52 REPORT — 1841. 



at successive periods under circumstances calculated to excite tlie process of 

 vegetation. In the case of certain species or families of plants, it would per- 

 haps require many centuries to determine the limit of their vegetative powers, 

 yet it is probable that a very few years would suffice to fix the maximum du- 

 ration of the greater number, and that many interesting results might thus be 

 obtained even by the present generation of botanists. It is proposed then to 

 form a collection of the seeds of a great variety of plants, (including, where- 

 ever it is possible, at least one species of every genus,) and to pack them up 

 (carefully labelled) either alone, or mixed with various materials, as sand, 

 sawdust, melted wax or tallow, clay, garden mould, &c. in various vessels, as 

 glass bottles, porous earthen jars, wooden boxes, metal cases, &c., placed in 

 various situations, as under-ground, in cellars, dry apartments, &c. At cer- 

 tain intervals increasing in extent, — say at first every two years, then every 

 five, every ten, and, at the lapse of a century, every twenty years, a small 

 number (say twenty) of each kind of seed, from each combination of circum- 

 stances, to be taken out and sown in an appropriate soil and temperature, and 

 an exact register kept of the number of seeds which vegetate compared with 

 those which fail. 



Should it appear desirable for this project to be carried out by the British 

 Association, they might most effectually accomplish it by committing a col- 

 lection of seeds, formed on the above plan, to some qualified person, whose 

 duty it should be, in consideration of a small annual stipend, to take charge 

 of them, and at stated periods to select portions for experiment, keeping an 

 accurate register of the results. 



In this manner it is believed, that in regard to the large majority of plants, 

 the limit of their vegetative durability would be determined in a very few 

 years, and that a large mass of vulgar errors on this subject, which now pass 

 current for facts, would be cancelled and exploded. 



N.B. — The most effectual way of exciting vegetation in seeds of great 

 antiquity, is to sow them in a hot-bed, under glass, and in a light soil 

 moderately watered. 



On Inquiries into the Races of Man, by Dr. Hodgkin. 



Dr. Hodgkin read a Report, from which the following are extracts, respect- 

 ing the drawing up, printing, and circulation of Queries concerning the human 

 race, for the use of travellers and others. 



" The list of Queries, as presented in a printed form to the Meeting last 

 year, has undergone revision and correction, and may now be regarded as 

 comprising Queries relating to every branch of the subject with sufficient 

 minuteness to suggest inquiry and invite reports from travellers of different 

 tastes and acquirements. An edition of the Queries in their present form has 

 been printed off, and copies have already been extensively circVr'ated, but there 

 has not been sufficient time to admit of the return of replies from those parts 

 of the globe from which they are the most to be desired. 



" Copies have been furnished to the British Museum, to the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society, and to other scientific bodies, foreign as well as British. 

 Considerable pains have been taken to place them in the hands of intelligent 

 travellers about to visit those quarters in which natives exist, but of whom 

 imperfect accounts have hitherto reached us, and whose altered condition, or 

 extermination, is likely in a short time to deprive us of the possibility of ob- 

 taining a knowledge of what they have been, unless it be promptly collected. 

 On the occasion of the fitting out of a well-appointed expedition to ascend the 

 Niger, and thus penetrate into the interior of Africa, copies were furnished 



