494 REPORT—1899, 
preparation for that work has been carried as far as the means at their 
disposal have enabled them to carry it, and because they have arrived at 
the conviction that the work itself may now properly be left to be com- 
pleted by other hands possessing the necessary organisation and more 
adequate means. 
They are as fully convinced as ever of the importance of the work 
itself and of the soundness of the principles laid down for the conduct 
of it. There is ample evidence that the mixed population of this kingdom 
retains in many parts of the country traces of the constituents of which it 
is formed. Those traces are to be found in physical characters, in the 
expression of the features, in modes of thought, in tradition (using that 
word in its wider sense), and in language ; and the conclusions drawn from 
them are capable of being verified by the testimony of local history and of 
archeology. 
The method adopted by the Committee for setting on foot a compre- 
hensive and scientific investigation into the existence and character of 
these traces of the past was : 
1. To inquire what places were suitable for the survey, as containing 
a population in which there had been comparatively little admixture of 
race. 
2. To draw up a bricf and comprehensive code of instructions for 
observers, with explanatory comments and directions as to the use of 
instruments for measuring, &c. 
3. To enlist the voluntary assistance of local societies and local 
observers in making measurements, collecting items of folklore, and 
otherwise. 
Under the first head, the Committee collected in their first and 
second reports, from the information supplied to them by persons of 
authority resident in the various districts, a list of between 300 and 400 
villages and places which complied with the definition laid down by the 
Committee as containing a number of persons whose ancestors had 
belonged to the locality for as far back as could be traced. 
Under the second head, the Committee prepared and published, in 
their second and third reports, a code of instructions for observers in the 
several branches of the investigation. The directions as to physical 
measurements were drafted by Dr. Garson and Professor Haddon ; those 
as to photographs by Mr. Francis Galton ; those as to folklore by Mr. 
Edward Clodd ; those as to dialect by Professor Skeat. 
The Committee have also published in subsequent reports a paper 
drawn up by Mr. Hartland, containing many useful hints to observers ; 
and a paper by Mr. Gomme, on the scientific method to be pursued in 
localising folklore observations, so as to enable trustworthy conclusions to 
be drawn from the presence or absence in any locality of one or more 
features incidental to a particular practice or superstition. 
In other reports, the Committee have published at length specimen 
collections of physical observations and folklore observations, the principal 
of which collections were made by the lamented Dr. Walter Gregor. 
These are intended to serve as models for other observers, as it was not 
the intention of the Committee to print at length in their reports the 
records of observations contributed to them by the several collectors, 
but only a digest of the results, 
