96 



ORDINAEY MEETING, April 1, 1872. 



The Eev. C. A. Row, M.A., in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the follow- 

 ing Elections announced : — 



Associates : — Rev. John George Francis Henry Knapp, A. O.K., Vicar of 

 St. John's, Portsea ; William John Sheppard, Esq., 7, Addison Gardens, 

 South Kensington, W. ; Mrs. Thomas Geldart, Bowdon, near Man- 

 chester. 



Also, the presentation of the following works to the Library : — 

 "Proceedings of the Royal Society." Part 132. From the Society, 



Baird's " Cyclopaedia of the Natural Sciences." 



From E. Haughton, Esq., M.D. 



The following paper was then read by the Author : — 



FORCE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS. By the Rev. 

 J. M^Cann, D.D., F.R.S.L., F.G.S., Mem, Vict. Inst., ^c. 



THE subject of the following paper may be thought, at first 

 sight, not to harmonize with the objects for which this 

 Institute has been established. It may be asked, — ^^What 

 bearing has Force and its manifestations on the great truths 

 revealed in Holy Scripture?" '^^ How can a subject so exclu- 

 sively physical be made to contribute its quota towards the 

 defence of Christianity ? " It might be replied that all truths 

 are so connected together, that it is impossible to distort any 

 one, without, in some measure, distorting the remainder. There 

 are no parallel lines in the world of thought, all intersect some- 

 where; and, although the point of intersection may not imme- 

 diately be discoverable, that it exists we may be well assured. 

 Our Society has, therefore, wisely made it one object " to 

 promote the real advancement of true science " by getting rid 

 of contradictions and conflicting hypotheses." One aim of the 

 present paper is to assist in this work by exposing the unscientific 

 assumptions, the contradictory language, the illogical reasoning 



