DR. R. S. CHARNOCK, Vice-President, in the Chair.

THE Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed.

The following new members were announced: JOSEPH BONOMI, Esq., Soane Museum; HENRY JAMES NELSON, Esq., M.A., Combalonum, Madras; CLAUDE LONG, Esq., M.A. Oxon., 13, Marine Parade, Brighton; JAMES FISCHER, Esq., F.L.S., Salem, Madras Presidency; W. L. DISTANT, Esq., 1, Caledonian Terrace, Queen's Road, Hatcham.

The following presents were announced, and the thanks of the meeting were voted to the respective donors:—

FOR THE LIBRARY.

From the AUTHOR.-Pre-historic Phases, by Hodder M. Westropp. From the SOCIETY.-Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, tome 6, Nos. 2 and 3, 1872.

From the AUTHOR.—Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, by John Evans, F.R.S.

From the AUTHOR.—Contribution à une Histoire Générale et Encyclopédique des Sciences, by Théodore Wechuiakof.

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, 1870-1.

From the AUTHOR.-Etude sur les Races Indigènes de l'Australie, by Dr. Paul Topinard.

From the TRUSTEES.-Annual Report of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S., 1871.

From the EDITOR.-La Revue Scientifique, Nos. 1 to 15, 1872. From the SOCIETY.—Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xx, Nos. 135, 136, and 137, 1872.

VOL. II,

Y

From the EDITOR.-The Food Journal for July, August, September, October, and November.

From the AUTHOR.-The Affinity between the Hebrew Language and the Celtic, by Dr. Thomas Stratton, R.N.

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xvi, Nos. 2 and 3. Journal, ditto, 1871.

From the EDITOR.—The Mining Magazine and Review for July, 1872. From the Society.-The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland, No. 10, 1872.

From the ACADEMY.-Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersburg, t. xvii, Nos. 1, 2, and 3.

From the SOCIETY.-Mémoires de la Société des Naturalistes de la Nouvelle Russie, vol. i, No. 3.

From the INSTITUTE.-The Canadian Journal, vol. xiii, No. 4.

From the LIBRARY.-Report of the London Library, 1871-2.

From JAMES BURNS, ESQ.-Human Nature for August, September, October, and November.

From the AUTHOR.-The New Principia, Sec. edit., by Com. R. J. Morrison, R. N.

From the EDITOR.-Nature (to date).

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 1871-2.

From the INSTITUTE.-Smithsonian Report, 1870.

From the SOCIETY.-Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, part i, No. 3, 1871. Proceedings ditto, Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5.

From the SOCIETY.-Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord. 1869-70-71.

From the INSTITUTION.―Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, vol. xv, No. 67.

From the ASSOCIATION.-Journal of the East India Association, vol. vi, No. 1.

From the EDITOR.—Journal of Psychological Medicine, July 1872. From the AUTHOR.-Man contemplated Physically, Morally, Intellectually, and Spiritually, part iii, by the late J. W. Jackson. From the AUTHOR, -Recherches sur l'Ethnologie de la Belgique, 1872, Leon Vanderkindère.

From the ACADEMY.-Jahrbuch der K. K. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, 22 Band, Nos. 1 and 2; Verhandlungen ditto, Nos. 1 to 10, 1872.

From the SOCIETY.-Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, vol. vi, part 1.

From the GOVERNMENT.-Statistics of New Zealand for 1870. From the SOCIETY.-Tijdschrift de la Société des Arts et des Sciences à Batavia, vol. xviii, Nos. 3 and 4; xx, No. 3; Notulen ditto, vol. ix, 1871, and catalogues.

From the AUTHOR. Nonnas Cranioscopicas, 1872, by Philip Phœbus.

From the ACADEMY.-Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Philos-Histor. Classe-68 Band,

Heft 2, 3, and 4; 69 Band, Heft 1-3. Math.-Naturw. 1871, 1 Abtheil, Heft 6-7, 8, 9-10; 11 Abtheil, 11, 6-7, 8, 9-10. From the AUTHOR.-Uber den Bau der Zigeunerschadel, by Isidor Kopernicki.

From Prof. ECKER. -Archiv für Anthropologie, Fünfter Band, 1872. From the SOCIETY.-Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscow, No. 1, 1872.

From the EDITOR.-Medizinische Jahrbücher der k. k. Gesellschaft der Arzte in Wien, 1872, Nos. 2 and 3.

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1871-2.

From the SOCIETY.-Schriften der Königlischen Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, vol. xii, Nos. 1 and 2, vol. xiii, No. 1, 1871-2.

From the SOCIETY.-Mémoires Couronnés par la Société d'Ethnographie, vol. i, parts 1 and 3.

From the GOVERNOR.--Report upon the Population of Barbados, 1851-71, by Governor Rawson, C.B.

From the BOARD.--The Third Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts, 1872.

From the AUTHOR.—The Increase of Human Life, and Immigration into the United States, by Dr. E. Jarvis.

From DR. EDWARD JARVIS. -Handbook for Immigrants to the United States, with map.

From the Author.-Hints and Facts on the Origin, Condition, and Destiny of Man, Sec. Edit. by Rev. Pius Melia, D.D.

From the AUTHOR. -The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, by Charles Darwin, M.A.

From the AUTHOR.-Oriental and Linguistic Studies, by Wm. Dwight Whitney.

FOR THE MUSEUM.

From WALTER BESANT, ESQ., M.A.-Six Photographs of the Hamath Stones.

The following paper was read by the author:

MAN and the APE. By C. STANILAND WAKE, M.A.I. THE primary object of the present paper is to ascertain whether the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Darwin and other writers as to the origin of man-that he has sprung from the ape by simple descent can be depended on, and if not, what is the nature of man's relationship to the animal kingdom.

Without further preface, I shall proceed to consider as briefly as possible the main arguments adduced by Mr. Darwin in support of this conclusion.* Those which are derived from the consideration of physical data appear to me to be of compara

"The Descent of Man," vol. i, p, 10 seq.

tively small importance, since they may be admitted without seriously affecting the question at issue. They are almost all connected with the fact that man is "constructed on the same general type or model with other mammals." Thus it is with the brain, every chief fissure and fold of which is declared to be developed in the brain of the orang equally with that of man. Their constitutional habit, however, appears also to be the same. Thus man and monkeys are liable to many of the same noncontagious diseases; medicines produce the same effect on both; and most mammals exhibit the mysterious law of periodicity in various diseases. These are interesting facts, but the most important for the argument of the ape-descent of man, are those which show the existence in the human body of certain rudimentary organs and structures which are fully developed with some of the lower animals. It is possible, however, to explain this phenomenon without having recourse to the hypothesis of a simple ape-descent; even if it be admitted with M. Broca, that in the parallel between man and the anthropoids, the comparison of organs shows only some slight differences.* This may be granted even as to the brain, and that "the immense superiority of man's intelligence depends, not on the anatomical structure of his brain, but on its volume and power."+ But then, if such be the case, it is all the more difficult to account for the vast difference which, says Broca, a comparison of function reveals, and which led M. Gratiolet to exclaim that, although man is indeed by his structure a monkey, yet by his intelligence he is a God.‡

While admitting that physiological considerations reveal a much wider interval between man and the anthropoid apes than anatomical data require, M. Broca would hardly allow that the former exhibits anything peculiar in his mental action. So also, Mr. Darwin says that man and the higher mammals I have some few instincts in common. All have the same senses, intuitions, and sensations-similar passions, affections, and emotions, even the more complex ones; they feel wonder and curiosity; they possess the same faculties of imitation, attention, memory, imagination, and reason, though in very different degrees." The faculty of articulate speech, moreover, is said not in itself to offer "any insuperable objection to the belief that man has been developed from some lower form;" while the taste for the "beautiful" is shown not to be peculiar to the human mind. The moral sense is supposed by Mr. Darwin to be the most distinctive characteristic of man; but

* "L'Ordre des Primates," p. 173. 1870. + Ibid., p. 168.

§ Op. cit., i, 48.

Ibid., p. 173. || Ibid., p. 63.

even this is asserted to have been developed out of the social instincts which man and many of the lower animals have in common.* Finally, self-consciousness, abstraction, etc., even if peculiar to man, are declared to be "the incidental results of other highly-advanced intellectual faculties"; and these again are mainly due to the continued use of a highly developed language, which originated in "the imitation and modification, aided by signs and gestures, of various natural sounds, the voices of other animals, and man's own instinctive cries."+

If, however, all this be true, how are we to account for the wonderful intellectual superiority of man? Haeckel gives an explanation which, although ingenious, is far from satisfactory. He says that it is owing to the fact that “man combines in himself several prominent peculiarities, which only occur separately among other animals." The most important of these are the superior structure of the larynx, the degree of brain or soul development, and that of the extremities, the upright walk, and lastly speech. But, says Haeckel, "all these prerogatives belong singly to other animals: birds with highly organized larynx and tongue, such as the parrot, etc., can learn to utter articulate sounds as perfectly as man himself. The soul's activity exists among many of the higher animals, particularly with the dog, the elephant, and the horse, in a higher degree of cultivation than with man when most degraded. The hand, as a mechanical instrument, is as highly developed among the anthropoid apes as with the lowest men. Finally, man shares his upright walk with the penguin and other animals, while capacity for locomotion is more fully and more perfectly developed among many animals than with man." Haeckel concludes, therefore, that it is "solely the fortunate combination of a higher organization of several very important organs and functions, which raises most men, but not all, above the animals." This explanation, however, appears rather to increase the difficulty than to remove it. Some of Haeckel's statements might probably be challenged with success; but even admitting their truth, what cause can be given of the marvellous combination in man, of qualities possessed separately by animals, the highest in the class to which they belong?

Mr. Darwin justly remarks, that "the belief that there exists in man some close relation between the size of the brain and the development of the intellectual faculties, is supported by the comparison of the skulls of savage and civilized races of ancient and modern peoples, and by the analogy of the whole vertebrate

* Ibid., p. 70 seq.

Ibid., p. 56.

† Ibid., p. 105.

§ Generelle Morphologie der Organismen, vol. ii, p. 430. 1866.