, 1883-08-09

small steamboats, from the Columbia
to within one hundred feet Of the
mines.
The Tendency Of Scientific Inquiry.
SIR HENRY BARELY, q. c. NJ e., f.
Il. $. took the chair 1T the annual
meeting Of the Victoria CPhilosoph-
icaD Institute at 7. Adelpha Terrace.
London. in the last week IN June.
The Honorary Secretary, Captain f.
Pctrie, L. Il. :. l.. read the report,
by which it appeared that the Insti-
tute, founded to investigate all
questions of Philosophy and Science,
and more especially any alleged to
initiate against the truth Of Reye-
lation, had risen to I.O2O members.
of whom about one-third were For
cign, Colonial and American. and
new applications to join We're con
stantly coming in. An increasing
number of leading men Of Science
had joined its ranks, and men of
Science, whether in its ranks or not,
co-operated in its work. During the
session careful analysis had been
undertaken by Professor Stokes. f
L. s., Sir J. II. Bennett, Vice-Pres.
L. S, Professor Beaie. Z. Il. s., and
others OF the various theories of Ey-
olution, and it syas reported that, Us
yet, no scientific evidence had been
met with giving countenance to the
theory that man had evolved from Il
lower order in animals; and Profes-
sor Virchow had declared that there
was complete absence OF any fossil
type OF lower stage in the develop
ment of man; and that any positive
advance in the province of prehis-
toric anthropology has actually re
moved us further from proofs of such
connection, namely, with the rest of
the animal kingdom. In this, Pro
fessor Barrande, the great paleontol-
ogist, had concurTed, declaring that
in none of his Investigations had he
found one fossil species develope in
to another. In fact, it would seem
that no scientific man had yet diseov-
cred q link between man and the ape,
! between fish and frog, or between
vertebrate and the invertebrate ami
mails; further, there was no evidence
of any one species, fossil or other,
losing its peculiar characteristics to
acquire new ones belonging to other
species; for instance, however similar
the dog to the wolf, there was no con-
Meeting link, and among extinct spe-
cies the same was the case; there was
no gradual passage from one to an
other Moreover, the first animals
| that existed on. the earth were by no
means to be considered as inferior or
degraded. Among other investiga-
tiOns, one into the truth of the argu-
ment from Designs in Nature had
been carried on, and hitherto tended
to fully confirm that doctrine The
question of the Assyrian inscriptions
and the recent Babylonian researches
had been under the leadership of AIR
Hormuzd Rassam,' who on his arrival
from Nineveh, had given Il full re-
port of the extent of his new exca-
vations, which were of the highest
interest. His discovery of Sephar-
vain, one of the first cities mentioned
IN Holy Writ, was most important.
Professor Delitsch and others aided
in the consideration of the discover
les and inscriptions found. Two
meetings had been held to consider
the questions raised in Mr.. Herbert
Speneer's Philosophy, and Lord
ONeill and others had shown, by a
careful analysis of his arguments,
that greater attention to accuracy
III statements would have kept Mr.
Spencer from arriving at those hasty
conclusions which had made his phil
osophy remarkable. 1t was announc-
ed that the results of explora-
| tons now being carried on in Egypt
would be laid before the Institute
early in the winter. The discoveries
were very important, especially that
of the site of Succoth, which, like
the results of the surveys OF Pales-
tine. was contirmatory OF the Sacred
Record. The quarterly Journal
which has been published for sixteen
years, was now issued free to all
Members and Associates, whether al
home OF abroad. Several interestinc
speeches having been made, the mem
bers and friends adjourned to the
Museum, where refreshments were
served.
\ small To- of wheat (chicken feed) for
1 Snla ~ i.Ey -