PROCEEDINGS OP PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 31] 



the plants there growing and the insects there abounding. Already 

 have the details connected with this branch of inquiry communicated 

 most important truths to all communities ; as that life and death 

 mainly depend on the prosperity of the circumstances which sur- 

 round us ; that the mortality of any given country, or town, or hos- 

 pital, is regulated by the poverty or wealth, the knowledge or igno- 

 rance, the misfortune or success, that there exert their influences on 

 the minds of the inhabitants ; in short that all the circumstances 

 which tend to shorten life are such as tend to make it miserable." 



After making some remarks on the proper objects of archaeology, 

 and their close connection with the natural history of man, Dr. 

 Conolly concluded his lecture by an appeal to the younger part of 

 his audience, quoting numerous instances of the pursuit of Natural 

 History under difficulties, and of the mental calmness and dignity 

 resulting from an habitual study of the perfect works of the Crea- 

 tor ; and after alluding to the activity of the present age, both in 

 the cause of science and of charity, concluded with these words :— 

 " Amidst these institutions for bettering the condition and improv- 

 ing the faculties of mankind, we may always reflect with pleasue 

 upon those of which the object, as of your society, is to unfold the 

 wonders of the earth, to display the beauty of the vegetable world, 

 to exhibit the various forms of animal life and enjoyment, to inves- 

 tigate the properties and influences of the air, and to develope the 

 causes of diseases and suffering, of misfortune, crime, and prema- 

 ture mortality, in order that they may be avoided, and the happi- 

 ness of all rational creatures increased. All these seem, in every 

 way, the proper object of man's contemplation; the views they en- 

 courage blend with those higher views which are directed towards 

 another and more glorious world, wherein all that is beautiful in 

 sense and affection, all that is great in intellect, may yet be found, 

 but amplified and raised — where virtue will be enlarged, and where 

 sorrow and pain will have no place — and, lastly, where the soul, 

 purified and freed, may yet be occupied in the contemplation of the 

 endless works of God, and find in that contemplation new motives 

 for obedience, for thankfulness, and for praise." 



YORK PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



This institution has recently received a magnificent present from 

 one of its members, George L. Fox, Esq., of some of the bones of 

 the Irish Elk : it wants the bones of the hind legs, except one fe- 

 mur ; but it has been mounted in its present state, and it is hoped 

 that the hind legs will be procured at some future time. It is the 

 largest specimen hitherto found, and was dug up on Mr. Fox's 

 estate in Ireland. Some of the members of the Society have pro- 

 posed furnishing it with artificial legs ; but we beg to enter our de- 

 cided protest against marring so splendid a specimen of the work of 

 God, by any admixture of human architecture. 



