83 
ORDINARY MEETING. 
THE PRESIDENT, SIR G. GABRIEL STOKES, Bart., M.P., P.R.S., 
IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting* were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :— 
Lire Associate :—Rev. J. Boyle, Brazil. 
AssocraTEs :—Rev. L. G. Bomford, M.A., Trowbridge; Rev. C. F. 
D'Arcy, M.A., Ireland; E. A. Ford, Esq., London ; H. A. Harper, 
Esq., Hampshire ; Rev. J. Hyslop, F.G.S., United States. 
Hon. Cor. Memper :—J. Armstrong Smith, Esq., Government Educational 
Department, Honolulu. 
The following paper was then read by the Author :+— 
THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND BIBLICAL SAGES. 
(WITH MAP). By Hormuzp Rassay, Esq. 
[* coming to address you this evening upon most difficult 
and intricate subjects in connexion with Biblical Sages 
and their races, together with some disputed ancient sites, 
I do not wish to enter into any religious or scientific discus- 
sions, but merely to explain certain facts founded on my 
geographcal knowledge and historical research. In doing 
so I must say a few words by way of preface as to the 
motive which actuated me in taking upon myself the formid- 
able task of contesting certain theories which have been 
started with reference to the Sacred rivers of Eden and 
Abraham’s and Job’s countries and nationalities. 
In quoting some passages from Scripture I do not wish to 
appeal to Holy inspiration in connexiou therewith, but I want 
merely to make use of it in a historical point of view, inas- 
much as the points I am going to argue are recorded wholly 
and solely in the Bible and nowhere else. 
Doubtless every person has a right to have his own peculiar 
theories in spiritual as well as temporal matters, but when 
important publications, such as Encyclopedias, Dictionaries 
* Last Meeting, 25th Session. 
+ The Author has not desired to fix the site of the Garden of Eden 
of Genesis, but to contest the truth of a theory that it was in Southern 
Babylonia, some writers having argued from this theory that the Baby- 
lonian Garden of Eden was the one described in Genesis. The accom- 
panying map is corrected to May, 1892. 
