Dec. 7, 1876] 



NATURE 



131 



of Kessingland, instead of being coeval with the pre-glacial one 

 of the Cromer coast, may belong to this inter-glacial interval — 

 that is to say, to the earliest part of it, before the glaciers accu- 

 mulated in the valleys, and when the climate was more temperate, 

 any similar deposits in these inter-glacial valleys having been for 

 the most part subsequently ploughed out by the action of the 

 glaciers. In discussing the subject under the third head the 

 authors point out the many perplexing features which are con- 

 nected with the position and distribution of the Middle Glacial 

 formation ; and while they admit that as to one or two of these 

 the theory which they offer affords no explanation, they suggest 

 that the theory of this formation's origin which best meets the 

 case is as follows, viz. : — As the country became re-submerged, 

 and as the valley glaciers retreated before the advancing sea, the 

 land-ice of the mountain districts of North Britain accumulated 

 and descended into the low grounds, so that by the time East 

 Anglia had become re-submerged to the extent of between 300 

 and 400 feet, one branch of this ice had reached the borders of 

 the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herts, and Bedford, 

 ploughing out and destroying any lower glacial beds that had 

 been deposited over the intervening counties upon which it rested, 

 and over which we ought otherwise, having regard to the depth 

 of the earlier submergence under which they were accumulated, 

 to find them, but do not. The Middle Glacial formation, con- 

 sisting of sand and gravel, they attribute principally to the action 

 of currents washing out and distributing the morainic material, 

 which was extruded on the sea-bottom by this land-ice ; that ice 

 itself, by keeping out the sea over all the country on which it rested, 

 which was then below the sea-level, preventing the deposit of the 

 Middle Glacial in those parts. The termination of this current 

 action was accompanied by increased submergence and by a 

 gradual retreat of the land-ice northwards to the mountain dis- 

 tricts, until Britain was left in the condition of a snow-capped 

 archipelago, from which eventually the snow disappeared and 

 the land eirerged. To the moraine extruded from the base of 

 this ice and into deep water they refer the origin of the Upper 

 Glicial Clay, the moraine material remaining partly in the posi- 

 tio.i in which the ice left it, and partly lifted by the bergs which 

 became detached from the ice. Such part of it as was lifted 

 was dropped over the sea-bottom at no great distance from its 

 point of extrusion, and in that way the marine shells occurring 

 in a seam of sand in the midst of this clay at Dimlington and 

 Bridlington on the Yorkshire coast became imbedded, the mol- 

 lusca which had established themselves on the surface of this 

 iroraine material having been thus smothered under a lifted mass 

 of the same, which was dropped from a berg. The authors 

 point out that precisely in the same way in which the Middle 

 Glacial is found stretching out southwards and eastwards 

 beyond the Upper Glacial Clay in Suffolk and in Herts, and is 

 succeeded by such clay both verlically and horizontally, so does 

 the earlier-formed part of the Upper Glacial Clay, or that with 

 chalk debris, stretch southwards beyond the later-formed pait, 

 or that destitute of such debris, and is succeeded by it, both 

 vertically and horizontally. This, they consider, shows that the 

 Middle and Upper Glacial deposits, which constitute an un- 

 broken succession, were due to the gradually receding position 

 of the land-ice during their accumulation, the sequence being 

 terminated with the Moel Tryfaen and Macclesfield Gravels, 

 which were accumulated during the disconnection and gradual 

 disappearance of the ice, and while the land still continued 

 deeply submerged. 



Anthropological Institute, November 14.— Col. A. Lane 

 Fox, F.R.S., president, in the chair.— The president read a 

 paper on the Black Burgh Tumulus, Dyke Road, Brighton, 

 explored by him in 1872. This tumulus, about two miles from 

 another opened in 1856, which contained the amber cup, bronze 

 dagger, &c., now in the Brighton Museum, was found to contain 

 towards the centre a layer of charcoal i' 10" below the surface, 

 and extending to a radius of 20 feet. This, on being micrc 

 scopically examined, was found to be oak charcoal. Portions of 

 ribs of goat or sheep, notched apparently with a flint saw, were 

 found, a piece of British pottery, and in the centre of the tumu- 

 lus, in an oblong grave 8 feet by 12 feet, was found a skeleton in 

 a crouching position, six feet below the surface, and crushed flat 

 by the superincumbent earth, the face towards the south-eas*-. 

 These remains Prof. Flower ascribes to a female of about 5'. 6"; 

 about two feet from the feet l\y a fine bronze dagger 4" iri 

 length, with the rivets for attaching it to its handle. A curious 

 food-cup with peculiar ornamentation on one side, and also two 

 small discs of metal, apparently rivet-heads, together with a 



quantity of small flat beads, originally strung together, were 

 found. These objects belong to the time of interment. Two 

 flint scrapers were also found near the body. The chief pecu- 

 liarities of this find are the presence of a dagger with a female 

 skeleton and the curiously-ornamented food-cup. The president 

 then read a paper on the exploration, in 1875, of the ditch and 

 tumulus in Seaford Camp. In the ditch at i foot below the 

 present surface were found one or two pieces of mediaeval 

 pottery, then Romano-British at about 3 feet, and below this 

 chalk rubble evidently filled in, till the original bottom at 7 feet 

 was found. The tumulus inside the rampart was examined, and 

 a large flint scraper and a piece of Britiih pottery were found at 



2 feet. Below, at a depth of 3 feet 5 inches, five flint saws 

 and more British pottery were found, also fragments of a flint 

 hammer and a polished flint celt, originally 5 inches long, but 

 broken into three pieces ; one of the edges was chipped to make 

 a new edge. The flint hammer was formed from a sea-worn 

 flint pebble. The flint celt had evidently been fractured three 

 or four times at the place of interment. Scrapers and fragments 

 of pottery and a broken but well-shaped barbed arrow-head were 

 also found. No trace of bone was found. — Mr. F. G. H. Price, 

 F.G. S., then read a paper on excavations in the Romano-British 

 cemetery at Seaford, Sussex, by himself and Mr. John E. Price, 

 F.S.A. The authors described the cemetery and the cuttings 

 they made injit. The surface soil, extending to a depth of about 



3 feet, contained large quantities of flint scrapers, flakes, and 

 fragments of pottery. Several urns were met with at a depth of 

 3 feet 6 inches from the surface, which contained, in addition to 

 the usual calcined bone?, thin iron nails with large heads, flint 

 flakes, and bronze fibulse. The objects found in the above exca- 

 vations were exhibited, and a discussion on the three papers took 

 place, in which the president and others joined. Maps and 

 sections illustrated the papers. — Photographs of a so-called 

 horned man from Akim were exhibited by Mr. Hay per Mr. 

 Francis Galton, F.R.S. 



Physical Society, November 18. — Prof. G. C. Foster, 

 president, in the chair. — The .following candidates were elected 

 members of the Society : — Major W. Malcolm, R.E., Prof. J. 

 M. Purser, Dr. W. Francis, Mr. G. Johnstone Stoney, and Mr. 

 D. MacAlpin. — Mr. Tylor read a paper on the cohesion and 

 capillary action of films of water under various conditions. The 

 author endeavours to eliminate the action of all forces except 

 that of gravity by immersing his " valves " in water. The models 

 which he exhibited consisted of glass tubes about 3 inches in 

 diameter and 6 inches high, filled with water and containing each 

 a piston, which, on being raised, was capable of lifting by cohe- 

 sion a heavy mass of metal, the nature of the surfaces in contact 

 differing in the several instruments. From experiments with 

 them he concludes that the time during which a heavy valve can 

 be supported depends upon the size of the surface of contact, the 

 difference of pressure within and without the moving parts, and 

 the smoothness of the valve. On the contrary, dry bodies, such 

 as Whitworth's surface planes, will adhere for an indefinite 

 period. Mr. Tylor considers that the supporting of a body in 

 water is due to a difference of pressure in the water itself, and 

 he adduced Giffard's injector as showing that such differences 

 can take place. He has also studied the form assumed by a 

 drop of water at a tap, and considers that when a fly walks on a 

 ceiling its weight acts in the same manner as the heavy valves in 

 the models exhibited. — Prof. Shelley exhibited some of Sir 

 Joseph Whitworth's surface planes and gauges, and showed their 

 bearing on the subject. — Dr. Stone then projected on to the 

 screen the spectra produced by the diffraction gratings, which^^he 

 exhibited at the last meeting of the Society. When received on 

 a screen at a distance of about 25 feet they showed bright bands 

 in the red and violet, after transmission through a strong solu- 

 tion of permanganate of potash. Mr. Clarke has since ruled for 

 him gratings on the backs of right-angled prisms, and Dr. Stone 

 has cemented, by means of glycerine, or oil of cassia, gratings 

 on glass and steel on such prisms. The lines were two thousand 

 and three thousand to the inch. 



Institution of Civil_Engineers, November 21. — Mr. George 

 Robert Stephenson, president, in the chair. — The paper read 

 was on the fracture of railway tires, by Mr. W. W. Beaumont, 

 Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, December 4. — Mr. C. 

 Brooke, F.R.S. , in the chair. — It was stated that the Society 

 now numbered 713 members. — A paper on the Egyptian myth 

 of Ra, by Mr. W. R. Cooper, was read. 



