31 



under conditions which suggested an antiquity far more remote 

 than that of the Esquimaux-like people. These earlier cave-men 

 were probably akin to, if not identical with, the pleistocene men, 

 whose flint implements have been found in the old gravels of 

 many of our rivers, and notably in those of the Thames. 



TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4th. 



A Lecture on " The Geology and Scenery of the South-East 

 of England" was given by T. V. Holmes, Esq., F.G.S. 



By "Rocks" geologists mean all the mineral formations, 

 whether hard or soft, that make up the crust of the earth. Rocks 

 are divided into three great classes : — The Aqueous or Sedimentary, 

 which have been deposited through the action of water, usually 

 as sediment ; the Igneous, or rocks which have been melted in the 

 hot interior of the earth, and have become solid at its surface, like 

 lavas, or at some distance beneath, like the granitic rocks ; and 

 lastly, the Metamorpliic or altered rocks, which originally sedi- 

 mentary, have been more or less changed through exposure to heat 

 and pressure when deep below the surface. All the rocks ^\4thin 

 80 miles of London belong to the Aqueous division. The oldest 

 rocks of England and Wales are to be seen in the west and north- 

 Avest, the newest in the south-east ; the Chalk, the most recent of 

 the great persistent formations, occupying, with beds overlying it, 

 most of that part of England eastward of a line drawn from West 

 Dorset to the eastern side of the Wash. The beds overlying the 

 Chalk are sands, gravels, and clays of various ages. These have 

 been deposited in narrow seas like the English Channel, in estuaries, 

 or in river-valleys. But a great mass of nearly pure limestone, like 

 the Chalk, must have been deposited in a broad, open sea at a con- 

 siderable distance from any land. 



The " Challenger " exploring expedition, a few years ago, 

 showed that over a very large area at the bottom of the Xorth 

 Atlantic a deposit much resembling chalk is now being formed. 

 This deposit is called the " Globigerina Ooze," from the fact that 



