TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION 11. 



923 



mltted to the Western, created a p-reat paycholojrical and liistdrlcal revolution. 

 With this latter epoch we can couneet the uunieruus phenomena of langua}?e, 

 culture, and mythology, the resemblances of which have been so long noted and by 

 so many authors. 



The adaptation of a phonetic system to ideas expressed by gesture, as explained 

 by Mr. Clarke in the ' Transactions' of the Association, depended on the full applica- 

 tion by himself of the observations of Mr. Alfred 11. Wallace, that in many 

 languages the mouth, tooth, and nose are severally represented by labials, dentals, 

 and nasals. Tiiese are applied primarily and secondarily, &c., in series, as from 

 mouth, eye, ear, sun, moon, vg'j;, blood, eat, speak, &c., and with various con- 

 ventional and symbolic meanings. The resemblanct'S among languages did not 

 depend on descent from one primeval language, but on the ])ropagatiou of 

 languages based on one phonetic and psychological system. Of such resemblances 

 he instances that of Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego to West Africa (British Associa- 

 tion, 1883). He recalled that the ancient geograpliical nomenclature of America 

 in names of mountains, rivers, lakes, and towns not unfreriuent ly corresponded with 

 that of the Old World. The animal names were of conmaon origin, witli the muta- 

 tion of tapir with elephant, puma with lion and tiger, llama, &c., with horse. 



The mythology or fetishism as shown Ijy the Ihibri of Central America was in 

 conformity with an identical origin. 



A variety of facts of common propagation had to be accounted for, and although 

 intercourse across Behring's Straits and the Pacific would partially explain, there 

 must have been direct and continual intercourse across the Atlantic, a.ssisted by the 

 currents. 



He rejected the geological hypothesis of an Atlantis extending across the 

 ocean and now submerged, but considered the traditions in the Dialogue Timpeua 

 in Plato to represent broadly the antecedent conditions. America had come under 

 the dominion of an Atlantis or Great King of the AVest, with territories also in 

 Mauritania, Spain, and the Eritains. His defeat in naval contests in the Western 

 Mediterranean by the leading kings of the Ivist was a suilicient cause for the 

 cessation of intercourse with America. The legend of the sinking of Atlantis, and 

 that of the filling up of the ocean with mud so as to make it impassable, were mere 

 excrescences on the legend, but had fascinated most students. If we treated the 

 elephants mentioned in the Timoeus as tapirs, and the horses a.s llamas and beasts 

 of burden, not dealing with the detail of legend too strictly, then the legend itself, 

 freed from impossibilities and inconsistencies, acquired consistency. 



Mr. Clarke, in combination with that of the Atlantis, dwelt on the legend of the 

 Four Worlds as showing a former knowledge of the configuration of the Americas 

 in the ancient world. 



According to his investigations the languages and culture of America are not 

 of local growth, but imparted by a higher race at the period of the foundation of 

 like institutions in the Eastern world. The differences he assigned to distinct 

 development chiefly consequent on the breaking off of intercourse. 



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WEDmJSDA Y, SEPTEMBER 3. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



1. On the Lapidary Srulptures of the Dolmens nf the Morbihan. 

 By Admiral F, H. Tremlett, 



The author described in detail a number of the sculptures which were found in 

 the Dolmens of the Morbihan. About eighty of these scul])ture3 had been found, 

 invariably on the interior surfaces of the capstones and their supports. Tlu'y are 

 circumscribed ^Yithiu an area of about a dozen miles, near to tiie seacoast, beyond 

 which, althou'.-h megalithic monuments are very numerous, there is a complete 

 fl-bsence of the sculptures. The autlior considered that the implements used by the 

 carvers were made of stone, and described the manner in which ho himself had 

 made experiments with pieces of chert. 





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