1892. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 85 



value, that the local worker eventually finds himself in constant com- 

 munication with the leaders in that branch of science to which he 

 gives attention, and his researches then become directed to the most 

 profitable channels for further development ; but in most instances 

 there is an unfortunate want of aim and purpose in the work. Instead 

 of making systematic observations or experiments, guided by the 

 theories and partially established principles of modern science, the 

 botanist or zoologist, confined to a limited area, is contented too 

 frequently with poring over descriptive handbooks, identifying his 

 captures, and then publishing endless lists and notes of " occur- 

 rences." There is a total absence of philosophy, and these lists and 

 notes are only too often the melancholy signs of the approaching 

 extinction of rare types of life at the hands of eager collectors or 

 thoughtless "sportsmen." Notwithstanding the innumerable little 

 treatises on animal life, practical biology, microscopy, zootomy, 

 and practical botany, there is still room for some widely-gifted 

 naturalist, or naturalists, to produce a book, or series of books, for 

 the guidance of would-be observers. Modern problems ought to be 

 stated in such terms that any ordinary student of nature, dwelling at 

 a distance from towns and libraries, could turn his observations to 

 some profitable account. The mere recording of " occurrences " 

 might thus be replaced by valuable advances in our knowledge of 

 the life-history of some of our commonest animals and plants, by the 

 study of variations in accordance with surroundings, and also by 

 many facts concerning what Semper terms the " Physiology of 

 Organisms " at present almost ignored. 



Pre-Glacial Man in Britain. 



The discussion of man's antiquity in Britain has, by common con- 

 sent, been allowed to slumber for some years. It was felt that much 

 of the evidence brought forward was scarcely such as to command 

 the respect of geologists, and it seemed also probable that before 

 long facts would be discovered that would definitely settle the 

 question. The subject has now been re-opened through the publi- 

 cation of three papers by Professor Prestwich.' We are afraid, 

 however, that many weak links exist in the chain of argument by 

 which he attempts to prove that man existed in this country prior to 

 the denudation of the Thames Valley and of the Weald. Neither 

 geologists nor anthropologists will be quite prepared, without better 

 evidence, to accept his conclusion " that not only was the plateau 



1 " On the Relation of the Westleton Shingle, &c. Part iii. — The Southern 

 Drift." Quart. Jouni. Geol. Soc, vol. xlvi., p. 155 (1890). 



"OntheAge. . . of the Valley of the Darent . . ." Ibid, vol. xlvii., p. 126 (i8gi). 



" On the Primitive Characters of the Flint Implements of the Chalk Plateau 

 of Kent, with reference to the question of their Glacial or Pre-Glacial Age." Jfouyn. 

 Anthrop. Inst., vol. xxi., p. 246 (1892). 



