586. Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 



and the loom : and to the proof afforded by language of the remote 

 origin of mankind. 



Sir John Lubbock showed that Mr. Crawford had understated 

 the number of actual remains of man which had been found in such 

 positions as to show that they were contemporary with extinct 

 animals, coeval with the makers of the most ancient flint implements, 

 and of such a high antiquity that the period of actual history sinks 

 into comparative insignificance. He concluded by remarking that 

 it had been said that certain papers had been refused at this 

 meeting, because the British Association did not wish to excite 

 feelings of hostility on the part of the people of Dundee, — but he 

 thought that the paper to which they had just listened was a very 

 good answer to any remark of that kind. He was quite sure that 

 veiy few people would suppose that the British Association would 

 pay so bad a compliment to the inhabitants of this part of our 

 island as to suppose that they would meet with a different reception 

 here from that which they were accustomed to meet with elsewhere 

 in discussing such questions, and it was a very bad compliment, 

 either to the people of Dundee or to the members of the British 

 Association, to suppose that these interesting and important 

 questions could be discussed in any other spirit than that in which 

 they had been ventilated in other parts of Great Britain. 



Dr. Hunt objected to Mr. Crawford's statement that the earnest 

 men were speechless, and said that he could not apply the term 

 " man " to a race of beings without speech. He also adverted to the 

 fact that Bunsen, a great authority in favour of the unity of man, 

 had said it was utterly impossible to explain it in less than twenty 

 thousand years. lEr. Crawford caused some amusement in his 

 reply, by stating that all the facts relating to the geological history 

 of man which Sir John Lubbock had criticized were taken out of Sir 

 John Lubbock's own book, and concluded with his usual ridicule of 

 the " unity " theory. 



Mr. Crawford's next paper was on " Skin, Hair, and Eyes as 

 Tests of the Piaces of Men." Of these he seemed to think the 

 colour of the skin was the most important, while Dr. Hunt main- 

 tained that the character of the hair was extremely valuable, and 

 both agreed that we have yet no evidence whatever as to the causes 

 which have produced these pecrdiarities, although they were 

 certainly not the effects of climate alcne. The only attempt at 

 generalization was made by Dr. Hunt, who stated that u a dark 

 colour of hair and eyes, combined with curly hah, was always a 

 mark of mental inferiority," and challenged anyone to bring forward 

 an exception. 



Mr. Crawford's last paper was on a subject of which the 

 popular knowledge is very scanty : — " The supposed Aborigines of 

 India as distinguished from its Civilized Inhabitants." 



