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. 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. for this opinion are many and cogent. state them. The reasons We shall briefly 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 stitious care, and regarded with a reverence approaching to worship. It is written throughout in Hebrew, and no one has ever disputed that this is the original language. We have here an unbroken succession of Hebrew records, from the time of. Moses to that of Nehemiah and Malachi; thus extending to within about 390 years of the birth of Christ. The language in which they are written is often styled by the writers themselves "The Jews' language" (Isa. xxxvi. 13; Nehem. xiii. 24). In the New Testament it is called "The Hebrew Tongue" (John v. 2; Acts xxvi. 14). By the later Jews, "The Holy Tongue," a phrase that well expresses their affectionate reverence. Now, we have no record that the Jews ever lost the use of this their native language. They had been carried away captive into Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia, yet they still retained it, as we see in the pages of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many a glimpse, indeed, is afforded us of the tenacity with which the exiled Hebrews clung to the religion and language of their forefathers. By the rivers of Babylon they were called on to sing one of those sacred songs the fame of which had been wafted to foreign lands; but they refused to sing Jehovah's Song to make mirth for the heathen and the stranger. Psalm cxxxvii. 4. During the interval between the last of the inspired Hebrew writers and the birth of Christ, two fresh waves of conquest swept over their land; but neither their Greek nor their Roman masters again displaced them from the country of their forefathers. The great temple of Solomon, pillaged of its treasures, and left a ruin, by the Babylonians, but repaired through the piety of Nehemiah, and farther beautified and extended by Herod the Great, remained to the time of Christ. It was looked on as the palladium of Jewish nationality, and something of the ancient splendour of their religious rites was still preserved. To the Holy Land, but especially to Jerusalem, the Jewish pilgrims flocked from all |