Journal of Frocccdings. xxxvii 



Croll, but it was only rendered possible by the concurrence of geo- 

 graphical conditions, then recently brought about, by which the greater 

 part of the warm water of the Tropics which had before entered the 

 Polar seas was shut out from them by the elevation and solidification 

 of the great Northern Continents. This continued growth and exten- 

 sion of the land in the Northern Continent during the Tertiary period 

 has been long known to geologists, but its importance as affecting the 

 most powerful of all climatal agencies — northward flowing and heat- 

 bearing ocean currents — appears to have been hitherto overlooked. 



By thus modifying Mr. CroU's theory, giving greater importance to 

 ocean currents and comparatively less to astronomical causes, Mr. 

 Wallace believed that the difficulties that had hitherto beset all 

 attempts to explain the mild climates of the Arctic Regions, so as to 

 satisfy both geologists and physicists, might be overcome ; and in his 

 forthcoming work, " Island Life," he had endeavoured to demonstrate 

 the correctness of these views. (Loud applause.) 



Mr. Worthington Smith, F.L.S., in thanking Sir Antonio Brady and 

 Mr. Henry Walker for their great and valuable assistance during the 

 afternoon, suggested that caution should be exercised before concluding 

 that the " ogee " curves on the edges of the American instrument had 

 been actually designed ; similar curves being frequent on Flint Imple- 

 ments of all ages and from diverse places, the curves commonly arising 

 from the natural conchoidal fracture of the flint. In reference to the 

 sculptured subjects said to have been derived from a deposit of Glacial 

 age, Mr. Smith said that from the brief examination he had been able 

 to make of them, he looked upon the carvings as undoubted modern 

 fabrications ; though found by Sir Antonio himself, yet it must be 

 remembered objects are sometimes so placed by designing workmen 

 that they may be apparently found by an unwary visitor. The carvings 

 referred to by Mr. Wallace as Neolithic works from Caves 

 were really Palaeolithic, and of an immensely greater antiquity than 

 Neolithic work. As to the polished Celt said to have been 

 found in five feet of gravel at Barking Side, Mr. Smith said he had 

 no doubt that this was an error of observation, and that the 

 Celt did not point to the comparative modern epoch of the Mammoth, 

 or the great antiquity of the men who polished their stone weapons. 

 He thought there could be no doubt that this Celt was British or 

 Neolithic, and was originally embedded in the surface soil. Gravel 

 diggers, in making a "fall" with their crowbars, throw surface-soil, 

 loam, sand, and gravel all down to the bottom of the pit together ; and 

 although this Celt was no doubt found at the bottom of the pit, yet it 

 undoubtedly belonged to the modern soil at the top. Such instances 

 were common ; Neolithic implements and flakes being profusely spread 

 over Essex, nothing was more frequent than the finding of some com- 

 paratively modern object at the bottom of a gravel pit. The colour as 



