35 



Pliocene, the temperature seems to have become gradually 

 lowered, until in the Pleistocene a permanent winter settled on 

 the northern world, and the tropical forms either perished or 

 changed ; so that instead of the hairless elephant, rhinoceros, 

 and hippopotamus of the warmer regions of the world, we find 

 similar animals clothed in hair and wool. From what we know 

 of elephants of the present day, the mammoth wandered about 

 in herds, living in the tree jungles where they could most readily 

 find their food, and frequenting drinking places on the rivers — 

 to which, when sick or dying, like most wild creatures, they re- 

 paired. Their flesh would be devoured by the hyenas, the carrion 

 birds, and their allies. The ice and winter floods would carry 

 their bones down the valleys, where they would become buried 

 in the alluvium. Their magnificent tusks of beautiful and solid 

 ivory would resist deciiy longer than the rest ; and a mere frag- 

 ment of such a tusk thrown out of a gravel pit, such as that near 

 St. Mildred's rectory, is oftentimes all that remains of such a 

 lordly beast. A small fragment I one day placed to my tongue 

 adhered most firmly, owing to the absorption of moisture, show- 

 ing the organic matter had been entirely lost. As the teeth of 

 animals contain fluorine, I acted on the fragments of a mam- 

 moth's tusk in such a manner that evolved hydrofluoric gas, wrote 

 the word mammoth and engraved the likeness of the animal on a 

 pane of glass. " To such base uses must we come !" 



There are mammoth remains under the brick earth and gra- 

 vels that line the sides of the valley of the Stour, and we may be 

 thankful these giants no longer exist to be an additional burden 

 in the shape of ground game to the farmers of Kent. The occa- 

 sional flint flakes found in these river gravels make it possible for 

 us to conclude that our British ancestors contended with these 

 land-lords for the possession of the soil. But on dealing with 

 such subjects, we must remember exact Science only admits of 

 weight and measurement and facts, while speculative science 

 launches on the sea of probabilities. 



For the furtherance of one of the greatest subjects that can 

 engage the attention of the Naturalists, it is especially desirable 

 that a record shou'd be kept of specimens, localties, and col- 

 lectors, and this is naturally the province of a society like our 

 own. 



If I but succeed in directing the attention of local scientists 

 to the subject, I shall promote through abler hands the cause of 

 Natural Science. 



