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JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. VOL. XIII. JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF lht f ittorin Jnstitute, OR Jgifosopgirnl £iocidn of ~rmt Jritain. EDITED BY THE HONORARY SECRETARY, CAPT, F. W, H. PETRIE, F.R.S.L., &c. VOL. XIII. LONDON: (lfilublisbclJ fot tbc llnstitutc) E. STANFORD, CHARING CROSS, S.W. EDINBURGH: R. GRANT & SON. DUBLIN: G. HERBERT. PARIS: GALIGNANI & CO. NEW YORK : ANSON, D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 1880. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, WYlUll' A.ll'D S011'S, PRill'TERSo <lRllH QllEllll'•STRE:ET, Lill'COLll"S•Ill'll'•FillLDS, L0ll'D0ll', W,C, CONTENTS OF VOL. XIII. Page PREFA-CK ... ix JOURNAL OF TRANSACTIONS. ORDINARY MEETING, APRIL lsT, 1878 ... 1 "MoDERN GEOGONIES EXAMINED IN THEIR BEARING ON THE ANTI QUITY OF MAN." BY THE REV. CANON BIRKS, M.A. (PROFESSOR OF MORAL PmLOSOPHY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY) 2 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 28 CONCLUSION OF PROFESSOR BJRKs's REPLY (COMMUNICATED) 38 REMARKS BY c. R. BREE, M.D., F.Z.S. 39 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, MAY 31ST, 1878 40 " THE PRESENT POSITION OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IN THIS COUNTRY" (ANNUAL ADDRESS). BY T:IIE REV. PRINCIPAL RrnG, D.D. 50 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 75 ORDINARY MEETING, DECEMBER 2ND, 1878 78 "ON SCIENCE AND MAN." BY N. PORTER, D.D., LL.D., PRESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE, UNITED STATES 79 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 99 vi CONTENTS OF VOL. XIII. Page ORDINARY MEETING, JANUARY 6TH, 1879 109 "ON THE LAPSE OF TIME SINCE THE GLACIAL EPOCH, DETERMINED BY THE DATE OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE." BY J. c. SOUTHALL, M.A., LL.D. (VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES)'... 109 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 121 ORDINARY MEETING, JANUARY 20TH, 1879 133 "FINAL CAUSE: A CRITIQUE OF THE FAILURE OF PALEY AND THE FALLACY OF Hmm." BY J.P. THOMPSON, D.D., LL.D. (UNITED STATES) 13;3 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 151 ORDINARY MEETING, FEBRUARY 3RD, 1879 163 "THE CAVES OF SOUTH DEVON AND THEIR TEACHINGS." By J. E. HOWARD, F.R.S. 163 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 203 INTERMEDIATE MEETING, MARCH 17TH, ] 879 211 ORDINARY MEETING, APRIE. 7TH, 1879 212 " THE CONTEMPORANEITY OF MAN WITH THE EXTINCT MAMMALIA, AS TAUGHT BY RECENT CAVERN EXPLORATION, AND ITS BEAR· ING UPON THE QUESTION OF MAN'S ANTIQUITY," By THOMAS KARR CALLARD, F.G.S. 212 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 234 ORDINARY MEETING, APRIL 21ST, 1879 246 " THE' RELIGION OF ZOROASTER CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH ARCHAIC MoNoTHEISM." BY R. BROWN, EsQ., F.S.A. ... 246 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 306 lJONTENTS OF VOL. XIII. Vll Page ORDINARY MEETING, MARCH 3RD, 18i9 315 THE PRESENT STATE OF THE EVIDENCE BEARING UPON THE QUES• TION oF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. BY T. Mc K. HUGHES, M.A., WooDWARDIAN PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, CAMBRIDGF. UNIVERSITY 316 DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE 328 SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS THEREON FROM H1s GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, K.G., AND OTHERS • " 340 PROFESSOR HUGHES' REPLY TO THE FOREGOING SPECIAL COMMU• NICATIONS 359 ORDINARY MEETING, MAY 5TH, 1879 ... 364 APPENDICES. LrsT OF THE VICE-PATRONS, MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES, ETC. 365 OBJECTS, CONSTITUTION, AND BYE-LAWS 409 CONTENTS OF EACH OF THE THIRTEEN VOLUMES OF '.rHE Soc1ETY1S TRANSACTIONS 424 PREFACE. THE Thirteenth Volume of the Joutnal of the Transactions of the VICTORIA INSTITUTE is now issued. It will be found to contain papers by Professor ~irks, M ..A. (Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge University), Mr. R. Brown, F.S. .A., Mr. T. K. Callard, F.G.S., Mr. J.E. Howard, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor T. McK. Hughes, M ..A. (Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge University), President Noah Porter, D.D. (President of Yale College, United States), the Rev. Principal Rigg, D.D., Dr. J. S. Southall, M ..A., United States, and the Rev. J. P.· Thompson, D.D., LL.D., United States. The discussions have been enriched by the addition of supplementary papers from his Grace the Duke of .Argyll, K.G., Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., the Rev. J.M. Mello, M ..A.-well-known in the Geological world for his investigations among the caves of Cresswell Crags, and others. To all who have thus contributed to the success of the Institute's work, the best thanks of the Members and .Associates will gladly be accorded. It will be observed that papers upon geological questions held to have a bearing upon the statements of Scripture; form a special feature in the present volume. For some years the Institute has encouraged research bearing upon the question of the ".Antiquity of Man," more especially because X PUE:FACE. the extreme views incautiously advanced by many, tended alike to injure the cause of Science and those higher interests with which the Society has also identified itself. In carrying out these geological researches the Institute has sought, in pursuance of its primary object, "to investigate fully and impartially." In the present state of the controversy we can only discern that cautious accurate inquiry, and an avoidance of imperfect generalizations and hasty conclusions, will promote the cause of Truth, and bring Science back into greater harmony with Revelation.* Of late, men of science have often found reason to urge that there is a real necessity £or the use of greater caution and an avoidance of hasty co~clusion in regard to matters of Scientific investigation, and we venture to quote the following remarks in this direction made by Professor Virchow, when recently alluding to the Darwinian hypothesis :- "We cannot pronounce it to be a conquest of science that man descends from the ape or from any other animal. We can only indicate it as an hypothesis, however probable it may seem. Let us hope the men of science in England will not fail to examine this most serious question-whether the authority of science will not be better served if it confines itself strictly to its own province, than if it undertakes to master the whole view of nature by the premature generalization of theoretical corn binations. We must really acknowledge that there is a complete absence of any fossil type of a lower stage in the development of man. I am bound to declare that any positive advance which has been made in the province of pre-historic anthropqlogy has actually removed us further from the proof of such connection-namely, with the rest of the animal kingdom." The present Volume will also be found to indicate the first success of the new arrangements £or securing the greater use fulness of the Journal of Transactions to country and foreign Members, and affording them facilities £or contributing papers * Volume XIV. will contain a paper upon this subject by one who now etands foremost in the scientific world. PREFACE. Xl and expressing their opinions upon the subjects brought before the Institute. These new arrangements have not only tended to increase the value and usefulness 0£ the Journal to country and colonial Members, but have, as a consequence, facilitated the extension 0£ the Institute abroad, as will be evident when we mention that during the past two years nearly one-third 0£ the new Members 'have been American or Colonial; that there is a necessity for such extension, and that the Society is welcomed in America and the Colonies, many have testified. · F. PETRIE, Hon. Sec. and Editor. 31st December, 1879. JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE, OR PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRIT.A.IN. ORDINARY MEETING, APRIL 1, 1878. C. BROOKE, EsQ., M.D., F.R.S., V.P., IN THE CHAIR. The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, aud the following Elections were announced :- LIFE MEMBERS :-A. Gibbs, Esq., M.A., Somerset ; Rev. F. A. Wigram, M.A., Southampton. AssocrATEs :---The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Fredericton, Canada; Rev. Canon Mather, M.A., Bristol; Rev. H. T. Simpson, M.A., Cheltenham; Mrs. A. Christian, Southport. HoNORARY LocAL SECRETARY :-W. R. Cooper, Esq., 7, Trinity-terrace, Ventnor. Also the presentatiQn of the following Works for the Library :- " Transactions of t,he Royal Society." Part 185. From the Society. "Warwickshire Field Club Transactions, 1877." From the Club. " Animal Construction and Adaptation." From C. Brooke, Esq., F.R.S. " Chalmers' Astonomical Discourses. " Ditto. "Popery in alliance with Heathenism." By J. Ponder. Ditto. "Dr. Stroud on the Death of Christ." Ditto. The following Paper was then read by the Author :-· VOL. XIII, B MODERN GEOGONIES EXAMINED IN THEIR BEAR INGS ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. By the Rev. Professor BIRKS, M.A. l.-INTRODUCTION, HE charge of error, freely brought in these d~ys T against the statements of the Bible cqnce,·nmg Creation and the Origin of J\fan, has been based on alleged scientific proofs of the high antiquity of the human race. When full allowance has been made for the various readings of the Hebrew and the Septuagint, it is perfectly clear that the Bible date for A.dam's creation cannot be placed further back than seven or eight thousand years ago. These are no separable accidents, but main and integral parts of the grand message, that Adam was the first father of all men, that in him all die, through a common fall from innocence and up rightness, and that all are brought within the range of one great redemption, wrought by Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven. Clergymen, as well as laymen, are now found who set aside these statements, as if they were only superstitious errors, which growing light and knowledge have disproved. A. special sanction and currency has lately been given to this view, which many Christians must regard as a blow aimed directly, however unwittingly, against the historical foundation of the whole message to sinful man in the Word of God.