state of agitation (for warmth is, in the eye of science, tremulous molecular motion); under these circumstances the grain and the substances surrounding it interact, and a molecular architecture is the result. "A bud is formed, which reaches the surface, where it is exposed to the sun's rays, which are also to be regarded as a kind of vibratory motion, that now enables the green bud to feed upon the carbonic acid and the aqueous vapour of the air, appropriating those constituents of both for which the blade has an elective attraction, and permitting the other constituent to resume its place in the air. Thus forces are active at the root, forces are active in the blade; the matter of the earth and the matter of the atmosphere are drawn to the plant, and we have in succession the bud, the stalk, theear, and the full corn in the ear; for the forces at play act in a cycle, which is completed by the production of grain, similar to that with which the process began. "Now an intellect sufficiently expanded could see in this process, and its consummation, an instance of the play of molecular forces. It would see every molecule placed in its position by the specific attraction and repulsion existing between it and other molecules. Nay, given the grain and its environments, an intellect sufficiently expanded might trace out, a priori, every step of the process, and, by the application of mechanical principles, would be able to demonstrate that the cycle of actions must end, as it is seen to end, in the reproduction of forms like that with which the operation began. A similar NECESSITY!!* rules here, to that which rules the planets in their circuits round the sun. "But I must go still further, and affirm that in the eye of science the animal body is just as much the product of mole *The capital letters and notes of admiration are my own, not Professor Tyndall's; and have been used simply to draw attention to the principle laid down by him. cular forces as the crystal of salt or sugar. Given a sufficiently expanded intellect, and other necessary molecular data, and the chick might be deduced as rigorously and logically from the egg, as the existence of Neptune was deduced from the disturbances of Uranus." Now the views here expressed assign the construction of the Egyptian pyramids to the influence of an external mind, and yet, whilst drawing attention to the resemblance between them and crystalline structures, they exclude all idea of an influencing mind in the case of crystals, as well as in that of animal and vegetable developments; and attribute the whole of the phenomena to mechanical forces resident in the molecules, and acting of "necessity," so as to produce certain results. But even in the case of crystalline forms, we find the operation of the so-called molecular forces so far from necessarily producing certain results, that they are under the controlling influence of mind as fully as the various modifications of molecular action which we have already seen; for, in the case of these crystals of muriate of ammonia, it is the influence of my mind operating upon them, which has caused some of them to assume the form here seen, and others the arrangement here seen; whilst others again have no appearance of crystalline arrangement at all; and still others are characterised by a variety of colours, of which the rest are entirely destitute.* Nay, so far are crystalline forms from being the result of necessity, that in the very illustration chosen by our philosopher, viz., common salt, this beautiful pyramid of salt cubes now before you is the product of much intelligence, in addition to the effects of molecular forces; and the most ardent teachers of molecular forces would recognise without hesitation the influence of mind in its production. In the The different forms of crystals were shewn at the meeting. absence of controlling intelligence, we shall all feel that the result now before us would not have been obtained. And if the influence of mind is thus important, even over inorganic matter, we scarcely need to be reminded of the experiments we have already seen, illustrative of its effect upon the development of living beings, such as the seeds previously exhibited; or to be told how constantly an external mind produces its effect upon the development, both in body and mind, of the animated beings, whether rational or irrational, that are under our daily care and observation. And now, in summing up the conclusions which I wish to bring before you, I would say that the teaching of modern philosophy appears, whether designedly or not, to exclude the idea of any agency in the operations of the natural world, except so-called molecular forces, which act of "necessity" (see page 19, line 28); and my object has been to bring to our thoughts the constant sustaining and controling influence of mind over these molecular forces; and if our own limited intelligence and feeble will can continue, suspend, or modify every kind of force in nature, with which we are acquainted, we may more easily realise a sense of the constant presence and operation of the still greater Intelligence, and still more powerful Will, which first imposed what we call the laws of nature, and still sustains, controls, and modifies them at His pleasure. SECOND ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, 2nd November, 1868. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., VICE-PRESIDENT, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and signed. Messrs. W. M'Coskey, Charles Sharp, James Lloyd, B. A., W. Norrie, and J. Murray Moore, M.D. Edin., were unanimously elected Ordinary Members. Mr. Picton brought before the Society the collection of English silver coins belonging to the Free Library, and made some remarks on the method of arrangement. Mr. J. O. W. Fabert brought before the Society some exceedingly beautiful corallines from the Fiji Islands, and some clay nests made by hymenopterous insects in the cabin of a ship, lying some two miles from shore on the coast of Mexico, near Tlacatalpam. Mr. Moore remarked upon the extreme beauty, large size, and fine condition of the corallines (Distichopora coccinea and other species) exhibited by Mr. Fabert. Mr. Moore exhibited a stuffed specimen and skull of an eared seal (apparently Otaria leonina of Dr. Gray's "Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum," 2nd edit., 866, p. 59) lately collected at Islay, and presented to the Free Museum by Captain Cawne Warren, associate of the Society. Specimens of eared seals of any species are very rare in collections.* The following paper was then read: * Dr. Gray has since confirmed Mr. Moore's determination of this seal. EDITOR. ON THE PARANA INDIANS; WITH SOME EPISODES OF THE PARAGUAYAN WAR. THOMAS J. HUTCHINSON, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.L., F.E.S., F.A. S. L., &c., &c., &c., H. B. M. CONSUL FOR ROSARIO. AT the period when was discovered that part of South America through which the Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean, the whole of the territory on either side of this magnificent basin, and much of it far into the continent, was peopled by tribes of Indians. It may be scarcely necessary for me to observe that the title "Indians" was given to the Aborigines of North and South America by the celebrated Christopher Columbus, from having supposed that his first discoveries were made on islands at the extremity of India. In A.D. 1515, the Spanish navigator Don Juan de Solis, having entered this basin as its first explorer, was murdered, and Lozano says (book ii., chap. 1) eaten, by the Charrua Indians, who seduced him, with professions of friendship, to go on shore near the point now called Maldonado. His sailors gave to these waters the title of the De Solis river. Sebastian Cabot, "the goode olde famuse man," came here in A. D. 1527, twelve years afterwards; and from him, or some of his party, it received the name of Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver. When approaching this river for the first time, it is very difficult to realise the idea of its being a water-shed from inland; for it seems all that the poet Thomson describes it "The sea-like Plata, to whose dread expanse, Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course, |