12 



THE HTHH0I.OQY OF THE IJIIHAN ARCHIPELAGO- 



nations and their development*.* Wlielher all men are descended 

 from one stock or notf may be placed apart as an enquiry by itself, 

 tor thoye M-ho think it worth while to pursue it in the present state 

 of our knowledge. All are agreed that man is of one kind, If 

 the million* who now people the, earth had some hundreds of 

 progenitor* instead of a angle pair, the science which the definition 

 comprises will remain unaffected, for in every nation that has been 

 discovered, human nature i* found to be fundamentally the same, 

 mid ihe phenomena which are exhibited by die most distant tribe* 

 preserve the same relations to ethnic development The general 

 idea which we form of man as a race, plastic within certain limits 

 to physical nature, time and the influence of his own kind, or 

 essentially variable and progressive, and oar conditions us to the 

 nature and laws of his variation ami progress, are the same whether 

 w investigate the Oceanic, the Alrican or the European nations. 



It is thus obvious that although a complete ethnology cannot be 

 attained until all tribes have been ethnically described 4md com- 

 pared, most of the human elements of its essentia} laws, — that is, so 

 much as relate* to man only and not to the physical character of 

 the habitable globe, — muBt be discoverable from the study of -wen a 

 single people, tf pursued with a due combination of mental and 

 physiological science. In every nation cause* are incessantly 

 operating which would be capable of producing all the varieties of 

 man, if circumstances favoured instead of counteracting orconiining 

 their influence. But there is always a great tendency in the minds 

 of observers to one of two extreme*. We either cannot separate 

 the cause from its peculiar action amongst the people we ore 

 observing, and so cannot rise to the eilinic view of the iacts at all ; 



• PesMariptioM of particular raw* belong to Etkiiography. which I worn d cow der 

 as a subordinate portion of EUmulogy rathnr than aitstmot science. Tha utter 

 being tieeaasarity bawd on the former may be viewed u including it. 



t I may state here, once for all, that ethnology can only be pursued as a scientific 

 study by viewing the Hebraic religious development and the i i fbmie records ta 

 tluur human aspect, that ia, as entering into the ethnic development of the Aramcan 

 rate and of the World. The supernotural clement, and all the discussions respiting 

 the kind end limit* of inspiration and the methods of Interpretation, behmg to thco- 

 tocirBl *ci-mc*, and amongst ail the discordant systems of theology that oolv can 

 be true which is In haromnv with the truth* established by an otaervatiun of Ood'a 

 works. Ktbnology ran never be opposed to theology, hut only to erroneous Tiewa 

 of theology, LTke even' other trir nee it must uu't thn ruind hi acquiring true 

 conceptions of God and mil Hit* mundane revelations of His being and proTiden<r. 

 In tracing connections between the Hebrew and other moral and rcUgkm* 

 developments, ethnology neither seeks to establish nor to deny supernatural agency 

 in the forn:«ir. She does not question the pos. ihilifv of a prnpfii'tic foinnuncemeiit or 

 reannouncement of truths or particular fonm of truths, which the natural adT B nce- 

 mmt of mankind ncTcrtheleas necessarily reveals, and which fJje observes In the 

 minds of other races. Theiihnojoeirt only claims the right to an Independent deve- 

 lopment of his science, without which It* result* will low all value to the theologwt 

 hltnaclC I have aald a lift Us more than the text calls for, bat 1 wish to avoid all 

 future reference to the subj«ct, und all distiuskm* cunnectrd with it. Those who 

 desire to satisfy their minds still further, can consult the numerous works in which 

 both divines and men of schmce have Intidentaliy vindicated the independent 

 prtwrution of natural stieoce from ail doubts and lunuranci s of n theolog ical kind. 



