Address to the Department of Anthropology (Biological Section) of the British Association : Bristol, August 25, 1875 / by George Rolleston.

  • Rolleston, George, 1829-1881.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the Department of Anthropology (Biological Section) of the British Association : Bristol, August 25, 1875 / by George Rolleston. 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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    ADDRESS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY (BIOLOGICAL SECTION) OF TIIE BlilTISH ASSOCIATION. BRISTOL, August 25, 1875. BY GEORGE ROLLESTON, M.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., LINACRE PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, OXFORD. PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT. \ See V \ \ V - \\ \ Some few weeks ago Mr. James Parker, of Oxford, invited me to visit your Somer- setshire caves, in the company of the Warwickshire Naturalists’ and Archaeologists’ Field Club. It struck me that I should do well, as I was to preside over the An- thropological Department at this British-Association Meeting, if I tried to learn as much as I could of the relics and of the surroundings of the Prehistoric inhabitants of your neighbourhood; and for this, as well as for other reasons, I gladly accepted the invitation. During that pleasant midsummer excursion I was more than once impressed with the similarity which its incidents bore to those of the undertaking in which we are now engaged, and, indeed, to those of the study of Anthropology generally. First, the organization of the expedition had entailed some considerable amount of labour upon those who had charged themselves with that duty; and, secondly, a thorough exploration of the recesses and sinuosities of the several caves which we explored devolved upon us not only a good deal of exertion, but even some slight amount of risk$ for the passages and galleries along which we worked our way were sometimes low and narrow, often steep, and nearly always slippery. Thirdly, the outline of the regions explored bore quite different aspects accordingly as we lighted them up or had them lit up for us in one or in another of several different ways. If in any segment of these caves the outside daylight could anyhow find a zigzag way down some shaft into the interior, that segment wore a general aspect more comfortable to the eye, and so to the mind, than others not so illuminated. These latter regions again varied greatly inter se, according to the various artificial means employed for lighting them up. The means ordinarily used for this end made their outlines look a little colder and harder than the reality itself, cold and hard though this was; whilst under certain other modes of illumination employed (it is true, only occasionally, and for purposes of effect, not ex necessitate) the self-same outlines looked somewhat lurid. But, howsoever produced and howsoever affecting us, the light was light nevertheless, and, on the whole, we preferred it a good deal to the A