The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-04
SCLENCE.
The British ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS bv Dr.
HOOhCr-The DarWiDIan Thc0ry-1udia
and Ikle DruiUs.
appeared

The british Observation-Disclosures bv Dr.
and IEle Druids.
The British Association for the Advancement Of
Science began Its thirty elg hth annual session at
Norwich, England, on the 18th of August The
opening address, delivered by DR.. Hooker,
President of the Association, attracted much
attention in consequence of its bold discussion
of cUntrovcrted points. Dir, Darwin'5 series of
papers on the fertilization of plants and the
new discoveries in PhyslologlCai botany, were
elaborately eXpOundCd by DR.. Hooker who de-
claTed that what Farada's discoveries were to
telegraphy, Dar%in'3 would prove to
rural economy. Having thoroughly cX-
bausted this subject, DR., Hooker next
discussed the position nov held in
the scientific world by MIR. Dalwns theory Of
the origin Of species by natural selection, and
contended that the treatise was not, as had been
asserted, declining in scientific favor; but 50 far
from being thing OF the past, was an accepted
doctrine with every philosophical naturalist
was elsewhere gaining adherents steadily, and
was an avowed favorile with the rising schools
of fnaturalists. This assertion was borne out by
elaborate statements and Illustrations, by which
objections taken TO the system on geological,
astronomical, physical, and metaphysical
grounds were answered.
Dr.. Hooker also spoke of the researches now
in progress among the indigenous tribes OF
India, No limit he said can at present be as
signed to the discoveries which may be awaiting
an adequate investigation of the less known
parts OF the great Indian continent, and he
added that many members OF the association
NOulu near Win surprise ludJ Wllllu llIeC
hundred miles OF Calcutta there exists tribe
of savages "who habitually erect domens,
menares, Cysts, and cromlechs almost as
gigantic in their proportions and very similar in
appearance and construction to the so.called
Drudical remains Of Western Europe Their
country is dotted with groups of huge unpo-
hshed squared pillars and tabular slabs sup
ported on three or four rude piers. These blocks
some OF which are erected every yedr-are
detached from the solid rock by successive ap-
plicaions of heat and cold water, and then
transported to the site where they are to stand
by ropes and Levels. 1t Is almost incredible
that these facts should have been known for
nearly a quarter Of a century without exciting
any active curiosity Col. Yule described them
as long ago as lo4il ana Dr. Hooker himself in,
spectcd them III 1850. 1t is hard to say what
light may be thrown on the early history of
mankind by the study Of these monuments
in connection with the habits aud character OF
the lace by which thew are actually raised. How
intact the barbarlsm o. this people still is may
be gathered from the fact that they MEASURE
distances by the mouthfus OF betel leaves che we'd
in the journey, and hold SO loose by the mar-
rage tie that the son commonly forgets his
father, and the sisters son inherts. DR.. Hooker
mentions one fact in connection with their Ian
2uage which is at least suggestive coincidence.
Their word for stone is "man," and it "as
commonly occurs in he names Of their villages
and places as man. 'maen,' men does in those
of Brittany, Wales, or Cornwall"
In regard to the study of pre- historic archeo-
logy, DR.. Hooker spoke as follows:-
"A great number OF eminent clergymen Of all
denominations have adorned science by their
writings, and religion by their lives, and there
is much to prove that professors of religion
need not have that fear of science by which
many of them seem TO be infuepced. There
should be a union in the search after truth as it
refers TO the spiritual history and condition of
mankind, Of the arch@ologist, and the religious
teacher Let each pursue the search for truth,
the aTch@ologist into the physical, the religious
teacher into the spiritual history and condition
Of mankind, 1t will be in vain that each regards
the others pursuits from atar, and turning
the obiect-gass OF his minds telescope to his
eye, is content when he sees how small the other
looks. TO search out the whence and whither
OF existence Is an unquencha0le instinct OF
the human mind; TO satisfy it, man in every
age and in every country has adopted Creeds
that embrace the history Of his past and future,
and has eagerly accepted scientific truths that
support the creeds. And but for this unquench.
able instinct | firmly believe that neither
religion nor science would have advanced so far
as they have i'll the estimation of any people.
Science has never, III this search, hindered the
religious aspirations of good and earnest men,
nor have pulpit cautions, which are but i'll dis
guised deterrents, ever turned inqurlng minds
from the revelations of science. sea of time
spreads its waters between that period to which
the earliest traditions OF our ancestors point,
and that far earlier period when man first ap-
peared upon the globe. For his track upon the
sea man vainly questions his spiritual teachers.
Along its hither store, if not across
it, science now offers TO pilot him. Each
fresh discovery concerning prehistoric man is
as pier built on some rock its tide has exposed,
and from these piers will one day spring arches
that will carry him further over its deeps.
Science, it is true, may never sound the depths
of that sea, may never buoy its shadows or span
its narrowest creeks; but she will still build on
every tidewashed rock, nor will she ever deem
her mission fulfilled till she has sounded its pro.
foundest depths and aChed its further shore,
or proved the one to be unfa.homable and the
other attainaole only upon evldeuce not yet
revealed to mankind. in the Investigation of
these phenomena is wrapped up the past and
the future, the whence and the whittier of mans
existence: and after knowledge of these the
human soul still yearns and passonatey
strives"