] 98 REPORT— 1873. 



that such strikiug' agreement with the physical features as I have sliowu to exist 

 should occur. Probably such features would be altogether iguoied ; or if taken 

 iuto consideration would be seized upon as bomidaries. One could scarcely desire 

 a more striking physical feature for a boundary than the chalk escarpment ; but we 

 have seen that it is only in rare cases that this forms the boundary of a parish ; 

 generally it is well within the parish, which stretches up and often far beyond it. 

 The boimdaries cross the escarpment, in nine cases out of ten at right angles to it. 

 So again with the Lower-Greensand escarpment ; although in its relation to the 

 parishes it acts exactly the' reverse of the chalk escarpment, yet thej- agree iu 

 rarely forming parish boundaries. To this it may be answered that, whatever the 

 origin of parishes, whether civil or ecclesiastical, whether by grouping or sub- 

 dividing divisions of land previously existing, regard would necessarily be had to 

 the shape and extent of those divisions. This, I think, must have been the case ; 

 and considerations advanced in this paper lead us to infer that whatever may have 

 been the origin of manors or parishes as such, they both depend upon still older 

 divisions of the land, and that these were not formed by the arbitrary act of church 

 or king, but resulted necessarily from the gi-eat physical features of the country." 



The Origin of Serpent-Worship. Bt/ C. Stanilind Wake, M.A.I. 



After referring to various facts showing the existence of serpent-worship in 

 many different parts of the world, the paper proceeded to consider the several ideas 

 associated with the serpent among ancient and modern peoples. One of its chief 

 characteristics was its power over the wind and rain ; another was its connexion 

 "with health and good fortune, in which character it was the Agathodsemon. The ser- 

 pent was also the symbol of life or immortality, as well as of wisdom. It was then 

 shown that that animal was viewed by many uncultured peoples as the re-embodi- 

 ment of a deceased ancestor, and that descent was actually traced by the Mexicans 

 and various other peoples from a serpent. The serpent superstition thus becomes a 

 phase of ancestor-worship, the superior wisdom and power ascribed to the denizens 

 of the invisible world bemg assigned also to their animal representatives. When 

 the simple idea of a spirit ancestor was transformed into that of the Great Spirit, the 

 father of the race, the attributes of the serpent would be enlarged, and it would be 

 thought to have power o^•er the rain and the hurricane. Being thus transformed to 

 the atmosphere, the serpent would come to be associated with nature, or solar-wor- 

 ship. Hence we find that the sun was not only a serpent god, but also the divine 

 ancestor or benefactor of mankind. Seth, the traditional divine ancestor of the 

 Semites, was the serpent sun-god, the Agathodaemon ; and various facts were cited 

 to establish that the legendaiy ancestor of the people classed together as Adamites 

 was thought to possess the same character. It would appear to follow from the 

 facts mentioned in the paper that serpent-worship, as a developed religious system, 

 originated in Central Asia, the home of the great Scythic stock, from which the 

 civilized races of the historical period sprung, and that the descendants of the 

 legendary founder of that stock, the Adamites, were in a special sense serpent- 

 worshippers. 



The Rev. H. H. Winwood, M.A., F.G.S., exhibited some Flint Implements from 

 South Africa, 



GEOGEAPHY, 



Address hj Francis Galton, F.B.S., President of the Section. 



The functions of the several Sections of the British Association differ from 

 those of other Institutions which pursue corresponding branches of science. We 

 who compose this Section are not simply a Geogi-aphical Society, meeting in a 

 hospitable and important provincial town, but we have a distinct individuality of 



