324 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov., 



regarded as such ; but we cannot grumble at this as, if it were excluded, 

 so might have been the remarks of Professor Blackie, which ought, 

 in future editions, to be rescued from the obscurity of p. 51, and printed 

 in large type on the title page : — " Never force yourself to learn what 

 you have no talent for. . . Be content to be ignorant of many things, 

 that you may know one thing well." This collection of curiosities 

 has, however, we understand, an enormous sale, and its statements 

 are doubtless accepted as " facts," whereby we are reminded of 

 Carlyle's estimate of the population of the British Islands, " 30,000,000 

 mostly fools ! " 



A Recent Submergence of Western Europe. 



Professor Prestwich has communicated to the Royal Society 

 a paper " On the Evidences of a Submergence of Western Europe and 

 of the Mediterranean Coasts at the close of the Glacial or so-called 

 post-Glacial Period, and immediately preceding the Neolithic or 

 Recent Period." (Proceedings, vol. liii., pp. 80-89.) 



He points out that certain superficial deposits, containing organic 

 remains of a land-surface, and composed always of local materials, are 

 found to radiate from independent centres and to show no signs of 

 glacial action. They are grouped by the author under the general 

 name of " Rubble Drift." This assumes various forms. 



As "Head" it overlies raised beaches by the Channel, in France, 

 Jersey and Guernsey, and on the North African Coast eastward to 

 Tunis. 



As Osseous Breccia it covers the lower slopes of the rock of Gibraltar, 

 extends round the borders of the hills encircling Palermo's plain, and 

 is found beneath the high escarped rocks of Malta and in Greece. 



In Ossiferous Fissures it occurs on isolated hills along the Riviera, 

 in Southern France, at Gibraltar and in Algeria. 



As Loess, apart from that which occurs within valleys and is due 

 to river floods, it is found on dividing watersheds and the high plains 

 of West and Central Europe. 



Differing though this Rubble Drift does in detail, the author 

 considers it to be due to a common cause, and only explicable upon 

 the hypothesis of a submergence, which was at once widespread and 

 short in duration. It allowed no time for marine sedimentation, while 

 the establishment of a marine fauna was prevented by the turbid 

 character of its waters. The resulting deposits come from the wreck 

 of the land-surface only. This submergence was followed by an 

 upheaval, since which the configuration of the land has remained 

 comparatively unaltered. 



The ossiferous fissures, found often on isolated hills, in France, 

 at Gibraltar, and elsewhere, contain the remains of carnivores, 

 ungulates, and ruminants. After showing that these remains could 

 not have been collected by beasts of prey, the author points out that 



