ORDINARY MEETING, 6TH FEBRUARY, 1871 ... ON THE EVIDENCE OF THE EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS TO THE SOJOURN OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. BY THE REV. B. W. SAVILE, M.A. ON PHYLLOTAXIS; OR, THE ARRANGEMENT OF LEAVES IN ACCORDANCE ON PREHISTORIC MONOTHEISM CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO MAN APPENDIX A.- LIST OF THE VICE-PATRONS, MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES, IN PREFACE. N issuing the sixth volume of the Journal of the Transactions of the VICTORIA INSTITUTE-now commencing the eighth year since its organization-some remarks on the present position of the Institute will not be out of place. In the Preface to the fifth volume the following statement was made :-" After a full review of the requirements of the Institute, and of all it is now called upon to do on behalf of the cause advocated, it appears that when the number of Members and Associates has been raised to five hundred (of which not more than one hundred should be Associates) the Society may be considered adequate to accomplish its objects, and placed in the position so desirable that it should hold. The necessity for action in this matter will, it is hoped, press itself on each Member and Associate."* It will be no small gratification to the Members and Associates, whose firm support has greatly tended to the Institute's strength and stability, to be informed that one hundred and fourteen Members and Associates joined during the past year; among whom are several professors of Oxford, Cambridge, and other Universities. The total strength of the Institute is now upwards of four hundred, having become more than double in two years. It will, however, be observed that further effort is necessary ere the required number is attained. The demand for the Institute's publications is rapidly increasing. * Vide the speech of the Right Rev. the Bishop of Gloucester and ristol, page 314. The present volume of the Transactions contains, among other papers, the last read by the late Honorary Secretary, Mr. J. Reddie; also one on "The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt," which may require a prefatory word. It throws more general light on the religious worship of the ancient Egyptians than any essay hitherto published, and its appearance now is opportune, considering the efforts that are made by some to trace the religion of the Israelites to an Egyptian source. As regards the work in which the Institute is engaged, it is satisfactory to note the concluding statement in the President's address at the meeting of the British Association in 1872" When science, passing beyond its own limits, assumes to take the place of theology, and sets up its own conception of the order of nature as a sufficient account of its cause, it is invading a province of thought to which it had no claim, and not unreasonably provokes the hostility of those who ought to be its best friends." Attacks on Revealed Religion tend to injure the progress of true science, and it would be well if those, whose scientific labours are otherwise of no small value, were deterred by Dr. Carpenter's remarks from continuing assaults made with the foregone conclusion that the Christian Religion is unworthy of credence. Upon this subject generally, the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone, in his Address delivered at Liverpool College, in December, 1872, spoke as follows: "Belief cannot now be defended by reticence, any more than by railing, or by any privileges or assumptions. Nor, again, can it be defended exclusively by its standing army '-by priests and ministers of religion. To them, I do not doubt, will fall the chief share of the burden, and of the honour, and of the victory. But we commit a fatal error if we allow this to become a mere professional question. It is the affair of all. . . . The combat is now with men who commonly confess not only that Christianity has done good, but even that it may still confer at least some relative benefit before the day of perfect pre |