Oct.. 1894- CORRESPONDENCE. 319 



Rivers, from another standpoint, argued the necessity of pre-Palasolithic man. Sir 

 Henry Howorth gave it as his opinion that the only evidence available for testing 

 the relative age of the plateaux gravels goes to show that they are older than the 

 distribution of the so-called Glacial Drift. With reference to Mr. Clement Reid's 

 remarks, I am pleased to say he is not informed up-to-date ; there are numerous 

 localities now in various parts of the kingdom which have produced these relics of 

 greater antiquity. Among the latest I might mention the work of Dr. Blackmore 

 in his own neighbourhood, and the yields of the hill-drifts in Essex; the Boulder 

 Clay of Finchley, and of deposits older than these in Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, and 

 Norfolk. The theory suggested by the concluding speaker, variously reported as 

 Lt.-Col. Godwin and Col. Godwin Austin, calls for the existence of huge glaciers in 

 the Weald, which would certainly take us back very much further in time than 

 many anthropologists have been in the habit of admitting for man. 



I cannot help thinking that a perusal of these facts will better emphasise your 

 opening remarks and give a truer idea of the state of scientific opinion of to-day 

 upon this point, and show that the verdict of the discussion is that opinions are 

 divided, but that the affirmatives are in excess of the negatives ; this in proportion 

 to the greater the knowledge of the subject possessed by the respective speakers. 

 It must also be admitted that it was quite lamentable to observe upon how little 

 practical knowledge of the deposits the adverse criticisms were based ; one speaker, 

 at least, still confounding them with " the Clay-with-flints." 



W. J. Lewis Abbott. 



The Museums' Association. 



The note headed " Science at a Picnic," in your issue of August, is so entirely 

 misleading, so far as it regards the Museums' Association, that we ask permission to 

 offer some corrections, especially as the note has evidently been written by some 

 one not present throughout the meetings. The meeting commenced on Tuesday, 

 June 26, with visits to various scientific institutions, lasting four hours, and finishing 

 with the President's address at night, the whole time occupied being five and a half 

 hours. On Wednesday three and a half hours were devoted to papers and discussions, 

 and another three hours to the inspection and discussion of the arrangements and 

 contents of various museums. On Friday another three and a half hours were given 

 to papers and discussions, followed by visits to museums afterwards. And yet the 

 writer of the note speaks of five hours devoted to business, and talks of papers 

 being burked ! All the papers in the programme were submitted to the meeting, 

 except one by a member who, although invited two months beforehand to give 

 notice of his paper, sent no intimation of it till the programme was primed, and 

 then appeared with some notes which he wished to descant upon, and was allowed 

 to do so as long as time permitted. Exception may possibly be taken to a day's 

 excursion finding a place in the programme of the meeting ; but as curators have 

 few facilities of exchanging ideas one with the other, generally to their mutual 

 advantage, the value of such an arrangement will, we think, be quite evident to most 

 people, and w^e believe that " shop " was the predominant subject of con\'ersation, 

 even on that day. The Local Committee in Dublin, in fact, showed the truest spirit 

 of hospitality in affording to the Association every opportunity of prosecuting its 

 work in the direction of acquiring knowledge of the e.xcellent museum work that is 

 carried on in that city, and if the writer of the note thinks that no good can accrue 

 from such meetings, except what is derived from the reading and discussion of 

 papers, he will find few people to concur with him in such a narrow and baneful 

 view. It may interest him to know that the volume of proceedings of the Dublin 

 meeting will be the largest that has ever been published by the Association, and the 

 Local Committee are finding the funds for providing illustrations to some of the 

 papers that were read. 



H. M. Platnauer, 



E. HOWARTH, 



Public Museum, Sheffield. Secretaries Museums' Association. 



