HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



159 



a limit, which overpassed usually leads to division, 

 and thus soon after the flagellated cell has passed its 

 full size, a constriction makes its appearance trans- 

 versely round the basal part, and extends invv^ards till 

 the lower part of the base is completely severed] from 

 the rest ; in this way the single cell becomes two, one 

 of which retains its original character, while the other 

 resembles an amoeba, and making its way into the 

 mesoderm lives a wandering life, possibly like a 

 colourless blood corpuscle, serving as a food-carrier 

 to the rest of the organism. This is the origin of the 

 third kind of cells which we mentioned as forming a 

 part of the mesoderm. The splitting or fission of the 

 flagellate cell is not always transverse ; sometimes it 

 is longitudinal, and then produces two similar flagel- 

 lated cells, instead of a flagellated and an amoebi- 

 form cell. It is by longitudinal fission that the endo- 

 derm grows in extent, correspondingly with the 

 growth of the surface it covers. 



{To be continued.) 



RECORDS IN RIME OF THE GREAT 

 ICE AGE. 



IF you'd study human nature 

 E'en when science is the teacher, 

 Read review in " Nature's " page 

 Treating of the "Great Ice Age," 

 And of " Europe Prehistoric " 

 Writ in language simple Doric ! 

 Can we wonder Doctor Geikie 

 Thought the language rather " cheeky," 

 Or that his temper got as hot 

 As ice in a Carnelly pot? 



Dawkins said things rather spicy 



Of the age called " Great " and " Icy." 



True ; ever since the great Agassiz 



Lesser lights would make a fiz. 



First and foremost there is CroU 



Would clap a cap on either pole, 



So big it scarce could ever melt 



If as improved by Mr. Belt. 



And certainly we've had our fill 



Of grand moraine and Scottish till, 



Till mention of the great ice age 



Puts non-believers in a rage. 



Or even the incessant finding 



All things due to glacial grinding 



Of shells of ocean landed flop 



Upon the highest mountain top. 



Can ice the ocean floor clean ? 



Go tell it to a " horse marine," 



Or to the rainproof Macintosh, 



Who discounts subaerial bosh. 



Thus high imagination soars 



With big or little glacial bores ; 



For in this subject scientific 



Men's brains get subtle and prolific, 



And when of frozen waters treat. 

 You'd think it was an age of heat. 



Dawkins thought it rather creeky, 



Pet theory of Doctor Geikie. 



Jamie Geikie thought that Dawkins 



Had better far restrict his talkings 



To things he understands — say bones, 



Or adopt politer tones ! 



But neither of them can unravel 



The mysteries of river gravel : 



Post, pro: or inter, which is true 



Depends upon your point of view. 



Should "upper" glacial overlap 



Its /;//i?r-glacial gravel slap ; 



But if the " upper " overlies, 



It quickly to /^j-/-glacial flies. 



If "lower" glacial cap, we're free 



To stick the gravel down z.% prcc. 



So as we use these symbols mythic, 



Flint implements are tieolitkic, 



Ot pahto — or in a span 



We get to inter-glacial man. 



For in this way the icy sages 



Split the beds with glacial wedges. 



And easily escape the trammels 



Of the great post-glacial mammals. 



But which is which if Nature mask, 



" Lower " or " Upper " ? you may ask. 



We answer in the softest voice, 



" You pays your money and takes your choice." 



Boyd Dawkins places under ban 



The ice renowned Tiddeman ; 



And Tiddeman, upon his mettle, 



Tries his antagonist to settle. 



Not with post-tertiary stone, 



But with one pre-glacial bone — 



A human bone discovered where 



It got completely mixed with bear. 



Lord ! how such a bone is nosed 



By any one that's /;v-disposed. 



At all events, Boyd thinks it "rum" 



Ox perfervidiim ingenium 



Of industrious Tiddeman 



To fondle his pre-glacial man. 



Still, no doubt, if he wt'r^ there. 



He is and was a settler ! 



How difficult to end our verses 



On these endless controversies ! 



Ice theorists in their profusion 



Leave us in profound confusion, 



To please the sage geologist, 



Whose brain is up in cloud and mist. 



From all the lilce great Jove defend, 



Oh ! bring this ice age to an end ; 



And where their confluent glaciers meet. 



Just wrap them in their winding sheet. 



A. Conifer. 



