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in any dictionary, a number of most obscure phrases, and a number of whole 
sentences which are positively incomprehensible. I am inclined to think that 
the printers must have made many of the blunders ; but I think the Pro- 
fessor would have done well if he had taken care to correct the proof-sheets 
properly. Here is one passage, on page 204, which has puzzled me vastly, 
and I suspect it must be some blunder of the printers : — 
“ Evidently dissatisfied with the utter barbarism proposed by Sir John 
Lubbock as the condition of ‘ the first man worthy of being so called,’ as well 
as the inuendo referring to the gorilla, or some other creature not worthy to 
be so called, he clearly points out ‘ that utter barbarism is by no means a 
necessary consequence of all the races of mankind, however, whenever, or 
wherever originating.” 
Now, what that means I cannot tell, any more than the man in the moon. 
(Laughter.) I think the word “ consequence ” is a misprint, for I know from 
my own experience that the printers do make curious blunders sometimes. I 
remember that in one of the papers I read here myself, I quoted the words of 
St. Paul : — “ The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” — 
( Titus i. 12) ; but the printers made it : — “The Cretans are always lions and 
low-minded bullies.” (Laughter.) I have, therefore, good reason to know that 
they make serious blunders sometimes 
Mr. Reddie. — But this is a quotation from the Duke of Argyll. I have 
no doubt, however, there is some mistake in it. 
Mr. Row. — I am inclined to think there must be 
Professor Macdonald. — Lay all the blame on me. Do not find so much 
fault with the printers. 
Mr. Row. — The next thing that strikes me is that where the Professor 
merely asserts a thing, or says he thinks it possible, he imagines he has proved 
it to be a fact. That is a fault running from one end of the paper to the 
other. Take page 212, where he says : — 
“ To return from this digression. We may suppose that the ark floated 
upon the surface of the ocean by way either of the Straits of Gibraltar ” — 
Of course, we may suppose it, but that does not prove the fact. 
“ — or it may even have been carried into the narrow neck of land along 
the base of the Pyrenees.” 
That is also possible, but I want a proof. Then he says, further on : — 
“ In order to reduce the Diluvian flood, a powerful wind passed over 
the earth to cause the waters to assuage. The fountains of the deep were 
stopped (possibly by the submergence of the isle) ” — 
Of course it is possible ; but we want a proof. It is possible that you may 
put a £1,000 note into my pocket, but I do not think I shall find it there 
when I come to examine it. There are many people who are in the habit 
of continually referring to the bank of Messrs. Possibility and Co., and who 
allow people to draw on them to any extent, but they pay only in paper which 
