122 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



volving icebergs were capable of scooping 

 out hollows in the rocky bottom of the sea, 

 and thought that lake-basins on the rocky 

 summits of hills or on water-sheds might 

 have been produced in this way. He then 

 gave reasons for supposing that the drift- 

 knolls called eskers, where their forms were 

 very abrupt, might have been partly formed 

 by eddying currents with waves generated 

 or intensified by ice-movements, which some- 

 times would set the sea in motion as much 

 as sixteen miles off. 



According to Mr. Mackintosh, floating 

 coast-ice is the principal transporter and 

 glaciator of stones, and the uniformly stri- 

 ated stones found in the bowlder-clay were 

 both glaciated and transported by coast-ice. 

 He entered minutely into a consideration of 

 how stones, previously more or less rounded, 

 became flattened and uniformly grooved on 

 one, two, or more sides, the grooves on the 

 various sides differing in their directions. 

 He believed that many of the stones found 

 in the bowlder-clay of Cheshire must have 

 been frequently dropped and again picked 

 up by coast-ice during the passage from 

 their original positions. 



Ancestors of tlic British. Another pa- 

 per by the same author was devoted to the 

 discussion of certain ethnological questions 

 connected with the history of the people 

 of Britain. He believed that the inhabit- 

 ants of different parts of England and Wales 

 differed so much in their physical and men- 

 tal characteristics that many tribes must 

 have retained their peculiarities since their 

 colonization of the country, by remaining in 

 certain localities with little mutual inter- 

 blending,* or through the process of amalga- 

 mation failing to obliterate the more hard- 

 ened characteristics. The first type noticed 

 was the Gaelic. In Caesar's time, probably 

 the great mass of the people of Gaul were 

 comparatively dark in complexion and 

 small in stature ; and the race characterized 

 by Caesar as of tall stature, reddish hair, 

 and blue eyes, were most likely German col- 

 onists of Gaul. There still exists in Eng- 

 land, Wales, and Ireland, a distinct race, 

 possessed of some of the mental character- 

 istics anciently attributed to the Gaels. In 

 mental character the Gaels are excitable, 

 and alternately lively and melancholy. The 



Gael is alao by temperament an excellent 

 soldier, but he needs to be commanded by 

 a race possessed of moral determination, 

 tempered by judgment and foresight. An- 

 other characteristic of the Gaelic race is 

 sociability. 



In North Wales there are several dis- 

 tinct ethnological types, but by far the most 

 prevalent is the type to which the term 

 Cymrian may be applied. The Cymri ap- 

 pear to have entered Wales from the north. 

 They are an industrious race, living on 

 scanty fare without murmuring. Mr. Mack- 

 intosh gave a minute description of the 

 physical and mental peculiarities of Sax- 

 ons, and showed the difference between 

 Saxons and Danes. W^ith Worsaae, he be- 

 lieves that the Danes have impressed their 

 character on the inhabitants of the north- 

 eastern half of England. He endeavored 

 to show that between the northeast and 

 southwest the difference in the character of 

 the people is so great as to give a semi-na- 

 tionality to each division. Restless activ- 

 ity, ambition, and commercial speculation, 

 predominate in the northeast ; contentment 

 and leisure of reflection in the southwest. 

 He concluded by a reference to the deriva- 

 tion of the settlers of New England from 

 the southwest, mentioning the fact that, 

 while a large proportion of New England 

 surnames are still found in Devon and Dor- 

 set, there is a small village, called Boston, 

 near Totnes, and in its immediate neigh- 

 borhood a place caUed Bunker Hill. 



Changes in the Courses of Rivers. 



Major Herbert Wood spoke on the cause 

 of the change of direction in the lower 

 course of the river Oxus, by which its 

 mouth had been diverted from the Caspian 

 to the Aral. In the opinion of Major Wood 

 this change is to be attributed to the ab- 

 straction of the water of the river for the 

 purposes of irrigation, which has been prac- 

 tised from time immemorial. The quantity 

 of water thus diverted has never been cal- 

 culated, but, from data obtained by Major 

 Wood during the Russian Expedition, he 

 concludes that, between June 23 and Sep- 

 tember 10, 1874, an average of 62,350 cubic 

 feet per second was absorbed by the irri- 

 gation canals of Khiva, an amount equal to 

 nearly one-half the total volume of the 



