St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-14
RECENT RESEARCH.
CoIOred Points in the Eyes of
Lower Animals.

London, England, took place at the
end of July, when the Victoria insti-
tute held it's annual meeting. The
president, Sir George Stokes, Bart, F.
r. S., who now fills the PROFESSIONAL
chair at Cambridge university, once
held by the great Sir Isaac Newton,
presided, and was supported by the
new lord high chancellor of England,
and many other notables, among
whom we recognized Prof. Sayce, just
returned from Egypt. Among those I'M
able to be present were his eXcellency
the Hon. Mr.. Bayard, the United
States ambassador to Great Britain,
whose letter expressed his very spe-
cial regret; Lord Kelvin, the archbish-
op of Canterbury and others. The hon.
orary secretary, Capt. f. Petrie, in
reading the report of the institute
whose object is to investigate all phil
osophical and scientific questions, in
Guiding any alleged to initiate against
the truths of northumberland to the
value of the work recently done. Dur
ing the year the institutes: member
ship had increased to 1850, members
resident in all parts of the world.
Several important subjects had been
considered, including what the tai
ented Prof. Huxley had termed the
intrinsic weaknesses of the natural
selection hypothesis; in connection
with which investigation showed that
all naturalists now admit that evolu-
ton as a working hypothesis has, as
yet proved insufficient to account for
mans place in nature. AS regards the
question of the missing link be-
tween man and ape, it had been scien-
tifically demonstrated that in no case
had a, so-called missing link proved to
be other than human being with a
lesser developed brain than usual.
Among other subjects which had been
taken up during the year, were the
physical characteristics of the extinct
peoples of the Canary islands; the mi
grafton of flora and fauna; insect anat-
omy, illustrated -photographical-
ly; the evolution of the natural and
the artificial; ancient languages: the
philosophy of Comte, and of the the
osophists; also, the light thrown on
the route Of the Exodus by late sur
vey. Among those contributing to the
papers and discussions were Baron
Sir f. Won Mueller, FRS, Sir J. w.
Dawson, -C.M.G., FRS, Prof. Gle
land, FRS, Prof. Hull, FRS, James
Bateman, FRS, Prof. Sollas, FRS,
Gen. Tulloch, C.B T. G. Pinehes, now
universally recognized as the worlds
greatest akkadian scholar. and others,
The president, Sir G.. G.. Stokes, Bart,
FRS, in delivering the address took
for his subject, 1.-THE Perception of
Light and the laws affecting it. He
described at length the recent discov-
cries carried out by micro photography
in regard to the mechanism of the
eye; discoveries which had shown, as
had never before been known. the
marvellous adaptability of the parts,
and among other things the fact that
in the eye of the lower animals there
were colored points present which. in
man, were totally absent. One fact
of special Importance was the strik-
ing evidences of design which forced
| themselves on the mind on our gain
| ing this addition to our knowledge of
the organ of sight, and he pointed out
that these evidences We're now so pat
ent as to actually silence critics. AS
the president closed the address there
was storm of applause, amid which
the lord high chancellor of England
| rose to move vote of thanks and In
calm, dignified accents pointed out
| the immense value of the presidents
contribution to Christian philosophy.
and the debt due from all right think
ing men to the Victoria institute for its
! able work. To the qualification of all
| present the vote was seconded by Prof.
Sayce, who had just returned from his
| explorations in Egypt. He Endorsed all
| that the lord chancellor had said. and
expressed his regret that his forced
| absence in Egypt had prevented him
from appearing earlier in the session.