10 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



It was voted to hold the next meeting of the Association at Glas- 

 go~w, Scotland, the Duke of Argyle being elected President for the 

 ensuing year, and Col. Sabine Secretary. 



The whole number of papers presented at this meeting was 280. 

 Of these, 58 were upon subjects connected with mathematical and 

 physical science, 43 upon chemical science ; 34 treated of geology, 

 41 of zoology and botany, including physiology, 35 of geography and 

 ethnology, 24 of statistics, and 44 of subjects in relation to mathe-- 

 matical science. 



The meeting of the Association was closed with a grand dinner, 

 given by the Earl of Harrowby, the President, to the members and 

 friends of the Association. Sir R. Murchison discharged the duties 

 of chairman, and nearly 800 ladies and gentlemen were present. The 

 dinner was succeeded by a brilliant soiree at the Town Hall, given 

 by the Mayor to the members of the Association and the elite of 

 Liverpool and the neighborhood. 



The thirty-first meeting of the Society of German Naturalists and 

 Physicians was held at Gb'ttingen, September 18, under the Presi- 

 dency of Prof. Baum. The meeting was well attended, most of the 

 distinguished scientific men of Germany being present. After the 

 formal opening of the session, and a few remarks by the President, 

 Prof. Wagner, (Hofrath,) of Gb'ttingen, read, according to usual 

 practice, a scientific address. The subject he had chosen was " On 

 certain Portions and Modes of Considerations of Anthropology." 

 A better title, he observed, would perhaps have been, " On the Crea- 

 tion of Man and the Substance of the Soul." The main objects of 

 his address were, 1st, the praise of Blumenbach; and 2d, a polemical 

 attack on the anthropological views of a modern author whom he did 

 not name, but who is supposed to be Carl Vogt, whose doctrines he 

 denounced as immoral and derogatory of human nature. After ex- 

 plaining Blumenbach's doctrine of the five races, which showed no 

 greater differences than the local and geographical varieties of the 

 same species in many of our domestic animals, and which had ben 

 confirmed by modern science, he stated that these views were still 

 further strengthened by the result of recent linguistic investigations. 

 Then comes the question, Are all men of one race, and are all de- 

 scended from one pair ? Notwithstanding partial assertions to the 

 contrary, the result of his scientific investigations had convinced him 

 that no argument could be drawn from the study of the natural 

 history part of the question against the existence of only one species ; 

 and, moreover, although it was difficult to adduce any direct proof 

 for or against the descent from one single pair, he was equally con- 

 vinced that there was no argument against such a view. He then 



