its normal complement of 

 muscles. But though shorn of some of its elements, and with others as mere 

 shreds, the toe persists, and he would be a bold prophet who would venture to 

 forecast how many generations of booted ancestry would suffice to eliminate it 

 from the organisation of the normal man. 



Nevertheless, although it is ditiicult to demonstrate, in the present imperfect 

 state of knowledge, the method whereby race-characters have originated, I 

 think that the most of our anthropologists at least covertly adopt the philosophy 

 of the ancient proverb, ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's 

 teeth are set on edge.' 



But there are other branches of anthropology of far greater interest than 

 these simple problems upon which we have tarried so long. The study of 

 man's intellectual nature is equally a part of our subject, and the outcomes of 

 that nature are to be traced in the tripartite record of human progress which we 

 call the history of culture. It is ours to trace the progress of man's inventions 

 and their fruits in language and the arts, the direct products of the human 

 mind. It is also ours to follow the history of man's discovery of those secrets 

 of nature to the unfolding of which we give the name of science. The task 

 is also ours to inquire into that largest and most important of all sections of the 

 history of culture which deals with the relation of human life to the unseen world, 

 and to disentangle out of the complex network of religion, mythology, and ritual 

 those elements which are real truths, either discovered by the exercise of man's 

 reason, or learnt by him in ways whereof science takes no account, from those 

 adventitious and invented products of human fear and fancy which obscure the view 

 of the central realities. In this country it matters less that our time forbids us 

 to wander in these fascinating fields wherein the anthropologist loves to linger, 

 as the munificent benefaction of Lord Gifibrd has ensured that there shall be an 

 annual fourfold presentation of the subject before the students of our Scottish 

 universities. There is no fear that interest in these questions will flag for want of 

 diversity in the method of treatment or of varieties in the standpoints of the 

 successive Gifibrd lecturers. 



From the ground of our present knowledge we can but faintly forecast the 

 future of anthropology, when its range is extended by further research, and when 

 it is purged of fancies, false analogies, and imperfect observations. It may be that 

 there is in store for us a clearer view of the past history of man, of the place and 

 time of his first appearance, of his primitive character, and of his progress. But 

 has this knowledge, interesting as it may be for its own sake, any bearing on the 

 future of mankind ? Hitherto growth in knowledge has not been accompanied 

 with a commensurate increase in the sum of human happiness, but this is probably 

 due to the imperfection which characterises even our most advanced attainments. 

 For example, while the medical and sanitary sciences, by their progress, are 

 diminishing the dangers which beset humanity, they have also been the means of 

 preserving and permitting the perpetuation of the weaklings of the race, which, had 

 natural selection exercised its unhindered sway, would have been crushed out of 

 existence in the struggle for life. 



It is, however, of the essence of true scientific knowledge, when perfected, that 

 it enables us to predict, and if we ever rise to the possession of a true appreciation 

 of the intiuences which have afiected mankind in the past, we should endeavour to 

 learn how to direct these influences in the future that they shall work for the pro- 

 gress of the race. With such a knowledge we shall be able to advance in that 

 practical branch of anthropology, the science of education ; and so to giude and 

 foster the physical, intellectual, and moral growth of the individual that he mil 

 be enabled to exercise all his powers in the best possible directions. And, lastly, 

 we shall malve progress in that kindred department, sociology, the study of which 

 does for the community what the science of education does for the individual. Is 

 it a dream that the future has in store for us such an anthropological Utopia P 



