face to face, in the first instance, with the necessity of establishing a law of uniformity. If you put it to them, and venture to say that for a hundred thousand years there has been the same order of things, the same sequence of events, the same operations, the same springs leaving the same deposits, they will say, "No." Of course, then the whole theory breaks down. Look at the deposition of mud for instance. The theory of the Nile mud is broken down because they find modern pottery there. We know that in the case of mud, where it is almost fluid because of much water with it, anything heavy or of greater specific gravity than the mud will sink down, and in this case they found pottery, from 60 to 70 feet deep, at a very recent date. Going up the Hooghly I observed the whole of the bottom of the river in a state of quicksand. If a vessel takes the ground there, she goes down. I have seen a vessel that has sunk in that river until only its upper masts have been visible, and that took place in a few hours. What, then, is the use of talking about ascertaining the chronology of the earth from the deposition of mud when this state of things is going on? Then, with regard to the forests that have been alluded to. I remember starting from Berne for Paris, no rain had then commenced; before we got to Paris, whither we went, the rains had descended from Switzerland, sweeping away houses and bridges. When we arrived at the French capital we found that there had been a 12 feet rise in the Seine, and on the following day one of 18 feet. I remember once, when in the tropics, in charge of a water-party, we had our water-casks rolled to a stream to get water. It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly, but rain had fallen the day before, and it came down with such force that it swept us all out to seaward, casks and all; we were swept off our legs, and our tent was carried away with its contents to seaward. That is only an instance showing how easily great changes may be made by natural causes. Is it not possible that the rate of deposits like the formation of stalagmite may be influenced by the interference of currents, or the drawing-off of the water of springs? We all know how the water of springs in a particular district disappears and re-appears again; how at one moment the springs are saturated with one kind of mineral, and at another time with another. Before they can establish a claim for uniformity my opponents are bound at the beginning to prove that during the deposit of this stalagmite there has been no change in the circumstances. It is in this way that one must fight with those philosophers who claim to have all the facts on their side, and say that we have none on ours. It should be recollected that it is some of these very men who are arguing from geological deductions who are their own greatest opponents, and who entirely overthrow one peculiar system in endeavouring to establish their own. I hope the meeting will permit me on its behalf to thank Mr. Howard for this very important paper, which will no doubt be published together with the discussion upon it; and I trust that our friends will furnish themselves with copies, so that it may be circulated amongst the middle classes and those who are being led away by the fallacies with which it deals. (Hear, hear.) Mr. HOWARD.-I have to thank you very much for the kind and flattering way in which you have received my paper. I do not think I have any explanations to make, but it may be well to say that I have endeavoured in my paper to trace out the progress of bond fide research. It has been a very interesting subject to me, and I trust that I have made my position sufficiently clear. The meeting was then adjourned. INTERMEDIATE MEETING, MARCH 17, 1879. THE REV. R. THORNTON, D.D., VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, and the following elections were announced: ASSOCIATES :-The Ven. Archdeacon Williams, New Zealand; Rev. W. D. Ground, London. Also the presentation of the following Works for the Library : "Proceedings of the American Geographical Society." From the same. Ditto. Ditto. A paper "On the Genesaic Theory of Creation," by the Rev. A. Stewart, M.D., was then read by the Rev. T. M. Gorman, the author being unavoid ably absent. A discussion ensued, in which the following took part : J. E. Howard, Esq., F.R.S.; Rev. J. Fisher, D.D.; R. and L. Dibdin, Esqrs.; Rev. T. M. Gorman, M.A.; D. Howard, Esq., F.C.S.; T. K. Callard, Esq., F.G.S.; Rev. J. W. Buckley, M.A., and the Chairman. ORDINARY MEETING, APRIL 7, 1879. THE REV. R. THORNTON, D.D., VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, and the following elections were announced :— ASSOCIATES :-Rev. D. Fotheringham, London; Rev. R. Lamplough, South Africa; Rev. P. Tearle, South Africa; J. C. Pinkerton, Esq., South Africa. Also the presentation of the following Works for the Library "Genesis and Migration of Plants." By Dr. Dawson, F.R.S. "Everlasting Punishment." By Mrs. McLaughlin. Ditto. Ditto. The following paper was then read by the author, who, owing to indisposition, was assisted by the Rev. T. M. GORMAN :— THE CONTEMPORANEITY OF MAN WITH IN N the paper that I am about to read to you to-night I will confine my attention exclusively to British caverns, because they have had the advantage of more careful and scientific exploration than any others. The senior members of the Victoria Institute may remember the interest that was excited in 1821 by the accidental discovery of a cavern in Kirkdale, Yorkshire, containing unusual animal remains; but especially those of the hyæna. The exploration was conducted by Dr. Buckland, afterwards Dean of Westminster, a geologist of much celebrity. In one cavern he found remains of as many as seventy-five hyænas. How was this to be accounted for? Had the explorer come across an ancient menagerie, or were these the animals which in former days roamed over the wolds of Yorkshire? The interest belonging to this discovery had not died out, when it was announced that at Torquay, in Devonshire, similar remains had been found in Kent's Cavern beneath a stalagmite flooring. This Devonshire cavern had been frequented by picnic parties for some centuries past, but it was not till 1825 that any one knew what was beneath the stalagmite. From that time until 1840 the Devonshire naturalists were every now and then surprised by having some strange bone or unusual tooth brought under their notice. These relics were dug up by Mr. McEnery, a Roman Catholic priest, to whom this cavern had become a favourite place of research. In 1840 the cave was explored with more system by Mr. Godwin Austen, who identified the remains of the hyena, the bear, the woolly rhinoceros, and the mammoth. These remarkable remains, now well authenticated, made the naturalist still more eager for fresh exploration, an opportunity for which again presented itself by the discovery, in 1858, of another cavern in the face of a limestone hill overhanging the little harbour of Brixham. Cavern-research had now become of sufficient importance to be taken up by the Royal and the Geological Societies. These societies appointed a committee from amongst their number to systematically explore this cavern at Brixham, and to determine the species of animal to which each bone belonged that should be found therein. The same arrangement was also come to for the exploration of Kent's Cavern. The committee numbered amongst them some of the leading geologists and paleontologists of the day. And the superintendent appointed was Mr. William Pengelly, F.R.S., now so well known for his untiring labours in cavern-research. The work was no sinecure, for when Professor Dawkins went to Kent's Cavern to determine the bones, there were no less than 50,000 labelled and set aside for examination, with a complete record of the exact spot where each bone was found. Not only did the explorers find the bones and teeth of animals that had not lived in this country within the memory of man, but also those of animals supposed to have been extinct long before man's creation. They also met with the remains of animals now found only amongst the snows of the North, mingled with those whose habitat is the sunny South. Whilst these cavern revelations were being made in England, at Abbeville and Amiens, in Piccardy, bones of some of the same extinct mammalia, notably those of the mammoth and the Siberian rhinoceros, were being dug out of the gravel-beds of |