D PREFACE. URING the past year the shadow of the Great War has rested upon us all. To some it has meant bereavement, to others financial loss and anxiety, to everyone constant pre-occupation. The Victoria Institute could not hope to escape. Some of its supporters have found themselves obliged to diminish their subscriptions or even to withdraw them altogether. Nevertheless, in spite of these and other hindrances, the record of the past Session is most encouraging. The removal to new quarters has resulted in a great advantage, and the rooms in the Central Hall, Westminster, available for our Meetings, have proved much more comfortable and commodious than the premises which we formerly occupied. Thirteen Meetings were held during the Session instead of the usual twelve, and all of them have been well attended, some of them exceptionally so. The papers read have all been of importance, and have covered a wide field of research and thought. The Theory of Evolution in its two chief aspects has been passed in review by two well-known scientific men :-Professor Ernest MacBride, F.R.S., treating of the Present Position of the Theory of Organic Evolution, while Professor Alfred Fowler, F.R.S., dealt in a similar comprehensive manner with Inorganic Evolution: the Development of Stars and Nebulæ. Two special applications of science having a bearing upon sacred and ecclesiastical history were dealt with by Professor Archibald R. S. Kennedy, and Dr. A. M. W. Downing, F.R.S., respectively; the former in his address on Weights and Measures of the Hebrews; the latter in his survey of the history and significance of the present Ecclesiastical Calendar. This last rests upon the Jewish 287780 Calendar, which supplied Mrs. Maunder with her chief criterion The papers, therefore, were either themselves original researches The Institute is greatly indebted to the distinguished Authors September, 1915. E. WALTER MAUNDER, Editor. |