844 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the association, were many of the 

 foremost scientific workers in this 

 country. Among these may be men- 

 tioned Profs. Morse, Newcomb, Eem- 

 sen, Hadley, Putnam, and Chamber- 

 lia. A few associate members came 

 from foreign countries. The Cana- 

 dians contributed their quota of men 

 of distinction, and altogether the 

 gathering partook to a pleasing ex- 

 tent of an international character. 



As usual, on such occasions, lib- 

 eral provision of time was made for 

 social hospitalities and semiscientific 

 excursions; but the ser-ious business 

 of the association was well kept in 

 view. The inaugural address of the 

 incoming president, Sir John Evans, 

 consisted of a plea for the recogni- 

 tion of archaeology as entitled to a 

 place among the sciences. He had 

 no difficulty in showing tbe aid 

 which the archfeologist is able at 

 times to render to the geologist, and 

 also the assistance it affords toward 

 a scientific treatment of history. His 

 account of the evidence accumulated 

 within the last thirty or forty years 

 as to the antiquity of the human race 

 was clear and succinct. He did not 

 consider the existence of man in Mio- 

 cene times proved, but he spoke of 

 the "almost incredible length of 

 time " occupied by the Palaeolithic 

 period. " We may not know,"' he 

 said, " the exact geological period 

 when palaeolithic man first settled 

 in Britain ; but we have good evi- 

 dence that he occupied it at a time 

 when the configuration of the sur- 

 face was entirely different from what 

 it is at present; when the river val- 

 leys had not been cut down to any- 

 thing like their existing depth ; and 

 when the fauna of the country was 

 of a totally different character from 

 that of the present day." The time 

 covered by that period was sufficient, 

 he stated, to permit of " the erosion 

 of valleys, miles in width, to a depth 

 of from one hundred to one hundred 



and fifty feet. . . . When we take 

 into consideration," he added, "the 

 almost inconceivable ages that, even 

 under the most favorable conditions, 

 the excavation of wide and deep val- 

 leys by river action implies, the re- 

 moteness of the date at which the 

 Palaeolithic period had its beginning 

 almost transcends our powers of im- 

 agination." Sir John Evans speaks 

 with the authority of a man deeply 

 versed in geology as well as in archae- 

 ology, and it is safe to assume that 

 he speaks within bounds. 



Among the Presidential Addresses 

 to the Sections were several that were 

 weighty and valuable. Prof. Mi- 

 chael Foster i-evievved most insti'uct- 

 ively the progress of physiological 

 science in the dozen years that had 

 elapsed since the association had last 

 met in Canada. He sounded a not 

 unneeded note of warning against 

 allowing commercial considerations 

 to predominate in questions of re- 

 search. " There is an increasing 

 risk," he declared, " of men under- 

 taking a research not because a ques- 

 tion is crying out to them to be an- 

 swered, but in the hope that the 

 publication of their results may win 

 for them a lucrative post." A great- 

 er evil still, he considered, was the 

 locking up of scientific discoveries 

 for the private enrichment of the 

 men who had made them. Another 

 observation of general value was to 

 the effect that scientific controversy 

 is never wholly valueless, since " the 

 tribunal to which the combatants of 

 both sides appeal is sure to give a 

 true judgment in the end." The 

 great progress, he stated, that had 

 been made in the study of the condi- 

 tions and aspects of life in the higher 

 animal forms had rendered much 

 more hopeful the study of life in its 

 lowest and most generalized forms; 

 so that there is good reason to antici- 

 pate that " in the immediately near 

 future a notable advance will be 



