26. Are there any modern requirements which the ogival style could not satisfy?

27. To present a view of the Anglo-Saxon antiquities brought to light by excavations made in England since the commencement of the present century. To institute a parallel between these antiquities and those of the Frankish epoch which are found in the soil of ancient Gaul.

28. To present a series of figures of feudal keeps or dungeons in western Europe at certain dates, going back to the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.

29. Do there exist my certain means of distinguishing the vases of the Gauls, the Germans, the Batavians, the Britons, and the Roman or Gallo-Roman vases ?

30. Are the ceramic classifications of M. Pottier, of Rouen, for the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries (see the compte-rendu of the Scientific Congress of Rouen) accepted in England, Belgium, and Germany?

31. Where are to be found the most perfect models of Gothic civil architecture? Would it not be desirable that the monotony of modern houses should give place to ogival or Roman construction?

32. Are the white and light potteries covered externally with red lines characteristic of the thirteenth century?

33. Is the use of plaster, zinc, cast-iron, and similar materials admissible in artistic or monumental constructions?

34. What, in the different regions of Europe, has been the influence of local materials employed in ogival architecture during the middle ages?

35. A review of the art of cloth-making among the Romans as illustrated by the texts and ancient bas-reliefs which relate to this mode of industry.

36. What was the signification of the horse in the funeral bas-reliefs of Greece?

37. By what signs can the deceased person be recognized in ancient bas-reliefs representing death under the form of an adieu ?

38. A compendious account of the art of the blacksmith in the second, third, and fourth centuries, with a citation of texts and the production of bas-reliefs. 39. Do the Greek temples present curves in their principal lines? A discussion of the theories of Penrose and Boetticher on this subject.

40. Is it practicable to ascertain, by facts, the epochs of the burning and burial of the dead in the Gauls?

41. Is it possible to determine the different phases of Roman civilization in the Gauls from the study of monuments and archæological discoveries?

42. What are the principles to be pursued in the restoration of ancient monuments constructed at successive epochs and in different styles?

43. What measures should be asked from the legislature to insure the preservation of historical monuments? A succinct account to be given of the legal provisions to this end which are in force in Belgium and adjacent countries.

44. To determine the age of objects in silex from their degree of elaboration. 45. To what age may we refer the instruments cut out of bone and silex in the caverns of Arriege of the provinces of Liege, Namur, &c.?

46. According to M. de Caumont the tumuli of a great part of France are not posterior to the Antonines; can this observation be generalized for the whole of ancient Gaul, or at least for the north of that country?

HISTORY.-1. An examination of the different opinions which have been recently advanced respecting the birth place of Rubens.

2. A review of the different opinions maintained respecting the true inventors of printing, with a statement of the conclusions arrived at,

3. Is it certain that America was discovered by the populations of the north of Europe before the expedition of Columbus?

4 An estimate of Charles the Bold as warrior and politician.

5. A determination of the Hellenic and the Etruscan influence on the development of the sciences and arts in primitive Rome.

6. A verification, by positive documents, of the place of birth of Godefroid de Bouillon.

7. What was the special character of the ancient Celtic, Batavian, and Gaulish divinities?

8. What were the results of the Saxon immigrations in the eighth and Linth centuries into the ancient Low Countries and the north of France? From what motives was Charlemagne led to favor them?

9. Might not archæological and historical societies, by co-operating to this end, complete in France the work of Alexis Monteil and extend its application to other countries?

10. What, in the tenth century, were the principal routes of communication in the Netherlands and the north of France?

11. What was the place of birth, or at least the nationality, of Pierre l'Hermite?

12. Is it necessary to abandon the inquiry into the birth-place of Charlemagne?

13. A determinate geographical circumscription of the forest. Charboniere? 14. An estimate of the influence exerted by the Roman legions on the propagation of Christianity among barbarous tribes.

15. Were there personages of high rank in Roman society who as early as the first and second centuries had embraced the religion of Christ?

16. What systems for the classification of historical archives have been adopted in the different countries of Europe? What is the most rational method?

17. Indicate the processes employed in the middle ages for the manufacture of stained glass windows, distinguishing the ancient workshops most renowned for the preparation of colored glass.

18. What has been the influence of Germany on the development of public law in France?

19. What were the relations of the Flemish communes with Edward the third of England on the occasion of his wars with Philip de Valois? An appreciation of Van Artevelde in reference to the Flemish policy regarding England and France.

20. What was the topography of ancient Menapia at the time of Julius Cæsar?

21. An account of the external relations of the Society of Free Merchants of London, and the treaties of commerce which it negotiated.

22. What is the present name of the localities in which were situated the endowments conferred by Goibert and his son Guntbert, endowments verified by several diplomas of the ninth century of the cartulary of the abbey of St. Bertin? (See Cartulaire de l'Abbaye, by M. Guerard: Paris, 1841.)

23. What are the means of determining the territorial circumscriptions of the Gaulish tribes mentioned in ancient authors?

24. What was the influence of the navigation law, under Cromwell, on the development of the English marine?

25. An account of the hydraulic labors connected with the ancient course of the Scheldt towards the sea, executed by the orders of King Otho. Did not these labors give rise to two distinct enterprises: the derivation of the Scheldt from Ghent to Boterswonde under Otho I, (941-946,) and the enlargement of the passage before Flessingen, under Otho II?

26. What has been the influence of the different modes of artistic instruction employed from the thirteenth century to our own day, upon the progress of intelligence and the civilization of the popular classes?

27. An estimate of the character of the ancient schools of painting of Liege and Tournai, and their influence on the development of the Flemish school.

28. What were the causes of the development of the fine arts in Flanders in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and what was the influence of this artistic movement in France, and especially in Burgundy?

29. To what point did the religious dogmas of the Druids prepare the propa gation of Christianity among the Gauls and Britons?

30. What was the origin of the Exchange (Bourse) in commerce?

31. Is it conclusively established that the brothers Van Eyck were the inventors of painting in oil?

32. What are the best means for awakening in the people the aesthetic sentiment? Do artistic exhibitions promise in this respect the desired effect?

33. Whence did the ancient tribes of Mexico, which, according to Aztec tradition, arrived in the twelfth century in the valley of Anahuac, derive their origin! 34. What date is to be assigned to the compilation of the first book of the Chronicles of Froissart? Distinguish in this first book what pertains properly to that historian, and indicate what he has borrowed, together with the interpolations or alterations which his work may have undergone.

35. Do the Assyrian monuments discovered up to this time, and the studies of which they have been the object, enables us to state the distinctive characters of Assyrian art, or to recognize any traces of that art in the Hellenic and Etrus can civilizations?

ON VITALITY.

BY THE REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M. A.

FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, 1864.

THERE is at present among some very eminent physiologists a growing tendency to deny, or at all events to question, the existence of vitality as distinct from the action of known forces, such as heat, light, electricity, &c., or something analogous to these.

The views of the physiologists above referred to may thus be briefly stated: (1.) Of the nature of vitality we know nothing; we are, therefore, not required either to admit or to deny its existence as a distinct thing.

(2.) The observed phenomena of life are consistent with, and, to a very great extent, derivable from, the operation of known laws; it is, therefore, not philosophical to introduce an entirely unknown agency to account for such residual phenomena as are not thus reducible.

The present paper will be devoted to the consideration of some questions bearing upon these two propositions.

It is a matter of comparatively little importance what term may be chosen to denote the object of our inquiry, whether it be "vitality," or "germ force," or the "vital principle," so that it be clearly understood to refer only to the ultimate element of life, and not to any even of the simplest functions of life. Seen under this aspect, vitality is simply the sine quá non of the animate individual,* whose very existence, as such, stands or falls as vitality is, or is not, regarded as a distinct entity. Personality, which is a higher form of individuality, is equally dependent on the question whether vitality is, or is not, the result of forces such as we are accustomed to deal with in scientific investigations. It would be absurd to call a flame a person or an individual; yet it has active qualities, a distinct form, requires aliment, &c. A man is not a person because he has these properties, but because he has a something which a flame has not. Whether this something be designated soul, or spirit, or will, or intellect, or vitality, is, I apprehend, all the same in respect of its relation to physical science, which cannot recognize metaphysical distinctions. In fact, it is the question before us, whether on grounds of physical science we are competent to recognize vitality ander any aspect as a distinct thing.

It must be evident that if the vital functions by which man is distinguished from a block of granite be the result of difference in the combination of the prinary molecular forces of his living substance, he has no more right to be regarded is a person than has a thunder-storm; his being is a process, and in general erms he may be described as a segregation of certain forces, initiated by a imilar combination, and passing away into equilibrium, or into the general stock rom whence he was derived.

*In assigning this position to vitality the writer is aware of the difficulties which beset the ubject, especially in connection with the development of plants, and in respect of the lower orms in the animal kingdom, compound animals, the alternation of generations, &c. If, However, vitality can be shown to lie beyond the range of scientific investigation, in all these cases the knot is cut; and while physical development remains in every instance a proper bject of scientific inquiry, neither the relations subsisting between the vitality of a seed and hat of the parent plant, nor any similar relations, can adequately be discussed as matters ertaining to natural science.

The issue, however, must be tried, not on its consequences, but on its scientific merits; on which grounds, as I apprehend, whatever may be demonstrated concerning the vitality of man holds equally good with reference to the life of a monad, or of a particle of red snow. Still, if it can be shown on purely physical principles that vitality is a something which is not analogous to the actions of known forces, then life is, to all intents and purposes, a miracle, by which I understand not the action of a power in opposition to or thwarting the physical laws of nature, but the manifestation of an agency extra-cosmical, working harmoniously with, and by means of, those laws.

It may seem to some hardly worth the while to contend for the possession by man of a distinct vitality, if by this term is meant only that which he must hold in common with an animalcule or a seed. But a moment's reflection will make it plain how vast a step is taken if we gain from physical science the admission that her kingdom is not universal. None will be more ready than the man of science to confess how little is that which is known when compared with that which remains to be known; nevertheless he is becoming more and more inclined to be convinced that all is knowable, and, if known, would be found conformable in all respects with the knowledge that he has already. Now, if it can be shown that vitality, even in a vegetable cell, is a thing which lies beyond the cope of phpsical investigation, the spell is broken, and a claim is established for the determination of what may or may not constitute the higher faculties of man on other grounds than those of physical science alone.

As a believer in something more than natural science, it is proper for me to state that I do not think a rational persuasion of the personality of man must rest upon evidence to be obtained from physical researches. Still I should expect to find in physical science some indication of its own limits, and of the commencement of that border land which separates the known from the unknown. More than this the very nature of the case forbids.

We may now proceed to the consideration of the two propositions given at the commencement of this paper as expressing the views of certain physiologists who decline to recognize in vitality anything beyond the operation of forces amenable to physical investigation.

It will be observed at the outset that much stress is laid upon the absence of all knowledge respecting the nature of vitality. This limitation is needful, be cause to say that nothing is known of its effects would simply be to anticipate the decision of the question at issue. But it may at once be admitted that we know nothing of the nature of vitality. How should we, if it has no analogy with any of the known forces? For, on this supposition, in what form could knowledge of vitality hold its place in our minds? Not in any of the old familiar forms, such as predicates respecting its quantity, intensity, polarity, and the like; for the thing thus known would have analogy with known forces, and would not be a thing sui generis, but would fall naturally into some recognized category. We have to give our reasons for concluding that certain observed facts imply the existence of an agency quite unlike any of the forces known to

us.

The reply that we know nothing of the nature of such an agency is cer tainly no disparagement to our hypothesis, unless it may be shown that nothing can exist of which we do not know the nature. If, then, we are at liberty to make the supposition that vitality is a thing sui generis, that we know nothing of its nature tells neither for nor against the probability of its existence.

One of the broadest generalizations deducible from the immense additions recently made to the ascertained truths of science is, that numberless things previously supposed to be distinct are now found to be so closely related that a is impossible to draw a line of separation between them. This has been the case alike with things organic and inorganic. The great kingdoms of animal and vegetable life pass quite imperceptibly the one into the other; and in both king doms the number of classes, orders, families, genera, and species that show the