io6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



locality within the regions covered by the accumulations of the 

 last Glacial era. So greatly are students of the Pleistocene ossif- 

 erous beds influenced by what is known of the interglacial depos- 

 its and their organic remains, that many do not now hesitate to 

 correlate with those beds the old ossiferous and implement-bear- 

 ing alluvia which lie altogether outside of glaciated regions. In 

 France, where the relation of Pleistocene alluvia has been espe- 

 cially canvassed, these alluvia have been also included among 

 interglacial deposits. M. Boule also, in the Revue d'Anthropolo- 

 gie, 1889, correlates the Palaeolithic cave and river deposits of 

 France with those of other countries, and shows that they must 

 be of interglacial age. He is satisfied that in France there is 

 evidence of three glacial and two well-marked interglacial eras. 

 The oldest of the Palaeolithic stages of Mortillet culminated 

 during the last interglacial era, while the more recent Palaeolithic 

 stages coincided with the last great development of glacier ice. 

 The Palaeolithic age, so far as Europe is concerned, came to a 

 close during this last cold phase of the Glacial period. 



Interesting as is the development of the climatic and geo- 

 graphical changes of which our Palaeolithic predecessors were the 

 witnesses, the clearing up of the history of Pleistocene times is 

 not the only end that workers in this field have in view. Prof. 

 Geikie, therefore, closed his address with a hope that the definite 

 knowledge of the conditions of the Pleistocene period and of the 

 causes which gave rise to them would lead to the better under- 

 standing of the climatic conditions of still earlier ages ; the suc- 

 cess with which other problems have been attacked by geologists 

 forbidding him to doubt that ere long we shall have done much 

 to dispel some of the mystery still enveloping the question of geo- 

 logical climates. 



■♦•» 



THE BOTANIC GARDENS AT KEW. 



By FKEDEK1K A. FERNALD. 



"T is now about two hundred years — the exact date is not 

 -L known — since Lord Capel laid out the garden that has become 

 a scientific institution of world-wide fame and influence. Switzer 

 says, in his quaint Ichnographia Rustica, 1718, " The earliness 

 with which this lord appeared in gardening merits a very great 

 place in my history, and a better pen than mine to draw it." On 

 the death of Lord Capel, in 1696, the estate of Kew House, includ- 

 ing the garden, passed into the hands of his son-in-law, who added 

 to its importance for a while by making it the headquarters of 

 English astronomy. It was afterward leased by Frederick, Prince 

 of Wales, son of George II. The garden was made a scientific es- 



