2 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



theory as to the origin of species was briefly summarised, 

 and his chief arguments were given to prove that the 

 theory of Natural Selection accounted for the origin of 

 the human race, which must also have been evolved from 

 lower forms. The anatomy and embryology of the higher 

 Apes were dwelt upon, and compared with those of man, 

 to show their coincidence. 



Reasons were given for believing that man first appeared 

 in some of the warmer countries of the Old World, such 

 as Southern Arabia, or Northern Africa. Egypt is the 

 earliest centre of civilization as yet known. The relative 

 antiquity of the empires of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, 

 Persia, Greece, Borne, was given. The chief lines of 

 ancient migration are traceable to the southern shores of 

 the Mediterranean. Allusion was then made to earliest 

 known pottery, architecture, coins, the beginnings of lan- 

 guage and of religion (the earliest men being without 

 either), and the origin of the alphabet — from Egypt. 

 Modern savages reproduce for us many of the phases of 

 our own prehistoric past, and there are survivals of savage 

 rites and customs in our modern civilization, such as 

 tattooing, marriage by capture and circumcision. Finally 

 the comparative stagnation of the human race for untold 

 ages, was contrasted with the rapid progress at which we 

 are now advancing, and the causes for the change were 

 dwelt upon. 



