The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-07 00:00:00

the plains and the bear of the caverns. The re-
mains of men are certainly buried with those of
extinct quadrupeds ; but did they live in the same
days, or do we see relics of different periods
gathered into one locality by natural processes of
a later date, or confused by the operations of
men ? Before replying finally to these questions,
further researches of an exact kind are desirable,
and the association has given its aid towards them,
both in respect to the old cavern of Kent's Hole and
the newly opened fissure of Gibraltar, from which
we expect great results, though the best of our
labourers has ceased from •his honourable toil:
When these and many other researches are com-
pleted, some future Lyell, if not our own great geo-
logist, may add some fresh chapters to the " An-
tiquity of Man." In judging of this antiquity, in
counting the centuries which may have elapsed since
smoothed flints fitted with handles of wood were
used as chisels and axes by the earliest people of
Scandinavia or Helvetia, and flakes of flint were
employed to cleanse the skins of the reindeer in the
caves of -the Dordogne, or stronger tools broke up
the ice in the valley of the Somme, we must be care-
ful not to take what is the mark of low civilisation
for the indication of very remote time. In every
country, among every race of men, such rude wea-
pons are used now, or were used formerly. On the
banks of the Ohio, no less than on the English hills,
mounds of earth, rude pottery, and stone weapons
occur in abundance, and indicate similar wants,
contrivances, customs, ideas, in different races of
men living in different periods. Even when in the
same country, as in Switzerland, or England, or
Denmark, successive deposits of instruments of
stone, bronze, or iron ; successive burials of pines,
beeches, and oaks ; successively extinguished races
of elephants, elks, and reindeer give us a real scale
of elapsed time, it is one of which the divisions are
not yet valued in years or centuries of years. To-
ward a right judgment of the length of this scale of
human occupation two other lines of evidence may
be thought worthy of notice ; one founded on the
anatomical study of the remains of early men, the
other on the laws of language. If the varieties of
physical structure in man, and the deviations of
language from an original type, be natural effects
of time and circumstance, the length of time may
be in some degree estimated by the amount of
the diversities which are observed to have
happened, compared with the variation which
is now known to be happening. This process
becomes imaginary, unless we assume all mankind
to have had one local centre, and one original lan-
guage. Its results must be erroneous, unless we
take fully into account the superior fixity of lan-
guages which are represented in writing and the
greater tendency to diversity of every kind which
must have prevailed in early times, when geographi-
cal impediments were aggravated by dissocial habits
of life. It appears, however, certain that some dif-
ferences of language, organisation, and habits have
separated men of apparently unlike races during
periods longer than those which rest on historical
facts. Ever since the days of Aristotle the analogy
existing among all parts of the animal kingdom, and
in a general sense we may say among all the forms
of life, has become more and more the subject of
special study. Related as all living beings are to the
element in which they move and breathe, to the me-
chanical energies of nature which they employ or re-
sist, and to the molecular forces which penetrate and
transform them, some general conformity of struc-
ture, some frequentlyrecurring resemblance of func-
tion must be present, and cannot be overlooked. In
the several classes this analogy grows stronger, and
in the subdivisions of these classes real family affinity
is recognised. In the smallest divisions;which have
this family relation in the highest degree, there seem
to'be a line which circumscribes each group, within
which variations occur, from food, exercise, climate,
and transmitted peculiarities. Often one specific
group approaches another, or several others, and a
question arises whether, though now distinct, or
rather distinguishable, they always have been so
from their beginning, or will be always so until their
disappearance. Whether what we call species arc so
many original creations or derivations from a few
types or one type is discussed at length in the ele-
gant treatise of Darwin, himself a naturalist of emi-
nent rank. It had been often discussed before.
Nor will any one think lightly of such inquiries
who rembers the essay of Linnaeus, "De Telluris
orbis incremento," or the investigations of Brown,
Pritchard, Forbes, Agassiz,, and Hooker regard-
ing the local origin of different species, genera, and
families of plants and animals, both on the land
and in the sea. Still less will he be disposed to
undervalue its importance, when he reflects on the
many successive races of living forms more or less
resembling our existing quadrupeds, reptiles, fishes,
and mollusca which appear to have occupied definite
and different parts of the depths of ancient time ;
as now the tiger and the jaguar, the cayman and
the gavial„ live on different parts of the terrestrial
surface. Is the living Elephant of Ceylon the lineal
descendant of that mammoth which roamed over
Siberia, and Europe, and North America, or of one
of those sub-Himalayan tribes which Dr. Falconer
has made known, or was it a species only in circum-
polar regions ? Can our domestic cattle, horses and
dogs, our beasts of chase and our beasts of prey, be
traced back to their source in older types, contem-
poraries of the urus, megaceros, and hyaena on the
plains' of Europe ? If so, what range of variation
in 'structure does it indicate ? 'lf not so, by what
characters are the living races separated from those
of earlier date ? Specific questions of this kind must
be answered before the general proposition that the
forms of life are indefinitely variable with time and
circumstance can even be examined by the light of
adequate evidence. That such evidence will be
gathered and rightly interpreted I, for one, neither
doubt nor fear. Having stated some of the more
important subjects considered by the association,
and the recommendations made by it:in the cause of
science, the President concluded his address in these
terms :—When more than 30 years ago, this Parlia-
ment of Science came into being, its first child-lan-

guage was employed to ask questions of nature ;

now, in riper years, it founds on the answers re-
ceived further and more definite inquiries directed
to the same prolific source of useful knowledge. Of
researches in science completed, in progress, or in
beginning, each of ourannual volumes contains some
_ _

300 or more passing notices, or full and permanent
records. This digest and monument of our labour

is, indeed, in some respects incomplete, since
it does not always contain: the narrative
or the result of undertakings which we
started, or fostered, or sustained ; and I own to
having experienced on this account once or twice
a feeling of regret. But the regret was soon lost in

the gratification of knowing that other and equally
beneficial channels of publication had been found ;

and that by these examples it was proved how truly
the association kept to the real purpose of its foun-
dation, " the advancement of science," and how
heartily it rejoiced in this advancement without

looking too closely to its own share in the triumph.
Here, indeed, is the stronghold of the British Asso-
ciation. Wherever and by whatever means sound
learning and useful knowledge are advanced there

to us are friends. Whatever is privileged to step
beyond his fellows on the road of scientific dis-

covery will receive our applause, and, if need be,
our help. Welcoming and joining in the labour of

all, we shall keep our place among those who clear
the roads and remove the obstacles from the paths

of science ; and whatever be our own success in the

rich fields which lie before us, however little we

may now know, we shall prove that in this our day
we knew at least the value of knowledge, and joined
hearts and hands in the endeavour to promote it.
The address was listened to with much attention
and frequently applauded. At its close a vote of
thanks was moved by Sir 11. Murchison, seconded
by the Mayor, and carried by acclamation.
To-morrow the general business of the sections
will commence. On Saturday there are to be
excursions to Warwick and Stratford ; to Coventry
and Kenilworth ; to Worcester and Malvern ; and
a Severn Valley excursion in four sections—namely,
Wroxeter, Shrewsbury, and Buildwas Abbey ; the
Wrekin ; Wenlock, &c. ; Coalbrookdale, &c. At
this latter place the four sections are to meet and

take lunch with Mr. Maw, at Buildwas Abbey. On
Thursday, Sept. 14, there is to be an excursion to
Dudley, and through the South Staffordshire iron
district, and to Cannock Chase. All the principal