Special forms of Christian prayer are in use for that day. Grapes, which next to wheat are the agricultural product most prized in Turkey, are blessed in all the Armenian Churches at the feast of Astvadzadzin, the feast of the Mother of God, which fell in 1906 on August 26th. Many devout Armenian women eat no fruit from Lent until Astvadzadzin, and in general Armenians do not eat freely of the grapes, if at all, until they have been blessed in the Church.

These are specimen facts from the beliefs and practices of our friends, the people of Asia Minor. They indicate a real sense of sin and helplessness, of fear and failure, a groping for peace, comfort and reconciliation with God. And yet my experience is that however learnedly Anatolians discuss religious principles, however devotedly and at whatever cost of money, time and effort, they fulfil the rites which the custom of immemorial ages has prescribed or the self-sacrifice which conscience urges, they have no satisfying confidence in any. They have no consistent way of salvation; they have no clear idea of a personal Saviour.

This address has aimed to deal with nothing characteristically Christian or Mohammedan, nothing directly from the Bible or the Koran. It has dealt rather with facts as they have come under the writer's personal observation; questions of cause, comparison and anthropological significance may be left to scholars who specialize in such subjects.

NOTES ON THREE PHOTOGRAPHS.

No. 1. Eyuk, Central Asia Minor. A pair of Hittite sphinxes guarding a temple door, one now surmounted by a stork's nest. Each sphinx about eight feet in height; a double-headed eagle supporting the figure of a priest on the inner wall of the righthand sphinx. Date, 1200 to 1400 B.C.

No. 2. Eyuk, Central Asia Minor. Sacrificial scene, near the temple door, being part of the approaching dromos. Altar, before which stands a ministering priest with a musical instrument (?) in his right hand. Bull on the other side of altar, for sacrifice or to receive the sacrifice as a cattle god.

No. 3. Boghaz-keuy (Pteria), Central Asia Minor, fifteen miles from Eyuk. Two figures in the smaller Yasili-Kaya gallery, the taller with ribbed cap, being a female, probably a mothergoddess, her left arm being thrown around the neck of the younger, smaller figure, her consort, and perhaps her son. Hittite winged solar disc in upper ground; figures with tiptilted shoes. Date, 1200 to 1400 B.C.

DISCUSSION.

The SECRETARY (Professor HULL, F.R.S.), in moving a vote of thanks to the author, said, I wish to be allowed to express my gratitude to the Rev. Mr. White for his interesting communication. It is not the first with which he has favoured the Institute, as he sent us a paper in 1901 published in the Journal of the Society.* Since then he has been appointed to the important position of Dean of the Anatolia College-and it is gratifying to know that this institution is in such a flourishing condition, and is doing such good work amongst the Christian population of that historical region. We can never forget that Asia Minor was the country of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse-and it is lamentable to hear how the nominal Christians have fallen away from the simplicity of the Apostolic faith. To that faith American Missionaries are endeavouring, and not without success, to recover them—and we all join in congratulating the Dean on being selected to preside over the College which is taking so important a part in the evangelisation and the spread of knowledge amongst the people of Asia Minor.

There is another reason why we should take a special interest in the intellectual prosperity of this country-from the connection with it in recent times of our late friend, General Sir Charles Wilson. It will be in the recollection of some of us that this distinguished officer was appointed to be Consul-General of Anatolia under the Anglo-Turkish Convention, a position which he held from 1879 to 1882. It was doubtless due to the influence of the British Plenipotentiaries to the Berlin Congress, the late Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury, that Sir Charles Wilson was appointed to this position, for which he was peculiarly fitted by his familiarity with Oriental populations, and his mature and considerate judgment, and I venture to think that if he had been allowed to remain for some years longer in that position of peaceful influence those terrible massacres of the Armenian population from 1893 to 1896 by the

"Visit to the Hittite cities of Eyuk and Boghaz-Keoy," Trans. Vict. Inst., vol. xxxiii.

It

Turks which afterwards took place would have been averted.* is very gratifying to hear from the author of this paper, that the bearing of the Turkish rulers towards their Christian subjects has so much improved, and that, although not open to the reception of the Gospel themselves, they do not offer any opposition to evangelical teaching amongst their Christian fellow countrymen.

Dr. E. CLAUDE TAYLOR.-I wish to add testimony to the value of the work at Anatolia College by the American Missionaries and their Armenian and Greek colleagues. In the midst of ignorance and superstition it is splendid to see the growth of knowledge and spiritual feeling. It is specially noticeable in the second generation. Further I would like to suggest that if any member of the society felt able to pay a visit to Anatolia College he would be able to help them in many ways by encouragement and support, and he would find the experience, along out-of-the-way paths, most enjoyable.

Colonel HENDLEY said that he also had much pleasure in testifying to the great value of the work done by the American Missionaries in Turkey. When he was in Constantinople a few years ago he had not only heard from old residents of the good that they had effected in Asia Minor, but of the special importance of their labours in Bulgaria, where their educational institutions had been the means of so improving the powers of mind of the youth of the country that it was expected that, in a very few years, the population would be in a position to resist all oppression, whether at home or abroad. What was wanted was the formation of a strong backbone, as it were, and this was being done by the missionaries.

Canon GIRDLESTONE said that the Turkish Empire owed a great debt to the American Mission. With regard to the title of the

* It may be mentioned in this connection that after the massacre of the Armenians, in 1896, a committee of ladies was formed in London to rescue and assist the unhappy Armenian widows and children, and a large number were taken in British ships to Cyprus. Miss Charlotte Hull, M.D. (now Mrs. Ferguson-Davie), was sent out to take charge of these destitute people, and she fitted up a large house-given over by the governor to her as a hospital and home, where for several months Miss Hull and her assistants ministered to the wants of their charge, both in food, clothing and medical aid, until they were enabled to return to their country on the restoration of peace.