1877-1878.] 3i* 



the president was referred to, and reviewed at length, Dr. Macllwaine 

 remarking that the subject chosen by Dr. Allan Thompson, namely, 

 *' Development of the Forms of Animal Life/' leading to a thorough 

 endorsement of evolution, as advocated by Darwin, seemed hardly 

 an appropriate one for such an occasion. The address was, in a 

 great measure, a lecture on embryology, in the treatment of which 

 terms were introduced which could hardly be intelligible to any mixed 

 audience, the whole being more suited to an anatomical lecture- 

 room than to the assembly then present. In his remarks upon 

 the address, Dr. Macllwaine took occasion to draw a comparison 

 between it and that delivered by Dr. Andrews, at Glasgow, which 

 was a complete contrast to its successor, being a comprehensive 

 review of the progress of science generally, and delivered in terms 

 which were level with the comprehensions of all who heard it. 



A review of the subjects discussed and of the several addresses 

 delivered by the presidents of the various sections was then entered 

 upon, chiefly those connected with the subjects in which the Club 

 was most interested^geology and anthropology, as brought forward 

 at Plymouth, were fully examined, and the interesting results of 

 "cave hunting," which had been almost erected into a science of 

 late years. It was at this point that several sciences might, in a 

 sense, be said to meet, such as geology and biology and, in a sense, 

 archaeology and history. Dr. Macllwaine gave an interesting 

 sketch of the subjects discussed by Dr. Gwynn Jeffreys and Mr. 

 Pengelly in the biological section, remarking that the former dis- 

 tinctly avowed an entirely opposite conclusion to that of Dr. Allan 

 Thompson, on the subject of evolution, and also showed how much 

 moderation ought to be used by those who attempted theorising 

 on insufficient grounds. An instance of this occurred in the case 

 of the assertion made by several of late, that the process of a 

 chalk formation was going on in the mud of the Atlantic, as 

 evidenced by the late deep-sea dredgings, which Mr. Jeffreys 

 showed to be utterly untenable. Dr. Macllwaine compared such 



