590 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 



tions of mankind render Lis diffusion from a single origin a matter 

 of no difficulty ; and thirdly, that, accepting the fact of man's im- 

 mense antiquity, and the laws of variation and survival of the fittest, 

 which Mr. Darwin had shown to exist throughout all organic 

 nature, it was easy to understand how the varieties we now find 

 could have been produced. Mr. Crawfurd replied by ridiculing the 

 theory of the development of monads into monkeys and men, which 

 he persisted in attributing to Mr. Darwin. 



Mr. Crawford., then read another paper on the " Migration of 

 Sugar-producing Plants," which caused no discussion ; after which 

 a vote of thanks was passed to the author for the numerous papers 

 he had contributed. 



The proceedings of this Section terminated by the reading of a 

 paper of much interest, " On the Wild Indians of Peru," by Antonio 

 Kainioudi, Professor in the University of San Marcos, Lima. These 

 Indians were called Campas. They made only a shelter of leaves 

 for houses ; the men were idle, the women slaves. Their language 

 was full of vowels ; they could only count to four. They had no 

 idols or religious ceremonies, and threw their dead into the river 

 with a stone tied to the body to make it sink. The posterior part 

 of the cranium was much developed as compared with the anterior 

 part, the orifice of the ear being thrown much forward, and the 

 author thought the position of the ear was of much importance in 

 comparing the intellectual development of different races. 



As a whole, the proceedings of' this Section were somewhat 

 below the average of interest. The only complete and carefully 

 prepared papers were those of Sir John Lubbock on the " Early 

 Condition of Man," and Mr. Crawfurd on the " Paces of India," — 

 while the former alone could lay claim to acy connected and 

 exhaustive reasoning. The want of some preliminary arrangement 

 of the papers was also seriously felt. On each of the subjects of 

 " Palestine " and the " Isthmus of Panama," there were several 

 papers which, if grouped together and cut down to the really 

 original and interesting matter in each, might have furnished 

 interesting matter for a day's discussion. These were, however, read 

 for the most part separately, and weary repetitions of uninteresting 

 and well-known details formed their prominent feature. The 

 Ethnological papers and discussions were those from which the 

 people of Dundee probably derived most amusement and informa- 

 tion, as well as some new and, to them, startling ideas. 



Mechanical Science. (Section G.) 



Instead of opening the business of the Section by a formal 

 address, the President, Professor "W. J. M. Eankine, recapitulated 



