Ss Trrt~“‘iOCC 
18 CHELTENHAM COLLEGE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 
THE» GEOLOGICAL, SECTION. 
President - - - - Mr. HICHENSs. 
Secretary - - - - A. H. Parker. 
N FEBRUARY 13, 1891, Mr. Hichens delivered to the 
Geological Section a lecture on “How long has 
man lived on the earth?” ‘Tracing his way back- 
wards, the lecturer dismissed with a word the last four 
thousand years. In 4450 B.c. one comes to the famous Prisse 
papyrus, the most ancient papyrus known. [The nature of a papyrus 
was explained.] The Priss papyrus is interesting as showing how 
little human nature has changed during the long lapse of years—in 
it the writer “ laments the good old days that have passed away ! ” 
To 4500 B.c. belongs the oldest writing in the world—Hiero- 
glyphic inscription (diagram) from a tomb erected by Sent, King of 
Egypt, during the Second Dynasty, to the memory of Sherd. The 
slab of limestone which constitutes the inscription is, at present, in 
the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. On it is represented a feast. 
The apparent incongruity of the representation of a feast in a tomb, 
was explained as due to the old belief that after death a man took 
pleasure in and required those things which he had enjoyed during 
life, and it was shown how this belief still lingers in certain places. 
In Brittany, on All Souls’ Day, the peasants bank up the fire, and 
leave the fragments of the supper on the table for the dead of the 
family, who, they believe, will visit their home that night. In India, 
‘some years ago, a British officer, to whom the natives had become 
much attached, died, and it was discovered that for long afterwards 
his friends were accustomed to bring and lay on his tomb the two 
things of which he was most fond during life—namely, cheroots and 
brandy! The same belief survives in funeral rites, In German 
villages shoes are put on the feet of the corpse for his dread journey to 
the next world, and a needle and thread are added for him to mend 
his clothes with. Similarly at an Irish wake a piece of money is put 
