1866.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 91 



Man himself should surely be the subject of a science ; not only are his 

 physical features parallel to those of the animals, and capable of a like 

 improvement, but we know that mental qualities also are hereditary, 

 and we may presume capable of similar improvement. From a scien- 

 tific study of Man, his physique, his language, his laws, his mind and 

 his manners^ much of history, prior to written record, is brought to 

 light ; and as history repeats itself, by studying contemporaneous races 

 in an early stage of development, we may best see man as he existed 

 many thousand years ago. When we better understand his nature, 

 his varieties, and the laws of his development, we may better improve 

 him. Already great questions are pressing on the world, with which, 

 from want of a sufficient knowledge of the creature man, we are 

 totally unprepared to deal. The world is becoming more and more 

 one great country ; race meets race, the black with the white, the 

 Arian with the Turanian and the Negro ; and questions of miscegena- 

 tion or separation are very pressing. In more than one quarter of the 

 world the Negro is a great difficulty, and opinions regarding him are 

 still utterly discordant. Some assert him to be not only a man and a 

 brother, but just as good as ourselves ; others assert that he is only fit 

 for slavery. Even in these days, I find that in England, at the An- 

 thropological Society, a bold naval officer broadly propounded that last 

 doctrine, apparently, (if we may trust the report,) with considerable 

 sympathy among the audience ; and he even went so far as to enunciate? 

 with reference to the late lamentable occurrences in Jamaica, that it 

 was totally unnecessary to wait for the evidence, since, to his knowledge, 

 the Negro is an animal so vicious, so stupid, so degraded, that it must 

 have been right to shoot him down. To solve the great questions of 

 the day, we ought to know how and how far the varieties of our race 

 are capable of improvement ; what is the effect of the intermixture of 

 various races, and much more besides. We have here, as I said, at a 

 point where the extremes of different races meet, and where we have 

 them both pure, and blended in every possible degree, — we have here, I 

 repeat unrivalled opportunities for such studies, and I trust that we shall 

 make the most of them. I beg to move that the action of the 

 Council in this matter be approved by the Society." 



Mr. Beverley seconded the proposition ; which was then put to the 

 meeting, and carried unanimously. 



