40 



The Rev. Dr. Hume exhibited some Rehcs from an okl 

 Roman road near Warrington ; also some Wooden Weapons, 

 Paddles, &c., from New Zealand; likewise two Cloaks made 

 of Opossum Skins. 



Mr. Yates, brought for the inspection of the Society, four 

 parchment rolls, dated 30th March, 1744, signed and certified 

 by the acting Justices for the division of Prescot, county of 

 Lancaster, and containing the returns made by order of the 

 Privy Council respecting Papists and Non- Jurors. The de- 

 signs of the Pretender at that period had induced the govern- 

 ment to keep a watchful eye upon those parts of the kingdom 

 in which the Roman Catholics were most numerous. In the 

 division of Prescot, about six hundred and twenty reported 

 Papists were accordingly summoned by the Justices to appear 

 and take the oaths of abjuration, supremacy, and allegiance, to- 

 gether with the declaration against transubstantiation. This 

 was complied with by Jive persons only — all the rest having 

 neglected or refused. In these documents the names and re- 

 sidences of all the parties are given. 



Mr. Balman exhibited a Possil of the genus Sigillaria, 

 from the coal measures of Denbighshire. 



The paper for the evening, of which the following is a 

 short abstract, was entitled, 



PHILOSOPHY OP GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES, 

 By the Rev. A. Hume, D.C.L., LL.D. 



The organs of speech are the same in all men; and the same 

 general laws have influenced language, in all ages and in every 

 country. There is also a similarity in the circumstances of all 

 people who visit a new country, either as wanderers or as set- 

 tlers; and the principles of human nature, so far as they con- 

 cern the present subject, are permanent. It is not surprising 

 therefore, that we find the names of places given everywhere, 

 and in all ages, according to a fixed system ; on the contrary 



