35 
ORDINARY MEETING.* 
The Rev. Prebendary R. Tsornton, D.D., Vice-President, 
in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :~- 
Memeer :—Rey. F. Wallis, M.A., Fellow and Dean of Gonville and Caius 
College, Cambridge. 
Associates :—General Warren Walker, R.E., Bath; Professor H. H. 
eee M.S., M.A., United States ; Professor W. H. Norton, M.A., United 
tates. 
Hon. Cor. MemBer :—Rev. A. H. Sayce, M.A., LL.D., Deputy Professor 
of Comparative Philology at Oxford University. 
The following paper was then read by the Author :— 
ON THE CANAANITES. By Major C. R. Conner, 
D.C.L., RE. 
HERE are two methods of critical study of the Bible, 
one of which is old, and the other new. ‘The first is 
the literary or exegetic method, the second is the historical 
or comparative method. These methods are not of necessity 
antagonistic, but as a rule they have been separately pursued, 
the one mainly in the study in Europe, the other mainly in 
the field in the East. It is, of course, evident that the igno- 
rant explorer may do harm rather than good. If he does not 
take pains to study the necessary languages, to understand 
the alphabets, and the hieroglyphs which he may be likely to 
find, to provide himself with historical, ethnological, and 
scientific data from the best sources, he may easily fall into 
errors due to enthusiasm, and retard rather than advance 
knowledge. 
But it is equally true that the library student may arrive 
at false results through want of acquaintance with the Kast, 
and with the facts of archexological research. And no one 
* May 20, 1889 
VOL. XXIV. D 
