The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-15 00:00:00

Ethnological Society.

An ordinary meeting of this society was held on
Tuesday evening at their rooms in St. Martin's-place
—the president, Mr. J. Crawfurd, in the chair. The
firstpaper read was "The Ethnology of the Chinese,"
contributed by Dr. Lamprey. The purport of the
paper was to show that the Chinese do not possess
that uniformity of race-character commonly supposed
and that they are in physical appearance and in
language as great differences between the inhabitants
of different parts of China as are found among other
races. Though supposed to be homogeneous, and to
be all of the Mongolian type, there are great varie-
ties observable in their countenances in different
parts of China. The distinguishing characteristics
of the Chinese as usually considered are wide cheek
bones, round faces, small eyes placed at considerable
distance apart, and set very obliquely, small promi-
nence of the nose, and little nostrils. In these pecu-
liarities, however, there were great distinctions, the
Chinese of Canton and of Shanghae, for instance,
being very diffyrent from those of Pekin, and being
more distinguishable from each other than from the
surrounding nations, especially the Malays. The
colour of the inhabitants of the north of China also
differs materially from the people in the south, the
latter being much darker than the former. Dr.
Lamprey estimated that there aro indeed as many
as 82 groups of differently coloured Chinese.
Throughout the whole of China there is not observ-
able any taint of negro blool. The dialects of the
inhabitants in various parts are apparently distinct,
the inhabitants of the north not being able to
understand those of the south, and even the persons
residing in villages a few miles apart are not able to
understand each other. There was, nevertheless, a
general similarity in the language, not only of the
Chinese, but of the Japanese, Mongols, and Turks,
which seemed to indicate a common origin.
Dr. LOCKHART, who had residel for many years
in China, said he considered the Mongols and
Chinese to be physically different, though there
were many marks of similarity between them. He
thought it probable that the Chinese were descen-
dants of Mongols, and that their physical condition
had since been altered, :partly owing to mixture
with the Japanese. The Chinese he regarded as the
connecting link between the north and south of
Asia.

The apparent differences of dialect in different
parts of China, Dr. LAMPREY said, were entirely
attributable to variations
.of pronunciation. The
written language was the same, but there were many
ways of sounding the vowels and of accenting the
worth that the spoken language in one part of China
is quite unintelligible in another. He did not think
there was any radical difference between the people
of different parts of that empire. Dr. Lamprey
further said, in answer to questions from Mr. Craw-
furd, that, though the number of words in the
Chinese language was comparatively small, consist-
ing of only 1,200 or 1,400, there were so many
varieties of utterance that there seemed to be no
deficiency in the expression of any sentiments. He
also mentioned a curious fact, that some of the
Chinese written characters are identical with those
of the Mexicans.

General Balfour, Dr. Donovan, and Mr. Craw-
furd made some further observations, after which a
second paper was read on the " Non-Hindu Tribes
of the Borders of Ilindastan," by the Hon. G.
Campbell, and after a short discussion the meeting
adjourned.

THE MURDER NEAR NOTTINGHAM.---At the Not-
tingbam Assizes, yesterday, before Mr. Justice Smith,
John Watson, 28, cottager, and Mary Watson, 31, his wife,
were charged with the wilful murder of Henry Raynor, at
Carton, on the 17th November last. Mr. lioden, Q.C., and
Mr. Bristowo were for the prosecution, and Mr. Sergeant
O'Brien and Mr. Cave appeared for the defence. The pri-
soners ploacled not &nifty.