therefore, sees here "much stolen gear," and lo! and behold! his own hood which had been taken from him in the morning, and which he knows again as well as he knows his creed. But "lack of money" is again his evil genius, and he has had enough law for the present, so he wends his way bareheaded still, and presently is pressed into a tavern by an officious landlord, who takes him by the sleeve and asks him to "assay" his wine. Quite wearied with his adventures, he cannot resist this last appeal to his beggarly purse; he spends the only penny he has got in a pint of wine, and, sore-a-hungered, wends his way home. FOURTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, November 27th, 1865. J. A. PICTON, Esq., F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Ladies were present at this meeting, on the invitation of the Council. The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. Messrs. Frederick C. Estill, Arthur W. Biggs, William Mountfield, and Dr. Spola, were balloted for, and duly elected ordinary members. Dr. COLLINGWOOD drew attention to the investigations of three foreign naturalists, bearing upon the Darwinian theory. The first of these was Fritz Müller, who had written a work entitled, "Für Darwin," in which he examines the theory by the test of the development of the crustacea, and the results he arrives at are corroborative of the correctness of Mr. Darwin's views. The second was Dr. Walsh, of America, who has been investigating the variations of insects dependent upon the nature of their food-plant, and comes to the conclusion that he cannot discover where varieties end and species begin, and is disposed to consider that varieties strengthen and become species, and that the difference between them is merely one of mode and degree. The third was M. Matteucci, who has described an apparently rudimentary electric organ in the ray, analogous to that known in the torpedo, and the existence of which might be considered as linking the perfect electric organ of the latter with non-electrical fishes. Mr. FERGUSON referred to the abundance of the hummingbird hawk-moth during the past summer, and instanced its occurrence as far north as the northern part of Aberdeenshire. Dr. GINSBURG, Vice-President, then took the Chair, and a paper was read ON ENGLISH COINAGE, By J. A. PICTON, ESQ., President. After the paper some discussion arose, in which Dr. Ginsburg, Mr. Towson, Dr. Collingwood, and others took part; and the meeting then adjourned. FIFTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, December 11th, 1865. J. A. PICTON, Esq., F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Ladies were present at this meeting, on the invitation of the Council. The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. Mr. ENGLISH exhibited some paper made from the bamboo cane, which had been sent by Mr. Robertson Gladstone, and observed that the bamboo was likely to be extensively used in paper making, thirty-one vessels having been chartered to convey the bamboo from Jamaica to New York, in addition to others chartered to bring it to this country. The bamboo could be had for the gathering, and was, therefore, inexpensive. The Rev. Mr. HIGGINS mentioned, as a fact illustrating the extreme mildness of the season, that in a walk round his garden on the previous day he found thirty-one different plants in bloom—a circumstance of very unusual occurrence on the 10th December. The Rev. J. Edwin Odgers was duly elected an ordinary member of the Society. Captain Walker, of the ship "Trenton," was duly elected an Associate of the Society. A paper was then read on INDIA: ITS HISTORY, CHARACTERS, AND WITH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE THREE PRINCIPAL RACES, Illustrated by a Panorama, and Views of the three Presidencies, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay; Court Dresses of the Ladies and Gentlemen; and various Cities, Palaces, &c., exhibited by means of the Oxy-Hydrogen Lantern. BY MR. D. MONECKJEE LALCACA. E SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, January 8th, 1866. J. A. PICTON, Esq., F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. Mr. James Thomson was duly elected an ordinary member of the Society. A communication from the Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster, relative to the restoration of the Chapter House at Westminster, having been read, it was unanimously resolved, "That this Society desires to record its cordial approval of the proceedings taken to induce her Majesty's Government to adopt measures for the restoration of the Chapter House at Westminster, as a national monument alike interesting from its beauty as a work of art, and its connexion with the early history and progress of the English constitution; and would lend its aid in earnestly pressing on the proper authorities the desirability of early action, which it believes will be gratifying to the nation at large." It was further resolved, "That the President be requested to comply with the wish of Dean Stanley, the chairman of the Restoration Committee, to add his name to that committee." Mr. A. HIGGINSON exhibited a garment made from the Lace-bark tree of Jamaica. The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS made some observations regarding the calculation of the rising and setting of a star without the use of instruments. Dr. GINSBURG exhibited an ancient Jewish marriage contract. The following paper was then read ; AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. BY JOHN NEWTON, Esq., M. R. C. S. 1. WHAT WAS THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY OUR LORD? 2. WHAT WAS THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH MATTHEW WROTE HIS GOSPEL? The questions which I have put at the head of this Paper might well engage our attention as literary exercises, even if they had not the additional interest derived from sacred associations. I shall discuss them in the order in which they are placed, since the answer to the first question must be allowed great weight in deciding the second. At the outset, then, the broad fact confronts us, that the discourses and sayings of our Lord have been preserved to our time in one language the Greek. From this, as the one sole fountainhead, all the innumerable versions, ancient and modern, have been derived. Must we, therefore, take it for certainly proved that He spoke Greek? Surely not. For, whether right or wrong, it seems to have been the almost universal opinion, from the days of Eusebius, Chrysostom, and Jerome, even down to our own time, that Christ spoke the Hebrew language; not, indeed, the literary Hebrew as we have it in the sacred books, but a modernised dialect of it, containing many Chaldee and Syriac words. The reasons for this opinion are many and cogent. We shall briefly state them. The sacred literature of the Jews has been preserved, by what may most truly be called a miracle, down to our own times. It has always been transmitted by them with super |