TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. . 121 



which could at present be drawn with safety from the admitted facts of philology, 

 tend strongly to favour a belief in the primitive diversity of languages, and there- 

 fore of human races. After noting the utter failure of all attempts to discover a 

 primeval language from which others had been derived, the author argued that all 

 on which we could at present insist, was the unity of the Semitic and Aryan families 

 of language, and of one or two comparatively small sporadic groups. He denied 

 that the unity of the so-called Turanian family was in any way established, and 

 endeavoured toshow that the name itself was misleading and chimerical and' that 

 the arguments in favour of the original unity of these languages were shadowy and 

 inconclusive. _ But even if the existence of a genetic connexion between the mem- 

 bers of this wide group were admitted, the author urged that there was no possibility 

 of deriving the number of these different families of language, either from one 

 another or from any one common source. The radical and fundamental differences 

 of conception which mark the Aryan and Semitic grammatical systems, were such as 

 marked them as the intellectual product of two wholly distinct races, and there 

 was no conceivable theory, even if a vast series of years were postulated, which 

 would account for the derivation of the one from the other ; and each of these systems 

 was separated from Chinese by a still broader and deeper chasm, a chasm which 

 could not be bridged over by any legitimate deduction from the known history and 

 indisputable facts of the growth and decay of languages throughout the world. 

 Hence it was concluded that the languages, no less than the flora and fauna of va- 

 rious nations, originated in different geographical centres. 



On the Exploration of the Holy Land, as proposed faj the Palestine 

 Exploration Fund. By George Geove, Hon. Sec. 

 The author said, notwithstanding the numerous books of travel that had been 

 published respecting Palestine, we were still in great ignorance with regard to much 

 that concerned the life of the existing people. No work on that country had been 

 written similar to that of Mr. Lane on the Modern Egyptians. It had been said with 

 truth that if the Lower Nile valley and its inhabitants were swept away, we should 

 still have preserved to us a complete picture of the nations which have peopled it, in 

 this exhaustive work. Now, what had been done for Egypt it behoved us to endea- 

 vour to do for the Holy Land. "VVe knew nothing of the treasures of ancient Egypt 

 until they were commenced to be dug up by Belzoni. The explorations of Sir Henry 

 Rawlinson and Mr. Layard had, in the same manner, disclosed the remains and led 

 to much of our knowledge respecting the great nations which peopled the plains of 

 the Euphrates and Tigris. The same still remained to be done in Palestine. There 

 must be a vast amount of treasures in arms, coins, weapons, and utensils, still buried 

 m the soil, which would throw great light on the domestic life of the Jews. The 

 soil of Palestine was virgin ; not a spade had vet been put into the mounds of ruins 

 which existed in that country. There were great difficulties to be surmounted 

 in the way of carrying out these explorations, the chief one being the difficulty 

 which had hitherto existed of travellers being able to remain long enough in 

 the country. Besides, it was in the unfrequented districts that the Exploration 

 Society was most desirous of penetrating, and in these places travellers especially 

 qualified, and having the means of remaining long, are required to pursue continued 

 investigations. One most cogent reason for undertaking the exploration was fur- 

 nished by the fact, that the ancient traces were fast passing away, and the native 

 customs of the people disappearing before the advance of Western civilization. 

 There was a curious orgy, probably very similar to those formerly practised by the 

 priests of Baal, which had almost fallen into disuse, and such customs as this, if now 

 investigated, would tend to throw great light on the customs of the people. Much 

 also still remained to be done in the geography of the land. As an instance of the 

 confusion which still exists in the orthography of places, he would mention the fact 

 of a place being named in one map Embarreg, and in another Midniyhghih. The 

 sites of many of the most celebrated places in Holy Writ were yet matters of uncer- 

 tainty. In short, it was a systematic, leisurely, and thorough investigation of the 

 Holy Land which the Society proposed to themselves to undertake. 



