258 
ORDINARY MEETING, Apriz 13, 1885. 
W. N. West, Esq. (Hon. Treas.), In Tar CHarr. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the fol- 
lowing Elections were announced :— 
Mempers :—Rey. E. ©. d’Auquier, M.A., Ramsgate ; His Excellency 
S. G. W. Benjamin, United States Minister, Teheran ; S. W. Francis, Esq., 
A.M., M.D., United States. 
AssocraTEs :—Rev. H. Carrow, Weston-super-Mare; Rev. A. T. Clark 
United States; Rey. F. R. Elder, B.A., New South Wales; Rev. Principal 
H. ©. G. Moule, M.A., Cambridge ; Rev. W. Nicholson, M.A., St. Peters- 
burg ; Rev. J. R. Sutherland, A.M., D.D., United States. 
The following paper was then read by Mr. C. Hasrines Dent, C.E., 
F.L.S., the Author being unavoidably absent. No discussion was taken on 
pages 269 to 281. 
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY. By the Rev. G. Buzncows, 
of Wakkerstroom, Transvaal, South Africa. 
OHNSON defines responsibility as “ accountability, or 
liability to answer.” Hence, wherever there is responsi- 
bility, there is subordination and inferiority. A supreme or 
a perfectly independent being is responsible to no one; but 
in the measure in which our being and possessions are de- 
rived from another, and in which they are sustained by his 
continued operation, we are plainly liable to answer to him. 
The mechanic, who receives the material for his work from 
his employer, is answerable to him for the appropriate use 
of it. The farmer, who commits his stock to the care of his 
bailiff, requires from him full tale of all delivered, and of 
all the increase. The primary question, therefore, with respect 
to man is, Are we self-originated—are we independent ? 
How came I into being? There was a time when I was 
not, another time when the first cell of my complex body 
began to collect or protrude other cells, and to weave, by 
occult and mysterious skill, the wonderful structure which If 
now possess, and by which I am joined to and form part of 
the visible universe. There was also a time when I was first 
conscious of myself, and of objects around me, not myself, from 
which moment my consciousness and my thought have con- 
tinued until now, increasing my knowledge of myself and 
nature, and thus opening new sources of enjoyment and power. 
VOL. XIX. U 
