200 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



belt of south-west wind?, called the anti-trade, or passage wind^, 

 passes over the North Allantie throughout its breatlth, and diivos 

 slowly the whole surface of the M'ater to the northward of an 

 easterly course, or towards the shore of Nortli-west Enro])e. 

 From the particular contiguration of the land, this north-wesb 

 drift is allowt'd to pass into the ])olar area. Tiiis south-west wind 

 infuses into high latitudes the temperature and moisture of much 

 lower jKirallcls, and l)y its greater rale of travelling pas-es over 

 tiie warmer water to the southward, and this brings to Exeter in 

 one day tiie warmth of the centre of France. By its vaiiation 

 fiom westward or eastward of a southerly direction, we find all 

 the variations or moisture which are induced by this wind passing 

 over land or sea. The excellent observations made in the ex])e- 

 dition from the Royal Soci(>ty, under Dr. Carpenter and Dr. 

 Wyvell Thompson, would, he had no doubt, tlirow great light 

 on this obscure north-east current, wiiich should not be called the 

 Gulf Stream, but possess a specilic term. Mr. Trelawney Saun- 

 ders remaiked that the greatest centres of iieat were not at the 

 equator, but were to be found in either tropic. 



On Certain Phenomena in the Drift near Noncicli. — In this com- 

 munication, Mr. J. B. Taylor said that, although there was the 

 finest seriesof the drift beds in Norfolk t() be founil in (ireat Britain, 

 still in the ui)[)er boulder clay certain anomalies occur which fre- 

 quently puzzle the geologist. The paper was an attempt to explain 

 these by referring them to the agency of icebergs. Sometimes 

 there were found beds of upper boulder clay h'ing at lower leveLs 

 than the middle drift beds. In fact, such phenomena occurred 

 through icebergs having ploughed up the sands and depo'^ited 

 beds of claj'^ in the furrows. This accounted for the out-of-lho 

 way character of what had been termed " third, or valley boulder 

 clay.^' The sand beds on each side these linear extensions of clay 

 were frequently dragg(>d out of their place and contorted. The 

 chalk also was disturbed, and the flint bands thrown into almost 

 perpendicular positions in the neighborhood of such phenomena. 

 iNIr. Tavlor also mentioned the exceeding narrow track of these 

 abnormal beds of clay, and concluded by showing that their occur- 

 rence only the more fully bore out the glacial hypothesis. 



Prof. Ilarkness said Mr. Tajior distinguished himself by work- 

 ing on the clay and drift beds of Norfolk, and that his j)aper was 

 verv valuable and interesting. He then traced the jreneral rela- 

 tionship of the lower and upper boulder clays, and of the micUlle 

 drift beds. The first and last, he saitl, alwavs showed strong evi- 

 denees of ice action and arctic climatui-e, the middh; drift sands 

 being marked bv iiaving numbers of non-arctic siiells and flint 

 pebbles. Prof. Ilarkness reviewed tlu; various localities where 

 this was the case, both in England, Ireland, and Scotland. 



Mr. S. Pattison, F.(t.S., said similar phenomena to those men- 

 tioned by Mr. Taylor could be seen mi the neighborhood of Whitby. 

 He had no doubt they were due to iceber*; i^roovinjrs. 



T.he Water-bearing Strata in the Neighborhood of Aoncich. — This 

 was another paper by Mr. Taylor. It dealt with the origin of 

 sand-pipes in chalk, showing them to be natural drains, and ad- 



