The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-11 00:00:00

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

At the ordinary meeting of this society on Tuesday
evening—Dr. Hunt, the president, in the chair—it was an-
nounced that Mr. Reid had presented to the society a num-
ber of objects from the Gamboon, in equatorial Africa, and
that among them was the most perfect skin of a gorilla
that has yet been received in this country. Mr. Pendyche
also presented to the society some human bones and s
diminutive skull, found near Cambridge, in digging for
coprolites. A large collection of human skeletons has been
discovered in that neighbourhood, the jawbones of which
present the same peculiarity of construction as that of the
celebrated jawbone found at Abbeville, and it is conjectured
that the bodies were interred after some battle between the
Romans and ancient Britons.

A paper was then read by Mr. Charnock " On the Science
of Language." Mr. Charnock, in a very elab ,rate and able
paper, disputed the opinions of Professor Max Muller re-
specting the origin of languages, and he contended that the
Aryan theory, which supposes that all languages were de-
rived from a single one, is inconsistent with the period.
usually assigned to the existence of man, as there could not
have been time, between the date of the assumed origin of
man and known historical records, to have produced the
changes of language then existing. Mr. Charnock noticed
the absurd notions that have been entertained by various
nations respecting the origin of language, and the various
sources to which languages are attributed. He inclined to
the opinion that the languages now spoken must have
originated from many sources, and the statistics of lan
guage tend to confirm that view, for they show that the
number of words in each widely differ, some of them—and
those of tho lees civilised nations—being five and six times

more numerous than others
Dr. HUNT, though generally agreeing with the author of
the paper, thought there was ample time to have effected
any change of language. Geologists, he said, had recently
proved that man had Leen living on the earth at a far more
distant period than had been previously assumed. There
was, indeed, au unlimited supply f time, and philologists
might help themselves to as mu h of it as they required.
He differed from Professor Max Miiller's opinion that
language is the distinctive mark of separation betweenman
and brutes, for he contended that the lower animal possess
the power of communicating their ideas to each other by
articulate sounds.

'The Duc de RousnLorr considered that language serves
to indicate similarity of races, and that by the names of places
the course of the migration of different tribes may be traced.
In this manner, he said, he could trace that the Catalans of
the Pyrenees, who speak what is called the Romanesque
language, migrated from the Himalayan mountains, in
Upper India. The roots of 500 words are the. same in both.
languages, and 1,000 other wards beat a close resemblance
and he asserted that the names given to many places indi-
cated the route by which the migration was effected. The
Due de Koubillon, who is engaged in brining out a volu-
minous philological work, entered into a consideration of
the comp,,sition of languages from various dialects, and
contended that all known languages have been constructed
by a combination of different dialects spoken in the same
countries.

The discussion was continued by Mr. Bouverie Pusey,
Mr. Prideau., Mr. Carter Blake, and other gentlemen,
several of whom agreed with the president's opinion, that
all animals have the power of speech.
The meeting then adjourned till the 7th of July.

A race of 100 yards for £25 came off on Friday
last at the Ash encampment between Capt. Herbert,
Coldstr earn Guards. and a private named Kent, of the
Fus liers, the officers of the latter regiment having made
the challenge. At first the captain's backers were rasher
doubtful of their favourite, it being well known amongst
them that his opponent had appeared frequently in pubiio
on similar occasions. As the time for the race approached,.
and when the two rivals came on the ground, the con-
fidence of the captain's supporters was greatly strength-
ened by his muscular and well.knit figure, iu praise of
which too much could scarcely be said, considering that he
had not been in training. However, when the preliminary
canters were taking place, hopes again decidedly fell by the
undoubted professional appearance, both in figure and style
of running, of hie opponent, who certainly justified the good
opinion of his backers. The result of this was that Kent
became a greater favourite than before, and was backed at 3:
to 2, the betting having previously been even. After six or
seven false starts they got away well together, and remained
so for about 50 yards, when the captain came to the front,
and won easily by three yards, amidst the cheers of the offi-
cers and men of his regiment. _ .

GOCD FORTUNE.—A poor woman presented her-
self at the savings bank in Thomas-street, on Satur-
day evening last, for the purpose of depositing therein the
sum of £3. Twenty shillings she paid down in silver,
together with two notes—one a local 20s. note, and the other
as she supposed, of equal value. The managers of the
bank, on seeing the latter, rightly imagined there was some
mistake on the woman's part, and asked her how much she
thought she was about to deposit. She replied £3. The
reader may judge of her astonishment on being told that
one of the notes was an Australian bank bill for £5OO, and
not a 20s. Manx note. The woman, it is needless to say,
left the bank overjoyed with the intelligence.—Manx Bun.
NATIONAL METROPOLITAN MONUMENT TO
SHAKESPEARE.—On Tuesday evening, June 30, we
see by our advertising columns that a grand Nélange Dra-
matique will be given at the Theatre Royal, Drury -lane,
for tne purpose of aiding a fund, now being raised, to erect
a metropolitan monument to Shakespeare. This perform-
ance is under the immediate patronage of their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and will be
assisted at by some GO of the most eminent and popular
London artists ; altogether forming a galaxy of talent,
rarely if ever before congregated in one night's entertain-
ment. All honour to the wor, hy president of this band of
brothers, William Charles Macready, Esq., and to the poor
players who thus come forward to evince their gratitude to
the great master of the passions, who was not only the
founder of their art, but whose works are the foundation
octhe English tongue. We feel certain the public gene-
rally need but have their attention drawn to this event to
flock by thousands to the standard wr.ich is graced by the
name of the noblest subject of the Crown—the Prince of
Wales. Mr. Adolphus Francis, of 43, Cumberland-street
Hyde Park, is the persevering honorary secretary to the
movement, and will be glad of any co-operation that flat
enthusiastic lovers of the Bard of Avon may feel it incum'
bent on them to show. We may just add, the box-office al
the theatre will be open on the 20th inst., but in the mean.
time tickets may be obtained on applying by letter to the
hon. secretary. Private boxes from tw o toiteurte 4s. ;en guincsecond
as
stalls, 10s. 6d. ; dress circle, 63. ; first crcle,
circle, 3s. ; pit, 3s. ; being most judiciously kept at a mode'
rate figure.