324 



NATURE 



[March 9, 1922 



bodies of the chiefs have been eviscerated they are 

 interred within fiat-topped pyramidal mounds, from 

 the surface of wnich a shaft leads to the recess in 

 which the body is placed. A dolmen is erected on 

 the mound, by the side of which is placed an image 

 in human form designed to receive the soul of the 

 dead chief. These, together with other features, such 

 as the behef in two souls, a cult of the sun with the 

 idea of marriage with the sun, and a tradition of 

 descent from an incestuous union, all connected 

 especially with the chiefly clan, form a body of evi- 

 dence which shows so many points of resemblance 

 with ancient Egypt in detail that it cannot be neg- 

 lected by the Egyptologist. It suggests that the 

 rapidly increasing material provided by ethnographical 

 research may help to elucidate some of his most 

 difficult problems. 



It was pointed out that it is only in such remote 

 regions as Melanesia, which have not been overrun 

 by later invasions, that we can expect to find survivals 

 of tne culture of early voyagers. 



The relation between philology and ethnology was 

 illustrated chiefly by reference to phonetics. It was 

 pointed out that in such a region as Melanesia the 



philologist can now study living examples of transi- 

 tions and interchanges for the existence of which in 

 Europe his chief evidence is drawn from dead 

 languages, impeded by the limitations which are the 

 necessary result of fixation by means of writing. It 

 was also shown by examples from Melanesia how 

 features of grammar and syntax can be explained 

 as the result of social interactions. 



The present barren state of physical anthropology, 

 in so far as it deals with living races, was ascribed to 

 the neglect to utiUse the findings of ethnology as work- 

 ing hypotheses and stimuli to new lines of research. 



The address concluded with a consideration of the 

 means whereby the Royal Anthropological Institute 

 might promote the recognition of unity. It was 

 pointed out that a scheme, already under considera- 

 tion, whereby societies dealing with different aspects 

 of human culture should be housed under one roof, 

 with the common use of libraries and lecture-rooms, 

 would contribute to this end ; and it was suggested 

 that the Institute itself might give much more atten- 

 tion than it does at present to papers and discussions 

 which would bring out the common purpose of the 

 more speciaUsed studies. 



Geology and the History of London.^ 



IVTUMEROUS small streams now " buried " under 

 -^^ London are indicated on the new 6-in. Geo- 

 logical Survey Maps constructed by the author, and 

 the historical research involved in tracing them has 

 led to an appreciation of the connection between the 

 geology and topography on one hand, and the original 

 settlement and gradual growth of London on the 

 other. 



The reasons for the first selection of the site have 

 been dealt with by several writers : below London 

 the wide alluvial marshes formed an impassable 

 obstacle ; traffic from the Continent came by the 

 ports of Kent, and, if destined for the north or east 

 of Britain, sought the lowest possible crossing of the 

 Thames. This was near old London Bridge, where 

 the low-level gravel on the south and the Middle 

 Terrace deposits on the north approached close to the 

 river-bank. A settlement was obviously required 

 here, and the northern side was chosen as the higher 

 ground. The gravels provided a dry, healthy soil and 

 an easily accessible water-supply ; they crowned twin 

 hills separated by the deep valley of the Walbrook, 

 bounded on the east by the low ground near the 

 Tower and the Lea with its marshes, and on the 

 west by the steep descent to the Fleet ; the site was, 

 therefore, easily defensible. The river-face of the 

 hills was, naturally, more abrupt than -it is now, 

 owing to the reclamation of ground from the river ; 

 the most ancient embankment lay 60 ft. north of the 

 northern side of Thames Street. 



The first definite evidence of a permanent settle- 

 ment is the reference in Tacitus. The early Roman 

 encampment lay east of the Walbrook, and the brick- 

 earth on the west around St. Paul's was worked. 

 Later the city expanded until the St. Paul's hill was 

 included, the wall being built in the second half of 

 the fourth century. The great Roman road from 

 Kent (Watling Street) avoided London, and utihsed 

 the next ford upstream — at Westminster — on its way 

 to Verulamium and the north-west. The earliest 

 Westminster was a Roman settlement beside the 

 ford, built on a small island of gravel and sand 

 between two mouths of the Tyburn. This settle- 

 ment could not grow, as did London, since the area 

 of the island, known to the Saxons as Thomey, was 



^ From a lecture delivered before the Geological Society of London on 

 February i by C. E. N. Bromehead. 



NO. 2732, VOL. 109] 



small. The road from London to the west joined the 

 St. Albans road at Hyde Park Corner, running along 

 the " Strand," where the gravel came close to the 

 river ; a spring thrown out from this gravel by the 

 London Clay was utilised for the Roman Bath in 

 Strand Lane. 



Throughout medieval times London was practically 

 confined to the walled city, a defensible position being 

 essential. The forests of the London-Clay belt on 

 the north are indicated in Domesday Book and 

 referred to by several writers, notably Fitzstephen, 

 whose Chronicle also mentions many of the springs 

 and wells and the marsh of Moorfields, produced 

 largely by the damming of the Walbrook by the 

 Wall. The same writer mentions that London and 

 Westminster are " connected by a suburb." This 

 was along the " Strand," and consisted first of great 

 noblemen's houses facing the river and a row of 

 cottages along the north side of the road ; this link 

 grew northwards, at first slowly, but in the second 

 half of the seventeenth century with great rapidity. 

 By the end of that period the whole of the area 

 covered by the Middle-Terrace Gravel was built over, 

 but the northern margin of the gravel was also that 

 of the town for one hundred years, the London-Clay 

 belt remaining unoccupied. 



The reason for this arrested development was that 

 the gravel provided tne water-supply. In early days 

 the City was dependent on many wells sunk through 

 the gravel, some of which were famous, such as 

 Clerkenwell, Holywell, and St. Clement's. In tne 

 same way the outlying hamlets (for instance. Putney, 

 Roehampton, Clapham, Brixton, EaHng, Acton, Pad- 

 dington, Kensington, Islington, etc.) started on the 

 gravel, but later outgrew it. In the City the supply 

 soon became inadequate, or, as Stow says, " decayed," 

 and sundry means were adopted to supplement it. 

 The conduit system, bringing water in pipes from 

 distant springs, began in 1236 ; London Bridge 

 Waterworks pumped water from the Thames by 

 water-wheels from 1582 to 1817, while the New River 

 was constructed in 161 3, and is still in use. It was 

 not until the nineteenth century that steam-pumps 

 and iron pipes made it possible for the clay area to be 

 occupied, thus linking together the various hamlets 

 that now form the metropolitan boroughs of Greater 

 London. 



