594th OKDINARY GENEKAL MEETING, 



HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, 

 WESTMINSTER, ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 3rd, 1917, 



AT 4.30 P.M. 



Alfred William Oke, Esq., B.A., LL.M., took the Chair. 



The Minuter of the Meeting held on ^Monday, June 18th, 1917, were 

 read and confirmed. 



The Secretary announced the election of the following Associates : — 

 Rev. W. Q. Amer, L.Th. ; Rev. H. G. Grey, M.A.; and Rev. J. W. 

 Chapp.-ll; also Rev. M. Nachim and Pastor A. McD. Redwood as 

 Missionary Associates. 



The Chairman introduced William Dale, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S., of 

 Southampton, for many years a student of prehistoric archaeology, and 

 highly esteemed for his scientific researches. 



PREHISTORIC MAN: HIS ANTIQUITY AND 

 CHARACTERISTICS. By William Dale, Esq., F.S.A., 

 F.G.S. 



THE Btudy of the ancestry of our race, and the conditions 

 under which prehistoric man lived, are subjects largely 

 to the front with thinking people to-day. It concerns 

 us all to keep abreast with the discoveries which are constantly 

 reported to us, which confirm man's great antiquity, and to 

 attempt to follow the researches of those who announce novel 

 theories respecting the descent of man, and how he became 

 specialized. A devout believer in Revelation and of an all- 

 creating God should not shrink from these statements, nor 

 deem them unworthy of his examination, although the manner 

 in which such theories are stated, and startling conclusions 

 drawn from them, may be purely scientific and materialistic. 

 Even if Science and Religion were at enmity, we should have 

 to bear in mind WelHngton's saying that the great mistake 

 in warfare is to undervalue your enemies. Much harm has 

 been done in the past by well-meaning people who have dog- 

 matically denied that with which they were very imperfectly 

 acquainted. But according to a late utterance from the Chair 



