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boundary of glacial action in this country. Those superficial 

 deposits which I have formerly alluded to as Drift are mostly 

 of glacial origin, and sections have been exposed in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of London, as at Muswell Hill and 

 Finchley, and also on the hills of our county at Theydon 

 Mount, Buckhurst Hill, Epping, Stondon Massey, Hutton, &c. 



I have thought it necessary to lay before you this brief 

 sketch of the existing knowledge respecting the Glacial Period 

 because the latter forms an epoch in the life of the earth 

 from which must be dated the present aspect of our country 

 and of its living forms, and further, because a large field for 

 labour here lies before our geological members in attempting 

 to determine the relative ages of the various Drift deposits of 

 our own district, and thus contributing our mite towards 

 erecting the structure of that noble science which regards 

 " ages as its days." 



Although leading authorities are now agreed that man 

 existed prior to the Glacial Epoch, the most convincing proofs 

 that we have of his existence are of inter-glacial and post- 

 glacial age. The savage predecessors of the various peoples 

 that have been known to successively inhabit our country 

 during the historical period — prehistoric man, who roamed 

 through Britain and dwelt in our caves when the mammoth, 

 the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, the reindeer, and other 

 animals here extinct formed a portion of our fauna, has left 

 his traces in the rude flint implements of our ancient river 

 gravels. Our county is situated in that portion of England 

 which has been most prolific m yielding implements of early 

 human workmanship belonging to the old stone or Palaeolithic 

 age, and we are fortunate in having on our southern boundary 

 the broad alluvium of the Thames, with that of its tributary 

 streams, such as the Lea and the Eoding. The Thames 

 alluvium stretches, according to Mr. Prestwich, from above 

 Maidenhead to the sea, varying in width from two to nine 

 miles, and in thickness from five to fifteen feet. Flint imple- 

 ments have been found at many places along the Thames 

 Valley, and quite recently Mr. Worthington Smith has dis- 

 covered such implements in the valley of the Lea. This 

 gentleman writes to me ; — " Up to the present time I have 



