Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. 187 
a Fellow in 1872); Mr. J. E. Saunders (el. 1855); Dr. J. Whiteaves 
(el. 1859); Mr. H. Bauerman (el. 1863); the Marquess of Ripon 
(el. 1867); Mr. F. G. Hilton Price (el. 1872); Mr. H. M. Klaassen 
(el. 1877); Mr. W. F. Stanley (el. 1884); Mr. James Parsons 
(el. 1900); and Mr. E. Kelly (el. 1875). 
He then dealt with the Evolution of Man in the light of Recent 
Investigations. Considering first the human remains of the Pleistocene 
Epoch, he pointed out that, so far as the evidence extends, it shows 
that the cranial capacity of the human skull increases rather than 
decreases as we pass backwards in time. The oldest known human 
skulls are later than the Chalky Boulder-clay. The cranial capacity 
is merely a morphological character of unknown significance. 
Observation shows that no discoverable connexion exists between it 
and the intellectual power. 
The most recent researches in comparative anatomy emphasize the 
close connexion between Man and the Anthropoid Apes, especially 
the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee. A similar result is afforded by the 
investigations of Uhlenhuth and Nuttall into blood-relationship. 
All recent researches converge to show that the genealogy of Man 
is to be traced through the Anthropoid Apes and the Catarrhine 
Monkeys to the Lemurs. Cope’s suggestion of a direct descent from 
extinct Lemurs receives no confirmation. Primitive characters, when 
present in Man, can be better explained by regression and adaptation. 
Man probably diverged from the phylum of the Primates above the 
point of origin of the Gibbon, and not far from that of the Gorilla and 
the Chimpanzee. He owed his progress in the first place to emanci- 
pation from a forest life, and commenced his career as the ape of the 
plains. The erect attitude and the use of the hand as a universal 
instrument followed as a consequence. Ancestral Man was probably 
a social animal at a very early period, and social life afforded a stimulus 
to the development of the powers of speech. He was probably 
distinguished by great bodily strength and by the possession of 
formidable natural weapons of defence and offence. With the 
invention of weapons made by art the necessity for natural weapons 
disappeared, and a regressive development of the teeth with adaptation 
to purely alimentary functions commenced. A purely human dentition 
characterizes the Heidelberg jaw, which is the oldest known. This, 
however, still reveals in all other respects strong simian affinities. 
The growth of the brain in size and complexity might be correlated 
with the evolution and use of the hand, but to a far greater extent 
with the development of the powers of speech and the consequent 
exchange, multiplication, and co-ordination of ideas. 
The Ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were declared 
duly elected for the ensuing year:—Counciz: Tempest Anderson, M.D., D.Sc. ; 
Charles William Andrews, B.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.; George Barrow ; Professor William 
S. Boulton, B.Sc.; James Vincent Elsden, B.Sc. ; Professor Edmund J. Garwood, 
M.A.; Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., Sc.D., Pres.R.S.; Alfred 
Harker, M.A., F.R.S.; Robert Stansfield Herries, M.A. ; Finley L. Kitchin, M.A., 
Ph.D.; Bedford McNeill, Assoc.R.S.M.; .John Edward Marr, Se.D., F.R.S.; 
Horace W. Monckton, Treas.L.S.; George Thurland Prior, M.A., D.Sc. ; Professor 
Sidney Hugh Reynolds, M.A.; Professor William Johnson Sollas, LL.D., Se.D., 
F.R.S.; Aubrey Strahan, Sc.D., F.R.S.; Herbert Henry Thomas, M.A., B.Sc. ; 
