Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-06-23
RECENT EXPLORATION AND
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.
The director of the Geological Survey
of Ireland, Professor Hull, F. r. s., de-
livered the annual address of the Vic.
toria (PhilosophicaD Institute in London,
On the 28th of May, on which occasion
the Institutes new Presidents Professor
Stokes, President of the Royal Society,
took the chair The report was read by
Captain F. Petrie. the honorary secretary,
and showed that the Institutes home,
colonial, and American members were
upwards of eleven hundred, including
many who Joined from a desire to avail
themselves of the Institutes privileges
rather than bear part in its work. An
increasing number of leading scientific
men now contributed papers and aided
In the work OF bringing about a truer
appreciation of the result of scientific in
quiry, especially in cases where scientific
discovery was alleged by the opponents
of religious beliefs to be snbversive
thereof. The author OF the address then
gave an account of the work, discoveries,
and general results of the recent Geolog.
ical and Geographical Expedition to
Egypt Arabia, and Western Palestine, OF
which he had. charge. Stretching the
course taken by him (Which to a consider.
able extent'took the route a.cribed to the
Israelites), be gave an account of the
physical features of thecountry, evidences
of old sea margines 200 feet above the
present sea margins, and showed that at
one time an arm Of the Mediterranean
had occupied the valley of the Nile as far
as the First Cataract, at which time Africa
was an Island Gan opinion also arrived at
by another of the Institutes members,
Sir w. Dawson). and that, at the time of
the Exodus, the Red Sea ran up into the
Bitter Lakes, and must have formed
barrier TO the travellers progress at that
period He then alluded to the great
changes of elevation in the land eastward
of these lakes, mentioning that the waters
of the Jordan valley once stood 1892 feet
above their present height, and that the
Dead Sea, which be found $50 feet deep
were once level with the present Medit-
erranean sea margin, or 1892 feet above
their present height. The great physical
changes which bad taken place in geo.
logical time were evidenced by the fact
that whilst the rocks in Western Palestine
were generally limestone. those of the
mountains of Sinai were amongst the
most ancient in the world, The various
geological and geographical features OF
the country were so described IS to make
the address condensed report of all that
is now known of them in Egypt, Pales-
tine, and Arabia Petraa. Sir Henry
Barkly, e. G. M. G.. F. R. S. moved a
vote of thanks TO Professor Hull, ard to
those who had contributed to the work of
the Institute during the year, which in
cluded Assyriological investigations by
Professor Sayce, Mr. Boscawen, and others;
M. Maspero's and Capt. Conder's Egypt
ian papers; Professor Porter's Eastern
researches, also review of the question
OF Evolution bs Professor Virchow, and
the results of investigations in regard to
the subject of the origin of man, as to
which 1t had been shown by Sir William
Dawson, that geology divided the chron-
ology of animal life into four great
periods; in the frst,-or Eozoic,-in
the Geological as in the Bible records,
were found the great reptiles; and the
AooSs " 6dS
into five periods and it was only in the
last of these, the modern period, that
the evidences OF mans presence had been
found. Again, as REGARDS his ape descent,
the formation and proportions of the
skull and bones of the ape considered
most like man were found to be so differ
ent from those of man as to place insuper-
able difficulties in the way of the theory.
In the gorilla, the high crest on the skull,
which was also found in the hyena, was
absent in man. Also, among other points,
it the capacity of the brain of the anthro
poid ape were taken at ten, that of man
even III his savage state was twenty-six,
or nearly thrice as much,a very important
fact when, as it was known, any sppre-
cable diminution in the brain OF man
was at once accompanied by idiocy. AS
regards the transmutability of species,
Barrande's arguments agains. the theory
founded on the results of life OF research
among the fossil strata, had not yet been
overthrow; and modern research clearly
pointed to the fact that one great bar to
the transmutability of species lay in the
refined and minute differences in the
molecular arrangements in their organs.
The proceedings were concluded by a
vote of thanks to Professor Stokes, under
whose presidency it was remarked that
the work of the Institute would he car
ried out with the increased help and
guidance of men of the highest scientific
attainments, and in manner to advance
Truth.