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this time there have been no unusual importations of a foreign 

 element into Ireland. The great bulk of the people still remain 

 Celtic, except in the north-eastern part of the island, where the 

 Saxon element is strongly represented by the descendants of 

 English and of Lowland Scotch settlers. The Post-Office Direc- 

 tories of this portion furnish the most convincing testimony to 

 this fact in the excess of Saxon over Celtic names to be found 

 therein. The fusion of the two races has been carried out here, 

 perhaps, better than in any other part of the island ; and it may 

 not be too much to say that the comparatively great prosperity of 

 the North is in the main owing to this wholesome blending of 

 blood and interests. 



On the 1 2th of March, Mr. Robert Smith read a paper on 

 " Darwinism" of which the following is an abstract. 



The theory, that life in our planet has been progressive, that 

 by a process termed evolution low forms of life have been gradu- 

 ally and slowly raised to the highest stages of development, and 

 that man himself is no exception to the rule, is a doctrine which 

 is rapidly gaining ground among scientific naturalists. Mr. Darwin 

 has been its great exponent. He has devoted his whole life to the 

 investigation and elucidation of the problems involved in its con- 

 sideration, and the various books he has written prove his great 

 capacity for dealing with so difficult and intricate a subject. 



Although accepted very generally by scientific men, and by 

 nearly all the great naturalists of Europe, his views have met with 

 violent opposition from many of his countrymen. The reason of 

 that opposition I believe to be, the feeling that there is something 

 irreligious in his teachings. It seems to them, that natural selec- 

 tion, and accidental variation, are put in the place of God, and 

 that it only requires the addition of spontaneous generation of the 

 primal germs to be thoroughly atheistic. This seems to me a 

 great mistake ; and as it is one which, more than any other, prevents 

 many from even looking at the facts and arguments which estab- 



