JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
VICTORIA INSTITUTE, 
OE 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
ORDINARY MEETING, January 20, 1868. 
The Rev. Walter Mitchell, M.A., Vice-President, in the 
Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting haying been read and confirmed, the 
name of the following new member was announced : — 
Richard Mullings, Esq., Stratton, near Cirencester. 
It was also announced that the undermentioned book had been pre- 
sented to the Institute : — 
On Inspiration : its Nature and Extent. By the Rev. C. A. Row, M.A. 
From the Author. 
The Rev. Mr. Titcomb then read the following paper : — • 
ON THE ANTIQUITY OF CIVILIZATION. By the Rev. 
J. H. Titcomb, M.A., Mem. Vid. Inst. 
T HE early history of civilization is so completely pre- 
historic, that our only pathway of research into it is 
through the somewhat entangled mazes of archaeological 
remains, of language, and of mythology. The evidences 
supplied out of these materials are, it must be frankly owned, 
somewhat indirect ; as, however, they are only to be drawn 
from such materials, we must make the best of them. 
To the purely Christian student there is, no doubt, another 
source of authority, furnishing him with more direct and 
VOL. III. B 
