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the disease had been practised in Paris for a long time, where the girls had not the liberty to go about as they liked; but were under a system of inspection. He had heard it said: What an impure thing it was for the French Government to sanction such proceedings, and how tyrannical it was to exercise such restraint upon the girls; but liberty in this country went too far when public welfare is concerned. The woman might say she would not be examined, and the laws of this country would not permit it without her consent; whilst in France she is prevented from communicating the disease by this restriction, and thereby the ravages of this disease greatly diminished. At one time an attempt was made to put a stop to prostitution in France, but it was attended with worse consequences. The men seduced and abused the girls living in their families. It was far better for society at large that there should be women who made a trade of prostitution than that such a state of things should exist in families. He thought it was only right and proper to protect society by allowing women to practise prostitution, and to adopt proper measures in order to prevent the extension of the evil.

Mr. PIKE asked whether there were any statistics of the state of the Danish army in Copenhagen as to syphilis, for that would have an important bearing on the question of regulation and inspection. There were some statistical tables on the subject with respect to the Belgian and the French armies, which represented them to be in a better state than our own; but he had been told that worse cases of syphilis occur in Paris than elsewhere. It had been said that there is no soldier who has not had a flirtation with a servant-girl at some time or another, and it became a question whether the liberty that prevails among other women has not the effect of producing a class of "amateurs," who spread the disease as much as regular prostitutes.

Mr. BENDYSHE said, in reply to the observations that had been made, that his object in bringing forward the paper was rather to draw attention to the subject than to exhaust it. As to the objection of Mr. Reddie that it would pull regiments to pieces to put the plan of selection in practice, he observed that some regiments were formed altogether of tall men, and those might, therefore, be kept at home. The same objection would not apply to officers, who might be selected, and more care should be taken of the tall men than of the short. As to recruits, he thought the principal cause of their suffering more by change of climate was that they are generally young. Scotch soldiers do not stand the cold so well as those who come from a warmer climate; that was a fact which had been universally experienced. Thus the French soldiers withstood the climate of Russia better than the Russians themselves, and the Italians withstood it better than the French. As to the state of things among the soldiers in Copenhagen, the facts he had stated were derived from the report of the Minister of Police. With respect to Mr. Reddie's remark-that his representation of the prevalence of syphilis in Denmark made it appear worse than in England because the clergymen were employed to point out persons who were afflicted with the disease-all that he (Mr. Bendyshe) would reply was, that he should be glad to see the clergymen make them

selves so useful in this country. He did not agree with Mr. Reddie in thinking that the paper was more fitted to have been read at the Royal United Service Institution. He thought it was better that the consideration of such questions should be diffused among other scientific bodies rather than be concentrated on one particular spot or confined to one class only. With reference to the observation of the President respecting the relative degrees of endurance of change of climate by English, Scotch, and Irish, he said he should have been glad to have entered into the question as regarded different effects of climate on different races, but the regiments were so mixed up with English, Irish, and Scotch, that there were no means of judging. Our army doctors were not accustomed to consider such things, for their experience was too limited to enable them to take general views. In the absence of more complete knowledge on the subject, no positive conclusions could be drawn, but some useful information might be gathered from such records as exist. Statistics were very much wanted in the Danish army. There could be no doubt of the fact alluded to by Mr. Pike that the amateur prostitutes propagated disease, and that over those there was no control; but it was the duty of the government to do what they could to prevent its extension. In Paris, in 1815, when it was occupied by foreign soldiers, the cases of syphilis increased very much; so much so, indeed, that the measures adopted to prevent it, were, for the time, abandoned; but when the foreigners departed, the usual precautions were resumed and the cases of disease decreased. Mr. Bendyshe said, in conclusion, that there was quite scope enough for another paper on the subject, if any one would take it up.

Mr. BOUVERIE-PUSEY observed that the Danish army consists of 60,000 men, who only serve for a few months. The meeting then adjourned to the 17th inst.

TUESDAY, MAY 17th, 1864.

DR. JAMES HUNT, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and confirmed. The names of the twenty-eight Fellows elected since the last meeting were read as under-J. G. Musgrave, Esq.; W. C. Lucy, Esq.; the Right Hon. Lord Stanley; T. Lucas, Esq.; Hon. Roden Noel; W. H. Levy, Esq.; C. P. Modelian, Esq.; J. Moore, Esq.; W. Newmarch, Esq.; Dr. Piesse; J. Radcliffe, Esq.; S. Solly, Esq.; J. A. Youl, Esq.; J. Middleton, Esq.; Rev. W. C. Lukis; the Earl of Southesk; J. Smyth, Esq.; F. W. Monk, Esq.; C. H. Luxmoore, Esq.; P. Spencer, Esq.; H. K. Spark, Esq.; J. S. Noldwitt, Esq; Professor Leitner; T. Cannon, Esq.; Rev. Dr. Spooner; J. Mill, Esq.; C. Harcourt, Esq.; J. B. Perrin, Esq. Dr. Brice Smith was elected Local Secretary for Belfast.

The PRESIDENT said he had to make several important announce

ments. At a late meeting of the Council a resolution had been agreed to for taking apartments in the upper part of the house in which they were assembled, from the Royal Society of Literature, in which to deposit the museum and library of the Anthropological Society, at the rent of £130 per annum. The Council had that afternoon agreed

also to the following resolutions:

1. That a paid office be created in the Society, to be entitled the Curator, Librarian, and Assistant-Secretary.

2. That this office be held at an income of £100 per annum from Midsummer next, to be increased to £150 per annum on the Society attaining 500 paying Fellows, commencing the quarter next ensuing.

3. That the duties of this office shall consist in the general management of the Society's Museum and Library, editing the Journal of the Society, making indices to the Society's publications, and the conduct of the general affairs of the Society under the direction of the officers and Council.

4. That this officer be in attendance daily at the Society's rooms from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., and that he be entitled to six weeks' vacation annually.

5. That applications for this office be sent to the Council before the 31st inst., addressed to the President.

6. That the foregoing resolutions be announced to the ordinary meeting of the Society.

The PRESIDENT then said that the Council had that day received the resignation of Mr. Carter Blake as honorary secretary of the Society, an office which he had discharged with remarkable ability. He was sure the meeting, as well as the Council, would very much regret the loss of his valuable services, and that they must all join in a high appreciation of the efforts he had made to promote the interests of the Society. The President, at the same time, hoped he might be permitted to say, that he believed the cause of Mr. Blake's resignation was, that he intended to become a candidate for the office of curator, librarian, and assistant secretary, which the Council had determined to establish, as announced in the resolutions which had just been read. The following resolution relating to the subject had been passed:

"That the Council receives with unfeigned regret, the announcement of Mr. C. Carter Blake's resignation of the office of Honorary Secretary of this Society; and in accepting his resignation, the Council desires to record its high appreciation of the value of Mr. C. Carter Blake's able, zealous, and successful efforts in promoting all the best interests of the Society."

Mr. A. HIGGINS directed attention to eight skulls and the cast of a skull which were on the table, and which had been presented to the Society by Professor Hyrtl. They were the skulls of natives of different parts of the Austrian empire.

The PRESIDENT stated, in reply to a question by one of the members, that the Society then consisted of 377 Fellows.

The following papers were then read:

On the Kirkhead Cave, near Ulverstone. By JOHN BOLTON, Esq.; with an Introduction by GEORGE E. ROBERTS, F.A.S.L.

INTRODUCTION.

MR. BOLTON's notes upon this bone-yielding cave, which I have arranged to form this communication, appear to be of some interest and value. Although we cannot claim this inhabited cavern as a dwelling-spot of any remote antiquity, yet the record of its contents cannot fail to be of anthropological as well as of archæological

value.

The geological history of the cavern is simple. Caverns in limestone rocks belonging to the carboniferous series are numerous, wherever that formation is developed, whether in England or Ireland; in most cases they have communications with the surface above, either by a fissure or cleft in the strata, or in connection with the stratigraphy of the rock. It appears most probable that in the case of the Kirkhead cave the earth, which nearly filled it, dropped in from above, through an opening which stalactitic productions afterwards closed. Mr. Bolton has worked very industriously in the cave-earth, in company with Mr. Morris, whose interesting notes upon it are appended to his remarks, and Mr. J. O. Middleton, to whose care and kindness we have before been indebted.

G. E. R.

The cave which I am about to describe is situated on the western flank of Kirkhead Hill, on the west shore of Morecambe Bay, at a point about six miles from Ulverstone. The hill rises abruptly from the sea-shore, within a quarter of a mile of high-water mark, to the height of two hundred and sixty-four feet, and is composed of mountain limestone. The entrance to the cavern is eighty-five feet above high-water mark, the inclination of the hill from the cavern's mouth downwards being 65 degrees. I have been acquainted with it for about ten years; my first visit being in 1853. On that occasion I was accompanied by my friends Mr. J. O. Middleton, and Mr. Salmon, F.G.S. We found the height of the cave at its mouth to be three feet; consequently admittance could only be gained by crawling in on hands and knees. Beyond the mouth, the height of the roof varied from eighteen feet, at the part nearest the entrance, to twelve feet; the length of the cave we found to be forty feet, and its width twenty feet; the area consisting of one irregularly oviform cham

ber.

No communication between the roof and the surface of the rock above was apparent; though the thickness of the brushwood which clothed the hill rendered any investigations difficult. From the shape of the cave, it appeared to have been a natural reservoir for waters permeating through the rock, both from the surface and from springs; such communications having been extinct long before its occupancy by man and the smaller carnivorous mammalia.

The floor of the cavern, when thus first visited, was composed of a

brownish-red indurated clay. The two labourers who accompanied me made excavations in this to the depth of seven feet, over an area of about fifty square feet. The clay contained many angular fragments of mountain limestone, probably fallen from the roof of the cavern, and a few pebbles of Upper Ireleth slate, or of Coniston flags, varying in size from a walnut to an orange, and derived, probably, from rocks which are situated northward. These were all water-rolled. We also found in the clay a considerable number of mammalian and bird bones. At the depth of four feet, a portion of the right parietal bone of a human skull was thrown out. Continuing the excavation to a depth of seven feet, we obtained another human bone, which proved to be the second lumbar vertebra, and the radius and ulna of a young human subject. Below the cave-earth, we came to a floor of stalagmite.

On my return to Ulverstone after this exploration, I submitted the bones to Mr. Beardsley, F.G.S., F.A.S.L. I believe no visit to the cave has been paid since until very recently, when I have again visited it, and made further diggings into the cave-earth. Amongst the bones obtained at various depths on this occasion, are several jaws of badgers, and other bones of that animal, together with bones of fox, wild cat, goat, kid, pig, and boar; and, at a depth of three feet, a large and strong humerus of man. My friend Mr. Morris, who accompanied me, found three human teeth, and fragments of human bones, together with a tusk of wild boar, and a portion of large deer horn, about a foot in length, and ten inches in circumference at its extremity for articulation with the skull.

Scattered through the clay were many fragments of stick, burnt at one end, as if from the remains of fires; these, though interspersed through the whole mass, were more abundant towards the bottom of the deposit. In the stalagmite beneath the earth, which I then broke into, were several pieces of wood-charcoal.

The upper part of the cave earth yielded to Mr. Morris and myself some interesting evidences of the later human occupancy of the cave which Mr. Morris has described in a lecture lately delivered before the Ulverston Mechanics' Institute. There was also found a rude bone implement resembling a knife, a piece of carpal bone of goat (?) two inches long, having a round hole through it, as though it had been suspended as an amulet; together with several fragments of pottery rudely burnt, similar in composition to ancient British cinerary urns. The plans which I send you of the cavern are to scale.

The following extracts from Mr. Morris's lecture, add somewhat further to our knowledge.—

Upon digging into the floor it was found to be a heterogeneous compound of bones, earth, charcoal, angular fragments of limestone, with water-worn pebbles of blue slate. After disentombing a quantity of bones-amongst which were several human ones, consisting of the right and left parietal bones, femur, radius, ulna, and many othersthe first object of interest discovered was a fragment of ancient pottery. It was of the rudest type, and bore no traces of the potter's wheel, nor of kiln drying. Progressing farther into the cave and

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