OPENING ADDRESS: 

 On the ORIGIN OF MAN— HOW DERIVED ? HIS 

 GENEALOGY AND STARTING POINT, AS ILLUS- 

 TRATED BY GEOLOGY, BIOLOGY, LANGUAGE, 

 HISTORY, THE EARLY CIVILIZATIONS 

 AND RELIGIONS. 

 By John Newton, M.R.C.S., &c, President. 



(Abstract. ) 



The surpassing interest of the subject was alluded to, and 

 the vast progress which has been made during the last 

 fifty years in all that relates to the origin and antiquity 

 of man, to his affinity with other living things, to his 

 early civilizations, arts and religions. Some account was 

 given of the ancient attempts to give an intelligible 

 account of the creation of the world, all which were 

 superseded by the Mosaic cosmogony, as it is called. 

 This was never called in question until of late. It was 

 received also as literally true by scientists, like Dr. Buck- 

 land, who in 1823 and again in 1837 affirmed its accuracy. 

 The startling discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes, pub- 

 lished in 1847-50, were dwelt upon, as well as those of 

 many other observers, which prove that man's first 

 appearance upon this earth must have taken place hun- 

 dreds of thousands of years ago, though it was late in 

 geological time. The extremely rude state of primative 

 man, the early stone ages, the later stone ages, age of 

 bronze, and age of iron were discussed, and the references 

 to these in earlv Greek and Latin writers. Darwin's 



