15 



wrong. The •• Herald " refuses to give tlie source of its information, 



but it is probably derived from ships just returned from the Atlantic. 



It was considered by the Lecturer that the origin of many of 



our cyclones is to be found somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland, 



where the currents of wann and cold air come into collision. 



Note. — The matter of this Lecture was afterwards published in 

 Fraser''s Magazine for August. 



JUNE 21st. 



A Field Meeting was held. The party, consisting of Members 

 and their friends, drove to Keston Common, and thence proceeded to 

 the source of the Eavensbourne. Here Mr. J. Jen>t:e Weie, F.L.S., 

 described, with his accustomed precision and clearness, some of the 

 lower foiTUS of life which such a river source affords special oppor- 

 tunities for observing. The party, with Mr. Eoach Smith, F.S.A., 

 for theii- guide, then visited the British Camp, or Oppidum, in 

 Holwood Park, and the "War Bank." After partaking of a cold 

 collation in the Town HaU, Bromley, they returned to Lewisham 

 and Blackheath much pleased with the Excursion. 



Mr. Eoach Smith said that the Association had very judiciously 

 made Holwood part of the objects of the first excursion, because the 

 great British Earthworks were an example of the verj'- earliest of our 

 national monuments. Although of the highest class, they have 

 been unaccountably neglected, and only in their later days have 

 they been studied in a scientific spirit. Of prehistoric origin, they 

 were also connected with historic times, for both Csesar and Strabo 

 describe them ; and Suetonius, in speaking of the campaign of 

 Vespasian in the time of Claudius, states that this general captui-ed 

 upwards of 20 oppida, and subjected to the Eoman power two 

 powerful tribes or peoples. To foi-m a proper notion of British life, 

 and of these historical cu'cumstances, it is necessary to see the remains 

 of the oppida. Fortunately, although the earthworks at Holwood 

 have been disfigiired, yet others abound in their pristine integrity : 

 and what is in this instance wanting, can be understood by the 

 perfect examples at Oldbury, at Ightham, and at Lingfield Mark 

 near Edeubridge. These three are of the first magnitude ; Lingfield 



