80 



The parts at present completed include the North and South 

 Atlantic. The results are condensed into small compass by 

 circles of 5° radius. These show storms, calms, winds, and 

 their direction. The charts have been prepared from the logs 

 of 1500 vessels and 500 whalers. 



Mr. Edward Higgin exhibited some carefully modelled 

 clay figures, representing in form, colour, dress, and figure, 

 the grand divisional castes of Bengal. A Brahmin, a Krethryo 

 or warrior, and a Sadra. The figure of the first represented 

 a priest, a Koslin Brahmin — the most sacred and holy of all. 

 The colour is yellow tawny, not much deeper than that of a 

 well-tanned seaman. The second was dressed as a Durwan 

 or gatekeeper, armed with shield, sword, etc., of a deeper and 

 browner tint, and the third of a dull reddish black represented a 

 Coolie or labourer — a class sunk almost to the level of the brute 

 creation. Mr. Higgin was of opinion that the shades of colour 

 depended in a great measure on greater or less exposure to the 

 sun. He had seen Brahmins of high rank in Calcutta, almost 

 as fair as Walians or Spaniards. The Americans and Jews 

 who have been long settled in India, retained their European 

 complexions by keeping themselves little exposed to the sun. 



Mr. Samuel Huggins then read a paper On the Nature and 

 Influence of the Beautiful, of which the following is a resume. 



In the introduction he said that the useful, meaning thereby 

 what was generally understood by the word, should not be the 

 sole object of our study ; that we must cultivate the whole 

 range of our faculties, which had relation to the full circle of 

 intellectual pursuit, — literature, art, and science. He re- 

 marked that the Beautiful was a want, a ^^ higher necessity^' of 

 our nature, and that the external world was created in har- 

 mony with our entire constitution : most natural objects 

 answered both an aesthetic and physical purpose ; were charac- 

 terized by grace and elegance as w^ell as by practical utility. 

 Fountains, lakes, and rivers, as Addison had observed, were 



