American Association. 287 



Several other important papers were on the list ; but time 

 failed to read them, and they will probably appear in tbe pub- 

 lished proceedings of the Association, 



SUBSECTION OF ETHNOLOGY AND STATISTICS, &c. 



This was a vigorous off shoot from Section B ; and under the 

 able managemeat of Prof. Wilson, Prof. Anderson, and other men 

 of kindred spirit, entered actively into those great questions that 

 affect the natural history of Man. The work of this section was 

 of great popular interest, and of no little scientific iraportance. 

 It will go far to rescue American ethnology from the opprobrium 

 that has f:illen upon it, in consequence of the crude and rash spe- 

 culations that characterise some recent- publications on this sub- 

 ject. "We can give but a few fragments indicating the topics that 

 were disscussed. 



The first paper in this sub-section was tbat by Mr. Lesley on 

 tlie word '^ CeltP It was full of ingenuity and erudition ; but we 

 confess that, after all, we prefer to follow the ingenious author as 

 a guide in the complexities of the structure of coal fields rather 

 tlian in philological niceties. The paper, besides, is one that 

 cannot be reduced to the form of an abstract. 



THOUGHTS ON SPECIES, 



No subject is of greater interest in Natural History than the 

 investigation of the real nature and limits of species, and no Ame- 

 rican naturalist is better fitted to grapple with it than Prof. Dana. 

 The following report does no justice to his argument. 



According to Prof. Dana, and we think the view most philoso- 

 phical, our idea of a species should consist of certain essential 

 properties common to all the indi^"iduals, and in the organic 

 world the power of invariable transmission of the properties; but 

 whether in the inorganic or organic world, we should regard va- 

 riations within fixed limits as a law of every sjjecies under tlie 

 influence of external agencies. This view of species, and v^•e 

 might indeed add any intelligible view of the subject, leads inevi- 

 tably to the doctrine of the common origin of all the individuals 

 of any species capable of continuous reproduction. 



" Professor Dana said it might be well perhaps to examiue the 

 question of species synthetically, comparing the results of observ- 

 ations with the utterings of science, and he proposed the three 



