H.— ANTHROPOLOGY. 161 



type of the Briton is far from uniform, so is his mental outlook and 

 his ideals and beliefs. Quite apart from tlie differences observable in 

 the different countries which compose our group of islands, and the 

 different provinces into which they have been or may be divided, we 

 find also, in any given area, that the population insensibly divides 

 itself into groups or classes, differing but slightly except in name and 

 the absence of rigidity from what we know in India as castes. These 

 classes in the British Isles have had their origin not so much in economic 

 conditions as in the successive waves of conquest which these islands 

 have suffered. Individuals, it is true, have freely passed from one 

 class to another during the nine centuries which have elapsed since the 

 last conquest, but though the individuals have changed the classes 

 have remained. Owing to the constant interchange in blood the physical 

 characters of the different classes are much alike, as are their funda- 

 mental mental traits, but in material culture, language, social organisa- 

 tion, and to some extent religious beliefs, they differ widely. 



Here then again, in our own country, there is work for the anthro- 

 pologist. Here are various groups, how many it is at present difficult 

 to say, not clearly distinguished from one another by a sharp dividing 

 line, and intermixed in the same areas, yet groups wdiich are to the 

 anthropologist separate units which require distinct study. Even 

 among the richer and better educated sections of the community, who 

 have mingled together in social intercourse for several generations and 

 whose families are allied by marriage, we may find differences of out- 

 look, according to the type of tradition handed down in the family. 

 The outlook and ideals of landed or territorial families differ from those 

 of the mercantile class, nay even the merchants and manufacturers 

 have in many ways distinct traditions which are handed down from 

 one generation to another. So that even in such a group as we find 

 assembled at the meeting of the British Association, who have come 

 together with one end in view, the advancement of science, we shall 

 find, were we to analyse the feelings and opinions of the different 

 individuals, that owing to differing traditions, handed down through 

 many generations, their views on social and religious questions are 

 fundamentally unlike ; that they belong, in fact, to many distinct 

 anthropological groups. There is work, then, for the anthropologist 

 who never leaves these shores. 



Turning now to the aims of anthropology and to the means whereby 

 it may become utile to the State and to mankind in general, we see 

 that it is of the utmost importance that those who are sent to govern 

 or administer areas and districts mainly occupied by backward peoples 

 should have received sufficient training in the science to enable them, 

 in the shortest possible space of time and consequently with the fewest 

 possible initial mistakes, to govern a people whose customs, traditions, 

 and beliefs are very different from their own, without offending the 

 susceptibilities of their subjects. 



We are an Imperial people, and during the last few centuries we 

 have taken upon ourselves a lion's share of the white man's self- 

 imposed burden, and the lives and well-being of millions of our back- 

 waa-d brethren have been entrusted to our charge. Recent events have, 



