ORDINARY MEETING, May 18, 1885, 
SuRGEON-GreNnERAL C. A. Gorpon, M.D., C.B., in tHe Cuarr. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the fol- 
lowing Elections were announced :— 
Lire Members :—G. Burns, Esq., J.P., Scotland; the Honourable 
Donald A. Smith, Canada. 
Associates :—Captain G. Morton, U.S. Navy, United States; Rev. 
T. H. Penrith, Manchester ; Rev. J. F. Riggs, M.A., United States. 
Also the presentation to the Library of the following works :— 
“ Proceedings of the Royal Society.” From the same. 
“ Proceedings of the Royal Geozraphical Society.” os 
“ Proceedings of the Royal Institution.” a) 
* Proceedings of the Royal United Service Institution.” . 
“ Proceedings of the Geological Society.” $5 
“ Proceedings of the Anthropological Society of Washington.” 5 
* Proceedings of the United States Geological Survey.” 59 
* The Errors of Evolution.” By R. Pattison. fe 
The following paper was then read by Mr, H. Capman Jonzs, the author 
being unavoidably absent ;— 
THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF THE 
ABORIGINES OF AMERICA; or, their Testimony 
to the Religion of the Bible-—By the Rev. M. Hurts, 
Missionary of the American Missionary Association 
among the Indians, Skokomish, Mason County, 
Washington Territory, U.S.A. 
“THNXO undertake to trace ethnic relations between widely- 
separated peoples, by similarity of manners and customs, 
isan uncertain guide. Man, apart from his improvable reason, 
has, what we call in the higher animals, instinct; and, as the 
beaver everywhere constructs his dam according to a definite 
plan, so will man perform certain acts instinctively, after a 
certain manner. Hence among barbarous nations we may 
expect to find a similarity of manners and customs, without 
necessarily supposing that they are the result of inheritance ; 
but, when we come to the higher manifestations of art, the 
result of improvable reason, there are found certain characters, 
original and unique, which become infallible guides in tracing 
national affinities.” * 
* Foster's Pre-historic Races of America, p. 310. 
