99 



492nd OEDINAEY GENEEAL MEETING. 



MONDAY, FEBKUAEY 15th, 1909. 



Lieut.-General Sir Henry Geary, K.C.B. (V.P.) 

 IN THE Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed, and 

 the following candidate elected as an Associate of the Institute : — 



Herr Pastor Fliigel, Germany. 



The following paper, illustrated by lantern slides, was then read by 

 the Author : — 



DISCOVERIES IN BABYLONIA AND THE NEIGH- 

 BOURING LANDS. By Theophilus G. Pinches, 

 LL.D., M.E.AS. 



GEADUALLY, but surely and ever more speedily, 

 Assyriology is becoming the most important study in 

 the domain of Oriental archceology. The language of the 

 Babylonians and Assyrians proves to be a tongue of the most 

 engrossing importance, whilst that of the seemingly earlier 

 race — the Sumerians — with which it was brought into contact^ 

 is regarded by some as the coming study for those who wish to 

 acquire renown as true archteological linguists. But besides the 

 languages, with their dialects, a very specially interesting and 

 important field of study is their archaeology in general, their 

 beliefs, their manners and customs, their arts and sciences, and 

 the geography of the land. Whether we shall ever obtain 

 information as to their original home, we do not know, but 

 we may, by chance, acquire, ultimately, the information needed 

 to find out where that place may have been : and in any case, 

 we shall know all the better what influence those nations may 

 have had in the world, to say nothing of the bearing of their 

 records on the all-important subject of Bible history, thought, 

 and beliefs. A number of closely-connected nations whose 

 influence extended from Elam on the east to the Mediterranean 



