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of the hill was made to Lough Money, and after a visit to the 

 ruined Stone Circle near Ballyalton, the party returned to 

 Downpatrick, passing on the way the Gallows Hill. A brief visit 

 to the grave of St. Patrick in the grounds of the Cathedral was 

 made before tea, which was partaken of at the Down Hunt Arms. 

 The botanists reported several Summer flowers in bloom, including 

 Daisies, Buttercups, Dandelions, Field Madder, a species of 

 Geranium, Dead Nettle, Toad-Flax, and an abundance of Gorse, 

 showing the unseasonableness of the weather, which had prevented 

 these plants from obtaining their customary Winter sleep. 



"THE WORSHIP OF THE MAGNA MATER." 



The third meeting of the Winter Session was held in the 

 Museum on the 21st January. The President (Rev. Canon Lett, 

 M.R.I. A.) occupied the chair. 



Major R. G. Berry, M.R.I.A., delivered a most interesting 

 lecture on "The Worship of the Magna Mater." He stated that 

 for some years past he had devoted a considerable amount of 

 attention to the Neolithic civilisation of the Mediterranean area 

 and its extensions, and his conclusions had led him to the belief 

 that there existed in Neolithic times a great goddess cult which 

 had its beginnings among the Palaeolithic cave dwellers, probably 

 from the worship of an earlier steatophagous race. The process 

 of anthropomorphism from pillars of wood and stone and from 

 totemic animals could be witnessed from Sinai to France and from 

 Egypt to the British Isles. The lecturer called attention to the 

 difference in the conformation of the earth to-day from that 

 displayed in prehistoric times, when a great central sea had 

 occupied the heart of Asia and land-bridges connected Africa with 

 Europe, and when the North Sea and English Channel were dryland. 

 About 7,000 B.C. there was an invasion of Egypt from the direction 

 of the Red Sea by people who differed very little physically from 

 the early Egyptians, but bringing with them new gods. These 



