796 KEPORT— 1897. 



3. W/iy Human Progress is by Leaps. By George Iles. 



We are accustomed to regard the decisive triumphs of man as he wins each 

 one of them as simple additions to his resources, material and mental, whereas in 

 truth they are multipliers of high potency, entering as they do into wide and 

 fruitful union with the talents and powers they find already in the field. The 

 introduction of every invention or discovery of prime dignity at once tends to 

 quicken the pace of progress to a leap. It woidd appear that the distinction 

 between a multiplier and an addition, as each supreme victory comes to human 

 wit, sheds light on three cardinal facts regarding man. First, his comparatively 

 rapid development from animality. Second, his separation to-day from his next of 

 kin by a gulf more profound and wide than that between any two other allied 

 families in all nature. Third, his advance, when civilised, in power and faculty at 

 a pace ever accelerated. 



4. On the Transmission of Acquired Characters. 

 By Professor J. CossAR Ewart, F.H.S. 



5. On the Kafirs of Kafiristan. By Sir George Robertson, K.C.S.I. 



6 On the Mangyans and Tagbanuas of the Philipinne Isles. 

 By Professor Dean C. Worcester. 



Report on the Necessity of the Immediate Investigation of the Anthro- 

 pology of Oceanic Islands. — See Reports, p. 352. 



\WEDNESI)AT, AUGUST 25. 



A joint discussion with Section C (Geology) on the first Traces of Man in the 

 New World was introduced by the reading of the following Papers : — 



a. The Trenton Gravels. By Professor F. W. Putnam. 

 b. Human Relics in the Drift of Ohio. By Professor E. W. Claypole. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. On som,e Spear-heads made of Glass from West Australia. 

 By the President of the Section, Sir W. Turner, F.R.S., F.R.S.E. 



In July of this year I received from Dr. G. Archdall Reid three specimens of 

 spear heads, which had recently been brought by Mr. Robert Grant from Roebucl 

 Bay, West Australia. They had been made by the natives from glass bottles 

 thrown into the bush by the English settlers in that locality. Two were made of I 

 coloured glass, as if from beer bottles, and one from white glass. That from white _ 

 glass was 96 mm. long and 30 mm. in its widest part, whilst the others were' 

 91 mm. and 81 mm. long respectively. They were sharply pointed at one end, 

 whilst the opposite end was in two instances finished with a convex border and 

 in the third with a straight base. The margins were serrated, and the surfaces showed 

 the marks where flakes of glass had been removed during the manufacture of the spear 

 head. Mr. Grant has seen the natives engaged in the manufacture of these imple- 

 ments. He states that the piece of glass rests during the process on the operator's 



