189 
XIY. 
Notes on the Evidence bearing upon British Ethnology . 1 
By T. V. Holmes, E.Gr.S., &c. 
[Read January 30th, 1886.] 
The evidence bearing upon the character, affinities, and 
survival in our present population of the various groups of 
people that have from time to time settled in the British 
Isles still leaves much to be desired, though additions to it 
continue to be made by the practical explorer of prehistoric 
monuments, the comparative philologist, and the student of 
laws, manners, customs, and folk-lore. But the inconclusive¬ 
ness of much of the available evidence, and its extremely 
varied nature, tend to cause an unusual amount of diversity 
of opinion among the ablest writers on this subject, For, as 
we all know, ability and learning do not necessarily exempt 
men from a tendency to overrate the importance of their 
own special branch of study and to underrate those of others ; 
while ethnological prejudices are usually proof against any 
evidence not of the most overwhelmingly conclusive character. 
In setting before you this attempt at a review of the evidence 
at present available, it seems best to consider in the first 
place what is known or conjectured as to the characteristics 
and race-affinities of the various settlers in the British Isles, 
and in the second the extent of their probable survival at the 
present day. 
British Palaeolithic man need not detain us long. Though 
his implements have been found in bone-caves and old river- 
drift, no bones of Palaeolithic man have yet been discovered 
in Britain, and Professor Boyd Dawkins remarks that the 
fragmentary condition of those found in Western Europe 
1 [This paper formed the Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting 
on January 80th, 1886. The introductory observations will be printed in 
the ‘ Proceedings ’ under the above date.— Ed.] 
