cultivation is the presence among the ancient capsules of numerous seed-vessels of a species of mustard which is still the commonest and most flourishing weed in every flax field in Egypt. The pods of mustard are almost spherical in shape with a long point, and are seated on pedicels a little less than half the length of the whole pod. Judging from the shape describe, the pods must belong to one of the two varieties, common in Egypt, of Sinapis arvensis, Linn., namely, S. Allionii, Jacq., and S. turgida, Del., for the common form of this species is distinguished by elongated pods. As the two varieties named can only be distinguished from each other with certainty by the degree of cutting of the leaves, it would be difficult to decide to which of the two the pods of the twelfth dynasty belong were it not for the circumstance that as S. Allionii, Jacq. (characterised by the long-pointed muchdivided leaves), is the prevailing form at the present time in Middle Egypt, a probability offers itself that the ancient pods belong to this form. On the other hand Sinapis arvensis, Linn., var. turgida, Linn., affects the winter cornfields.

It may be assumed that this species of wild or colonised mustard answers to the Sinapis to which Pliny refers (lib. xix. 54 [8]), as a plant commonly met with under such conditions, and of which he asserts that the Egyptian was the best for yielding oil, and that the Athenians called it Napy, others Thapsi, and others again Saurion.

Lentils, as far as I know, have not hitherto been authenticated from the ancient graves. Pliny (lib. xviii. 31) mentions them as a product of Egypt, where two

kinds of them were cultivated. The lentils of the twelfth

dynasty appear in consequence of boiling and subsequent shrivelling to have lost a considerable part of their bulk. They are 3 mm. in diameter, while the recent ones average 43.

From Ceruana pratensis, a characteristic composita of the banks of the Nile, which has hitherto only been found in Nubia and Egypt, the ancients made those hard hand brooms, still met with in every part of Egypt, and used for sweeping out the houses and especially the privies; for which purposes they are offered for sale in all the markets. The Egyptian department of the British Museum contains a similar specimen.

Furthermore, the two pine cones (Pinus Pinea) noted belong to a species not previously known from the ancient Egyptian relics. Like Parmelia furfuracea and the juniper berries (Juniperus phoeniceus), they point to the commercial relations that existed between Egypt and Greece, Asia Minor and Syria. The pine cones which were found in a large basket filled with numerous kinds of fine linen thread, fruits of the Doum palm and a small calabash of Lagenaria, are small and unripe, the scales clinging close together. It is evident that only such of these rare northern exotic fruits as were unsuitable for the table were put in the offerings.

1

Among objects not previously authenticated from ancient Egypt are the legumes Faba vulgaris and Cajanus indicus. Unger suggests that the broad bean (Faba) was probably not found in the tombs because it was regarded as unclean.2 The two seeds in question were found amongst dried grape-skins and matters of that kind. In shape and relative size they fully correspond to the variety cultivated on a large scale in Egypt at the present day. They are smaller, rounder, and thicker than the European broad bean.3 The dimensions of the ancient beans are 10, 8, and 6 mm.

Pliny (lib. xviii. 12 [30]) says of the broad bean that it was used in funeral solemnities; hence the priests ate none, &c. Perhaps the presence of the broad bean in the offerings of the twelfth dynasty had a meaning similar to that which it had for the Romans.

Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akademie der Wiss., Wien., 1859, Band

xxxix.

2 Compare Herodotus," ii. p. 37.

3 The author most likely alludes to the variety called "field" or "horsebean in this country.-W. B. H.

Among the funeral offerings of the ancient Egyptians often occur messes of a pap of roughly cut or coarsely ground grain of barley. They are in small earthen bowls, placed on the floor of the vault like the other offerings. In Prof. Maspero's opinion these messes of barley, which are in no way suitable for human nourishment, answer to the Mola (Mola salsa) offerings of the Romans of earlier epochs; and I would hazard an explanation of the presence of the broad beans in the offerings of the twelfth dynasty as an example of a possible analogy between ancient Rome and ancient Egypt. For, supposing the correctness of Herodotus's account that the ancient Egyptians regarded the broad bean as unclean, that they ate it in no shape or form, and that their priests could not bear the sight of it, some explanation for its presence must be found. The single seed of Cajanus indicus found with the broad beans in no way differs from the Upper Egyptian variety with yellow flowers. The plant, which is cultivated and wild all over India, as well as in all parts of tropical Africa, is nowhere cultivated in Egypt, though it occurs here and there in a wild state in Upper Egypt. It is certainly one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world, a fact further attested by its discovery in the ancient tombs. G. SCHWEINFURTH

METAMORPHISM AMONG DEVONIAN ROCKS THE tract of Devonian rocks which stretches through the north of France and Belgium, and across Rhenish Prussia into Westphalia and Nassau, has furnished ample materials for geological disquisition. Among the problems which it presents to the observer, not the least important is the remarkable metamorphism of certain bands or areas of its component strata. Dumont first called attention to this feature in the Belgian Ardennes. It was subsequently shown by Lossen to be extensively developed in the Taunus. More recently the question has been attacked anew with all the appliances of modern petrography. M. Renard has subjected some of Dumont's original localities to a critical revision, which has resulted in a confirmation of the accuracy of that remarkable geologist's observations. The latest contribution to the literature of the subject is a paper (Annales Soc. Géol. du Nord, vol. x. p. 194) by Prof. Gosselet, who at first refused to admit the metamorphism contended for by Dumont and corroborated by M. Renard, but who now comes forward with independent evidence in its support, from another locality. He describes the arkose of Haybes and of Franc-Bois de Villerzies on the frontier of Belgium as having undergone such a metamorphism as to be no longer recognisable. M. Barrois reports that on examining microscopically some sections of the altered rocks, he found among them bi-pyramidal crystals of quartz with liquid inclusions and movable bubbles, as in the quartz of pegmatite. These crystals have been broken in situ, with conchoidal fractures, and the surrounding paste appears as if injected into them. This paste is composed of small irregular quartz-grains like those of schists, and is coloured by fibrous chlorite, so arranged as to impart a more or less schist-like structure. The chlorite, arising from alteration of biotite, is predominant in some specimens, while the quartz-grains preponderate in others. Barrois compares this altered arkose with some porphyroids and some granitic veins in Brittany recently studied by him. Prof. Gosselet shows that these crystalline intercalations are portions of the true Devonian strata, and he accounts for their highly altered condition by what he terms a metamorphism by friction. A portion of the Devonian rocks has slipped down between two faults and has undergone great lateral pressure, and has in consequence been heated sufficiently that metamorphism has been determined in it. The extent of change has been proportionate to the degree of pressure. The metamor

M.

As the barometer was closely watched for some time before and after 10 p.m., and no change was observed, the reading 27'451 inches may be regarded as absolutely the lowest that occurred. Since the wind veered during the storm from S. E. by S. W. to N.W., the centre of the storm passed to the northward, and along its path still lower readings were doubtless recorded.

The following observations have been already received, showing in inches the lowest observel readings and the hour when they occurred :-Moffat, 27662 at 10'15 p.m.; Marchmont, near Duns, 27:581 at 11 p.m.; Inverness, 27516 at 110 p.m.; Fort William, 27 467 at 8 p.m.; Joppa, near Edinburgh, 27 464, Leith, 27 453, and Edinburgh, 27'451, at 10 p.m.; Glasgow, 27'427 at 9 p.m.; Dundee, 27 382 at 10:30 p.m.; Ochtertyre, near Crieff, 27 332 at 9'45 p.m. ; and 27 400 is stated to have occurred at Aberdeen. With the observations made at the 160 stations of the Scottish Meteorological Society, it will, in a few days, be easy to trace the history of this extraordinary atmospheric depression in its passage across the island.

At Ben Nevis Observatory, the lowest reading of the barometer on Saturday, 23 173 inches, occurred at 8.30p.m.; at noon, temperature was 15°, and at 10 p.m. 22°; at 7 p.m. the wind was S.E. force 8, and at 10p m., N.E. force 4.

In the sixty years preceding 1827, during which Mr. James Hoy made barometric observations, the lowest reading was 28.007 inches; during the last 43 years observations have been made at Culloden, and the lowest reading, observed by the late Mr. Arthur Forbes, was 27.984 inches at 11a.m. on December 27, 1852. During the interval between these two long continued series of observations, Mr. George Innes, optician, made observations at Aberdeen; and on the occasion of the memorable storm of January 7, 1839, recorded an observation on that morning of 27695 inches. On the same morning, at 9 o'clock, the lighthouses on the east of Scotland, which were near the centre of the storm at the time showed readings varying from 27.806 inches in the Firth of Forth, to 27.716 inches near Peterhead.

As these three series of observations extend over the last 120 years, it is evident that over at least the east of Scotland, from Inverness to the Tweed, atmospheric pressure fell on the evening of Saturday the 26th from a third to half an inch lower than has occurred during that extended period.

NOTES

WE are glad to be able to announce that Prof. Flower has been definitely appointed by the Trustees to the position of Superintendent of the Natural History Department of the British Museum, vacated by the recent resignation of Sir Richard Owen.

THE German Emperor, at the instance of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, has been pleased to make Prof. Sir William Thomson a Knight of the Order Pour le Mérite for Science and Art.

ACCORDING to an announcement made by Prof. E. Stefan at the last meeting of the Vienna Physical Society, Prof. S. von Wroblewski, of Krakow, has succeeded in solidifying hydrogen. IT is reported that Prof. Wilhelm Klinkerfues, the well-known astronomer, shot himself on Monday in the Observatory at Göttingen.

WE are glad to see that the fishermen of Scotland have at last realised the necessity of a thorough scientific investigation into the habits of fish. At a meeting at Peterhead the other day the Solicitor-General for Scotland was requested to help the fishermen to obtain Government aid for the prosecution of such research; the country, it was admitted, is behind all others "in scientific information on fish." The Solicitor-General, Mr. Asher, admitted the lamentable deficiency of our knowledge of the habits of food fishes, and promised to do all he could to obtain a grant for the Committee of the Fisheries Board, who are now

endeavouring, with the slender means at their command, to investigate the subject. "Prof. Ewart and his colleagues,” Mr. Asher stated, "had entered upon an investigation which, if duly prosecuted, could not fail to be productive of immense results and advantages in connection with all kinds of fisheries."

AT the end of March the Austrian botanist, Mr. Joseph Knapp, Conservator des Herbariums des Allgemeinen Oesterreichischen Apothekervereines of Vienna, will go to Northern Persia (Azerbijan), with a scientific expedition for exploring the flora and fauna of that little-known province.

DURING February Prof. W. K. Parker will give a series of lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons on Mammalian Descent, as follows:-February 4th, Introductory; 6th, On Monotremes; 8th, On Marsupials; 11th, On Edentata; 13th, On Insectivora; 15th, Insectivora (continued); 18th, Insectivora (concluded); 20th, On the remaining Orders of Mammalia ; 22nd, On Man (conclusion).

IN connection with the opening of the Turin Exhibition, the Italian Government offers a prize of 400l. to the inventor of the most practicable method for the transmission of electricity to a distance. The competition will be international.

WITHIN a few days the exhibition of the Talisman collection will be opened at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, with diagrams exhibiting the circumstances of the operations, and the instruments which were used.

THE Asiatic Society of Bengal celebrated its centenary on Tuesday last week. The proceedings began with a special meeting, the Hon. H. Reynolds, the President of the Society, being in the chair. Six gentlemen, namely, Dr. Joule, Prof. Haeckel, Mr. Charles Meldrum, Prof. Sayce, M. E. Senart, and Prof. Monier Williams, were elected honorary members.

by Mr. J. W. Firth; four Harvest Mice (Mus minutus), British, presented by Mr. G. T. Rope; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) from Australia, presented by Mr. George Wood; a Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor), British, presented by Master Arthur Blyth; two American Flying Squirrels (Sciuropterus volucella) from North America, presented by Mr. F. S. Mosely, F.Z.S.; a Cape Adder (Vipera atropus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. C. B. Pillans; a Black Tanager (Tachyphonus melaleucus), a White-throated Finch (Spermophila albigularis), a Tropical Seed Finch (Oryzoborus torridus), a Common Boa (Boa constrictor), a South African Rat Snake (Spilotes variabilis) from South America, a Cheela Eagle (Spilornis cheela) from Ceylon, two Illiger's Macaws (Ara maracana) from Brazil, a Common Guillemot (Lomvia troile), British, purchased; two Brown-tailed Gerbilles (Gerbillus erythrurus), born in the Gardens.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES

THE first report of Prof. Hull, dated from Gaza, January 1, has been received. It is necessarily brief, the details being reserved for the full report to follow, but it announces the success of the expedition so far. The professor has made a complete geological survey of the Wady Arabah and the Dead Sea, with a traverse across Southern Palestine. Capt. Kitchener, R. E., who accompanied him, has made a trigonometrical survey. Akabah he found to be laid down too far south; the south part of the Dead Sea as shown on the maps, is quite out of its true shape and position, and the Lisan has to be shifted three miles. From Gaza, when the rest of the party were in quarantine, Capt. Kitchener rode back to Egypt, accompanied by four Arabs only. He took a previously unknown route, particulars as to which will follow, and arrived at Ismailia after a ride of 200 miles. He was everywhere well received by the Arabs, who took him for a cousin of Sheikh Abdullah (the late Prof. Palmer), whose memory is still revered among them, and whose murder they still deplore. They are also reported to be deeply impressed with the energy and pertinacity of Sir Charles Warren's pursuit of the murderers. regards the other members of Prof. Hull's party, Mr. Hart is reported to have made large additions to the flora; Mr. Lawrence has kept a continuous series of meteorological observations, and Mr. Gordon Hull has obtained a hundred photographs, large and small. Prof. Hull had still to execute two traverses of the country, in which he is no doubt at present engaged. The complete reports, both of himself and Capt. Kitchener, will be extremely important. They will probably be published in the journal of the Society.

As

WE have received the ninth issue of the Geographisches Jahrbuch. In the present volume, the reports which appeared in the first six publications on the additions successively made to our knowledge of extra-European parts of the earth are resumed; the new African annexations to geography being dis posed of by Prof. K. Zöppritz, the Asiatic by Dr. Hans Lullies, and the Polar by Herr W. Wichmann. Two important departments in geography find for the first time distinct places assigned them in the present number; geographical onomatology and theoretic cartography. The former has indeed but very recently been recognised as the independent and important province of geography it really is. The first and as yet only comprehensive scientific work on the subject is that by its reviewer in the present Jahrbuch, Prof. J. J. Egli, "Versuch einer Allgemeinen Geographischen Onomatologie" (Leipzig, 1870-72), essay towards a general geographical onomatology. The name of a place is either immediately descriptive of its physical features ("nature-names," as Prof. Egli calls this class) or descriptive of some historical or other connection between the place and its earlier or later inhabitants or discoverers ("culturenames"), in either and every case is significant and interesting and an organic part of its geography.-Prof. Sigismund Günther, in his masterly review of theoretic cartography, first gives a brief yet clear and comprehensive "history of the development of geometrical cartography," taking notice more particularly of modern works on the subject, and then estimates recent works on projection.-Prof. von Oppolzer, reporting the progress made in European measurement of degrees, summarises the transactions

of the sixth General Conference held on the subject at Munich, September 13-16, 1880. He calls special attention to the results deduced by von Bauernfeind from taking the measurement of the zenith simultaneously at Dobra and Kappellenburg, in which the same anomalies came to light as those pointed out years before by von Bayer. These anomalies are entirely parallel with tho e which appear in taking barometrical measurements of heights, and von Bauernfeind attributes them to the circumstance that the

registered temperatures at given places form no correct criterion of the temperatures of the intermediate air-strata, the temperatures at the given places being to a certain extent determined by purely local influences. These conclusions are confirmed by Oppolzer's studies in astronomical refraction, in which analo gous anomalies are to be explained by the fact that the universal law of diminution of temperature with ascent is modified in the lowest air-strata by local causes. In clear nights, e.g., the temperature in the lowest atmospheric strata invariably rises with ascent up to a certain moderate height. During the day, on the other hand, in corresponding conditions, temperature diminishes with ascent at a rate considerably above the average. These facts afford Oppolzer a very simple explanation of hitherto puzzling phenomena.-In the review of geographical meteorology by Prof. J. Hann is presented a great treasure of data as to rainfall, nebulosity, atmospheric pressures, winds, &c.-In a map by Remon of the nebulosities of different parts of Europe and North Africa, the extremes are given at 20° in the Algerian Sahara, and 68° in the north-west of Europe. Cloudiness in general diminishes southwards and eastwards, as compared with the centre of Europe.-Space allows only of the bare mention of the review of the geography of plants by Prof. Drude; of animals, by Prof. Schmarda; of ethnology, by Prof. Gerland; of deep-sea exploration, by Prof. von Boguslawski; of the structure of the earth's surface, by Prof. von Fritsch; and of the method of geography, by Prof. Wagner.

WE understand that the expedition with which Mr. Wilfrid Powell has undertaken to explore New Guinea will leave this country about the beginning of March. It will consist of Mr. Powell, with four or five Europeans, including a naturalist and a geologist, and the work of traversing the thousand or twelve hundred miles which have been mapped out for the route is likely to occupy over a year. Mr. Powell has chartered a small screw steamer, in which the party will proceed up the Ambernoli river, a large stream in Dutch territory, on the north coast. The explorers will proceed up this river in a steam launch as far as they can get. The launch will then return to the steamer, and the party will strike in a south-westerly direction across the high central range of mountains which runs from east to west, called the Snow Mountains, or the Finisterre Mountains. When this difficult task has been accomplished, Mr. Powell will march to the east coast, where he will hope to find his screw steamer in Astrolabe Bay. After refitting, he will again strike westwards, Mr. Powell will thus explore the country from north to south, across the south-east corner of the island, to Port Moresby. avoiding the Fly River, or any other portion which has been visited by Europeans.

THE St. Petersburger Zeitung has received news from Khartoum about Dr. Junker. Herr Bohndorf, Dr. Junker's companion, has arrived at Khartoum, and reports that Junker is still in the Niam Niam country, and that his researches are favourably progressing.

THE last is ue of the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences contains a letter of M. Bunge, the medical officer of the Lena polar meteorological station. The country around the station is but little fitted for collecting. It is a flat region, periodically covered by the tide, and there may be no question about sea-flora or sea-fauna to be found in the creeks that intersect the ground. The ice bear sometimes makes his appearance, as also the wolf, the fox, especially Canis lagopus, of which the neighbouring Yakuts catch about 300 every year; the Mustela hermina is not very rare. The Yakuts do not know lemmings, but one species at least, the Myodes torquatus, inhabits the delta. The reindeer come in large flocks in the summer, returning to the forest region in the autumn. They are killed when passing the streams, shooting being prohibited by the Yakut community. One gocerus montanus has been perceived, from a great distance, within the delta. Walruses, sometimes seals, and dolphins also enter the mouth of the Lena. to the birds, M. Bunge gives a list of 101 species he has observed or shot during his journey. The water invertebrata are

As

very poorly represented in the Lena. As M. Bunge gives great attention to the collecting of skulls of animals, his collection promises to be of great value, as also his collection of human skulls taken from the coffins that dot the tundrathe Yakuts merely putting them on the surface between a few rough planks. It is worthy of notice that, whilst having many opportunities for visiting the sick Yakuts in the neighbourhood, M. Bunge has not yet noticed a single case of scurvy; it is quite un <nown among them.

WE have received a separate copy from the forthcoming number of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society of a notice of the remarkable Russian expeditions to the Pamir, carried on during list summer. It is sufficient to cast a glance at the map that accompanies this note to ascertain that "the Roof of the World" has now been quite deprived of the veil of mystery that covered it for centuries past. Many years since Russian travellers penetrated into it, and studied detached portions as they followed the course of the rivers which led to these gigantic plateaux, inclosed between still higher mountains. Pursuing his researches for several consecutive years, Dr. Regel and his companions have explored the valleys of the Panj and of its numerous tributaries, penetrating as far south as Sist (37° N. lat.) and as far east as the sources of Shakh-dere, 72° 50' E. long. An immense bend to the west of the Panj River beneath Kala-vamar, due to the presence of a high chain of mountains running north east, and a wide lake, Shiva, 11,000 feet high, situated to the west of this bend, discovered by Dr. Regel, considerably modify our former maps of the western part of the Pamir region. But the expedition of last summer, which consisted of MM. Putiata, of the general staff, Ivanoff, geologist, and Bendersky, topographer, throws quite a new light on the still less known eastern Pamir. The expedition has literally covered with a network of surveys the whole of this region from 39° 30′ N. lat. to the sources of the Vakhan-daria, in 37° 10′, and from 72° 10' to 75° 20' E. long., penetrating thus twice to the foot of the Mustag-aga, or Tagarma Peak. The great Pamir chain, between the Shakh-dere and the Upper Panj has been crossed at four places, 100 miles distant, and the Russian surveys have been brought into connection with those of the pundit

M. S. The expedition seems to have established that the pundit M. S. was misled, and that the Ak-su is really the upper part of the Murghab. The other results of this expedition are also very important: not only a map on the scale of five vers's to an inch of the whole of this wide region has been drawn, but also the heights of a very great number of points have been determined by barometrical and trigonometrical measurements; large geological and botanical collections have been brought in, as well as many drawing, and a dictionary of the Shugnan language. Detailed reports will follow, the foregoing information being due to a preliminary letter of M. Ivanoff.

A TELEGRAM from Nerchinsk, in Siberia, states that M. Joseph Martin, the French traveller, passed through that place recently on his way to Irkutsk. M. Martin bas (says a Keuter's telegram) explored the country from the Lena to the Amur, and has crossed the intervening Stanovi Mountain range He has collected a large amount of geographical and geological information concerning the region which he has traversed.

MR. SCHUVER, the Dutch African explorer, has been murdered at Bahr Gazal, in South Kordofan.

ACCORDING to the latest number of the Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie the greatest depth of the Atlantic is 8341 metres; this was found in 19° 39' 10" N. lat., and 60° 26' 5" W. long. The next greatest depression of the sea bottom is in 19° 23′ 30′′ N. lat., and 66° 11′ 45" W. long., where 7723 metres were found.

THE AIMS AND PROSPECTS OF THE STUDY OF ANTHROPOLOGY1

THOSE who are present at this meeting need scarcely be reminded of the importance of the subject which is our common bord of union, that which is defined in the prospectus of the Institute as "the promotion of the science of mankind

Address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, January 22, 1884. by Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., P.Z. S., &c., President.

by the accumulation of observations bearing on man's past history and present state in all parts of the globe."

But those present are a very small fraction indeed of the persons in this country to whom this great subject is, or should be in some one or other of its various divisions, a matter of deep interest, and as it is possible that the words which it is my privilege and duty as your president to address to you on this occasion may be read by some who are not yet so much conversant with the aims of anthropology and the means for its cultivation which this Institute affords as those who have taken the trouble to come here this evening, I hɔpe that you will pardon me if I bring before you some general considerations, perhaps familiar advancement of which we have at heart. to all of you, regarding the scope and value of the science the

One of the great difficulties with regard to making anthropology a special subject of study, and devoting a special organisation to its promotion, is the multifarious nature of the This branches of knowledge comprehended under the title. very ambition, which endeavours to include such an extensive range of knowledge, ramifying in all directions, illustrating and receiving light from so many other sciences, appears often to overleap itself and give a looseness and indefiniteness to the aims of the individual or the institution proposing to cultivate it. The old term ethnology has a far more limited and definite It is the study of the different peoples or races who meaning. compose the varied population of the world, including their physical characters, their intellectual and moral development, their languages, social customs, opinions, and beliefs, their origin, history, migrations, and present geographical distribution, and their relations to each other. These subjects may be treated of under two aspects-first, by a consideration of the general laws by which the modifications in all these characters are determined and regulated; this is called general ethnology: secondly, by the study and description of the races themselves, as distinguished from each other by the special manifestations of these characters in them. To this the term special ethnology, or, more often, ethnography, is applied.

Ethnology thus treats of the resemblances and differences of other, but anthropology, as now understood, has a far wider the modifications of the human species in their relations to each scope. It treats of mankind as a whole. It investigates his origin and his relations to the rest of the universe. It invokes the aid of the sciences of zoology, comparative anatomy, and physiology; and the wider the range of knowledge met with in other regions of natural structure, and the more abundant the in attempting to estimate the distinctions and resemblances beterms of comparison known, the less risk there will be of error tween man and his nearest allies, and fixing his place in the zoological scale. Here we are drawn into contact with an immense domain of knowledge, including a study of all the laws which modify the conditions under which organic bodies are manifested, which at first sight seem to have little bearing upon the particular study of man.

Furthermore, it is not only into man's bodily structure and its relations to that of the lower animals that we have to deal; the moral and intellectual side of his nature finds its rudiments in them also, and the difficult study of comparative psychology, now attracting much attention, is an important factor in any complete system of anthropology.

In endeavouring to investigate the origin of mankind as a whole, geology must lend its assistance to determine the comparative ages of the strata in which the evidences of his exist ence are found; but researches into his early history soon trench upon totally different branches of knowledge. In tracing the progress of the race from its most primitive condition, the characteristics of its physical structure and relations with the lower animals are soon left behind, and it is upon evidence of a kind peculiar to the human species, and by which man is so pre-eminently distinguished from all other living beings, that our conclusions mainly rest. The study of the works of our earliest known forefathers, "prehistoric archæology," as it is commonly called, although one of the most recently developed branches of knowledge, is now almost a science by itself, and one which is receiving a great amount of attention in all parts of the civilised world. It investigates the origin of all human culture, endeavours to trace to their common beginning the sources of all our arts, customs, and history. The difficulty is what to include and where to stop; as, though the term "prehistoric" may roughly indicate an artificial line between the province of the anthropologist and that which more legitimately belongs to the archæolo