CORRESPONDENCE 277 



him, since he added that " these conditions of cold had no application to 

 our islands " ! 



Everything, without exception, that has any bearing on, or is in connection 

 with, glaciations points in one direction. It is useless, and obscures the 

 iss ue , to talk of " diastrophic deformation " and " intricate compound rhythms . 

 We have had too much of word-coining and too little progress made in geology 

 during the last half century ; " the multitude of words has been the grave 

 of knowledge," and as regards this question, in a lecture given at the Society's 

 rooms on " The Relation of Man to the Ice Age," no hint as to its date was 

 hazarded, though the Drayson solution of the mystery was known to the 

 lecturer. It is time to relinquish this attitude now that I have shown geolo- 

 gists that they are independent of astronomers. There seems to be a tacit 

 understanding that Drayson must be " taboo." For instance, a foreign 

 geologist, after having written me a letter saying, "Your theory is correct and 

 most welcome," was persuaded, I presume, to ignore Drayson, for, in a work 

 published two years afterwards, he professed inability to obtain any aid 

 from astronomy : showing how all-powerful a factor conventionality is in 

 science. 



The two cycles of astronomy, the orthodox and that of Drayson, are 

 facetiously alluded to as if there was not much for geologists to choose between 

 them ; but of course the former gives no clue to a pronounced change of 

 obliquity, while with Drayson it is shown to increase fifty per cent. To cap 

 the allusion : the one should be styled Tweedle-dumb, and the other Tweedle- 

 Q.E.Dee. 



According to Mr. Tyrrell, it is " unfortunate " that such as I should butt 

 in, irrupt he would call it. into a question which I have no right to discuss ; 

 but I have studied geology on and off for fifty-five years, though I have not 

 taken what appears to be a pledge of orthodoxy by subscribing to the Geo- 

 logical Society. I am jealous for the reputation of my country as the doyen 

 of geological science, and do not like to contemplate the possibility of this 

 question being resolved elsewhere. It is vital to all progress. 



Referring back to Mr. Spencer-Jones's letter in the Correspondence of 

 October 19 19, instead of " widely different conclusions " we can see established 

 a perfect harmony between the two sciences, which could hardly exist were 

 the data not true. In the case cited by him— the age of the earth — the 

 astronomers were in the wrong, and their " incomplete knowledge " in this 

 question also is by inference admitted by them. 



Geologists may now fearlessly accept Drayson's conclusions without 

 danger to their reputation. Once adopted, the clearness of vision regarding 

 a subject, which has taxed the ingenuity of theorists for over a hundred years, 

 will lead to many valuable results in other departments of science, and 

 instead of an outlook of " many weary years yet," the future will be full of 

 promise. 



I am, Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 

 August 6, 1920. R. A. Marriott. 



