1870.] Archaeology. 385 



ascribed the phenomena of disease, especially epilepsy and mania. 

 Trees, rivers, sun, moon, heaven, earth, &c, furnish other spiritual 

 beings, which again are divided into favourable and harmful spirits, 

 causes of good and evil, and thus Dualism is a fundamental prin- 

 ciple in the religions of the lower races. The culminating notion 

 of a Supreme Deity is well known to many of these races. 



The President, Professor Huxley (May 10), delivered an address 

 on the Ethnology of Great Britain. 



He showed that the oldest accounts of the peoples of these 

 islands prove the existence of two types of people, physically dis- 

 tinct — the one tall, fair, yellow-haired, and blue-eyed ; the other 

 short and dark, with dark hair and black eyes. This dark type, as 

 exemplified in the ancient Silures, closely resembled the people of 

 Aquitania and Iberia, whilst the fair type bore considerable resem- 

 blance to the Belgae of north-eastern France, and what is now called 

 Belgium. Both peoples spoke dialects of a Celtic language. Pro- 

 fessor Huxley did not consider that the invasions of Britain really 

 introduced a new element into the pre-existing population ; it seems 

 doubtful if the Eoman occupation strengthened the fair or the dark 

 element. The invasions of the low Dutch and the Danes strength- 

 ened the fair element. 



In the paper which followed, the Eev. Dr. Nicholas endeavoured 

 to show that " the influence of the Norman conquest on the Eth- 

 nology of Britain " was greatly gainful to the old British or Gallo- 

 Celtic population, seeing that the Normans, so-called, were in a far 

 greater degree Cymric and Gallo-Frankish in blood. 



In his Anniversary Address (May 24) Professor Huxley spoke 

 of the efforts that had been made to amalgamate the Ethnological 

 and Anthropological Societies, and pointed out the desirableness of 

 union between the several Societies having kindred objects in view. 



Anthropological Society. 



Two papers were read before this Society on April 5th, by Mr. 

 Hodder M. Westropp, and Mr. C. Staniland Wake, the former en- 

 titled " On Phallic Worship," and the latter " On the Influence of 

 the Phallic Idea in the Beligions of Antiquity." 



On the 19th April, Mr. Alfred Sanders read a paper " On Mr. 

 Darwin's Hypothesis of Pangenesis as applied to the Faculty of 

 Memory." 



Mr. George C. Thompson contributed a note "On Consan- 

 guineous Marriages." From the paper and its discussion it would 

 appear that the practice of interbreeding was not only not neces- 

 sarily injurious, but oy judicious selection an improved race of men 

 might be obtained. The difficulty of course, is to carry out in 



