TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. UNIVERSITY elevation. The Eildon Hills have similar artificial adaptations; and the author had himself traced the different soils of the tumulus in the greater Cumbrae, and the hollows whence they were brought. He referred to the artificial summit of the Dragon Hill, at Uffington Castle, Berks, and suggested that the White Horse and the sculptured rocks at Ilkley were British delineations. After these evidences of adaptation, he described the serpent, lizard, and alligator mounds of Messrs. Squier and Lapham, which contain oval works towards the head, and evidences of altars and fire within them. He then showed by diagrams several mounds that he identified as corresponding with these, some even in minute details; he referred to examples in Arran, in Monteviot Park, in which latter, towards the south and east' of what he considered the site of an altar, he discovered human remains, and finally dwelt on a serpentine mound in Argyleshire several hundred feet long, and about 15 feet high by 30 broad, tapering gradually to the tail, the head being formed by a circular cairn, the centre of which had evidently been occupied by a megalithic structure, which he considered an altar, the large stones of which were lying round the base of the cairn. He could not of course adduce direct evidences of the worship of the serpent, but it had been traced as coexistent with sun-worship in America, where these evidences of the serpent were found; and discovering similar remains in Britain, which retains many indications of sun-worship, and as these two forms of worship went almost hand in hand in other countries, he considered himself justified in concluding that he had found examples of it here also, drawing attention to the variety and beauty of the specimens of early British art on the table to show the care and extent of his explorations. On some indications of the Manners and Customs of the early Inhabitants of The author drew attention to two prominent points, viz. the universality of the circle, curve, or oval in all the earliest British remains; and the similarity of the physics of the various localities where British towns are still traceable. He selected the widely separated positions of Greaves Ash, in the Cheviot Hills, Standlake, near Oxford, and Tolsford Hill, near Saltwood Castle, Kent; and after showing that the same features existed in each of these, although some of the settlements were formed by excavations and some by erections; after referring for examples to the camps, forts, towns, and individual dwellings,-ornaments, as fibulæ, beads, amulets, articles of domestic use, as the quern, and to the cup- and ring-marks on the incised stones of Northumberland, New Grange, Ilkley, and elsewhere, he argued that though divided into clans and tribes, yet that these were originally but divisions of one people, as the idea could not be entertained that at the time of these formations, with many of the tribes separating the people of such remote districts, to say nothing of their frequent hostility, different races should have assimilated so much, more especially with interrupted, or indeed no direct communications. He did not, however, mean that this prejudiced the question of cooccupation by a foreign and immigrating, or even preoccupying race, at that time being distinct and unamalgamated with the mass of the people. Assuming these evidences conclusive, he proceeded to compare the constructions with others at a still wider range, selecting in Britain the extreme points of the Hebrides, Caernarvonshire, and Cornwall, and giving examples in the Alps, in Sicily, and even in the wilderness near Mount Sinai, of similar designs; illustrating his arguments by original drawings made by special permission from articles in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and from those of the Palestine Exploration Fund, &c. Referring to the physical features of the localities he had described in Britain, he pointed out the prevalence of the conical hill towards the east of such settlements, with a flowing stream dividing the one from the other, as in the cases of the Breamish flowing between Greaves Ash and the Ingram and Reaveley Hills, the Thames between Standlake and the Beacon Hill, and the stream between Tolsford Hill and Cæsar's Camp. Where localities had not the desired features, or they were not sufficiently prominent, art was had recourse to, as in the Castle Hill at Cambridge, Silbury Hill, &c. He considered these, evidences of the custom of worship on the tops of such mountains, from their orientation, and recalled the fact of many mountains still bearing names indicative of Baal- or Sun-worship; that the flowing stream formed a division of sanctification or purity; that each settlement had its hill of worship, and that the modern church-spires of the plains had replaced the aspiring flame which once ascended from the several tribal districts or divisions of our land; and that on or near these places of previous occupancy were founded our oldest cities. From the juxtaposition of ancient British pottery, where large and small urns were found together, from the lateral perforations of both, distinct from perforations for suspension (an example of which in the possession of Professor Rolleston at Oxford has these perforations less than two inches from the bottom of an urn of the larger kind), from the material found in the small urns differing from that in the large, and in one case being a mummified heart-shaped body, he concluded that the preservation of the heart in the small urn was also a custom with these ancient people. Discovery of Flint Implements in Egypt, at Mount Sinai, at Galyala, and in Joshua's Tomb. By the ABBÉ RICHARD. On Skulls presenting Sagittal Synostosis. By Professor STRUTHERS. On Implements found in King Arthur's Cave, near Whitchurch. On Human and Animal Bones and Flints from a Cave at Oban, Argyleshire. By Professor TURNER. All who are acquainted with the topography of Oban, Argyleshire, will remember that immediately behind the houses, which extend in a long row parallel to the sea-beach, an almost perpendicular wall of rock rises to a considerable height. At the north end of the bay, near Burn Bank House, the rock rises abruptly from the road to the height of a little more than 40 feet. Ivy, mountain-ash, and black-thorn grew out of the chinks in the upper part of the face of the precipice. A bank of earth sloped from the road, at an angle of about 45°, halfway up the face of the rock. Growing out of this bank were several beach trees, none of which had attained any great size; the diameter of the root of the largest was not more than 18 inches. In the summer of 1869, workmen in the employ of Mr. John Mackay, of Oban, were engaged in quarrying the north-west face of the rock for building purposes, and after penetrating about 15 feet into the substance of the rock, they opened into the deeper end of a cave filled with earth in which a number of bones were found. On the removal of more of the rock and of the bank of earth from its south-eastern aspect, the cave was more fully exposed, and the position and direction of its original entrance were ascertained. The rock was a dull purple micaceous sandstone, through which ran thin partings of green sandy shale, and belongs, as my colleague Professor Geikie tells me, to an outlying area of the Old Red Sandstone. The cave consisted of a chamber and an entrance-passage. The chamber was 11 feet high and the same in depth. The entrance-passage was 4 feet high and 9 feet long, and sloped from the entrance down to the floor of the chamber, which it joined at a decided angle. The mouth of the cave was thus higher than the floor of the chamber. It faced to the south, and about 20 feet in thickness of an embankment of earth had to be removed before the entrance was exposed. The cave was almost filled up with earth, in which were found numerous bones and flints. The bones had no definite arrangement, but lay in the earth in an irregular manner. The floor of the cave was formed of solid rock, its walls were on much of their surface lined by a white calcareous deposit, 1 to 2 inches in thickness. In the roof of the cave was a fissure, widened out below, but which higher up was so narrow as to admit little more than the blade of a knife. The earth within the cave was moist, and it is probable that water had percolated into the cave through the fissure in the roof, and that the calcareous lining had been deposited from it. For my information respecting this cave I am indebted to Mr. Mackay, though several of the points I have referred to I was able to confirm from a personal examination of the locality made in October last. The bones were transmitted to me by Mr. Mackay, and were as follows: The skull and greater part of the skeleton of an adult man. Unfortunately the skull was broken to pieces before it came into my possession, so that it is not possible for me to describe it. I may state, however, that the superciliary ridges were well marked, the lower jaw was powerful, the palatal arch was deep. The teeth were partially worn but not ground flat on the surfaces of the crowns, and they exhibited no decay. The tibia, femur, and humerus possessed some peculiarities in form. A second human skeleton was situated about one yard from the adult. From the characters of the skull and of the dentition, it is obviously that of a youth about eight or nine years of age. The animal bones were mostly those of mammals, but a few bird's bones were also found. They consisted of the teeth, jaws, and long bones of the roe and red deer. Skulls and other bones of the common dog. Skulls and other bones of foxes. Skulls and other bones of a species of Mustela. The humerus and ulna of an otter. Bones of the limbs of the hare. Skull of an Arvicola. A large number of the long bones of the red deer, which have been split into fragments, in all probability for the ready extraction of the marrow. No human bones were found split in this manner. Fragments of calcined bones. Shells of limpets. Fragments of granite and water-worn pebbles. A number of flint nodules and flint chips and implements. Some of the nodules are partially chipped, as if in process of being converted into implements. The nodules are small, and the implements formed from them are necessarily small also. Is it not possible that the differences in the size of flint implements met with in different focalities may be due to the fact that flint nodules vary in size in different places, and that the men of the period had to make their implements of a size such as the materials at their disposal permitted? The most perfect of these implements have sharp edges all round, they are comparatively flattened, and in no instance possessed a length of 3 inches, or a greater thickness than about half an inch. As flint is by no means a common material in Scotland, I was desirous of obtaining from the most competent authority information on the nearest locality from which they could have been obtained. My colleague, Prof. Geikie, writes me: "A few years ago I found a bed (20 feet thick) of chalk flints underlying the great basalt cliffs of Carsaig, on the south shores of the island of Mull. This is, I believe, the nearest point to Öban from which flint could be brought." I think that the examination of the various objects found in this cavern leads to the conclusion that it had been used as the habitation of man; for we have not only the remains of man himself, the animals on which he fed, the dog which he, without doubt, employed to aid him in the chase, but the implements which he used, and the raw material out of which those implements were manufactured; further, charred remains, which indicate that he had employed fire to cook his food. The great thickness of the embankment of earth in front of the mouth of the cave leads me to think that it had been closed up by a great landslip of the loose earth from the summit of the cliff. Perhaps the human inhabitants had been buried alive in their cavernous dwelling-place. It is well known that not only in Scotland, but in various parts of the globe, caves have been used, and, indeed, in some localities are still used, as human habitations. What the exact age of these remains may be it may be difficult to say, but the association of flint implements with the human and animal bones points to a considerable antiquity. 1871. 11 On Man and the Ape. By C. STANILAND WAKE, Director of the Anthropological Institute. In this paper the author referred to the agreement in physical structure of man and the ape, and to the fact that the latter possessed the power of reasoning, with all the faculties necessary for its due exercise. It was shown, however, that it was incorrect to affirm that man has no mental faculty other than what the ape possesses. He has a spiritual insight or power of reflection which enabled him to distinguish qualities and to separate them as objects of thought from the things to which they belong. All language is in some sense the result of such a process, and its exercise by even the most uncivilized peoples is shown in their having words denoting colours. The possession by man of the faculty of insight or reflection is accompanied by a relative physical superiority. The human brain of man is much larger than that of the ape, and he has also a much more refined nervous structure, with a naked skin. The author observed that the size of the brain was the only physical fact absolutely necessary to be accounted for, and this could not be done by the hypothesis of natural selection. Mr. Wallace's reference, on the other hand, to a creative will, really undermines Mr. Darwin's whole hypothesis. After referring to the theories of Mr. Murphy and Haeckel, the author stated that the only way to explain man's origin, consistently with his physical and mental connexion with the ape, is to suppose that nature is an organic whole, and that man is the necessary ape as supposed result of its evolution. While, therefore, man is derived from the by Mr. Darwin, it is under conditions very different from those his hypothesis requires. According to this, the appearance of man on the earth must have been in a certain sense accidental; while, according to the author's view, organic nature could only have been evolved in the direction of man, who is the necessary result of such evolution, and a perfect epitome of nature itself. On certain Points concerning the Origin and Relations of the Basque Race. By the Rev. W. WEBSTER. GEOGRAPHY. Address by Colonel HENRY YULE, C.B., President of the Section. You are aware that the honourable position which has been assigned to me was originally destined for a gentleman, by labours, knowledge, and reputation throughout the world as a geographer, far otherwise qualified to fill it. His lamented removal, within a very short time of the date fixed for this Meeting, compelled the Council of the Association to make prompt arrangements for the presidency of the Geographical Section. The distinguished soldier and scholar who has recently succeeded to the chair of the Royal Geographical Society was unable to attend; and the officers of the Association thought proper to propose me for the duty. I am quite inexperienced in such office; whatever claim I have to the character of a geographer has been acquired in a limited field, and rather from the literary than the scientific side; a variety of subjects must come before us with which I am quite unfamiliar; and I had for these and other reasons abundant misgivings as to the fitness of the choice. But I did not feel at liberty to decline the duty, especially as it was not the first time that, unsought, it had been proposed to me. Even among an entire company of strangers, the circumstances of the case, and the short time which they allowed for preparation, would, I felt assured, secure indulgence. When I can count so many countenances of friends around, I feel that it is needless to plead for it. The first natural duty in circumstances like the present is to pay a tribute, however inadequate, to the memory of the eminent geographer whom we expected to fill this chair. Deeply do I regret not to be able to speak of him from personal acquaintance, or even from correspondence. I knew him only by his works. And who is there that did not? The long list of those works has been rehearsed in so many of the notices that have honoured his memory, as well as in the address of the Vice-President of the Geographical Society, when presenting the medal which he had won by so many years of faithful labour in the cause of Geography, that I need not now repeat them. Indeed, when contemplating the catalogue of such an amount of work achieved, an amateur geographer like myself stands abashed-but feels at the same time that his own limited experience and desultory studies serve at least to furnish him with some just scale by which to estimate the vast labours involved in the accomplishment of such a life's work as Dr. Keith Johnston's. During that life's work of five-and-forty years, there was little or no call for modifications in the assigned dimensions or outline of the inhabited continents of the world, such as were needed in the corresponding space of years that followed the first voyages of Columbus and Da Gama. But with the exception of that epoch, none in history has produced so much change in the atlas of the world, by the modification and completion of internal spaces that once stood in error or in blank upon our maps. Think of the growth of knowledge of which we should become sensible were we to compare sheet by sheet this late geographer's first National Atlas with the latest editions of the maps of his Royal Atlas! Think of the changes that we should find in the representation of Central America and Interior Africa, in the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, in Australia, in Central and Northern Asia, in Indo-China-nay, to some extent in India itself! I will conclude these remarks by quoting the words used by a friend in writing to me on this subject: -"I obtained, at various times, from Keith Johnston, information, which he was always most ready to give; and I had an opportunity of learning something of the wide range of his researches and correspondence, and of his diligence in the pursuit of materials for his work. He seemed to be imbued with the modesty and caution of a true student of a science which is so constantly presenting corrected views of old knowledge, as well as new facts and new means of investigation; whilst he showed the real delight he had in the labours themselves, no less than in the attainment of the results." I shall in this Address attempt no general view of the geographical desiderata of the time, and of recent geographical progress in discovery and literature throughout the world. Living habitually far from new books and meetings of societies, I am not sufficient for these things; nor, if I were, could I easily vary from the comprehensive epitome of the year's geography which, but two months ago, was issued, though, as we know with sorrow, not delivered, by him who has been so long the Dean of the Faculty of Geographers in Britain, and whose name is as thoroughly and as respectfully identified throughout the Continent with English geography as once was that of Palmerston with English policy. And since I am naming Sir Roderick Murchison, all, I am sure, will be glad to know that, though his power of bodily movement is seriously impaired, his general health is fair, his intellect and his interest in knowledge are as bright as ever; and as for his memory, I will only say I wish mine were half as good! He has desired me to take occasion to express his deep regret at his inability to be present at this Meeting. It is, he said, one of the most painfully felt disappointments that his illness has occasioned; for he had looked forward with strong interest to taking part once more in a meeting of the Association at the chief city of his native country-with which city, I may remind you, he the other day bound his name and memory by strong and enduring ties, in the foundation of a Chair of Geology in this Univer sity. Instead, then, of attempting a review which in my case would be crude, and therefore both dull and uninstructive, I propose to turn to one particular region of the Old World with which my own studies have sometimes been concerned, and to say something of its characteristics, and of the progress of knowledge, as well as of present questions regarding it. There are, however, one or two points on which I must first touch lightly. Of Livingstone, all that there is to tell has already been told to the world by Sir Roderick Murchison. We know the task that Livingstone had laid out for himself |