396 eepokt— 1879. 



All these objects were found together during the time of cutting peat for fuel, 

 about two months ago, and about 12 feet from the surface. They appeared to have 

 been placed in a hole that had been excavated on the surface and then covered for 

 protection, but being forgotten or lost, they remained where they were, it is believed, 

 until 12 feet of peat accumulated over them. 



5. On Savage and Civilised Warfare. By J. A. Faeree. 



There is a superficial difference between savage and civilised warfare in their 

 tactics, weapons, and usages ; a civilised army does not actually worship a war- 

 god, does not mutilate its dead foes, nor sacrifice nor torture its prisoners, and it 

 generally spares the lives of women and children. Yet there is no such difference 

 as to make the expression ' civilised warfare ' other than the most flagrant con- 

 tradiction in terms. Warfare can no more be civilised than a circle can be a square. 

 Indeed, warfare is all the worse which claims to be civilised. The author traces 

 the effect of military necessities on the political and religious development of savage 

 races, and points out the links which connect modern warfare with barbarism. 

 Lastly, he discusses the question whether mankind will ever be sufficiently advanced 

 in civilisation to shake off the pursuit and lust of war. 



6. On the Origin of Fetishism. By Andrew Lang. 



Opposing Professor Max Muller's views, which regard Fetishism as a corruption 

 of a higher religion, the author seeks to prove that it is a primitive form of belief 

 in the supernatural, and represents one of the earliest factors in the development 

 of religion. The paper will be published in ' Mind.' 



7. On certain Inventions illustrating the Working of the Human Mind, and 

 on the Importance of the Selection of Types. By A. Ttloe, F.G.S. 



Desire to economise mental and mechanical labour is one of the great sources 

 of the invention of new thoughts. Nothing tends to save labour so much as using 

 a type instead of a number of individual cases. The mind is burdened with masses 

 of detail, and the system of types must be carried out for the arrangement of 

 materials for thought. One of the most important aids to progress of every kind 

 has been the art of choosing types. The invention of the Arabic numerals was a 

 striking example of a perfect type-system. Examples are given in which the same 

 kind of invention is applied to mental and to mechanical objects. 



8. On the Discovery of Animal Mounds in the Pyrenees. 

 By Dr. Phene, F.S.A., F.G.S. 



The present discovery was very greatly due to the description given by Sir 

 Vincent Eyre, in the ' Athenaeum ' (July 24, 1869) of a remarkable custom of 

 burning living serpents at a particular spot in the Pyrenees. The author had long 

 intended to make a more complete exploration of these mountains than former 

 visits had enabled Mm to do, and in this case he determined to investigate all the 

 districts around this spot of immolation. In doing so, he found in certain direc- 

 tions indications which always accompany these mounds. The churches abounded 

 in features expressive of the subversion of a pagan faith of which the serpent or 

 dragon had evidently been the representative, and with these were found built into 

 the walls examples of pagan Roman occupation, as votive altars, &c, &c. Follow- 

 ing the track where these were most expressive, he had come upon mounds as 

 distinct in form to an animal appearance as that presented by any of the American 

 mounds ; they were altogether artificial, and shaped into an appearance of animal 

 outline so real as to seem like life. In the parts forming the heads, the chamber 

 had been appropriated, in one case by an arched chamber of Roman work, in 



