February io, 192 i] 



NATURE 



757 



of time the Crag suffered considerable erosion. This 

 erosion in places laid bare the subXJrag Stone Bed, 

 and it would seem that the land ■:urface then existing 

 was inhabited by the makers of the ochreous speci- 

 mens, who proceeded to use the large, sound pre- 

 Crag flints in implement-making. In support of 

 these conclusions it may be mentioned that in "The 

 Pliocene Deposits of Britain " (d. 40) Mr. Clement 

 Reid states: "There seem never to be more than 

 a few feet of Crag beneath the Forest Bed." .Again 

 (p. 149) he states : " It is not improbable that there 

 may also be another land surface beneath the Lower 

 Fresh-water Bed, for in one place the We\bourn Crag 

 below the Forest Bed has a rather weathered appear- 

 ance; but of this one cannot be certain." Further 

 (p. 151) it is stated: "The making of trial borings 

 in i886 and 1888 showed that the eroded surface 

 beneath the deposit (the Forest BedJ was one of the 

 most marked features, and that there was alsvays a 

 more or less gravelly base to the Forest Bed, beneath 

 which the Crag was cut into by numerous channels 

 or hollows." 



.\s patches of Weybourn Crag are still to be seen 

 near the workshop site at Cromer, and as a very 

 careful search has failed to discover anv flints of the 

 same order and colour either in the Stoiie Bed, where 

 it is exposed at West Runton and Sheringham, or in 

 the upper strata of the Cromer Forest Bed series, it 

 is concluded that the ochreous specimens now 

 described are referable to the earliest member of this 

 series, and are represented elsewhere, in all prob- 

 ability, bv the "gravelly base" mentioned by Mr. 

 Clement Reid. I have been able to ascertain that 

 the Stone Bed extends for some distance underneath 

 the shingle beach, and, if excavations could be made, 

 would no doubt bo found to occur under the cliff 

 itself. The seaward termination of the shingle beach, 

 where the Stone Bed outcrops, is about 86 yards from 

 the fofjt of the cliff, and it can be regarded as in 

 '■very way probable that the workshop site, at present 

 • X posed, was covered by the cliff one hundred years 

 ago. In fact, the rate of recession of the cliffs to the 

 south-east of Cromer is much in excess of that allowed 

 for in this estimate. .Ml the above conclusions regard- 

 ing the geological age of the workshop site and the 

 recession of the cliff at this part of the coast are shown 

 diagrammatically in Fig. i. It would appear that the 

 sea is gradually uncovering and removing manv of 

 the ochreous implements and flakes, as to the stiuth- 

 east of Oomer a number of such specimens mav be 

 found upon the shore. These examples exhibit 

 marked signs of rolling and the effects of what is 

 known as "beach action." 



The first discovery of flaked flints, claimed as being 



of human origin, in the Cromer Forest Bed was 



mado by Mr. VV. J. Lewis .Abbott, who nublishe<| his 



original paper in Natural Science in 1897 fvol. x., 



p. 89). I have seen Mr. .Abbott's specimens, which 



are of quite a diffrnnl order from those with which 



this letter deals. The numhtT of flints recovered from 



the workshop site at Cromer now amounts to 249, 



and they comprise cores, half-finished and romplele 



implements of Earlv Paln?o|ithic Chellean forms, rostro- 



irinates, choppers, flake implements, rflrloirs or side 



< rapcrs, points, s< rapors of ordinary t^pe, and simple 



f ikes. The majoritv of the specimens' are of massive 



ize, and indicate that the people who shaped them 



ere capable of drlivering flake-removing blows of 



rent accuracy and strength. One very large artefact 



u< u;hing 7 lb. 6 oz.. Is flaked into' the form of a 



tn.i^Mve rostrate impliment, and, if not used in both 



h.iiuls, could have b.en wielded onlv bv an individual 



possessed of gri-at sirennlh and size of hand. 



Tho orrurrenfe of several ex.imples at the CrOmcr 



NO. 2676, VOL. 106] 



site of implements exhibiting flaking upon two oppo- 

 site surfaces, which approximate in their form to 

 the earliest Chellean artefacts, leads me to regard 

 the whole assemblage of ochreous flints as referable 

 to this cultural stage. 



The presence of such an industry in a stratum of, 

 apparently. Upper Pliocene age would seem to be of 

 some interest and importance, and I hope to exhibit 

 the Cromer flints, and to describe them in detail, in 

 the near future. J. Reid Moir. 



Ipswich, January 20. 



Mr. Reid Moir has submitted sixty of the yellow, 

 stained worked flints from bfeneath the Forest Bed 

 of the Cromer shore to me, and has asked me to 

 add a few words to his brief report. Thev are a 

 most impressive collection on account of their abund- 

 ance, frequently large size, and uniform lustrous sur- 

 face and orange-brown colour. I have no doubt of 

 their having been shaped by man. Very usually one 

 surface of the flint is a flat orange-brown area pro- 

 duced by a single blow. Others show flaking on both 

 upper and lower surface. Later marginal chip- 

 ping—subsequent to the ochreous stainmg of the 

 flint— appears as blue-grey or as black conchoidal 

 scars. Whilst most of the specimens appear to be 

 eminently fitted for use as rubbers in skin-dressing, 

 some show more complete resemblance to coarsely 

 worked ovate implements of Chellean character, and 

 others are distinctly rostro-carinate. The most re- 

 markable among them is the extraordinarily large 

 and heavy rostrate implement weighing 7 lb. 6 oz. 

 It is 10 in. in length and measures 5 in. in breadth 

 and 4 in. in thickness at the butt-end. This huge 

 implement is most definitely shaped bv flaking of 

 undoubted human origin. It is almost tree from 

 ochreous-yellow stain. Careful drawings of it of the 

 natural size must be published for the use of archao- 

 logists. The whole " find " deserves reallv accurate 

 illustration by figures giving both the actual size and 

 the natural colour. The cost of such illustration is 

 beyond the resources of our learned societies, but 

 may possibly be met by the generosity of those who 

 have enthusiasm for " prehistorics." 



E. Ray Lankestbr. 

 Januii'-y 29. 



Modern Pass and Honours Degrees. 



.Allow- me to express agreement with the article 

 on "Scientific Education in the Metropolis" in 

 Nature of January 20, p. 653, where you deprecate 

 the prematui^ specialisation of a so-called honours 

 degree under modern regulations, as contrasted with 

 the old_ plan whereby a pass degree in a great variety 

 of subjects had to be taken before specialisation in 

 one subject was allowed. In the old davs all the 

 subjects were compulsory, and the range' of know- 

 ledge required for Matriculation and for First and 

 Second B.Sc. was quite considerable. A candidate 

 who graduated with credit under those strenuous con- 

 ditions might fairly be considered educated— to some 

 extent even in the Humanities; and, at any rate, he 

 had a severe training in working at subjects ' for 

 which he had no special aptitude, but of which he 

 ought not to be ignorant, as well as at those subjects 

 which could hf assimilated bv him without effort. 



I hold that the pass degree system in a modem 

 university, if of a proper standard, ns it was and T 

 hope still Is ,it ih.- I'nivi-rsitv of nirmlngham. for 

 instance, is fmerally nf far more value to candidates 

 and more helpful to their future development than a 

 nnrrowlv siwclalised course. wHirh is so much easier. 



A man is engaged on his own specialty more or 



