796 KEPORT— 1891. 



•worthy of our age, then Ethnological Philology (I should prefer to say Anthro- 

 pology), once established on principles as clear as the physiological are, is the 

 highest hranch of that science for the advancement of which this Association is 

 instituted. It is not an appendix to Physiology or to anything else ; but its object 

 is, on the contrary, capable of becoming the end and goal of the labours and 

 transactions of a scientific association.' 



Much has been achieved by Anthropology to justify these hopes and fulfil the 

 prophecies of my old friend Bunsen. Few men live to see the fulfilment of their 

 own prophecies, but they leave disciples whose duty it is to keep their memory 

 alive, and thus to preserve that vital continuity of human knowledge which alone 

 enables us to see in the advancement of all science the historical evolution of 

 eternal truth. 



The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. The Social and Religious Ideas of the Chinese, as illnstrated in the Ideo- 

 graphic Characters of the Language. By Professor R. K. Douglas. 



The paper begins with a short introduction, showing that the Chinese ideo- 

 graphic characters are picture-writings, and that as such they supply an interpre- 

 tation of the meaning of words as these were understood by the inventors of the 

 characters representing them. 



Following on this is an account of the earliest or hieroglyphic form of the 

 writing, with examples, and the development of this resulting in the ideographic 

 characters. These are taken as being illustrative of the ideas of the people on 

 political, social, scientific, and religious ideas. For example, the importance which 

 was attached to the qualities of a sovereign is exemplified in the choice of the 

 symbol emploj'ed to express a supreme ruler, the component parts of which together 

 signify * ruler of himself.' By means of the same graphic system a kingdom is 

 shown as ' men and arms within a frontier.' Passing to the social habits of the 

 people, their domestic life is illustrated by a number of ideograms descriptive of 

 their household arrangements and relationships. In succession are traced in the 

 written characters the ideas associated with men and women, their virtues and 

 their failings ; the notions associated with marriage ; and the evidences of pastoral 

 as well as of agricultural habits among the people. Turning to the popular 

 religious faiths it is shown how prominent is the belief in the god of the soil, whose 

 presence brings blessings, and whose averted countenance is followed by mis- 

 fortune. The ideas associated with objects of nature are next treated of, and the 

 paper concludes with references to the coinage of the country as described in the 

 ideograms employed to represent its various forms. 



2. On recent Progress in the Analysis of Vowel-sounds. 

 By R. J. Lloyd, D.Lit., M.A. 



The object of this paper is to direct attention to three sets of researches which 

 have recently been carried on by three different observers in various parts of 

 Europe — viz.. Professor Ludiman Hermann, of Konigsberg, Dr. Hugo Pipping, of 

 Helsingfors, and the writer of the memoir. Pipping's researches were carried 

 out by means of Hensen's ' Sprachzeichner ' or ' Phonautograpli ' ' with certain 

 modifications. Hermann's apparatus is identical in principle, but totally different 

 in detail.'- The vibrations of a phonographic plate are communicated to a mirror, 

 and a ray of light is so directed upon the mirror as to record the vibrations of the 

 latter upon the sensitive surface of a cylinder revolving at some distance. The 

 writer's researches are based upon an examiuation and partial imitation of the 

 shapes of the cavities which are created in the mouth and throat for the produc- 

 tion of vowels, followed by calculation and observation of the resonances properly 

 belonging to them. 



' See Zeifschrift fur Biologic, vol. sxiii. p. 291. 



^ Pfliiger's Aroliivfur die gesammte Physiologie, vols. xlv. and xlvii. 



