implements and ornaments, disks, and tubes-pearl, shell, and silver beads, more or less injured by the fire-ornaments cut in mica, ornamental pottery, and numbers of elaborate carvings in stone, mostly forming pipes for smoking. The metallic articles are all formed by hammering, but the execution is very good plates of mica are found cut into scrolls and circles; the pottery, of which very few remains have been found, is far superior to that of any of the Indian tribes, since Dr. Wilson is of opinion that it must have been formed on a wheel, as it is often of uniform thickness throughout (sometimes not more than one sixth of an inch), polished, and ornamented with scrolls and figures of birds and flowers in delicate relief. But the most instructive objects are the sculptured stone pipes, representing not only various easily recognizable animals, but also human heads, so well executed that they appear to be portraits. Among the animals, not only are such native forms as the panther, bear, otter, wolf, beaver, raccoon, heron, crow, turtle, frog, rattlesnake, and many others well represented, but also the manatee, which perhaps then ascended the Mississippi as it now does the Amazon, and the toucan, which could hardly have been obtained nearer than Mexico. The sculptured heads. are especially remarkable, because they present to us the features of an intellectual and civilized people. The nose in some is perfectly straight, and neither prominent nor dilated; the mouth is small, and the lips thin; the chin and upper lip are short, contrasting with the ponderous jaw of the modern Indian, while the cheek-bones present no marked prominence. Other examples have the nose somewhat projecting at the apex in a manner quite unlike the features of any American indigenes; and although there are some which show a much coarser face, it is very difficult to see in any of them that close resemblance to the Indian type which these sculptures have been said to exhibit. The few authentic crania from the mounds present corresponding features, being far more symmetrical and better developed in the frontal region than those of any American tribes, although somewhat resembling them in the occipital outline*; while one was described by its discoverer (Mr. W. Marshall Anderson) as a "beautiful skull worthy of a Greek."

The antiquity of this remarkable race may perhaps not be very great as compared with the prehistoric man of Europe, although the opinions of some writers on the subject seem affected by that "parsimony of time on which the late Sir Charles Lyell so often dilated. The mounds are all overgrown with dense forest, and one of the large trees was estimated to be eight hundred years old, while other observers consider the forest growth to indicate an age of at least 1000 years. But it is well known that it requires several generations of trees to pass away before the growth on a deserted clearing comes to correspond with that of the surrounding virgin forest, while this forest, once established, may go on growing for an unknown number of thousands of years. The 800 or 1000 years estimate from the growth of existing vegetation is a minimum which has no bearing whatever on the actual age of these mounds; and we might almost as well attempt to determine the time of the glacial epoch from the age of the pines or oaks which now grow on the moraines.

The important thing for us, however, is that when North America was first settled by Europeans, the Indian tribes inhabiting it had no knowledge or tradition of any preceding race of higher civilization than themselves. Yet we find that such a race existed; that they must have been populous and have lived under some established government; while there are signs that they practised agriculture largely, as, indeed, they must have done to have supported a population capable of executing such gigantic works in such vast profusion; for it is stated that the mounds and earthworks of various kinds in the state of Ohio alone amount to between eleven and twelve thousand. In their habits, customs, religion, and arts they differed strikingly from all the Indian tribes; while their love of art and of geometric forms, and their capacity for executing the latter upon so gigantic a scale, render it probable that they were a really civilized people, although the form their civilization took may have been very different from that of later people subject to very different influences, and the inheritors of a longer series of ancestral

*Wilson's Prehistoric Man, 3rd ed. vol. ii. pp. 123-130.

civilizations. We have here, at all events, a striking example of the transition, over an extensive country, from comparative civilization to comparative barbarism, the former left to tradition and having hardly any trace of influence on the latter. As Mr. Mott well remarks:-Nothing can be more striking than the fact that Easter Island and North America both gave the same testimony as to the origin of the savage life found in them, although in all circumstances and surroundings the two cases are so different. If no stone monuments had been constructed in Easter Island, or mounds, containing a few relics saved from fire, in the United States, we might never have suspected the existence of these ancient peoples. He argues, therefore, that it is very easy for the records of an ancient nation's life entirely to perish or to be hidden from observation. Even the arts of Nineveh and Babylon were unknown only a generation ago, and we have only just discovered the facts about the mound-builders of North America.

But other parts of the American continent exhibit parallel phenomena. Recent investigations show that in Mexico, Central America, and Peru the existing race of Indians has been preceded by a distinct and more civilized race. This is proved by the sculptures of the ruined cities of Central America, by the more ancient terra-cottas and paintings of Mexico, and by the oldest portrait-pottery of Peru. All alike show markedly non-Indian features, while they often closely resemble modern European types. Ancient crania, too, have been found in all these countries, presenting very different characters from those of any of the modern indigenous races of America *.

There is one other striking example of a higher being succeeded by a lower degree of knowledge, which is in danger of being forgotten because it has been made the foundation of theories which seem wild and fantastic, and are probably in great part erroneous. I allude to the Great Pyramid of Egypt, whose form, dimensions, structure, and uses have recently been the subject of elaborate works by Prof. Piazzi Smyth. Now the admitted facts about this pyramid are so interesting and so apposite to the subject we are considering, that I beg to recall them to your attention. Most of you are aware that this pyramid has been carefully explored and measured by successive Egyptologists, and that the dimensions have lately become capable of more accurate determination, owing to the discovery of some of the original casing-stones and the clearing away of the earth from the corners of the foundation showing the sockets in which the corner-stones fitted. Prof. Smyth devoted many months of work with the best instruments in order to fix the dimensions and angles of all accessible parts of the structure; and he has carefully determined these by a comparison of his own and all previous measures, the best of which agree pretty closely with each other. The results arrived at

are:

1. That the pyramid is truly square, the sides being equal and the angles right angles.

2. That the four sockets on which the four first stones of the corners rested are truly on the same level.

3. That the direction of the sides are accurately to the four cardinal points. 4. That the vertical height of the pyramid bears the same proportion to its circumference at the base, as the radius of a circle does to its circumference.

Now all these measures, angles, and levels are accurate, not as an ordinary surveyor or builder could make them, but to such a degree as requires the very best modern instruments and all the refinements of geodetical science to discover any error at all. In addition to this we have the wonderful perfection of the workmanship in the interior of the pyramid, the passages and chambers being lined with huge blocks of stones fitted with the utmost accuracy, while every part of the building exhibits the highest structural science.

In all these respects this largest pyramid surpasses every other in Egypt. Yet it is universally admitted to be the oldest, and also the oldest historical building

in the world.

Now these admitted facts about the Great Pyramid are surely remarkable, and worthy of the deepest consideration. They are facts which, in the pregnant

1876.

* Wilson's 'Prehistoric Man,' 3rd ed. vol. ii. pp. 125, 144.

12

words of the late Sir John Herschel, "according to received theories ought not to happen," and which, he tells us, should therefore be kept ever present to our minds, since "they belong to the class of facts which serve as the clue to new discoveries.' According to modern theories, the higher civilization is ever a growth and an outcome from a preceding lower state; and it is inferred that this progress is visible to us throughout all history and in all the material records of human intellect. But here we have a building which marks the very dawn of history, which is the oldest authentic monument of man's genius and skill, and which, instead of being far inferior, is very much superior to all which followed it. Great men are the products of their age and country, and the designer and constructors of this wonderful monument could never have arisen among an unintellectual and half-barbarous people. So perfect a work implies many preceding less perfect works which have disappeared. It marks the culminating point of an ancient civilization, of the early stages of which we have no record whatever.

The three cases to which I have now adverted (and there are many others) seem to require for their satisfactory interpretation a somewhat different view of human progress from that which is now generally accepted. Taken in connexion with the great intellectual power of the ancient Greeks-which Mr. Galton believes to have been far above that of the average of any modern nation-and the elevation, at once intellectual and moral, displayed in the writings of Confucius, Zoroaster, and in the Vedas, they point to the conclusion that, while in material progress there has been a tolerably steady advance, man's intellectual and moral development reached almost its highest level in a very remote past. The lower, the more animal, but often the more energetic types have, however, always been far the more numerous; hence such established societies as have here and there arisen under the guidance of higher minds have always been liable to be swept away by the incursions of barbarians. Thus in almost every part of the globe there may have been a long succession of partial civilizations, each in turn succeeded by a period of barbarism; and this view seems supported by the occurrence of degraded types of skull along with such " as might have belonged to a philosopher," at a time when the mammoth and the reindeer inhabited southern France.

Nor need we fear that there is not time enough for the rise and decay of so many successive civilizations as this view would imply; for the opinion is now gaining ground among geologists that paleolithic man was really preglacial, and that the great gap (marked alike by a change of physical conditions and of animal life) which in Europe always separates him from his neolithic successor, was caused by the coming on and passing away of the great ice age.

If the views now advanced are correct, many, perhaps most, of our existing savages are the successors of higher races; and their arts, often showing a wonderful similarity in distant continents, may have been derived from a common source among more civilized peoples.

I must now conclude this very imperfect sketch of a few of the offshoots from the great tree of Biological study. It will, perhaps, be thought by some that my remarks have tended to the depreciation of our science, by hinting at imperfections in our knowledge and errors in our theories where more enthusiastic students see nothing but established truths. But I trust that I may have conveyed to many of my hearers a different impression. I have endeavoured to show that, even in what are usually considered the more trivial and superficial characters presented by natural objects, a whole field of new inquiry is opened up to us by the study of distribution and local conditions. And as regards mian, I have endeavoured to fix your attention on a class of facts which indicate that the course of his development has been far less direct and simple than has hitherto been supposed; and that, instead of resembling a single tide with its advancing and receding ripples, it must rather be compared to the progress from neap to spring tides, both the rise and the depression being comparatively greater as the waters of true civilization slowly advance towards the highest level they can reach.

And if we are thus led to believe that our present knowledge of nature is somewhat less complete than we have been accustomed to consider it, this is only what we might expect; for however great may have been the intellectual triumphs of the nineteenth century, we can hardly think so highly of its achievements as to

imagine that, in somewhat less than twenty years, we have passed from complete ignorance to almost perfect knowledge on two such vast and complex subjects as the origin of species and the antiquity of man.

BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY.

Address to the Department of Botany and Zoology. By ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.Z.S., &c., Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, Vice-President.

Any one in the position of chairman of this Department must feel that his difficulty lies in choosing rather than in seeking a subject whereon to address an audience like that which is before me. This difficulty arises from the astounding abundance of interesting topics which are presented by the studies of Botany and Zoology—or of the latter alone, I may say, since it would ill become me to attempt the treatment of any which belong to the sister science. But it is of course incumbent upon me to touch upon the chief events of the past year which affect this Department; and it seems possible that in so doing we may find some considerations naturally proceeding from them to be worthy of your notice during the short time that I shall presume to occupy your attention, and also to present enough general interest to justify my enlarging upon the themes which they inspire.

These chief events appear to me to be two in number. It is my first and pleasing duty to congratulate the naturalists here assembled on the successful termination of that expedition in which we have all taken so great an interest, as during its progress tidings of it have reached us from one distant land after another, and especially (as your mouth-piece) heartily to welcome home all now present who were on board the good ship' Challenger in her circumnavigation of the globe. I would that your spokesman on this occasion had been one who was better able to appreciate their labours and enter into details as to the value of their discoveries and researches. Unfortunately I am under the great disadvantage of being so imperfectly acquainted with the mysteries of the ocean, that it is only possible for me to speak in the most general terms of what has been done. I feel sure, however, that, so far as the great secrets of the sea can yet be interpreted and revealed by men, they will be by those who have happily returned to us, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson and his colleagues. There is one of their company we know they have not brought back; and it is fitting for us to lower the tone of our exultation while we remember the name of Von Willemöes-Suhm. With this single sad exception there is, however, nothing, so far as I know, to occasion regret; and the various memoirs that have been already published by members of the Expedition give a foretaste of what we may expect when the whole of its results are made known. I am informed that the rich collections made during the voyage are at present lodged in the University of Edinburgh, and are in process of revision and rough arrangement under the superintendence of the Director of the Scientific Staff of the late Expedition. They include the products of dredging or trawling and surface-collecting at about 350 stations, and at depths varying from 100 to 4500 fathoms, and consist of a prodigious number of specimens belonging to most of the groups of marine Invertebrata, especially of Sponges and Echinoderms, which preponderate at the greatest depths. It is, I believe, intended to obtain the assistance of special experts in working out the different groups; and I am sure this meeting will hear with pleasure that the Hydrozoa are to be intrusted to Professor Allman, and the Polyzoa to Mr. Busk. It is understood that Her Majesty's Treasury will charge itself with the cost of publishing the treatises of these and the other eminent naturalists to be employed; and thus it is hoped that a series of volumes will be produced worthy of the magnitude of the subject, and fit for the first rank among the works of zoologists in this or any other country. I need scarcely add that the wishes of all here will be for the due carrying-out of this grand scheme;

and, remembering how often similar ambitious undertakings by our scientific men in combination with our Government have been baulked by untoward circumstances, we cannot but express the sincere hope that former failures will serve as useful warnings to ensure future success. I regret extremely my inability to say more on this subject.

I trust you will not think me to underrate the importance of the safe and prosperous return of the Challenger' from her voyage, when, though naming it first, I ascribe to it the second place in the events of the past year as regards the progress of zoological investigation. Other scientific expeditions have before now left these shores and the shores of other countries, and have more or less fully attained their purpose, while other expeditions will doubtless in due time be organized and carried out with, we trust, like happy results. The voyage of the 'Challenger,' though a highly important and, in many respects, a novel one, is notwithstanding only a unit in a long series which began a century ago, and has been continued at intervals to our own day; nay, more, since the sailing of the 'Challenger' we have witnessed the departure of another and larger expedition for the accomplishment of a still more arduous undertaking. But what I have now to speak of is a matter that will, if I am not mistaken, in after ages characterize the present year as an epoch in the history of our sciences inferior only in importance to that which marked some eighteen or nineteen years ago the promulgation of a reasonable Theory of Evolution by Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace. And while it is to the latter of these two naturalists that we owe the boon that has recently been conferred on us, it is unquestionably from the former labours of both-united yet distinct--that the boon acquires its greatest value. Without those far higher, far wider views which the Theory of Evolution enables us to take, the serried array of facts that bristle throughout the two volumes of the 'Geographical Distribution of Animals* which Mr. Wallace has just published would have been but a comparatively meaningless aggregation of statements-the evidence no doubt of labour almost unsurpassed, the accumulation of much that is curious and of much that is suggestive, but, taken all in all, as serving to an unintelligible or insignificant end, if to any end whatever that was not misleading.

As the case is, the result is very different. But I would ask you now, Without the aid afforded by the Doctrine of Descent, would it have been possible to draw, as Mr. Wallace has so skilfully drawn, those legitimate conclusions from a consideration of the animal life of Java (vol. i. pp. 352, 353), or to arrive at those marvellous results with respect to the past history of Borneo (vol. i. pp. 358, 359), or even to indulge in those daring speculations with regard to the origin of the Celebesian fauna (vol. i. pp. 436-438)? I cite these instances because they are taken from that part of the world on which the author's labours have before shed so much light, and with which his name is imperishably associated; but there is hardly any one of his summaries that does not place before us material for reflection as astounding.

While, however, assigning to the Theory of Evolution the chief glory in giving a real and lasting value to the interpretation of the facts of Animal Distribution, I must not omit acknowledging the share which Physical Geography has contributed to that end, especially by its marine surveys, which furnish the zoologist with data as to the depths of seas and oceans, and thereby enable him to judge as to the former extent of land. It is therefore to be expected that voyages like that of the Challenger,' when their results have been fully worked out, will still further add to our knowledge in this respect. Again, too, Geology (but this follows almost as a matter of course) has in its own line played an equal part. I would that Botany could be mentioned in this connexion; but here it seems as if the eldest of the biological sciences were not, as she usually is, in advance of the rest; and Mr. Wallace's suggestion (vol. ii. p. 162), that Zoology furnishes a key wherewith many of the difliculties besetting the study of the Distribution of Plants may be unlocked, will doubtless meet with due attention from botanists.

*The Geographical Distribution of Animals, with a study of the relations of living and extinct Faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's Surface. By Alfred Russel Wallace, Author of The Malay Archipelago,' &c. 8vo, two vols. London: 1876.