The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-07 00:00:00

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL .::'. ' AA
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There was an ordinary meeting of thiliecie4Lon. S
Tuesday evening—the president, Dr. J. Hunt, in
the chair—at which two papers were read by the
Rev. F. W. Farrar; the first one " On the asserted
Universality of Belief in God and a Future State,"
and the second "On Hybridity." In the first paper
Mr. Farrar endeavoured to show, by reference to the
statements of travellers among various savage people,
that there aro not only isolated tribes, but whole
nations, who live with no knowledge of their Greater,
and he considered that the opposite opinion had been
often needlessly paraded as an evidence of religion.
He adverted to the statements of different travellers
respecting the Australians, the Ksffirs, the. Equi-
maux, the Andamaners, and the Veddabs of Ceylon,
in confirmation of that opinion, for among those
savages there had not been observed any objects
of worship—no idols, nor temples, nor anything in
the shape of religion to distinguish them from the
beasts. The belief in the existence of some nue
known power was not sufficient, Mr. Ferrer oh-
served, to prove belief in a Supreme Being; for even
animals have a consciousuess of the existence of
some superior unseen power; and he mentioned the
case of a dog that refused to enter a wood that was
avoided by the inhabitants in the neighbournood,
because it was reputed to be haunted.
Dr. Hunt, Mr. Reddie, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Wal-
lace, Mr. Bendysche, and the Rev. Mr. Kerr
entered into 'the discussion that succeeded, in
which doubt was thrown on the testimotey of .
travellers on such a matter, in consequence of
their imperfect acquaintance with the language
of the natives. Mr. D. Kerr mentioned that, in
the discharge of his clerical duties in Liverpool
and at the Bast-end of London, he had not un-
frcquently found persons who had litt:e idea of a
Supreme Being, and he thought it could scarcely
be expected that the belief in a Creator of the
Uaiverse should be universally entertained among
savage nations, when it was found that many even
in this Christian country had little idea of a 'Sta.

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In the next paper on " Human Hybridity," he
contended that the assumptions that the fertility of
hybrids is proof of the unity of species, and that the
union of all varieties of the human race produce an
offspring continuously fertile, are both. highly dis-
putable, if not erroneous. The assumption of fer-
tility as a criterion of species he considered to have
exercised an unfavourable influence on•science, and
he adduced several- instances to show that such a
definition of species could not be relied on. .He
adopted the opinion of Professor Agassiz, that
the differences existing between races of
men are of the same kind as the differ.
ences observed between the different families,
genera, and species of monkeys or other animals
With regard to the second proposition, he adopted
the opinions of M. Pouchet, that no mixed race can
exist of itself, and that, when two races come in con-
tact, either one absorbs the other, or they continue
unchanged side by side, c ith a third inferior and
less numerous set of half-castes. Several instances
were adduced in support of these opinions, among
which was the fact that the Mamelukes could never
propagate their race in Egypt, and the evidence of
practical physicians that mulattoes have a special
tendency to consumption and other diseases which
causes them soon to die. From these considerations
Mr. Farrar arrived at the conclusion that the human
race sprang from a diversity of original pairs; and
he contended that all who refuse to accept the de-
velopment theory of Mr. Darwin must be driven to
the same conclusion.

An animated discussion took place, in which Pro-
fessor Vogt, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Bendysche, Mr.
Reddie, and the President took part.
Mr. FRASER then read a communication he had
received from Mr. Anthony, from the Bight of
Benin, on the mental capacity of the negro, in which
he gave a deplorable account of the degraded state
of the negroes in the interior. The writer expressed
very strong opinions respecting them. According
to him they are utterly incapable of being civilised,
they aro cannibals of the worst kind, they possess
vices the lowest and most ferocious, they have none
of the virtues of humaaity, and are scarcely
supe-
rior to brutes.

In the discussion that followed, Mr. REDDIE and
Dr. TURLE objected to the spirit of the communici-
tiou, many parts of which they thought should be
omitted if the letter were printed in the transactions
of the society.
The meeting then adjourned to the 19:h inst.