were many such-Mr. Wallace, who had an equal claim with Mr. Darwin in the origination of the theory of evolution, had made an express exception in the case of man. For the creation of man, as he was, postulated the necessity of the intervention of an external Will. He commended Mr. Wallace's essay to their special attention. Among other arguments, he observed that the lowest types of savages were in possession of a brain and of capacities far beyond any use to which they could apply them in their present condition, and therefore they could not have been evolved from the mere necessities of their environments. Prolepsis, anticipation, he might add, involves intentions and will. For his own part, he would carry Mr. Wallace's remark upon savages much further, and apply it to ourselves. We, too, possessed powers and capacities immeasurably beyond the necessities of any merely transitory life. There stirred within us yearnings irrepressible, longings unutterable, a curiosity unsatisfied and insatiable by aught we saw. These appetites, passions, and affections came to us, not as Socrates and Plato supposed, nor as our great poet sung, from the dim recollection of some former state of our being, still less from the delusive inheritance of our progenitors; they were the indications of something within us, akin to something immeasurably beyond us; tokens of something attainable, yet not hitherto attained; signs of a potential fellowship with spirits nobler and more glorious than our own; they were the title deeds of our presumptive heirship to some brighter world than any that had yet been formed. But our knowledge of these atomic forces, so far as it at present extends, did not leave us in serious doubt as to their origin; for there was a very strong presumptive evidence, drawn from the results of the most modern scientific investigation, that they were neither eternal nor the products of evolution. No philosopher of recent times was better acquainted than Sir J. Herschel with the interior mechanism of nature. From his contemplation of the remarkably constant, definite, and restricted, yet various and powerful interactions of these elementary molecules, he was forced to the conviction that they possessed "all the characteristics of manufactured articles." The expression was memorable, accurate, and graphic; it might become one of the everlasting possessions of mankind. Professor Maxwell, a man whose mind had been trained by the mental discipline of the same noble university, arrived at the same conclusion ; but as his knowledge exceeded that of Herschel on this point, so he went further in the same direction of thought. "No theory of evolution," he says, "can be formed to account for the similarity of the molecules throughout all time, and throughout the whole region of the stellar universe; for evolution necessarily implies continuous change, and the molecule is incapable of growth or decay, of generation or destruction." "None of the processes of Nature, since the time when Nature began, have produced the slightest difference in the properties of any molecule. On the other hand, the exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent. We have reached the utmost limit of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that because matter cannot be eternal and self-existent it must have been created." "These molecules," he added, "continue this day as they were created, perfect in number, and measure, and weight; and from the ineffaceable characters impressed on them we may learn that those aspirations after truth in statement and justice in action, which we reckon among our noblest attributes as men, are ours because they are the essential constituents of the image of Him who in the beginning created not only the heaven and the earth, but the materials of which heaven and earth consist." That is the true

outcome of the deepest, the most exact, and the most recent science of our age. A grander utterance has not come from the mind of a philosopher since the days when Newton concluded his "Principia" by his immortal scholium on the majestic personality of the Creator and Lord of the universe.

:

Of actual scientific discoveries during the past year, the British Association assembled at Belfast had no important announcement to make. But during 1874 two events took place, in the department of Astronomy, which were of the highest interest. These were, the appearance of "Coggia's Comet" in April— July and the Transit of the planet Venus across the sun's disc on December 9. The comet that appeared in 1874 was first seen in telescopes of Marseilles Observatory, by M. Coggia, on April 17. It seemed then a mere cloudy speck, scarcely perceptible upon the midnight sky. By the middle of June it came within the range of unassisted vision, veering towards the constellation of the Cameleopard, and in aspect much like one of the faintest of those stars. By the end of the first week in July it was a bright object, with a brilliant tail, one third of the way up above the northern horizon. Its great peculiarity was the appearance of two wing-like envelopes on each side of the central bright envelope. Eight days afterwards, "it had plunged into the solar blaze, leaving only its tail streaming up into sight towards the stars of the Great Bear; and was hastening on towards its vanishing point in the southern constellation of the Chameleon, where it was to disappear from human observation, some time in the month of September. As the comet made this

brilliant descent through the twilight of the summer sky, it moved with everincreasing impetuosity towards its final plunge into the glare of the horizon. In twenty days from June 25 it drifted through twenty-five degrees of the sky, and in the next ten days it accomplished an arc of fifty degrees; that is, a span of the heavens as wide again. On one clear night in the middle of July it was blazing bright and high in the north-western twilight. Then a few cloudy nights followed, and held the comet concealed in their screens of mist, and when these clouds were withdrawn from the sky, it was gone. At the time it thus dropped through the portals of the horizon, it was about 30,000,000 miles from the earth, and in round numbers about as far again from the sun that is, it was one-third of the way on towards the sun when it turned its back upon the earth. The comet swept down from north to south almost along the line of a meridian, curving out the convexity of its sweep to the earth." The invention of the spectroscope since Donati's comet of 1858 gave great advantages to observation on the present occasion. Mr. Lockyer used it with the "large aperture of Mr. Newall's telescope, and he found that the notion that some of the rays of the comet are sent either from solid particles, or from vapour in a state of very high condensation, is amply confirmed; and also that there is no less clear evidence that other portions of the comet's light issue from the vapour shining by its own inherent right. The light coming from the more dense constituents, and therefore giving a continuous coloured spectrum, was, however, deficient in blue rays, and was most probably emitted by material substance at the low, red and yellowish, stages of incandescence. In describing his spectroscopic examination Mr. Lockyer says: The luminous fan also gave a continuous spectrum but little inferior in brilliancy to that of the nucleus itself: while over this, and even from the dark space behind the nucleus, were distinguishable the spectrum of bands, indicating the presence of rare vapour of some kind; while the continuous spectrum of the nucleus and fan might be referred to the presence of either denser vapour or of solid particles ? '

extremity of Western Asia, began digging two or three hours after his arrival at Mosul, opposite which town, on the other bank of the Tigris, girdled by a wall eight miles or so in circumference, Nineveh once was. After referring to some of the fragments of historical tablets discovered in the palace of Sennacherib, Mr. Smith said he was confirmed in his first suggestion that Izdubar is the same as the Nimrod of the Bible. He believed that the passage about Nimrod in Genesis is historical, and is to be understood in its natural sense. The hero whom he provisionally named Izdubar corresponds in period, character, and exploits with Nimrod; and when we found the phonetic reading of his name he believed this identity would be proved. The stories of Izdu bar correspond also with some ancient traditions respecting Nimrod, and from the form of prayer to him he appeared to have been deified after his death. Mr. Smith also found his name on a second tablet, which is part of a series on witchcraft; he is there supposed to watch over the country. The opening paragraph of the legends of Izdubar states that his exploits took place after the drying up of the water, probably referring to the flood; it reads, "When the drying up of the waters, they saw," and so on. Mr. Smith urged that further work ought to be done :-1. The great library in the palace of Sennacherib ought to be completely excavated and all its treasures recovered. He calculated that there must be 20,000 fragments of cuneiform tablets still buried there, and it would require three years' work and the expenditure of 5,000l. to complete the excavation. 2. The centre and eastern portion of the mound of Kouyunjik requires to be further investigated. The relics here are of an earlier age than those from the palaces of Sennacherib and Assur-bani-pal, and will throw light on the more ancient period of Assyrian history. 3. There should be as complete an examination as possible of the mound of Nebbi Yunus. 4. The ruins of the wall and body of the city should be investigated. 5. Examination should be made round the wall for Assyrian tombs, particularly for royal tombs, as with reference to them we are at present totally ignorant of Assyrian customs. There are numerous other sites in the country which would repay excavation.

ᏢᎪᎡᎢ II

CHRONICLE

OF REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES

IN 1874.

JANUARY.

1. DEATH BY DROWNING. The well-known oarsman, James Lally, was drowned at two o'clock this morning, whilst attempting to swim across the river Blyth, twelve miles north of Newcastleon-Tyne. He will be chiefly remembered as having beaten Sadler at the Tyne Regatta of 1872, but he had at one time been regarded by many as the coming champion.

EXPLOSION AT FAVERSHAM.-An explosion took place at the works recently erected at Oare, near Faversham, for the manufacture of Punshon's patent controllable cotton gunpowder. The accident occurred in the graining-house. The only person in the building at the time was a man named Hickford, who was very seriously injured. The building itself was demolished, and the granulating machine shattered to atoms. A remarkable circumstance, and one which shows the great strength of this new explosive, is the fact that there was no more than five pounds of gun-cotton in the machine when it exploded.

6. ASSAULT ON THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE.-Soon after one o'clock this afternoon, as the Duke was walking in Pall Mall, he was accosted by a retired half-pay officer, Captain Maunsell, of the 82nd Foot, with the words "Your Royal Highness has done me a grievous wrong." Before he could answer, Captain Maunsell stepped back, ran at the Duke and hit him as hard as he could on the chest with his clenched fist twice. He was immediately taken into custody, and on being brought before the magistrate, read a statement, in which he detailed the events of his military career, and the injustice with which he considered himself to have been treated with regard to promotion. He had written several letters

A

to the Commander-in-Chief, asserting his claims, but meeting with no redress, he had committed this assault for the express purpose of being arrested, and thus gaining an opportunity to make his case known. "It is needless for me to say," he added, "that I had no malice towards the Commander-in-Chief, and in my last letter to His Royal Highness this feeling is expressed. I plead for no mitigated sentence. I ask only that it may not be believed that any malicious feeling prompted the act for which I stand here. No man in England would hurt the Duke of Cambridge. I myself would cheerfully shed my blood for any member of the Royal Family, and this has long been my feeling. I cannot recall the past; I can only say that I am deeply sorry for what has happened." The captain was sentenced to one month's imprisonment without

hard labour.

- DEATH FROM THE BITE OF A RAT.-As an elderly gentleman named Samuel Rowe was superintending the removal of some hay from a stack on his premises, near Barnstaple, a rat ran out and was laid hold of by him. The animal turned and bit him. Mortification ensued, and in a few hours Mr. Rowe died. He was a rather nervous man, but was otherwise quite healthy. It was considered unnecessary to hold an inquest.

7. FALL OF A TUNNEL.-The tunnel between Merthyr and Abernant Stations, on the Vale of Neath section of the Great Western Railway, fell in during last night as a goods train was passing through, almost burying the engine. The driver and stoker, by jumping off, fortunately avoided injury. For some years past it has been known that coal-workings were approaching very near the tunnel, and fears have frequently been expressed of a catastrophe. The colliers working in their stalls could hear all the trains passing over their heads, and the men in the tunnel could hear the colliers picking at the coal-headings underneath their feet.

8. A TERRIBLE BOILER EXPLOSION took place this afternoon at the Atlas Ironworks, Bolton, belonging to Mr. Alderman Thomas Walmsley, resulting in the deaths of five persons and serious injuries to about twenty others. Nothing is known as to the cause of the catastrophe. The boiler, which was encased in brickwork nine inches in thickness, burst with a report which was heard over the entire town, and caused the utmost consternation. One half of the roof of the shed was lifted bodily into the air, when it fell with a tremendous crash, carrying with it the pipes connecting the whole of the boilers with the machinery, as well as several of the supporting columns, iron girders, beams, &c. One pair of furnaces, the shears, and mortar mill, were completely demolished, while a good deal of injury was done to other parts of the machinery. A gap of some eight or ten yards wide was made in the boundary wall, and bricks and slates were hurled in clouds over and beyond the works. The top end of the boiler, weighing about thirty hundredweight, was carried over the shed a distance of about a hundred