45^ 



NATURE 



[December 24, 1914 



section near Toronto scarcely does justice to the 

 evidence indicating great climatic changes so well 

 described by Prof. Coleman. 



In England, only one out of many so-called 

 inter-Glacial deposits is considered to have stood 

 the test of critical examination, viz., the shell- 

 bearing clay of Kirmington, which is overlain and 

 underlain by Boulder Clay. It indicates a recession 

 of the ice-margin between the periods of deposi- 

 tion of the purple and Hessle Clays, when the 

 sea stood at a higher level in the estuary of the 

 Humber than it does at present. The sequence of 

 the drifts, the oscillations of the ice, the westward 

 shifting of the centres of glaciation, and the 



theory was first advanced by Dr. Jamieson to* 

 account for marine sediments of late (ilacial age 

 in Scotland. He believed that the earth's crust 

 sank under the weight of ice and rose again when 

 the ice disappeared. The author argues with 

 much ingenuity that the late-Glacial and post- 

 Glacial changes of level in Scandinavia niay be 

 accounted for by isostatic recovery from the effects 

 of ice-load combined with a single oscillation of 

 the sea-level. 



This volume will be useful to students as a 

 synopsis from a particular viewpoint of modern 

 research in Quaternary geology. The illustra- 

 tions deserve special mention. In selection and 



Fhoto.'l ^ IR- Lunn. 



Fig. 2. — Section of glacial jsand and gravel resting on Boulder Clay on the river Spey, opposite Rothes, Banffshire, Scotland. From " The Quaternary 



Ice Age." 



Glacial drainage as worked out by Mr. Lam- 

 plugh, Prof. Kendall and others is clearly set 

 forth. 



The classification of the culture stages of Palaeo- 

 lithic man is based on that of G. de Mortillet, 

 and of Neolithic man on that of Montelius. 

 Special emphasis is laid on the great break be- 

 tween the Palaeolithic and Neolithic industries of 

 Europe. The transition phases (Campignien, 

 Tardenoisien, and Asylien), which are supposed 

 by archaeologists to bridge this gap, fail to 

 demonstrate a passage between the two. 



One of the most interesting chapters in the 

 volume is that dealing w^ith the isostatic theory 

 of the Quaternary oscillations of sea-level. This 



NO. 2356, VOL. 94] 



execution they are excellent. Two of them (Figs. 

 I and 2) are here reproduced. John Horne. 



WIRELESS TELEPHONY. 



THE system of wireless telephony upon which 

 Capt. Colin and Lieut. Jeance, of the 

 French Navy, have been at work for some years 

 has recently been considerably improved, and 

 some very successful experiments were carried out 

 last June, when, during some tests in which long- 

 distance communication was established in France 

 by means of an aerial only 164 ft. high, speech 

 was incidentally overheard on a small amateur 

 installation in Lincolnshire. The continuous 



