16 MAN : 



been arrived at, but this more on account of thera- 

 peutic considerations than for biological conclusions. 

 Physiologically too, great advances have recently been 

 made in the determination of organic functions ; and 

 psychologically, writers are beginning to hazard some- 

 thing like a scientific opinion as to the relations that 

 subsist between physical organisation and mental 

 manifestations. But with regard to man's relations 

 to the great scheme of life — his where, whence, and 

 whither in the cosmical plan of continuity and pro- 

 gress — few have made them the subjects of earnest 

 study, and still fewer have ventured to give expres- 

 sion to their convictions. It is only of recent years 

 that the study of man has been recognised as an in- 

 dependent branch of natural science, under the title of 

 Anthropology, and the only British institution for its 

 furtherance — the Anthropological Society of London 

 — is but a thing of yesterday. If not ignored in 

 certaiu quarters, the investigation has at least been 

 discouraged ; and where not ignored it has been too 

 much held in abeyance to popular prejudices and pre- 

 conceptions. Such weakness, however, is far beneath 

 the dignity of science; such restraints on free and 

 rational inquiry can never be conducive to the interests 

 of religion. Man in all his relations is intimately 

 connected with external nature ; and these relations, 

 as bearing on his physical, intellectual, and moral 



