Sept. 24, 1 8 74 1 



NATURE 



421 



of nakedness. After touching upon previous hypotheses that had 

 Ijecn broached of tlio origin of Ilill-nien, Mincopies, and Papuans, 

 the president summarised tlie oliservations'on which lie founded a 

 recommendation to ethnologists to pause before conchiding tliat 

 tlie present disposition of land and sea was necessarily associated 

 wth the origin of sucli low forms of liunianity, and to admit tlie 

 possibility, if not probabilitj', of its contemporaneity with the 

 latest geological changes on the eartli's surface. Prof. Owen 

 then passed to the consideration of tlie origin, antiquity, and 

 race-characters of the first scientifically known civilised people. 

 Tliis part of the discourse was illustrated by a diagram of the 

 dynasties and reigns of Egyptian kings, and enlarged views from 

 photographs of portrait-sculptures of individuals of the third and 

 fourth dynasties, of a Uykshos Pharaoh of the sixteenth dynasty : 

 of a monarch of the twentieth dynasty, belonging to the native 

 race, after the expulsion of the "Shepherd Kings," and of 

 Pharaohs of the Greek race, including one of Cleopatra, which, 

 from the circumstances of its discovery, supported the belief of its 

 being a true likeness of that queen. To ethnologists the greatest 

 interest was attached to the evidences uf the physiognomies of 

 the race that founded the civilisation of ancient Egypt. They 

 are supplied by statues of eminent individuals of well-to-do 

 families, discovered in the temples connected with the tombs. 

 Some are of wood, some of alabaster, some of granite ; but the 

 noblest of these is the statue of Chephien, the Phra, or Pharaoh 

 of the fourth dynasty, who built the second of the great pyramids 

 of Ghizeh. It was discovered by Marictte Bey in the temple 

 contiguous to that mighty organised cairn or tomb. It is of life- 

 size ; the Pharaoh is seated on his tlirone, carved out of one 

 block of the beautiful, intractable, and rare mineral called 

 "diorite." Photographs of this statue were exhibited. The 

 face, with features as refined and intellectual as those of a mo- 

 dern European, has a calm, dignified expression, free from the 

 conventionality of the statues of later monarchs. The anatomy 

 of the frame was as true as in works of art from the chisel of 

 Micliael Angelo. According to the "table" exhibited, this 

 king lived B.C. 4200. The sculptor wrought thirty-seven cen- 

 turies before Phidias. What was the period of incubation 

 necessary to attain such perfection in both the creative and 

 mechanical departments of the noblest of the arts? Prof. Owen 

 then briefly discussed the evidence for this high antiquity. To 

 the most philosophic and knowledge-loving of the kings of the 

 Greek dynasty we owe the translation into Greek of the records 

 written in the language, and entrusted to the care of the respec- 

 tive priesthoods of Egypt and of Jud;>ja. Ketween these records 

 iheie was greatj discrepancy. Egypt had risen from a long 

 mythical period to become a state ruled by one mortal Phra, or 

 king, at a period, .according to Manetho, contemporaneous, 

 according to Esdras, with the Creation ! A later Pharaoh, 

 Cheops, was, according to the Egyptian chronicle, building his 

 pyramid at a time when, according to the Hebrew reckonhig, 

 the world was being submerged by the Flood. The attitude of 

 the ethnologist, in the presence of the Manethonian and Septu- 

 agint documents, was plain ; he has to put away any partiality 

 towards one or other of the respective authors ; any presumption 

 of the superior claims of either to recognition ; and to test them 

 by facts open to discovery, and on which the truth-getting 

 faculty can base scientific conclusions. This attitude in reference 

 to the Hebrew record is taken by the " Palestine Exploration 

 Fund." A like investigation cf the remains of edifices, works of 

 art, monumental records akin to the " Moabite Stone," geolo- 

 gical and zoological phenomena, had been carried on in Egypt 

 lor a longer period and with richer results than else- 

 where. Among the l.abourersin this monumental field the pre- 

 sident more especially paid tribute to I.epsius and Mariette I'ey. 

 The testimonies bearing on Manetho's chronology were then 

 brielly enumerated. I'rom these the president interred that if 

 the -Sebennyte priest had erred it was liy omission rather than 

 commission ; and he expressed his conviction that the chronology 

 set forth in the diagram best squared with the sum of scientilic 

 evidence on this important fjuestion. In the present palceonto- 

 logical evidence of the antiquity of the human race, 7,000 years 

 seemed but a brief period to be allotted to the earliest civilised 

 administratively-governed community ; it seemed natural that 

 such conditions should first have arisen in a land with such 

 unique blessedness of soil and climate as Egypt ; and with the 

 high racial character of the people flourishing under its antedilu- 

 vian Pliaraohs, The question as to the origin of this race was 

 then discussed ; followed by remarks on the evidence of the 

 periods required for the origin of the leading varieties of the 

 human species. Some remarks on the evidences of the relative 



antiquity of Egyptian and Chaldaean civilisation followed ; and 

 the president concluded by appealing to his fellow Orientalists 

 to cast aside prepossessions as to time, place, affinity, race, lor 

 which there may not be any groundwork of rightly observed 

 well-determined data, and to liring to beai- on the dark vistas of 

 the past the pure, dry light of science. 



Dr. Forbes Watson, M.A., read a most important 

 scientific paper "On the establishment, in connection 

 with thelndia Museum and Library, of an Indian Institute 

 for Lecture, Inquiry, and Teaching, and on its Influence 

 on the Promotion of Oriental Studies in England, on the 

 Progress of Higher Education ainong the Natives of 

 India, and on the Training of Candidates for the Civil 

 Service of India." 



The India Museum and Library, Dr. Watson said, would 

 affoid a most suitable nucleus for the organisation of a 

 centre for Indian research and information. Such a purpose 

 would be best effected by establishing in connection with the 

 museum and library an institute for lecture, inquiiy, and teaching 

 on all Indian subjects. Such an institute would prove highly 

 advantageous from every point of view. The chief object of all 

 scientific institutions is the promotion of research and the dis- 

 semination of information — the increase of knowledge, and the 

 increase in the number of people possessed of it.' In either 

 direction these institutions woul 1 prove more effective if com- 

 bined than if separate. It is clear that the public usefulness of 

 the museum and library would be extended by the lectures and 

 teaching of the institute ; and that the action of the institute on 

 the other hand would be supplemented by its connection with 

 the museum and library. 



The following is the plan of arrangement for an Indian 

 Museum which would divide the whole uf its contents into a 

 series of groups and sub-groups affording a connected view of the 

 country and its people. This plan takes account of the library as 

 well ; in fact, with regard to some of the divisions, reference 

 must be made to the library for a large portion of the materials, 

 and with regard to others for the whole of them. 



A. The Country and its 

 Resources. 



:. The People and their 

 Moral and Material 

 Condition. 



. Physical Geography. 



a. Boundaries and Adniiiiis- 4- Elknography. 



trative divisions. ^_ p^^^^,_ 



K. urography. i^_ ^.^j^^ ^^^j religious sects, 



- Hydrography. ^._ popui^ti^,,, ^^^ ^jj^i „^, 



tistics. 



:/. Meteorology. 



2. Nalurol History. 



a. Geology and Mineralogy. 



b. Soil. 



c. Flora. 

 J. Fauna. 



3. Agriculture, RIaimfacturcs, 



and Commerce. 



a. Raw produce, mining agri- 

 culture, forestry, ttc. 



I. Trade and manufactures. 



c. Tools, machinery, processes. 



(/. Locomotion by land and 

 water. 



(•. plarbours, lighthouses, 



docks, warehouses, fjirs 

 and market';, telegraph 

 and postal communica- 

 tions. 



f. Currency, banks, &c. 



g. Coins, weights, and mea- 



sures. 



5. History and .■liiiniiiis.'rn/ioit. 



a. Philology. 

 /'. Archaeology. 

 c. Mythology. 

 </. Historical Geography. 

 ('. Political and Administra- 

 tive History. 



f. Legislation. 



g. Current Administration. 



6. Domestic ami Social Eco- 



Food and cooking. 

 Houses and buildings. 

 Clothing and personal 



decoration. 

 Manners and customs. 

 Health and sanitation. 

 Education. 

 Religion. 



Fine and decorative art. 

 Science and literature. 



Several other papers were taken as read, and the 

 session of the Congress ended with the choice of St. 

 Petersburg for the meeting of the Congress of 1875. 1" 

 the evening the Lord Mayor entertained the members at 

 a magnificent banquet at the Mansion House. 



