45 



Excellency havo an exceedingly interesting value of thoir own, but lie 

 could not accept them in tlie sense which had been souglit to be put upon 

 them. As to the paper which had been read subsequently, he had pleasure 

 in seconding the vote of thanks for the gratification Father Woods had 

 aflbrded him personally, the obligation he had again placed upon the 

 Society, and the benefit conferred upon science. The prefatory remarks 

 had also a valuable educational character, and he should rejoice if these 

 remarks had the effect of introducing more largely the study of natural 

 science in the curriculum of popular education. It was not the acquisition 

 of shells that made the naturalist, or a cabinet of fossils the geologist ; 

 but the study of natural objects as a branch of Education developed first th« 

 observing faculties, then the classifying and then the inductive and 

 reasoning facultiea. The paper was an exceedingly interesting one, and 

 he had much pleasure in adding his testimony to its value. 



The vote having been put by the chair, was carried by acclamation. 



Mr. KuLE observed that the immense age of the flint implements of 

 Europe was shown by the conditions in which they existed in the caves 

 ■where they were found. They were covered by stalagmitio deposits of 

 many feet in thickness, and other matters, and mixed up with the bones 

 of extinct animals of pre-historic times. It was these surroundings which 

 gave a guarantee as to the enormous antiquity of the implements. 



lIis Excellency said that he had not understood that the Rev. Julian 

 "Woods meant to adduce the facts he had alluded to as proofs of a theory, 

 but as instances of how a pre-conceived theory might unconsciously 

 influence conclusions — for himself, in the few unpremeditated remarks he 

 had made, his object had been simply to illustrate the desirability that 

 collectors of facts should be very careful, in their statement of facts, not to 

 allow their judgment to be influenced by pre-conceived opinions, or to 

 jump too readily at conclusions from a partial view. He remembered 

 talking in England to a late well-known naturalist, a gentleman respected 

 not only for his personal efforts in the cause of science, and for his 

 attainments and knowledge, but also for the honest zeal which he threw 

 into whatever interested him — part of his creed was that cannibalism was 

 only the result of want of animal food and hunger — never deliberate and 

 systematic. Being appealed to as a resident of New Zealand he ( the President) 

 was obliged with much humility to express a contrary opinion, and to 

 instance cases in which slave girls had been slain for feasts or the 

 bodies of enemies killed in battle had been eaten, it being, moraover, 

 supposed that the heart of a chief imparted his courage to the child who 

 feasted on it — having eaten a former possessor was, moreover, a valid title 

 to land — and it also appeared to him, for several reasons, that the " Kai 

 Tapu," sacred food, was in some degree connected with an obsolete 

 idea of sacrifice. These reasons, however, had no effect whatsoever, upon 

 the gentleman to whom they were addressed. It was, vulgarly speaking, 

 a case of so much the worse for the facts. He (the President) could 

 only excuse this digression on the ground that he wished to point out the 

 advantages of bringing calm criticism and a dispassionate mind to bear 

 upon the registration and discussion of facts, and of viewing both sides of 

 every question. 



Mr JfbTiN' BuowNE, in proposing a vote of thanks to the donors of pre- 

 sentations, referred especially to the donation of books from Sir Robert 

 Officer. He hoped the remarks made by the Secretary might induce 

 some of our town or countrj' members, or others, to consider if they 

 could not do something towards our library. Some might contribute 

 in money, which would be the preferable mode, but other might have 

 recent works which they could spare, or recent editions of old works 

 which we already possess. 



The vote having been agreed to, the meeting terminated. 



