588 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct.. 



interest on some of the great questions connected with the study of 

 man. and may do more good among the visitors to the Association 

 than the papers contributed by those scientific workers who, by 

 their researches or discoveries, have contributed then quota to the 

 mass of human knowledge. 



On Monday morning considerable expectation was excited by 

 the announcement of a paper by Sir John Lubbock on ;; The Early 

 Condition of Man," which was the first on the list. The paper was 

 evidently composed expressly for a Scotch audience, and though 

 many of the scientific members of the Association thought it was 

 too much like crushing a fly with a sledge-hammer, the sequel 

 showed that Sir John had well estimated the state of knowledge 

 and feeling of his audience. The paper was a careful and elaborate 

 refutation of the doctrine advocated by Archbishop "Whateley. that 

 man never could and never did emerge unassisted from a state of 

 utter barbarism into anything that can be called civilization, and 

 that all savages are the degenerate descendants of more civilized 

 peoples. Numerous cases were adduced to show that savages do 

 advance, and the absence of cultivated plants or domesticated animals 

 run wild in any country inhabited by savages was strongly insisted 

 on, since we know that when now introduced by civilized man these 

 species do spread and maintain themselves often to the extermina- 

 tion of native races. So the absence of pottery is a conclusive 

 proof that savages have not descended from civilized races, because 

 pottery is indestructible, though easily broken. The absence of 

 terms for the ten numerals in so many savage languages was an- 

 other proof of their original barbarism, since these were such useful 

 and such simple terms that we cannot imagine them if once known 

 ever to have been forgotten. Again, the stone weapons found in 

 civilized countries getting ruder and ruder as they can be shown to 

 be older and older, proves the same thing, as do the relics of 

 barbarous customs traceable even among the most civilized of 

 modern nations. 



Professor Busk raised the previous question of ""What is 

 Civilization ? : ' It can be variously defined, and in some respects 

 the modems have not advanced beyond the Ancient Greeks. 



The Eev. H. B. Tristram made several objections, and asserted 

 his own belief in the theoiy of degradation. Dr. Hunt said that 

 this was the first really scientific and satisfactory reply that had 

 been made to Dr. "Whateley, and he was surprised that any member 

 oi the British Association could be found who supported the same 

 views. He disagreed, however, from Sir John Lubbock as to there 

 being any nations who had raised themselves, and asked that they 

 should be pointed out. 



In his reply, Sir John Lubbock said that the fact that Dr. 

 ."Whateley's views had been supported in that room showed that the 



