1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 17 



civil year is a practical modification of the Hindoo astronomical 

 year. 



The proceedings of the meeting Avere closed by reading a letter from 

 Major Strutt, giving a description of a Greek coin of Sophytus, which 

 had been purchased in the Peshawur district, with other coins of the 

 Bactrian series : also a gold Diodorus and a Bucephalus in excellent 

 preservation. 



At the July meeting, a paper was read by Mr. Ball of the Geologi- 

 cal Survey, on the Jungle products used as articles of food by the 

 inhabitants of the district of Manbhoom and Hazareebagh ; a subject 

 of peculiar interest at the time when so large a number of human be- 

 ings were perishing from want of grain. Mr. Ball described the pro- 

 ducts under six headings, viz. — fruit, seed, flowers, leaves and stems, 

 roots and fungi Specimens of all were laid on the table, with a 

 Botanical description of each. It appears from Mr. Ball's paper that 

 a number of the people of the aboriginal tribes, such as the Santhals 

 and Coles, as well as the poorer classes of Hindus, depend solely on the 

 Jungle to supply them with food, for two or three months in the year. 

 Some useful information was then communicated by the author, in 

 reply to various questions put by the meeting. 



A paper was then read by the Secretary from Mr. Amery, Superin- 

 tendent of arboriculture at Lahore, on the origin of races ; in which he 

 stated his impression that the human race consisted of a genus com- 

 prising several well marked species, some of the particular characters 

 of which are illustrated in the physical and mental characters of 

 the Australian, the American, the Indian, the Negro, the Mongol 

 and the Caucasian. That the different types of men occupy areas 

 corresponding to the different Geological and Botanical provinces, 

 and that it is improbable (Mr. Amery thinks) that they are parts 

 of the same original creations. He thinks that it is a remarkable 

 coincidence that the race peopling even geologically newer regions, 

 is higher in the scale, than the race of the next older region. 

 Mr. Amery deduces from the study of this subject, that different 

 types of men are separated by wide differences, and that every 

 argument, which has been advanced in support of the unity of the 

 race, will be found, if tested critically, a vain effort to reconcile 

 facts with pre-conceived theories ; also that different capacities are 



