163 REPORT 1871. 



On Man and (he Ape. By G. STAmTjA^-DWAKis, Director of t7ie 

 Antliropological Institute. 

 In this paper the author referred to the agreement in physical structure of man 

 and the ape, and to the fact that the latter possessed the power of reasoning, with 

 aU the faculties necessary for its due exercise. It was shown, however, that it was 

 incorrect to affirm that man has no mental faculty other than what the ape possesses. 

 He has a spiritual insight or power of reflection which enabled him to distinguish 

 qualities and to separate them as objects of thought from the things to which they 

 belong. AU language is in some sense the result of such a process, and its exgrcise 

 by even the most imcivilized peoples is shown in their having words denoting 

 colours. The possession by man of the faculty of insight or reflection is accom- 

 panied by a relative physical superiority. The "human brain of man is much larger 

 than that of the ape, and he has also a much more refined nervous structure, with 

 a naiied skin. The author observed that the size of the brain was the only physical 

 fact absolutely necessary to be accounted for, and this could not be done by the 

 hypothesis of natural selection. Mr. Wallace's reference, on the other hand, to a 

 creative will, really undermines Mr. Darwin's whole hypothesis. After referring to 

 the theories of Mr. Murphy and Haechel, the author stated that the only way to 

 explain man's origin, consistently with his physical and mental connexion with the 

 ape, is to suppose that nature is an organic whole, and that man is the necessary 

 result of its evolution. While, therefore, man is derived from the ape as supposed 

 by Mr. Darwin, it is under conditions very diflerent from those his h-ypothesis re- 

 quires. According to this, the appearance of man on the earth must have been in 

 a certain sense accidental ; while, according to the author's view, organic nature 

 could only have been evolved in the direction of man, who is the necessary result 

 of such evolution, and a perfect epitome of nature itself. 



On certain Points concerning the Origin and Relations of tJie Basque Race. 



By the E.ev. W. Websteb. 



GEOaEAPHT. 



Address hy Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., President of the Section. 



YoxT are aware that the honourable position which has been assigned to me was 

 originally destined for a gentleman, by labours, knowledge, and reputation through- 

 out the world as a geographer, far otherwise qualified to fill it. His lamented 

 removal, within a very short time of the date fixed for this Meeting, compelled 

 the Council of the Association to make prompt arrangements for the presidency of 

 the Geographical Section. The distinguished soldier and scholar who has re- 

 cently succeeded to the chair of the Royal Geogi-aphical Society was unable to at- 

 tend ; and the officers of the Association thought proper to propose me for the duty. 

 I am quite inexperienced in such office ; whatever claim I have to the character of 

 a geographer has been acquired in a limited field, and rather from the literary 

 than the scientific side ; a variety of subjects must come before us with which I 

 am quite unfamiliar ; and I had for these and other reasons abundant misgivings 

 as to the fitness of the clioice. But I did not feel at liberty to decline the duty, 

 especially as it was not the first time that, unsought, it had been proposed to me' 



Even among an entire company of strangers, the circumstances of the case, and 

 the short time which they allowed for preparation, would, I felt assured, secure 

 indulgence. When I can count so many countenances of friends around, I feel 

 that it is needless to plead for it. 



The first natural duty in circumstances like the present is to pay a tribute, how- 

 ever inadequate, to the memory of the eminent geogi-apher whom we expected to 



