412 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 7, 1876 



very dawn of history — which is the oldest authentic monument of 

 man's genius and skill, and which, instead of being far inferior, 

 is very much superior to all which followed it. Great men are 

 the products of their age and country, and the designer and 

 constructors of this wonderful monument could never have arisen 

 among an unintellectual and half-barbarous people. So perfect 

 a work implies many preceding less perfect works which have 

 disappeared. It marks the culminating point of an ancient 

 civilisation, of the early stages of which we have no record 

 whatever. 



The three cases to which I have now adverted (and there are 

 many others) seem to require for their satisfactory interpretation 

 a somewhat different view of human progress from that which is 

 now generally accepted. Taken in connection with the great 

 intellectual power of the ancient Greeks — which Mr, Gallon 

 believes to have been far above that of the average of any modern 

 nation — and the elevation, at once intellectual and moral, dis- 

 played in the writings of Confucius, Zoroaster, and the Vedas, 

 they point to the conclusion, that, while in material progress 

 there has been a tolerably steady advance, man's intellectual and 

 moral development reached almost its highest level. in a very 

 remote past. The lower, the more animal, but often the more 

 energetic types, have however always been far the more nume- 

 rous ; hence such established societies as have here and there 

 arisen under the guidance of higher minds, have always been 

 liable to be swept away by the incursions of barbarians. Thus 

 in almost every part of the globe there may have been a long 

 succession of partial civilisation, each in turn succeeded by a 

 period of barbarism ; and this view seems supported by the 

 occurrence of degraded types of skull along with such " as might 

 have belonged to a philosopher " — at a time when the mammoth 

 and the reindeer inhabited southern France. 



Nor need we fear that there is not time enough for the rise and 

 decay of so many successive civilisations as this view would 

 imply ; for the opinion is now gaining ground among geologists 

 that palseolithic man was really preglacial, and that the great 

 gap — marked alike by a change of physical conditions, and of 

 animal life — which in Europe always separates him from his 

 neolithic successor, was caused by the coming on and passing 

 away of the great ice age. 



If the views now advanced are correct, many, perhaps most, of 

 our existing savages, are the successors of higher races ; and 

 their arts, often showing a wonderful similarity in distant con- 

 tinents, may have been derived from a common source among 

 nwre civilised peoples. 



I must now conclude this very imperfect sketch of a few of 

 the offshoots from the great tree of Biological study. It will, 

 perhaps, be thought by some that my remarks have tended 

 to the depreciation of our science, by hinting at impcrfec.ions 

 in our knowledge and errors in our theories, where more enthu- 

 siastic students see nothing but established truths. But I trust 

 that I may have conveyed to many of my hearers a different im- 

 pression. I have endeavoured to show that even in what are 

 usually considered the more trivial and superficial characters 

 presented by natural objects, a whole field of new inquiry is 

 opened u > to us by the stu ly of distribution, and local con- 

 ditions. And as regards man, I have endeavoured to fix your 

 attention on a class ot facts which indicate that the course of his 

 development has oeen far less direct and simple than has hitherto 

 been supposed ; and that, instead of resembling a single tide with 

 its advancing and receding ripples, it must rather be compared to 

 the progress from neap to spring tides, both the rise and the 

 depression being comparatively greater as the waters of true 

 civilisaiion slowly advance towards the highest level they can 

 react'. 



And if we are thus led to believe that our present knowledge of 

 nature is somewhat less complete than we have been accustomed 

 to consider it, this is only what we might txpect ; for however 

 great may have been the intellectual triumphs of the nineteenth 

 century, we can hardly think so highly of its achievements as to 

 imagine that, in somewhat less than twenty years, we have passed 

 from complete ignorance to almost perfect knowledge on two 

 such vast and complex subjects as the origin of species and the 

 antiquity of man. 



SECTION E. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



Opening Address by F. J. Evans, C.B., F.R.S,, Captain 



R.N., President. 

 Two events, notable in the annals of Geographical Science have 

 to be recorded since the last meeting of the British Association ; 



and these events as bearing materially on the advancement of 

 our knowledge of geography are deserving the special commen- 

 dation of this Section. I refer to the successful issue of Cameron's 

 land journey across the tropical regions of Southern Africa and 

 to the successful completion of the sea voyage of the Challenger ; 

 a voyage which in its scope included the circumnavigation of the 

 globe, the traversing the several oceans between the 50th parallel 

 of North latitude and the Antarctic circle, and the exploration 

 throughout, by the medium of the sounding line and dredge, of 

 the contour features, the formation, and the animal life of the 

 great oceanic bed. 



The general results of the notable African land journey have 

 already, through our parent society in London, been brought 

 largely under public review ; and at our present meeting many 

 details of interest will be placed before you by the intrepid 

 traveller himself. The courage, perseverance and patient atten- 

 tion to the records of this long travel have been dwelt on by our 

 highest geographical authorities, and so far it might appear super- 

 fluous to join in praise from this chair ; nevertheless, it is to that 

 part of the proceedings of Cameron, the unvarying attention and 

 care he bestowed on instrumental observations, in order to give 

 those proceedings a secure scientific basis, to which I would 

 direct your attention as being of a high order of merit. 



With this example before us, remembering the country and 

 climate in which such unremitting labours were carried out, 

 distinction to the future explorer cannot rest on the mere render- 

 ing of estimated topographical details, but can alone be fully 

 merited when those details are verified by instrumental obser- 

 vations of an order sufficient to place numerically before geo- 

 graphers the physical features and characteristics of the explored 

 region. 



Turning now from the results of the land journey of Cameron 

 to those of the sea voyage of the Challenger we are again re- 

 minded of the value of repeated and methodically arranged 

 instrumental observations in geographical research. With our 

 present knowledge of the sea-board regions of the globe, little 

 remains, except in Polar areas, for the navigator to do in the 

 field of discovery, or even of exploration, otherwise than in those 

 details rendered necessary by the requirements of trade or special 

 industries. It is to the development of the scientific features of 

 geography that the attention of voyagers requires to be now 

 mainly directed ; and in this there is an illimitable field. The 

 great advance in this direction resulting from the two leading 

 events of the past year, to which I have referred, foreshadows 

 geographical research of the future. 



Communications of special value from some of those voyagers 

 whose good fortune it was to leave and return to their native 

 land in the ship Challtnger will doubtless be made to this and 

 other Sections. I trust nevertheless, as one ofhcially interested 

 in the expedition from its inception, and as having in early days 

 been engaged in kindred work, and also as I hope without being 

 considered to have trespassed on the scientific territories of these 

 gentlemen — ground indeed so well eai'ned, — this meeting will 

 view with indulgence my having selected as the leading theme 

 of my address to it, a review of that branch of our science now 

 commonly known as the " Physical Geography of the Sea ; " 

 combined with such suggestive matter as has preiented itself to me 

 whilst engaged in following up the proceedings of this remark- 

 able voyage. 



It has been well observed that "contact with the ocean has 

 unquestionally exercised a beneficial influence on the cultivation 

 of the intellect and formation of the character of many nations, 

 on the multiplication of those bonds which should unit*; the 

 whole huinan race, on the first knowledge of the true forrii>o_f th<* 

 earth and on the pursuit of astronomy and of all the mathe- 

 matical and physical sciences." The subject is thus not an 

 ignoble one, and further, it appears to me appropriate, assembled 

 as we are in the commercial metropolis of Scotland, from among 

 whose citizens some of the most valuable scientific investigations 

 bearing on the art of navigation have proceeded. 



As a prefatory remark, I would observe that the distinctive 

 appellation "Physical Geography of the Sea" is due to the 

 accomplished geographer Humboldt ; it is somewhat indefinite 

 though comprehensive, and implies that branches of science not 

 strictly pertaining to geography, as commonly understood, are 

 invaded ; but this intrusion or overlapping of scientific boun- 

 daries is inevitable with the expansion of knowledge : and it is 

 difficult to see how the term can be wisely amended, or how the 

 several included branches of physics can be separated from pure 

 geographical science. 



We are indebted in our generation to the genitis and untiring 



