358 



NATURE 



[May 20, 1920 



Naturally Fractured Eocene Flints. 



At a meeting of the Geological Society of London, 

 held on May 5, Mr. S. Hazzledine Warren read a 

 paper entitled "A Natural ' Eolith' Factory beneath 

 the Thanet Sand." The discovery of flints fractured 

 by natural pressure at the base of the Eocene is not, 

 however, a novel experience, as, in 1910, M. I'Abbe 

 H. Breuil described (" Sur la presence d'Eolithes i la 

 base de 1 'Eocene Parisian, " L' Anthropologic, t. xxi., 

 1910, pp. 385-408) in great detail, and by means of 

 no fewer than seventy-six excellent illustrations, a 

 series of flaked specimens of the same kind as those 

 now put forward by Mr. Warren. Also, in 1914, I 

 published an account of the flaked flints occurring in 

 the Lower Eocene "Bull-head" bed at Bramford, 

 near Ipswich (Proc. P.S.E.A., vol. i., part 4, pp. 397- 

 404), and gave a full account of this peculiar deposit 

 and the nature of the fractures exhibited by some of 

 the contained flints. It will thus be seen' that this 

 question has been fully discussed and threshed out 

 for many years past. 



Through Mr. Warren's courtesy I was enabled, 

 before the meeting at the Geological Society's rooms, 

 to examine his material, and I at once recognised that 

 the flake-scars to be seen upon the specimens showed 

 every characteristic of those produced by pressure. 

 Though of interest as corroborating earlier finds, Mr. 

 Warren's flints have no bearing upon the specimens 

 discovered by me in the Sub-Red Crag- detritus-bed 

 and other ancient deposits. The flaked flints which 

 I have collected and claimed as humanly fashioned 

 exhibit flake-scars produced by intelligently directed 

 blows, as is clear to anyone examining them and 

 familiar with the obvious and fundamental differences 

 between pressure and percussion flaking. Further, 

 it is also clear that these pressure-fractured Eocene 

 flints are not comparable with the specimens first 

 found by Mr. Benjamin Harrison, which have been 

 known by that much misused term "eoliths." 



J. Rf.id Moir. 



Ipswich, May 7. 



International Council for Fishery investigations. 



The writer (X. Y. Z.) on this subject in Nature of 

 April 29 seems to beat the air. There is no confusion 

 of the general discussion with the deliberate state- 

 ment of the council that "the study of the effect 

 of the war in having closed great areas would 

 materially assist the council in arriving- at the most 

 practical results." The closure of certain areas, for 

 ten years or more, by the Scottish Fishery Board has 

 already shown that such is without material effect on 

 Nature's ways. Further, it is just the consideration 

 of the almost valueless mass of certain statistics that, 

 amongst other things, has led to the view that, judged 

 by its promises and performances, the " International 

 Council for the Investigation of the Sea," so far as 

 the welfare of the British fisheries is concerned, is 

 a serious waste of public money. The Development 

 Commission's "almost judicial committee" cannot 

 alter that conclusion. W. C. McIntosh. 



2 Abbotsford Crescent, St. Andrews, 

 May 7. 



Sea and Sky at Sunset. 



In a note on the Royal Academy in Nature of 

 May 6 "J. S. D." expresses disbelief in the possi- 

 bility that a red sunset can give rise to a pure blue 

 colour in the sea. 



NO. 2638, VOL. 105] 



Last summer and autumn I occupied a small house i 



on the French coast near Boulogne, and I had the 

 good fortune to witness some of the most wonderful ' 



sunsets I have ever seen. The sun used to set across 

 the Channel immediately in front of our windows, 

 and the light of the setting sun was reflected not 

 only in the sea itself, but also in the pools left by the 

 tide along the seashore. 



On several occasions when the setting sun was a 

 deep crimson in a purple sky the sea was an intense 

 blue, while the reflection on the water suggested 

 molten gold. The contrast between the purple and 

 crimson of the sky and the blue and gold of the sea 

 was very beautiful, and the effect is not one which 

 I shall readily forget. 



As the sea is never free from ripples, it is possible 

 that some of the light reaching the eye is transmitted 

 through the water, but whatever may be the explana- 

 tion there is no doubt about the' realitv of the 

 effect. 



K. E. Edge WORTH. 



Crowborough, May 9. 



Readers of Nature will welcome Col. Edgeworth's 

 description of what a sunset over the sea can be like, 

 but those who have had an opportunity of studying 

 the picture in this year's Academy to which reference 

 was made will not find any difficultv in distinguishing 

 between the reality as described by him and the artist's 

 conception of the reality as seen at Burlington 

 House. 



As to Col. Edgeworth's description of sunsets seen 

 over the English Channel, few who have spent holi- 

 days on a western sea-coast, or even on the reaches of 

 a winding river like the Thames, can be unfamiliar 

 with the pillar of gold seen in the water through the 

 reflection of the sun's disc on the rippled surface. 

 The golden reflection beneath the sun and the dark 

 blue reflection beneath tbe skv mav g^ive rise to 

 marked contrasts, but there is 'nothing unnatural in 

 these. In the picture referred to it is far otherwise. 

 The sun is not visible, but the whole skv is red, 

 and where reflected light would cause innumerable 

 spots of red upon the crests of the riooles no colour 

 but blue is shown. 



J. S. D. 



Scientific Research. 



In common with other subscribers to the Scientific 

 Research Association, I recently received an intimation 

 from the acting secretary and the treasurer that the 

 support accorded to it was not sufficient to justifv the 

 establishment of the proposed organisation. There 

 can, however, be no question of the importance of the 

 aim the association had set itself — the promotion of 

 research, irrespective of the economic advantages, it 

 may bring with it; and it may be some satisfaction 

 to those who feel this to know that the National Union 

 of Scientific Workers has formed a research council to 

 promote the interests of research for its own sake. 

 It is desired to make this council as representative as 

 possible of every branch of scientific investigation. 

 Communications from all who have the success of 

 such a movement at heart should be addressed to the 

 secretary of the National Union, Major Church, 

 19 Tothill Street, S.W.i, or to myself. 



John W. Evans. 



Imperial College of Science and Technology, 

 . South Kensington, May 10. 



