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

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At a recent meeting of this society Mr. J. C..aw-
fard, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair, an
by Mr. A. R. Wallace.
hasbeen applied to the region
im-
portant paper was read "On the Varieties of Msn
over two-thirds of the Pacific
oTi nfh
ite,shlteaenr:7 Mals ,e,axyot Archipelago,"ceenadni
niag,
Ocean, the inhabitants of which, though notoriously
differing widely among themselves, have b!-.en con-
sidered by all ethnologists to form one of the most
strongly marked varieties of the human race. no
paper was an account, from personal observvion, of
the inhabitants of the chief islands of the l'tial:',l,-
Archipelafp, and an attempt, by a comparison of
these with the inhabitants of the surrounding coun-
tries, to arrive at definite conclusions as to their
mutual relations or their common origir. From
Asia on the one hand end from Australia. an t
other immense subrn3rine banks connect the aj-1-

cent islands to the mainland, while be food the
limits of these banks an unfathomable ocean is
always found. The great islande of Sumatra, Java,
end Borneo are situated on the Asiatic bank, and,
from the fact that a number of the largest. animals
which could not have crossed the sea, such as the
rhinoceros of Java and Sumatra. the elephant of
Sumatra, and the tapir of Sumatra and Bonito,
being all found in some part or other of the Asiatic
contineara, it is highly probable that all these great
islands gave formed a part of Asia from which they
have been separated by the same convulsions which
have raised the volcanic chains of Sumatra 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 separation as of
very long existence, and there is evidence in the
geological structure of Java and Borneo that
some parts of these islands are of recent
formation, so that tho gulf between the
Asiatic and Australian regiors was formerly greater
than at present—a conclusion strikingly cenfirtmd
by the almost total diversity of the animals
of the two halves of the Archipelago. In
the western islands all the chief forms of the Asiatic
continent are found, while in the eastern half they
are chiefly those characteristic of Australia, so that
a line drawn across the Archipelago west of
Celebes marks the division bttween two vast zoolo-
gical areas. Taring 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 epech
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 deer like those
of this archipelago, and rhinoceroses and other 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 lees reason
for objecting to such geological changes in the
Pacific as were brought forward by Mr. Wail:lce
to account for the distribution of the Inimmalia
and th© two races of man which inhabited those re-
gions. The close proximity of Sicily to hely seemed
naturally to suggest a ttismernberment from aat
aeninsuat, but the fossil Cauca of the late terti

tt.ere bfl'ards convincing proof of its recent. cinnoc-
tion with Africa, and no doubt within the homAn
epoch the great mammals of Africa had walked on
dry land across the present Mediterranean. If such
views as we admit in European gcolcgy be applied
to the Malayan Archipelago, there are good grounds
far supporting Mr. Wallace's theories. Sir Rode-
rick Murchison, Professor Busk, Sir W. Armstrong,
Capt. Speke, Mr. Christie, Mr. Bohn, Mr. Craw-
furd, and others, spoke upon various topics in eon-
motion with the paper.

The Crawley Court-Martial and its Results,

(From the Medical Times and Gazette.)

The proceedings of the Crawley court-martial have been.
summed up by some remarks from H.R, FL the Commander -
in-Chief. The accused colonel is almost the only person who
has escaped scatheless, and he returns to the command of hig
regiment with a few words of ad vice 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 sap-
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
officers,
ffiwc ''hrsat
,
h
dis-
crepancies (real or supposed) in the case of a Sergeant-
Major Wakefield. Now, putting aside every question of
thei s p
impropertotail
y conduct
nd irrelevant
was the subject of the late court.marrial. This was
this matter
o w r a
s
not about Sergeant-Major Wakefield, but about the arrest,
illness, and death of regimental Sergeant-Major Lilley, and
a entirely of the Medical t
o
no one else. The Horse Guards, apparently, have seized
upon 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 or finding of this court of inquiry, we can have
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 fact, 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 ba
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 enough, 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 exiht for supplying 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 commend the
lesson which flows out of it to the attention of medical
aspirants for atmy honours.
Since the above was in type we have i,,en informed that
Surgeon Turnbull has been entir,do ccorirroled 13- the
court of enquiry front the cl_;arp-of interpolating the
medical ewes in the hospital reisters of the 6;h Dragoons.
We learn that this matter had Uready been fully investi-
gated by Colonel Crawley, in India, and that his b:ingiug
it before the Aldershot Court Martial wars 111 adroit means
of diverting attention from the trges against himself, by
damaging Surgeon Turnbull in the eyes of the Court.
Notwithstanding the failure of the attempt to get up a
charge against Mr. Turnbull about the books, it is et
that he is about to be placed on half-pay by tho
Commander-in-Chief on account of the animus which he is
alleged to have shown in giving his evidence. This msy be
a warning to medical officers for the future not to give any
evidence that is not palatable to the Horse Guards,