very coarse, and the lamina were vertical. Until the observations and experiments of Professor Tyndal, no explanation. could be offered. But supposing pressure to be capable of producing the effects ascribed to it, they had the key at once. Some powerful upheaval had first split the sandstone and forced it upwards, causing a wedge-shaped cleft. This would be subsequently filled up with sand of a looser kind, washed down into it probably by the northern drift. The upheaving cause ceasing, by the cooling of the strata below, or some other cause, the two sides of the cleft would come together again, and the amount of the pressure they would exert would be something perfectly inconceivable; and if the effects that had been described could be produced by pressure, doubtless it would be sufficient to account for the vertical strata at this particular spot.

Professor ARCHER read the second of his series of on ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY,—

PRODUCTS OF THE QUADRUMANA.

papers

Dr. INMAN, in allusion to a remark made by the author as to the similarity between the flesh of monkeys and that of human beings, referred to some inquiries which he had made of a patient in the Northern Hospital who had been amongst the cannibals, as to their ideas on the subject of eating human flesh. He was told that they were great connoisseurs in the article. They considered the flesh of a white man not quite so good as pork, but that of a black man much better. During the long period his informant was among them, he did not think the utmost extent of his influence would have been able to save a black man.

SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 12th December, 1859.

The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. MORTON, F.G.S., exhibited several specimens of siennite, hornestone, granite, and other materials, taken out of the boulder-clay, in the neighbourhood of Kirkdale. They belonged to the same formation as prevailed in the Alps and Snowdon, and had no doubt been deposited by icebergs formed from glaciers. Immense quantities of earth and stones were sometimes met with on icebergs.

Mr. DUCKWORTH, F.R.G.S., in handing a curious old volume to the chairman, said, knowing how very scarce Samaritan manuscripts were, not only in this but in every other country, he thought it would be interesting to the members of the society to see one which he had picked up at Nablous, the ancient Sychar, when he was in Palestine. He obtained it through Jacob-es-Shelaby, the Samaritan, who visited England four or five years ago, for the purpose of collecting money for his poor brethren, who still, as of old, worshipped and sacrificed on Mount Gerizim. On the authority of Mr. Clarke, to whom he showed the MS. lately at the British Museum, it was a portion of the Pentateuch, commencing with the 15th verse of the 10th chapter of Leviticus, and continued without break to the 48th verse of the 25th chapter; there it stopped short and jumped into the 10th verse of the 2nd chapter of Numbers. The last verse was the 5th of the 5th chapter. The age of the MS. was uncertain. Jacob informed him that it was 900 years old, but he had no means of proving the truth of the

assertion.

The following Papers were then read:

ADAPTABILITY TO ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES

AN ATTRIBUTE OF LIFE.

BY THOMAS INMAN, Esq., M.D., Sen. V.P.

THERE are few things of greater interest to man than the phenomena of life. To know how we live, and the influences which modify our condition is a constant ambition, and as every addition to our knowledge tends to shew us more of the unlimited power of the Creator, and the powerlessness of man, the search after truth has in it more than a simple interest.

I propose on the present occasion to draw attention to one of the attributes of life which has hitherto been little considered, namely:-the power existing in many living creatures of adapting themselves to altered circumstances.

No Englishman can be ignorant how some of his countrymen go to reside for years in the frozen north, where for wintry weeks together one dark night shrouds the sun from their gaze; how others live in the burning climes of India, where the heat is at times so fierce that contact with metal is absolutely painful. Nor are there wanting those who make the pestilential climate of Sierra Leone their residence for a time; and others whose days are chiefly spent in tending the fever stricken patients of hospitals, or nursing the victims of small pox, and other contagious disorders.

Yet these individuals do not die. A tree so treated would, however, do so speedily. The flora of Iceland would perish in India, and the tea of China would wither in Scotland. Even some of the higher classes of animals would perish under the same circumstances. The monkey dies in arctic regions, and the European dog lives with difficulty in the torrid zone.

It is clear that there is in man a power of adapting himself to very varied conditions.

This is to some extent due to his foresight, to his care, and to the power he has over nature and the animal and vegetable world.

Does he winter in the regions of eternal ice? he takes with him coal and the means of kindling fire; he surrounds himself as far as possible with an artificial atmosphere; and when he leaves that for the open air, he clothes himself with tho skins of animals, which he has prepared for his comfort.

Does he reside amidst fiery heat? he surrounds himself with cooling zephyrs, while the play of fountains, breezes forced through wet mats, and punkahs driven by the natives of the climate, tend to make the atmosphere bearable.

In these respects, neither animals nor plants resemble us. The starving monkey cannot light a fire, nor can a rose tree put on a great coat for winter. The sole provision nature has given to these is, that the tree sheds the leaves which the frost would kill, and exposes its trunk and branches alone to the cold; while the animal is simply provided with an extra growth of fur to meet the inclemency of the winter wind.

But there are circumstances in which man's foresight avails him little. When pestilence invades the land there is no escaping it by surrounding himself with a pure atmosphere. The poison, free as the air, is with him constantly—yet he does not succumb to its influence.

True it is, that even here science can to some extent control the march of death, and bridle seemingly the irresistible career of the invisible Azrael. But it could not do so unless the constitution of man was so framed, as to be able to tolerate the presence of noxious influences.

That man has this power few would deny, but there are not many who have an idea of its extent.

We have read of individuals exposing themselves to the

heat of a fiery furnace, remaining in it till beefsteaks were cooked at their sides, and coming out of the ordeal with scarcely a mark of anything unusual having occurred. And we have read of children who have existed for years in our own country, in a state of perfect nudity; and we believe the

statements.

But if we were told that one man could take, with apparent benefit, a drug which would kill another, we should regard the thing as too absurd to be worth a thought. Yet it is indeed literally true, "that what is one man's meat is another man's poison," and that one individual can exist and be in health, in an atmosphere which would kill another. This immunity is brought about by a gradual change of circumstances, and we cannot demonstrate the importance of this consideration better than by quoting some experiments of Claude Bernard, which I have extracted from Lewes' "Physiology of Common Life."

"A sparrow," he says, "left in a bell glass to breathe over and over again the same air, will live in it for upwards of three hours, but at the close of the second hour, when there is consequently still sufficient air to permit this sparrow's breathing it for more than an hour longer; if a fresh and vigorous sparrow be introduced, it will expire almost immediately. The air which would suffice for the respiration of one sparrow suffocates another. Nay, more, if the sparrow be taken from the glass at the close of the third hour, when very feeble, it may be restored to activity, and no sooner has it recovered sufficient vigour to fly about again, than if once more introduced into the atmosphere from which it was taken it will perish immediately. Another experiment points to a similar result. A sparrow is confined in a bell glass, and at the end of about an hour and-a-half it is still active although obviously suffering, if at this time a second sparrow is introduced, in about ten minutes it will be found that the new

E