Address delivered at the fourth annual meeting of the Anthropological Society of London / by James Hunt.
- James Hunt
- Date:
- [1867]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Address delivered at the fourth annual meeting of the Anthropological Society of London / by James Hunt. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![this country. In this avc have to some extent succeeded, and I shall dwell on how we can best continue this good work. We have also to consider how we can most eftectually make this Society worthy of the great science which she represents. Gentlemen,—our past must be to some extent our guarantee for our future. What wo have done badly in the past, we must in future endeavour to do well. Far be it from me to hint that our past could not be done over again with more success and with less opposition; b\;t I do but scant justice to my colleagues when I say that if our past had to be enacted over again, I believe that more honesty of purpose coidd not be brought to bear on the establishment of a society by any set of men. If we have erred, it has been from want of experience rather than from any other cause. To those who think they could do better than we havd done, I would only say that Ave did our best under the circumstances ; and only those who knoAV how adverse the circumstances haAm often been can fully estimate the difficulties we have overcome. I for one believe that the Anthropo- logical Society of London has loyally and truly perfonned her duties to the science which she rc])rescnts, and I noAv beg to offer a feAv suggestions which I think Avill conduce to make her continue in the same noble path she has begun. Fii-st, then, hoAv can Ave best assist to promote the study of anthro- pology in this country 1 At present we hat'e seven hundred and six FelloAvs, tAventy-nine honorary Fellows, foidy-two corresponding mem- bers, and one hundred and four local secretaries. This makes altogether a good foundation for future Avork ; but Ave hat'^e entered on such a vast field of research that this staff requires to be largely increased before Ave can fully carry orrt the enormous work which now lies before us. Some four years ago, those Avho had the temerity to suggest that it was possi- ble to get even five hundred FelloAvs, AA^ere accused of holding entirely Utopian ideas. Noav, hoAvever, the case is entirely changed. The ex- perience of the past four j'ears has demonstrated that oui- Society has only an-ived at a very early stage of its development. As avo proceed Avith oAir labours, our Avork appears to increase. For the last lialf century tlie utter neglect in this country of all genuine anthro- jAological research has culminated in bringing disgrace on this por- tion of British science. While, in other branches of science, England takes a proud position amongst the nations of Europe, in the science of man, she is far behind nearly every other civilised country. The recall from public circulation of the lectures of our esteemed Honorary FelloAAq William LaAvrence, in the year 1820, was the signal . for the doAvnfall of all real anthropological science in this coun- try. The sporadic efforts of Prichard and Knox Avere incapable of arresting the doAvnward steps which anthropological research had first taken in England about half a century ago. Little coidd Dr. Prichard have imagined that the depth to which the science of man had sunk, in 1847, would have been still greater ten years later. In 1847 Dr. Prichard occupied the greater portion of his time in endeavouring to correct the misunderstanding which existed respecting his favourite jmrsuit in the British Association. We have been rejoicing during](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2234214x_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
