NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



ON THE 



PROGRESS OF SCIENCE FOR THE YEAR 1862 



No meeting of the American Association for the Promotion of 

 Science took place during the past year, and the old organization 

 of this body may probably be regarded as defunct. 



The thirty-second annual meeting of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science was held at Cambridge, October, 1862, 

 Prof. Willis, of Cambridge, being in the chair. The meeting was 

 less interesting, and far less numerously attended, than most of the 

 former sessions of this body ; and some of the discussions were in a 

 measure acrimonious and personal. The annual address of the Pres- 

 ident, moreover, contained nothing particularly interesting to the 

 general reader. The meeting for 1863 was appointed to be held at 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Sir William Armstrong, of Armstrong gun no- 

 toriety, being elected President for the year. 



A most ludicrous illustration of misapplied and mistaken zeal in 

 the pursuit of science, which occurred at this meeting, is worthy of 

 notice. A Rev. Dr. Mill read a very long paper, displaying extraor- 

 dinary learning in Hebrew, Greek, and almost every language that 

 could be brought in. The subject of it was an inscribed stone, found 

 in Aberdeenshire, a county containing many of what are commonly 

 called Druidical monuments. Dr. Mill read the inscription back- 

 wards, decided that the letters were Phoenician, and explained them 

 by the corresponding letters of the Hebrew alphabet. According to 

 his interpretation, it was a votive monument dedicated to Eshmiin, 

 god of health (the Tyrian Esculapius), in gratitude for favors re- 

 ceived during the " wandering exile of me thy servant," the dedi- 

 icator being " Han-Thanit-Zenaniah, magistrate, who is saturated 

 with sorrow." Dr. Mill very learnedly discussed the question whether 

 Han-Thanit-Zenaniah had suffered from disease or shipwreck, and 

 whether his sorrow had been caused by the loss of companions, or 



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