356 Sir Benjamin C. Brodie's Anniversary Address 



other. Infused into it, Ethnology gives a more philosopi- 

 cal character to history ; adding to the dry and often painful 

 detail of political events occurring in a particular country 

 another serious of facts, which present to us the whole of the 

 human inhabitants of the globe as one large family, consti- 

 tuting one great system, advancing together towards the ful- 

 filment of one great purpose of the Creator. 



But in this utilitarian age there are, I doubt not, some 

 who regard Ethnology as offering matter for curious specula- 

 lation, but as being in no degree worthy of a place among 

 those sciences which admit of a direct and practical applica- 

 tion to the wants of society and the ordinary business of life. 

 It is, indeed, with some among us too much the custom to 

 measure things by this low standard, and to forget that what- 

 ever adds to our stores of knowledge, and gives us broader 

 views of the universe, tends to the improvement of the intel- 

 lect, the elevation of the moral sentiments, and thus leads to 

 a more complete development of those qualities by which the 

 human species is justly proud of being distinguished from 

 the inferior parts of the animal creation. The practical 

 genius of the English is essentially different from the 

 genius of the ancient Greeks ; but no one can hesitate to 

 believe that the philosophers, the poets, the architects, the 

 sculptors, who form the glory of that wonderful people, are 

 even now exercising a most beneficial influence on the cha- 

 racter of mankind, after the lapse of more than 2000 years. 

 Setting aside, however, these considerations, and admitting 

 that it affords us no assistance in the construction of steam- 

 engines or railways ; that it is of no direct use in agriculture 

 or manufactures ; still it may be truly said, that, even accord- 

 ing to his own estimate of things, the most thorough utili- 

 tarian who looks beyond the present moment will find that 

 there is no science more worthy of cultivation than Ethno- 

 logy. Is there any thing more important than the duties of 

 a statesman ? and can there be any more mischievous error 

 than that of applying to one variety of the human species a 

 mode of government which is fitted only for another \ Yet 

 how often, and even in our own times, from a want of the 

 necessary knowledge and foresight on the part of those to 



