396 British Association. 



and there Lave been already no less tban 1,100 of tbem dug out 

 of the mud filling one cave. 



In the cave of Brixham, in Devonshire in and another near 

 Palermo in Sicily, flint implements were observed by Dr. Falconer, 

 associated in such a manner with the bones of extinct mammalia, as 

 to lead him to infer that Man must have co-existed with several 

 lost species of quadrupeds ; and M. de Vibraye has also this spring 

 called attention to analogous conclusions, at which he has arrived 

 by studying the position of a human jaw with teeth, accompanied 

 by the remains of a mammoth, under the stalagmite of the Grotto 

 d'Arcis, near Troyes, in France. 



Microscopy. 



But I cannot takeleave of this department of knowledge without 

 likewise alluding to the progress made in scrutinizing the animal 

 and vegetable structure by mean sof the microscope — more parti- 

 cularly the intimate organization of the brain, spinal cord, and or- 

 gans of the senses ; also to the extension, through the means of vr ell- 

 directed experiment, of our knowledge of the functions of the ner- 

 vous system, the course followed by sensorical impressions and 

 motorial excitement in the spinal cord, and the influence exerted 

 by or through the nervous centres on the movements of the heart, 

 blood-vessels and viscera, and on the activity of the secreting or- 

 gans ; — subjects of inquiry, which, it may be observed, are closely 

 related to the question of the organic mechanism whereby our 

 . corporeal frame is influenced by various mental conditions. 



Conclusion. 



I may perhaps be permitted to express the hope that the examples 

 I have given of some of the researches and discoveries which occupy 

 the attention of the cultivators of science may have tended to illus- 

 trate the sublime nature, engrossing interest and paramount 

 utility of such pursuits, from which the beneficial influence in pro- 

 moting the intellectual progress and the happiness and well-being 

 of mankind may well be inferred. But let us assume that to any 

 of the classical writers of antiquity sacred or profane, a sudden re- 

 velation had been made of all the wonders involved in Creation 

 accessible to man ; that to them had been disclosed not only what 

 we now know, but what we are to know hereafter, in some future 

 age of improved knowledge ; would they not have delighted to 

 celebrate the marvels of the Creator's power ? They would have 



