Sept. 9, 1875] 



NATURE 



419 



plainly roughened at the broad end so as to be held in the hand. 

 He thought at any rate that these flints were of a very early Neo- 

 lithic period, and showed considerable traces of the Paleolithic, 

 though there might yet remain a gap between the periods. The 

 shafts had been kept open, and would still be open for another 

 fortnight, when, by agreement with the owner, they were to be 

 closed up. Many of the leading authorities in this department 

 had visited the place, but subsequently the only actual plan of 

 the workings would be the wooden model which he exhibited, 

 showing all the strata, shafts, and galleries. 



Prof. Rolleston then proceeded to speak of the animal re- 

 mains. He said the snail and other shells found were of great 

 use, and supplied a cogent argument, without ambiguity, as 

 cogent as Euclid. Here was the sharp line of the shaft, and at a 

 depth of fourteen feet from the original surface were found an 

 immense number of Cydostoma elegans. Helix ntmoralis, and 

 other hybernating snail shells. They were not brought down to 

 be eaten by the excavators, as was supposed, but the opercula 

 were still found exactly in situ, giving evidence that they had gone 

 down for warmth and shelter while still alive. They had also 

 found plenty of food in the moist conditions of the shaft. They 

 had undoubtedly gone down the shaft at a time when it was still 

 open ; and further evidence was that no snail shells at all were 

 to be found in the rubble which had gradually dribbled down. 

 He thought that the abundance of the shells was to be explained 

 by the fact that these prehistoric Britons, like our own country- 

 men of the present day, were a little negligent in putting an end 

 to nuisances, whether they were open shafts or otherwise, and 

 thus the shaft had been open a good while, and a large series of 

 snails had lived here. And among other results of this negli- 

 gence was, he believed, the fall of a young British lady into the 

 shaft. At any rate her bones had been found in a position quite 

 compatible with this idea. With the skeleton were found a large 

 number of pig-bones ; there were at least four individuals, one 

 old and three younger. We have not the entire skeleton of any 

 one of them, and it was quite compatible with the evidence that 

 these bones might have been thrown in piecemeal. Other bones 

 were found, all of domestic animals, especially a small animal 

 which might be a sheep or a goat ; the critical pieces of the 

 skeleton were absent. As to the Bos primigenius there was not 

 the smallest doubt, and it was found in a position which showed 

 it to have occurred before the advent of the small domestic ani- 

 mals ; and wild animals of the same kinds must have then been 

 much larger, or they would speedily have been exterminated by 

 the wolves. As to the female skeleton, nearly all the bones 

 were preserved, scarcely three of the vertebrae being missing. 

 She was evidently between eighteen and twenty-five years of age, 

 by various indications of the bones. She had a large head, yet 

 it was an early type of skull, older than that of the people who 

 built the rampart. The lower jaw contained a large number of 

 teeth. The wisdom teeth were just through, and were scarcely 

 worn at all ; yet the two molar teeth in front of them on each 

 side, above and below, were ground down nearly to the stumps. 

 From this he inferred that the food had been of such a character 

 as to produce wearing of the teeth. The evidence of the bones 

 was conclusive as to her youth. The only parallel he could find 

 to this was in the Indians of Vancouver's Island, who fed on 

 fish dried in the sand-blowing winds, and their teeth were thus 

 worn down to the stumps. Similarly these people might have 

 fed on food dried in the wind, in which a large amount of fine 

 sand got embedded. The cubical capacity of the cranium was 

 very large ; as measured by rape-seed it was 10575 cubic inches; 

 and the largest cubical capacity he knew of was one of a great 

 Roman officer out ot their burial grounds, whose capacity was 

 108 cubic inches. The people who made the shafts were un- 

 doubtedly older than the Britons who made the great rampart, 

 and they were still in a stone using period. 



Mr, John Evans, in the discussion which followed, said that 

 the main difiierence between Palasolithic and Neolithic was not 

 that in one the implements were merely chipped and in the other 

 polished, but in the manner of occurrence in the strata and the 

 animals associated with them. In the Neolithic he estimated 

 that ninety-five per cent, of all that was found was unpolished — 

 all the smaller tools, &c. He acknowledged that he was not 

 justified in saying that the pointed end of some of the imple- 

 ments from Cissbury was not intended to be used ; and there 

 were some cases in which it was impossible to tell which end was 

 to be used. Even granting this exceptional resemblance, there is 

 a great Neolithic facies in the things found at Cissbury. Still, he 

 was quite willing now to accept the particular implement found 



at Cissbury as a new type of implement to be held in the hand 

 it might have been used in digging up roots. 



SECTION E 



Geography. 



Address by Lieut. -General R, Strachey, R.E., C.S.I,, 

 F,R,S., President, 



In accordance with the practice followed for some years past 

 by the Presidents of the Sections of the British Association, I 

 propose, before proceeding with our ordinary business, to offer 

 for your consideration some observations relative to the branch 

 of knowledge with which this Section is more specially con- 

 cerned. 



My predecessors in this chair have, in their opening addresses, 

 viewed geography in many various lights. Some have drawn 

 attention to recent geographical discoveries of interest, or to the 

 gradual progress of geographical knowledge over the earth gene- 

 rally, or in purticular regions. Others have spoken of the value 

 of geographical knowledge in the ordinary affairs of men, or in 

 some of the special branches of those affairs, and of the means of 

 extending such knowledge. Other addresses again have dwelt 

 on the practical influence produced by the geographical features 

 and conditions of the various parts of the earth on the past his- 

 tory and present state of the several sections of the human race, 

 the formation of kingdoms, the growth of industry and commerce, 

 and the spread of civilisation. 



The judicious character of that part of our organisation which 

 leads to yearly changes among those who preside over our meet- 

 ings, and does not attempt authoritatively to prescribe the direc- 

 tion of our discussions, will no doubt be generally recognised. 

 It has the obvious advantage, amongst others, of ensuring that 

 none of the multifarious claims to attention of the several 

 branches of science shall be made unduly prominent, and of 

 giving opportunity for viewing the subjects which from time to 

 time come before the Association in fresh aspects by various 

 minds. 



Following, then, a somewhat different path from those who have 

 gone before me in treating of Geography, I propose to speak of 

 the physical causes which have impressed on our planet the pre- 

 sent outlines and forms of its surface, have brought about its 

 present conditions of climate, and have led to the development 

 and distribution of the living beings found upon it. 



In selecting this subject for my opening remarks, I have been 

 not a little influenced by a consideration of the present state of 

 geographical knowledge, and of the probable future of geogra- 

 phical investigation. It is plain that the field for mere topo- 

 graphical exploration is already greatly limited, and that it is 

 continually becoming more restricted. Although no doubt much 

 remains to be done in obtaining detailed maps of large tracts of 

 the earth's surface, yet there is but comparatively a very small 

 area with the essential features of which we are not now fairly 

 well acquainted. Day by day our maps become more complete, 

 and with our greatly improved means of communication the 

 knowledge of distant countries is constantly enlarged and more 

 widely diffused. Somewhat in the same proportion the demands 

 for more exact information become more pressing. The neces- 

 sary consequence is an increased tendency to give to geographical 

 investigations a more strictly scientific direction. In proof of 

 this I may instance the fact that the two British naval expeditions 

 now being carried on, that of the Challenger and that of the 

 Arctic seas, have been organised almost entirely for general 

 scientific research, and comparatively little for topographical 

 discovery. Narratives of travels, which not many years ago 

 might have been accepted as valuable contributions to our then 

 less perfect knowleJge, would now perhaps be regarded as super- 

 ficial and insufficient. In short, the standard of knowledge of 

 travellers and writers on geography must be raised to meet the 

 increased requirements of the time. 



Other influences are at work tending to the same result The 

 great advance made in all branches of natural science limits more 

 and more closely the facilities for original research, and draws 

 the observer of nature into more and more special studies, while 

 it renders the acquisition by any individual of the highest 

 standard of knowledge in more than one or two special subjects 

 comparatively difficult and rare. At the same time the mutual 

 inter-dependence of all natural phenomena daily becomes more 

 apparent ; and it is of ever-increasing importance that there shall 

 be some among the cultivators of natural knowledge who specially 



