race, and none have done so to any appreciable degree with any of the other Oceanic races. In Malacca and Timor, the only portion of the Malay Archipelago long held by the Portuguese, a cross-race has sprung up with so much of Malay blood as to be hardly distinguishable from the Malays themselves. In the Philippines a far more considerable population has arisen from the union of the Spaniards with the natives, known, as is the cross of the Red Man with the Spaniard, by the name of Mestizoes, or hybrids. We possess one unique example of a hybrid race from the union of the European with the brown Polynesian, and have the blood of the two parties of equal amount. This is the case of the mutineers of the Bounty, who settled in the little unoccupied island of Pitcairn in 1790. In 1793 the colony consisted of the following parties:-nine Englishmen, thirteen Tahitian women, and six Tahitian men, making a total of twenty-eight persons. In 1814 they had increased to forty-eight; in 1831, to eighty-seven; in 1853 to one hundred and seventy; and in 1862, removed to Norfolk Island, Pitcairn being found too small to maintain them, they had risen to the number of two hundred and sixty-eight, so that in seventy years time the population had multiplied full nine-fold. The Tahitian men left no offspring, and as neither European nor Polynesian has from the first joined them, they may be described as pure Mestizoes, or half-castes. When seen in 1814, a few of the members of this peculiar colony were of the dark complexion of the first mothers, but the majority, following the physical characters of the fathers, were not to be distinguished from the inhabitants of an ordinary English village. As at present settled in Norfolk Island, they are found to be wanting in the energy and enterprise of their paternal forefathers. A noticeable fact connected with this little community is the rapid increase of population, and this without any addition by immigration. It is a contrast to the stationary or retrograde state of population in the other islands of the Pacific. The difference, no doubt, has arisen from superiority of race and civilization; and although the last of these had no higher source than a midshipman and eight English sailors, it was sufficient to generate intelligence and industry, and to exempt the colonists from the social vices which elsewhere hinder the advance of population.

Professor WILSON said that he had devoted a great deal of time to the question of the mixture of races on the North American Continent. In the case of the Negro the subject was surrounded by so many social difficulties that so far as important ethnological results were concerned, it could scarcely be said to have had a fair trial. Not so, however, in the case of the red man. There was no legal impediment to marriage between a Red Indian and a white man;

some of the latter even boasted of their Indian descent. The colonists who went from this country to the North American Continent in the early years of settlement were generally young, unmarried men, who united themselves, either with or without marriage, to Indian women. In process of time there arose a vast population possessing English and Indian blood in their veins—such, for instance, as was found on the Red River settlement. These people possessed physical qualities of a high order-were persevering in the chase, and valiant in fight with their enemies. They were, however, to some extent, civilised, being chiefly Roman Catholics in religion, and no longer using the scalping knife upon their vanquished foes. When introduced into the society of Anglo-Saxons they frequently manifested very superior intelligence and ability, indicating no degree of inferiority whatever as compared with what was usually called the superior race. One of these persons had been under his (Professor Wilson's) instructions at University College, had taken his B.A. degree with honours in classics, and afterwards visited England as an agent of the Red River Settlements. Assuming that the Red Indian was an inferior race, and the Anglo-Saxon one of the highest types of man, the instance he had given would go to prove that the mixture of inferior and superior races did not cause either one or the other to deteriorate. The problem could not be tried to the extent to which it was desirable to carry it, as the white men had arrived in America in such vast numbers as to drive the aborigines before them; but it did not follow that the Red Indian disappeared because he was the inferior race. The Red River settlement was an illustration of the amalgamation of the two races without such deterioration, and he (Professor Wilson) believed that there was a much larger admixture of Indian blood in the white population of the American Continent than was generally supposed; and that this accounted for some of the peculiarities of the American, as contrasted with the European character. He believed that a mixture might take place between the white and the red race, with benefit to both. He thought that the same doctrine would apply with respect to the Negro and white man, though in that case there had not been so fair a trial as in the case of the Indian.

Mr. CRAFT said that being of African extraction, he felt called upon to make a few remarks upon the subject under discussion. He did not quite understand whether the author of the essay to which they had listened intended to say that no amalgamation had taken place between the Negro and the Anglo-Saxon race in the United States. He thought that Mr. Crawfurd had intimated that there was a very strong antipathy between the two races, and that the laws of the Southern States prohibited intermarriage between the Negro and the whites. He submitted that in spite of those laws there was a large population claiming affinity with both races. He thought he should be right in saying that nearly two-thirds of the Negroes in the Northern states of America had more or less of European blood in them, and he also believed that had it not been for that amalgamation, instead of there being 4,000,000 of slaves in those states there

probably would not have been more than 1,000,000. He would simply state, on behalf of the African race, that whenever they had had equal opportunities with the whites they had shown that they possessed considerable intellectual ability, and many of them had risen to very high position in society. He mentioned that, in order that persons who were not acquainted with Africans might understand that there was just as much difference between individual Africans as between individual Englishmen. He found that all Englishmen were not Shakespeares. He did not admit that Kaffirs were fair specimens of the Negro race.

Dr. JAMES HUNT agreed with the author of the essay in the general conclusions at which he had arrived, but he thought he had not dwelt sufficiently on the great physiological law which was admitted by most observers, that where the intermixture was kept up through succeeding generations the offspring gradually died out, and the race became extinct. He thought that the laws in the Southern states of America against the intermarriage of the negroes and the whites were wise laws, but he admitted that the subject was surrounded by considerable difficulties.

Mr. MARKHAM cited some instances from the Continent of South America, to prove that intermarriages between European and native American tribes tended to improve the intellectual and physical character of the population.

The discussion was continued by Professor Wilson, Mr. Carter Blake, Mr. Ralph Carr, and Mr. Craft.

Troops in India. By Dr. CAMPS (H.)-An analysis was given of the recent report on the sanitary state of our army in India. The conclusions drawn were:-1. That by far the larger proportion of the mortality and inefficiency in the Indian army has arisen from endemic diseases, and notably from fevers, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, and from diseases of the liver. 2. That the predisposition to these diseases is in part attributable to malaria, in conjunction with extremes of temperature, moisture, and variability. 3. But that there are other causes of a very active kind in India connected with stations, barracks, hospitals, and the habits of the men, of the same nature as those which are known in colder climates to occasion attacks of the very diseases from which the Indian army suffers so severely.

Dr. JAMES BIRD said that Dr. Camps's paper seemed to be an abstract of the Sanitary Commissioners' Report, which he contendedby leaving out the ratio between peace and war-was not correct in its statistics. The returns were mixed returns: it was absolutely necessary, in order to obtain a correct result, that the peace and war returns should be separated. He had no fear of the climate, if the sanitary measures necessary were carried out. Dr. Edward Balfour said, in 1849, that he differed entirely from Col. Sykes's conclusion, that intemperance and vice were the main causes of disease; and he

(Dr. Bird) differed from them also. The causes of the excessive mortality were heat, moisture, and localities. The Station Reports showed that; although vice and intemperance had their effect. The colonel seemed to think that the rate of mortality in India was 67.9. He had shown that in the last twenty-six years it had scarcely exceeded 44, and in the last five years it had not exceeded 35. He dissented from the colonel's opinion as to the excellence of the barracks. The great mortality was increased by ill-ventilated barracks, and the filthy cesspools in the midst of them. He believed the proper remedial measures applied to them would cause life to be preserved in India as well as in any other country. He held that the respiratory functions of the human body could be acclimatized to a warm region; but it was impossible to acclimatize any human body to miasmata; and he fully believed that, in order to lessen the mortality of the troops in India, it would be necessary to lay a good foundation for the barracks, and attend to their arrangements as carefully as those of workhouses and hospitals in this country were made.

Dr. JAMES HUNT entirely disagreed with Dr. Bird on the subject of acclimatization. There was a physiological change produced; but it was not acclimatization, but the gradual production of disease. With regard to the fact of the mortality being chiefly put down to intemperance and immorality, he must say he could find no evidence of that. It was certain that in such climates as that of India, it was necessary for European inhabitants to take stimulants; the defence of teetotalism for India was objectionable. He held that there should be a judicious selection of men suited to hot climates; they could not preserve every one in health there. As for attempting to rear the children of European parents, the system was utterly false. Throughout the whole of Bengal, there was not the third generation of Europeans; the mortality among children was excessive, and, in fact, it was utterly impossible to rear children. His conclusion was, that the only way to cause a decrease of mortality among the troops, would be the selection of men suitable for the climate. By a study of temperaments and other peculiarities, it was possible to predict with a degree of certainty, which he found most surprising, what would be the influence of climate on different temperaments.

Colonel SYKES defended the Commission from the statements of Dr. Bird. For their reports they had the authority of a very great number of witnesses, and there could be no impeachment of the integrity of its members. Where great heat and moisture existed, disease prevailed; but he found that where great heat prevailed along with dryness, it was not detrimental to the health of the men. The great evil of the whole system, was the employment of European troops in such numbers without real necessity, thus causing an enormous amount of misery amongst the families of the labouring poor in England. That was what most of all he deplored. A very great deal of expense had been incurred in barrack accommodation; and he was still of opinion that vice and intemperance were fruitful sources of disease. After considering what we had lost, the question for them was, what were we likely to lose in the future? At all events, we

should preserve our power in India with the very smallest possible number of English troops; and he should even be inclined for us to run some risk for the sake of humanity, and for the preservation of the youthful blood and sinew of the country.

Dr. HANCOCK was of opinion that vice was a great source of the disease in India, but that was created in a great measure by the restrictions on marriage. The climate was not the cause. The arbitrary restrictions on the marriage of the men deprived them alike of friends and family, and they were driven to the vices which ultimately brought them to the hospitals.

Colonel BAKER thought that the conclusion drawn from the papers before them, that the average 679 per thousand was the true average of the mortality of troops in India, was erroneous. He maintained that the sanitary measures of the Government in India had been very effective, and had reduced the average mortality in time of peace.

Instinctive Actions. Dr. WM. MURRAY (Da) endeavoured to demonstrate the part which each of the sources of nervous power plays in generating those effects, which, in the aggregate, make up an instinctive act or set of actions. The author thought that the instinctive movements of animals, and their nerves or physical construction, do not differ from those of man in kind, but in degree. In man the volitional, as representing reason, abstract deduction, and experience, is immensely superior to the others. As we descend in the social scale, we find the emotional, as the originator of the purely and really instinctive movements, become more prominent, and generally carrying the will with it, for we very seldom see an animal going contrary to his instincts. Lower still in the scale, we find all the arts necessary to the life of the animal left to the care and control of reflex action. Was there, then, he asked, in animals an intelligence? And his reply was- -We strongly incline to the belief that there is, and that it varies in its power with the kind of animal, and manifests its existence by the extent to which it controls the emotional or purely instinctive part of his actions.

Dr. B. W. RICHARDSON rejoiced that the time had come when the convictions of men of science could be freely expressed, and when they dared to assert that there was nothing in man that might not be understood. Physiologists ought not to admit that there was any hidden vital force or mysterious entity in man which could not be comprehended or explained. For his own part, he would go still further than Dr. Murray had gone, and assert every influence upon man to be from without. Men were moved and controlled by the eternal universe alone; and a Shakespeare himself, in grandest poetic effort, was but giving up through his hands that which he had received and concentrated from the universe around him.

On Life in the Atmosphere. By JAMES SAMUELSON, ESQ. (D a.)