GEOLOGY. 259 



The next paper was read by Mr. Pengelly, in the absence of 

 the author, Mr. N. Whitley, on "The Distribution of Shattoied 

 Chalk Flints and Flakes in Devon and Cornwall." He had traced 

 these flints over very large areas, to a height of 300 feet above 

 the sea-level. He also mentioned the various localiiies in the two 

 counties where these flakes, or knives, were most abundant. The 

 author did not concur in the idea that these flakes had been left 

 by man, but suggested that they had a geological, and not an 

 archielogical, origin. He thought they might subsequently have 

 been used and adapted afterwards by man. Mr. Pengelly said 

 he thought Mr. Whitley sometimes used the word "flake" for an 

 implement. Mr. Wyatt took exception to Mr. Whitley's conclu- 

 sions. He had examined many of the flints, and could not concur 

 in the deductions, geological or arch^ological, which had been 

 drawn. He had no doubt that many of the flints were of human 

 workmanship. The Rev. Mr. Winwood said there was a difler- 

 ence between chips and flakes. He thought that the district 

 mentioned by Mr. Whitley bore undoubted traces of human work- 

 manship. The Rev. O. Fisher said they never got a chip or flake 

 in a natural manner. 



The Gulf Stream. — Mr. A. G. Findlay read a paper on *'The 

 supposed Influence of the Gulf Stream on the climate of North- 

 west Europe." He submitted that the actual bulk of water which 

 passes through the Florida Chamiel is from 294 to 330 cubic miles 

 per d•^.y, and it receives no accession from the tropics. Fully one- 

 half of this passes eastward and southward from the banks of 

 Newfoundland, and the northern half, cooled down and neutral- 

 ized by the Arctic current, has, according to this theory, to cover 

 this area to raise its temperature. The known bulk of the stream 

 will only give 6 inches per diem over this area. And he would 

 ask, how is it possible that such a minute fllm could have any 

 influence, and this, too, at from one to tAvo years after it has left 

 the Gulf of Florida as the true Gulf Stream ? He would not 

 advert to the further progress of this warmer water, which might 

 be traced to and beyond Spitzbergen, and its effects throughout 

 the North Polar Basin ; and these effects, he contended, were 

 totally and absolutely incompatible w'ith the now well-known par- 

 ticulars of the Gulf Stream proper. He could not go into the 

 isothermal lines which show most markedly the higher tempera- 

 ture in the winter, and much less so in the summer. The equable 

 temperature of the waters causes this change, — the relation of 

 tlie warm and cold water. It had been propounded by Mr. Crott 

 that the modern method of determining the amount of heat would 

 account for all the phenomena popularly attributed to the Gulf 

 Stream. But he (Mr. Findhiy) would deferentially demur to his 

 calculations. He (Mr. Crott/ took no account of the time it takes 

 for the water to circulate. He doubled, as he (Mr. Findlay) 

 thought, the volume of the stream, and he took no account of the 

 interferences it encountered. However valuable his suggestions 

 might be, they must be applied in a difl'orcnt way. How, then, 

 can the phenomena of our warm winter climate be accounted for? 

 The reason seemed to him to be simple and obvious. The great 



