THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

OF THE

VICTORIA INSTITUTE

WAS HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM D, THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, S.W.1, ON MONDAY, MARCH 21st, 1927, at 3.30 P.M.

DR. JAMES W. THIRTLE, M.R.A.S., IN THE CHAIR.

The notice convening the Meeting was read by the Honorary Secretary, and then the Minutes of the last business Meeting were read, confirmed, and signed.

The CHAIRMAN proposed, that as the Report had been circulated, with the Balance-sheet, among those present, it should be taken as read. He then called on the Auditor to make some remarks as to the financial position of the Institute; and he drew the attention of the Meeting to the fact that the expenses of printing had advanced during the year. After one or two questions by Messrs. LanceGray and Rudd had been answered, the Chairman remarked that the financial position of the Institute had the earnest attention of the Council; that in great part the rise in expenses was due to the length of the discussions, which it was inadvisable to limit beyond a certain point, as in them often lay a very appreciable part of the value of the paper. He was able to announce that, through the kindness of a Member, a sum had been placed at the disposal of the Council which would go a long way toward meeting the deficit.

Resolution No. 1.-The CHAIRMAN then moved :—

"That Mr. Sydney T. Klein, F.L.S., Mr. John Clarke Dick, M.A., and Mr. W. E. Leslie, retiring Members of Council, be re-elected; that Dr. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S., be elected as President of the Institute, and Professor T. G. Pinches, LL.D., M.R.A.S., and the Right Rev.

Bishop J. E. C. Welldon, D.D., as Vice-Presidents; and that the Rev. H. C. Morton, Ph.D., Mr. William C. Edwards, Mr. Robert Duncan, M.B.E., I.S.O., and Dr. Louis E. Wood be elected as Members of Council. Also that the Auditor, Mr. E. Luff-Smith, be re-elected at a fee of three guineas."

The CHAIRMAN then read a statement as to the gentleman whom the Council had nominated as President :

Dr. John Ambrose Fleming, F.R.S., who has been nominated as President, is not only eminent as a scientific investigator and teacher, but has taken for many years a deep interest in matters connected with popular education, and especially in Christian Evidential work. He is a distinguished graduate of the Universities of Cambridge and of London. He has just resigned the Chair of Electrical Engineering in the University of London, held by him for forty-two years, and during the last fifty years he has been closely connected with the introduction into Great Britain of the three great inventions: the Telephone, Electric Lighting, and Wireless Telegraphy. He has contributed very largely to pure scientific research, and has received high recognition for it, such as the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, the Hughes Medals of the Royal Society of London, and election as an Honorary Member of numerous learned societies. He is the author of more than twenty scientific books which have had a worldwide circulation, and of a hundred scientific papers in the Transactions" of various scientific societies. He is an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; a Fellow of University College, London; and Emeritus Professor in the University of London. He is a Member, and for some years Manager, of the Royal Institution. His book, The Evidence of Things Not Seen (S.P.C.K.), has had a very large circulation; and other Evidential publications, such as his addresses at Browning Hall, on " The Supreme Intelligence in Nature" and on Science and Miracles," and his recent paper to the Victoria Institute on "Evolution and Revelation," are a proof of his great interest in the subjects which the Victoria Institute was formed to consider and promote.

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The resolution was seconded by Mr. W. HOSTE and carried unanimously.

Resolution No. 2.-Moved by Mr. W. C. EDWARDS and seconded by the Rev. R. WRIGHT HAY :

That the Report and Statement of Accounts for the year 1926, presented by the Council, be received and adopted, and that the thanks of the Meeting be given to the Council, Officers, and Auditor for their efficient conduct of the business of the Victoria Institute during the year."

This was carried unanimously.

Resolution No. 3.-Moved by Mr. ALFRED W. OKE and seconded by Mr. W. HOSTE :

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That the cordial thanks of this Meeting be passed to Dr. James W. Thirtle for presiding on this occasion."

This was passed by acclamation and the Meeting was then declared closed.

692ND ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING,

HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, S.W.1, ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 6TH, 1926, AT 4.30 P.M.

DR. JAMES W. THIRTLE, M.R.A.S., IN THE CHAIR.

The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read, confirmed, and signed, and the HON. SECRETARY announced the following elections since the last Meeting :-As Members: Dr. T. E. Nuttall, F.G.S., the Rev. S. B. Rohold, F.R.G.S., Thomas Fitzgerald, Esq.; and as Associates: The Rev. George Jones, Mrs. Duff Watson, W. A. Delevingne, Esq. (late I.C.S.), and the Rev. E. J. Nash, M.A.

Before the formal proceedings were begun, the CHAIRMAN announced, with regret, the decease of Professor Edouard Naville of Geneva, a VicePresident of the Institute, and one who had contributed valuable papers to the Society. The audience signified their respect for the deceased by rising in their places, on the proposal of the Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN introduced Professor J. A. Fleming, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., to read his paper on "Evolution and Revelation." He described the Lecturer as a gentleman of altogether exceptional scientific attainments, one who had made contributions of material importance to most recent developments of Wireless Telegraphy and Radiography.

EVOLUTION AND REVELATION.

By PROFESSOR J. A. FLEMING, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.

T can hardly be denied that in the last half-century, or even less, a very great change has taken place in the attitude of the public mind towards scientific speculations on the great problems of the beginnings of the material Universe, and the origin of the human race. At the earlier point of that period popular thought and opinions on these matters were very widely based on time-honoured interpretations of statements in the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis, and any attempt to modify them was esteemed impious and dangerous.

At the present time the pendulum has swung to a large extent in the opposite direction. The immense practical achievements

of scientific research and invention have given an authority and weight to scientific hypotheses and theories which is sometimes in excess of that justified by ascertained facts. Popular expositions have familiarized most persons with the ideas covered by the term Evolution, but have not always been careful to point out where actual knowledge ends and speculation or hypothesis begin. At the same time, another influence has come into operation which has tended to weaken the authority of that ancient and revered literature we call the Bible, and that is the gradual diffusion of ideas regarding it which have resulted from a purely literary treatment commonly called the higher criticism. It is difficult to justify the term "higher," and some of it might perhaps more aptly be termed destructive criticism.

It is unquestionable that the collection of Hebrew and Jewish writings collectively termed the Bible, and deeply felt by untold multitudes to be not solely the product of human intelligence, has exercised an inexpressibly great influence upon our race. There must be something very peculiar and unique about a collection of writings emanating from one small family of mankind, which has made it possible and urgent to translate it into every language spoken on this earth, to circulate it by millions, and publish vast libraries of other books expounding it and enforcing its teaching. It is a literature which has caused the sacrifice of countless lives of the best of the human race in defence of the right to possess it, read and distribute it, and which excites in its readers either the greatest reverence and attachment, or else indifference or aversion.

This collection of books is in itself a phenomenon, and one that is a continual challenge to mankind to explain. There are in fact three closely connected problems which perpetually present themselves to the human intelligence and pressingly invite to a serious study of them. The first of these is the origin of, and source of, the order in the material Universe; the second is the true origin, nature and destiny of the human race, predominant now over all other races of living beings on the earth; and the third great problem is the origin and source of power of this unique literature, the Bible.

The welfare of the human race is essentially bound up with a study of, and obedience to, the resistless uniformities and invariable processes we call the laws of Nature, and, speaking generally, this study is embraced in the term Science. At the same time, innumerable facts proclaim that human beings are