The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-28 00:00:00

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ETIINOLOGYCAL SOCIETY.
4,-)J
At a recent meeting .of this society Mr. aeea
furd, Vice-President, in the chair, an iretic..
portant paper was read On the Varieties of Man
in the Malay Archipelago, by Mr. A. R. Wallace.
The term " Oceania" has bean applied to the region
of islands extending over two -thirds of the Pacific
Ocean, the inhabitants of which, though notoriouele
diff.eing widely among themselves, have been con-
sidered by all ethnologists to form one of the most
strongly marked varieties of the human race. The
paper was an account, from personal observation, cf
the inhabitants of the chief islands of the Malay
Archipelago, and an attempt, by a comparison of
these with the inhabitants of the surrotaudingcoun-
tries, to arrive at definite conclusions as to their
mutual relations or their common- origin. Front
Asia on the one hand end from AT :itralia on the
other immense submarine banks connect the ai
cent islands to the mainland, veh.:'ie beyond
limits of these binks an unlathot nable ocean- is
always found. 'rise great islands of :Sumatra, Java,
and Borneo are situated on tfe Asia ‘ic bank, -
:tom the fact that a number of the
which could not have crossed the sea, such es the
rhinoceros of Java and Sumatra, the elephant of
Sumatra, and the tapir of Sumatra a rtzl Borneo,
being all found in some part or other of the. Asiatic
continent, it is highly probable that all these great
islands have formed a part of Asia from vhich they
have been separated by the same convuisi, One which
have raised the volcanic chains of Sum .atra and
Java. In the like manner, New Guinea and some
adjacent islands have been once connected with
Australia. The belt of deep ocean, however, be-
tween those banks indicate the separaticat as of
very long existence, and there is evidence+ in the
geological structure of Java and Born en that.
some parts of these islands are of • reettlt
formation, so that the gulf bet weell the
Asiatic and Australtau rtgiors was formerly g,-eater
than at present—a conclusion strikingly con fii-mcd
by the almost total diversity of the animals
of the two halve- " the Archipelago. In
the western islands al. atef forms of the Asiatic
continent are found, av!-.'• in the eastern half they
are chiefly those characheristic of Australia, so that
a line drawn across the Archipelago west of
Celebes marks the division bttweea two vast zoolo-
gical areas. Turing, from the consideration of the
lower animals to man, two very strongly contrasted
races are found in the region—the Malays, inhabit-
ing almost exclusively the western half of the
Archipelago, and the Papuans, whore headquarters
are new Guinea and the adjacent islands, and these
range over the eastern area, the people over all the
islands as far as the Fiji being identical in their
chief features with the Papuans, and the varieties
being all forms of one great Polynesian race. But
here arises the question—are these races derived
from America or Asia, or have they originated in
some of the islands, and thence spread over the
whole area they inhabit ? The author considered
there was evidence to show, which he gave in de-
tail, that they had been derived from none of these
sources, but from a great Pacific continent which
had, geologically speaking, been rec ntly submerged,
and of which the numerous Pacific islands were the
residuary relics. The discussion which followed
was unusually interesting. Dr. Falconer strongly
supported the views of the author as to the
derivation of the inhabitants of this region
both upon zoological and geological grounds.
The elephant ranged on the continent as far
north as 30 deg., and these and other great beasts
he believed had passed over during the human epoch
on dry land. Certain species of oxen and deer, too,
were met with alike in these islands and on the
continent of India, but nowhere else on the globe ;
and while we had a parallel case in Europe, where,
before the glacial epoch, there were doer like those
of this archipelago, and rhinoceroses and otter great
mammalia living in this country and. over Europe
which had spread in from the south, while after the
glacial era had passed away there was another fauna
of great mammalia which had come in from the
north, and arctic in character, we had less ;cason
for objecting to such geological changes in. the
Pacific as were brought forward by Mr. Wallace
to account for the distribution of the mewl:tali&
and the two races of man which inhabited those re-
gions. The close proximity of Sicily to Italy seemed
naturally to suggest a dismemberment from that
peninsula, but the fossil fauna at the late tertiaries
there afforde convineirw proof of its recent contiec-
don with Africa, and no doubt within the human
epoch the great mammals of Africa had walked ore
dry land across the present Mediterranean. If such
views as we admit in European geology he applied
to the Malayan Archipelago, there are good grounds
for supporting Mr. Wallace's theories. Sir Rode-
rick Murchison, Professor Busk, Sir W. Armstrong,
C;:pt. Speke, Mr. Christie, Mr. Bohn, Mr. Craw-
bard, and others, spoke upon various topics in con-
nection with the paper.

The Crawley Court-Martial and its Results,

(Front the Medical Times and Gazette.)

The proceedings of the Crawley court-martial have been
summed up by some remarks from H.R. H. the Commander-
in-Chief. The accused colonel is almost the only person who
has escaped scatheless, and he returns to the command of his
regiment with a few words of advice from the Horse Guards.
Not so, however, the witnesses, Major Swindley, Adjutant
Fitzsimon, and Surgeon Turnbull have, in reality, under-
gone their trial, and received a sentence of dismissal from.
their regiment. In future cases witnesses will do well to
remember the facts supplied by the few court-martials of
late years. Into Surgeon Turnbull's conduct a court of in-
quiry is held. The president of that court is, we under-
stand, Major-General Eyre, and the members are medical
officers of rank. We have neither ratified nor entirely sup-
ported the course pursued by the Surgeon of the 6th Dra-
goons, but we have stated what might and ought to be
urged in vindication of his conduct and that of our profes-
sion. One point, however, cannot be strongly dwelt upon.
This court of inquiry is held upon the medical records of
the regiment, and has ostensibly arisen from the dis-
crepancies (real or supposed) in the case of a Sergeant-
Major Wakefield. Now, putting aside every question of
the proper or improper conduct of the Medical officers,
this matter was totally and entirely irrelevant to what
was the subject of the late court. martial. This was
not about Sergeant-Major Wakefield, but about the arrest,
illness, and death of regimental Sergeant-Major Lilley, and
no one else. The Horse Guards, apparently, have seized
i;:ion this distinct and irrelevant subject for saddling one of
the medical officers, who was witness for the prosecution,
with a large amount of discredit and opprobrium. On the
proceedings of finding of this court of inquiry, we can havo
no right to enter or venture an opinion. No doubt the con-
clusions arrived at Will be just and fair ; but we only desire
to call attention to the iact, that a medical officer's conduct
is called in question upon a case which had nothing what-
ever to do with the subject for which he was a witness.
And here let us advert to another subject. All cannot be
right in the Army Medical Department, or we should not
read of the resignation of assistant-surgeons of many years'
standing, and two such appeared only the other day. It is
contrary to common sense to believe that such resignations
would take place—it is contrary to all the ordinary experi-
ence of life to find men voluntarily disconnecting them-
selves from a certain means of livelihood for the more pre-
carious chances of success in civil life—if some grave
defects did not exist in the department which they quit.
The fact is, that the army not only offers no chances of
speedy success to good medical men, but it holds out so
little probability of promotion within a reasonable time,
that really good students refrain from entering it. The
discontent is widely spread. In some cases the grounds on.
which it is urged are substantial enougit, such as the above,
and the degrading duties of branding soldiers, &c. ;
in
others the reasons are more indefinite, but the discontent
undeniably exists.
There are rumours in abundance about changes in the
department, but they rest on no other foundation than the
necessity which is supposed to exist for supplaing the
ranks of the army with medical material. So long as Go-
vernment can get medical candidates, so long will there be
no changes. That is our opinion, and we em ail(, the
lesson which flows out of it to the attention of recalitad
aspirants for army honours.
Since the above was in type we have been informed th
Surgeon 'I utubull Las been entirely exonerated by the
court of enquiry from the charge of intcrpolating (be
medical cases in the hospital registers of the dig Dragoonts:
We learn that this matter had already been fully
gated by Colonel Crawley, in India, and that hisbtrinnmg
re;ms
it before the Aldershot Court Martial was szst:d himself,tei
of diverting attention from the charges again
by
damaging Surgeon Turnbull in the eyesin of
Notwithstanding the failure of the attempt
teP to get Court.
up a
books, it is said
charge against Mr. Turnbull about tonh half-pay
by
the
the
that he is about to be placed
We animus which he is
Commander-in-Chief on account
giving
his evidence. This may be
alleged
awarnintoghtoavtne
esdhioeawinetfi_
5 to the ilorse Guards,
that is ;lot
evidence palatable
cersfor the future not to give tiny