422 Mr. W. Odling [Feb. 14, 



hyaena, so that a vast gulf of time separates him from the Borreby men. 

 The skull was shown, however, by all its measurements, to be nearly 

 as well developed as that of an average European. 



The Neanderthal skull, whose age is not exactly known, on the 

 contrary, is the lowest and most ape-like in its characters of any 

 human skull yet discovered, though it presents certain points of resem- 

 blance to the Borreby skulls. 



Great as are the differences between the Engis, the Borreby, and 

 the Neanderthal skulls, the speaker stated that it would not be justi- 

 fiable to assign them even to distinct races of men ; for by a careful 

 examination of the crania of one of the purest of living races of men, 

 — the Australian, — it is possible to discover skulls which differ from 

 one another in similar characters, though not quite to the same extent, 

 as the ancient ones. 



Thus it appears that the oldest known races of men differed com- 

 paratively but little in cranial conformation from those savage races 

 now living, whom they seem to have resembled most in habits ; and it 

 may be concluded tliat these most ancient races at present known were 

 at least as remote from the original stock of the human species as they 

 are from us. 



[T. H. H.] 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, February 14, 1862. 



Rev. John Barlow, M.A. F.R.S. Vice-President, in the Chair. 



William Odling, M.B. F.R.S. 



SEC. CHEM. SOC. 



On Mr. GrdharnbS Researches on Dialysis. 



Vial Diffusion. — When an open vial, filled with a solution of some 

 salt or other substance, is introduced into a jar of water, a portion of 

 the dissolved salt passes gradually from the vial into the external 

 water. This portion is known as the diffusate. The diffusates yielded 

 by different substances under precisely the same circumstances vary 

 greatly. Thus, common salt yields double the amount of diffusate that 

 Epsom salt yields, while Epsom salt diffuses twice as rapidly as gum- 

 arabic. Every substance has its own definite rate of diffusibility in the 

 same liquid medium, dependent upon the nature of the medium,— 



