HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE-G OSSIP. 



137 



*neasure, until we obtain evidence of undoubted 

 •glacial action at higher altitudes, of the extent to 

 which the higher and secondary valley-system of the 

 Thames Basin proper had been carved out in pre- 

 glacial times, the work done representing, in fact, 

 in Berks and Surrey nearly 200 feet of vertical erosion, 

 ■due to ordinary rain and river action. This will 

 be better understood from the generalised section 

 '{Fig. 107). All this time the erosion of the minor up- 

 land valleys was encroaching upon the more ancient 

 plateau-gravels, as well as cutting away the soft 

 'Bagshot strata, disinterring the flint pebbles of the 

 Bagshot pebble-beds with the recession of their out- 

 ■crop, and mingling these with the sub-angular flints 



during chronicle, and often enable us to detect the 

 progress of physical changes. Thus it is not difficult 

 to prove that the present aspect of the lower valley 

 of the Thames is very different from what it must 

 have been 1000 years ago. Instead of being confined 

 within regular banks, the river must have spread its 

 waters over a broad lagoon, which was dotted with 

 marshy islands. This is indicated by the fact that 

 the A.S. word ea or ey (an island) enters into the 

 composition of the names of many places by the 

 river-side, which are now joined to the mainland 

 by rich pastures. Such are Bermondso', Putn^j', 

 Battersi'^, Cherts^', Moulscj', Iffl^'. Osn^', Whit- 

 n^', and Ea\.on or Eton. The Abbey Church of 



Woking- Tangley 

 ham. Cutting. 



Pinewood Csesar's Broad- Chobham 



Brick-yard. Camp.' moor. Ridges. 



Bagshot 

 Heath. 



Royal 

 0. Asylum. 



N.W. 



S.E. 



O.D.+400' 



LONDON CLAY 



5^ig. 107. — Relative Levels (O. L.) of the Plateau-gravels and the Glaciated Clays by Ninemile Ride, &c. P.O. plateau-gravels ; 

 T.G. terrace or secondary gravels; * i mile north-east of the line of section; v, glaciation strongly marked at these two places. 



derived from the plateau-gravels themselves. Thus 

 tier after tier of secondary or terrace-gravels has 

 fbeen formed, down to the present valley-floor, the 

 same agencies having co-operated with those of 

 glacial times, and continued their operations since 

 ithe retreat of the ice. The lower (post-glacial) 

 gravels of the modern valley contain, however, an 

 admixture of Mercian pebbles with the wreckage of 

 the more ancient plateau-gravels and the Eocene 

 pebble-beds. 



The recently published researches of Mr. Allen 

 Brown, F.G.S.,* near Ealing, and of Mr. Shrubsole 

 F.G.S.jt near Reading, were briefly discussed; and 

 'the special interest of the position of the human 

 remains discovered by those two gentlemen was 

 pointed out. The observations which they have 

 T)ublished tell us (i) of the advent of man into the 

 Thames Valley in company with the Mammoth, the 

 Rhinoceros, and extinct species of Bcs, Equtis, and 

 Cervus, closely upon the retreat of the ice ; (ii) of 

 the great antiquity of his appearance here, as 

 indicated by the fact that the present Valley of the 

 Thames has been deepened since that time to the 

 extent of more than 100 feet at Reading, and to 

 the extent of 50 feet at Ealing. 



Even within the limits of the Historical Period 

 important further changes can be traced in the 

 Thames Valley, if we may trust the evidence fur- 

 nished by those valuable linguistic " fossils " which 

 occur in local names. 



Dr. Isaac Taylor ("Words and Places," pp. 

 "^iSi 236) writes :—" Local names form an en- 



* "Journal Geol. Soc," vol. xlli., pp. 192 et seg. 

 f Ibid. vol. xlv:., pp. 582 et seg. 



Westminster was built for security on Thorn<?j' 

 Island, and the eastern portion of the water in St. 

 James's Park is a ipart of that arm of the Thames, 

 which encircled the Sanctuary of the monks, and the 

 palace of the A.S. kings. The name Chels^^j: (a 

 contraction of chesel-ea) or shingle-island [tells that 

 the place was encircled by the river]. The Isle of 

 Thanet was as much an island as Sheppry is at the 

 present time." 



[Erratum. — At the latest moment of printing the 

 May number, a mistake occurred by which the 

 woodcuts 84 and 85 were transposed. All our 

 geological readers will have detected the error, and 

 doubtless have already altered the Figs.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Dr. E. E. Klein, F.R.S. (Lecturer on physiology 

 at St. Bartholomew's Hospital), on April 28, began 

 a course of three lectures on Bacteria, their Nature 

 and Functions (the Tyndall Lectures) ; and Mr. PI. 

 Graham Harris, M. Inst. C.E,, on May 9, a course 

 of three lectures on the Artificial Production of 

 Cold. 



A VBRY able and suggestive paper by Mr. A. S. 

 Seward appears in the last number of " The 

 Naturalist," entitled " Fossil Climates." 



In the last number of the " Geological Magazine," 

 Mr. Smith Woodward describes a new species of 

 Microsaurian from the Lancashire coal-measures 

 under the name of Hylonomus Wildi. 



