78 Primitive Man. 



centuries. It is this mixture of strains which makes it almost 

 impossible to trace exactly the life history of any one element. 

 But it is just the difficulty of the problem that makes it 

 attractive. 



In one respect the story of man is an encouragino- one. 

 If we follow him from the Piltdown stage upwards, it is. 

 obvious that his brain enlarges and his mastery over nature 

 increases with every century that passes. I think I could 

 show also, if I had space for it, that in all the great strides 

 which mark a new departure, it was not so much intelligence 

 or physical strength as a better moral fibre that helped him 

 onward. The story on the whole justifies a confident but not 

 an exuberant optimism. 



12th December, 1913. 



Chairman— Dr William Semple, M.A., B.Sc, Ph.D. 



The Raid at Dumfries on Lammas Even, 1508. 



By G. W. Shirley. 



The sharp, decisive and fatal conflict at Dumfries, 

 known contemporaneously as the Raid of Lammas Even, 

 took place on the 31st of July, 1508. It had no result of 

 national significance, although it caused much stir at the 

 time. The ready and judicious action of the King, James 

 lY., " suddenlye quyeted and stancheit " it. The principal 

 partakers in it perished only five years later on the same 

 woeful field, and thus it does not appear to have contributed 

 in any material degree to family feud. Consequently it has 

 been neglected by historians, and its cause and effect have 

 remained obscure. The raid was, none the less, of peculiar 

 importance to the burgh within which it took place. The 

 possession of dearly cherished rights was challenged, and, 

 had the fight turned otherwise, these might have been lost,, 

 with inevitable reduction in the status of the good town. 



In an early volume of our Transactions James Starke of 



