428 



• KNOWLEDGE . 



[Nov. 21, 1884. 



the aninjal, the more complex, more numerous, and irre- 

 gular are these creases or convolutions, the skull of this 

 pakeolithic man is of the character we should have ex|)ected. 

 and like indications of brute force are given by the rest of 

 the skeleton in tlie contrast of strong muscular characters 

 with the low cerebral ones. 



The bones had derived a dark brown colour from the 

 powdery sand in which they were imbedded. Below this 

 is the gravel known as " ballast," and above it are succes- 

 sive layers of thirty feet in thickness, the time of deposition 

 of which is the measure of the period from the time of 

 Drift-man until now. The present level of the surface of 

 the banks of the Thames is about the same, geologically 

 speaking, as it was when it was forded at Corday-Stakes 

 by the second batch of Roman invaders (52 B.C.), and the 

 different and various soils from surface to sand have been 

 laid down tranquilly in keeping with that uniformity of 

 causation which excludes theories of rapid or violent 

 action. In the stratum just above the sand, fragments 

 of decayed and blackened wood were found, showing 

 the existence of vegetation Jong ago imbedded in 

 the overlaying mud. Above this, beds of peat, mixed 

 with clayey matter, alternate with layers of mud 

 till we reach the surface clay. Data for reckoning the 

 lapse of time in which years are " as moments in the 

 ■eternal silence " fail us, and we are, as Sir Richard 

 observes, unable to conceive the difference between the 

 recorded times "since the actual surface was first trod by , 

 a Roman soldier, and the unrecorded time since the sandy 

 soil, eight strata and thirty feet lower down, was trod by ! 

 the man whese osteological characters are given above." | 

 It is a question whether the sand is a more recent foun- 

 dation than the celebrated gravel-beds of the Somme 

 Valley in which M. Boucher de Perthes first discovered 

 unpolished stone implements, and revolutionised all past 

 ideas of man's place in geological time. Be it contempo- 

 rary or later, the Tilbury skeleton throws no light on the 

 presence of man in tertiary times, whether of Bomo alalus 

 i(dumb-man) in the Miocene age, or of Homo pithecantliropus 

 {ape-man) in the Eocene age. It is enough that this 

 skeleton adds confirmation of the already superabundant 

 evidence of the remote antiquity of man in western Europe, 

 and of his primitive condition as one inferior to the lowest 

 savages extant. 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



■Geology of Weymouth, Porllavd, and Coast of DorsetsMre. 

 By Robert Damon, F.G.S. (London : Edward Stanford. 

 1884.) — The tourist or visitor to the Dorsetshire coast 

 •can have no better guide to its physical structure, its 

 •geological, palseontological, and archaeological history, or 

 its existing fauna and fiora, than Mr. Damon's excellent 

 work, the new and enlarged edition of which lies before us. 

 It is fully illustrated by maps, plans, and capital drawings 

 of the most common and characteristic fossil!-, and contains 

 an amount of detail on all the subjects treated of which 

 may fairly entitle it to be ranked as exhaustive. The 

 student who will spend a fortnight exploring the coast 

 between Swanage and Bridport with jNIr. Damon's book in 

 his hand, will acquire a more intimate knowledge of 

 geslogical phenomena, and realise in an infinitely more 

 impressive svay the strange history of past life upon our 

 globe, than he can by any possibility ever do by six months 

 of mere " grind " at the whole ot the South Kensington 

 cram-books put together. We cordially recommend it. 



The Saxon Invasion, and its Infltunce on our Character 

 as a Race. By J. Foster Palmer, L.R.C.P., Ac. Trans- 

 actions of the Eojal IliMcii.t:.! S.ci. t_v. (L011.I..I). 18S4.) 



— All Englishmen who are curious to know something of 

 the rock wheuce the}' were hewn, and the hole of the pit 

 whence they were digged, will find a mass of curious and 

 interesting information in Mr. Palmer's pamphlet. He re- 

 gards Voriigern, Arthur, Ilengist, and Hor.>;a, ic, as really 

 historical jiersonages, and not as the mtie myihs it is now 

 Jashionable to consider them. 



London Water Supply. By Colonel Sir Fhaxcis Bolton", 

 C.E. (William Clowes .t Son. 1884.)— Thi.x is the third 

 volume on the subject of the London Water Supply which 

 has reached us for review since the opening of the Health 

 Exhibition, and it is the most exhau.stive of them all. As 

 a manual at once for the consumer and for the waterworks 

 shareholder, it leaves nothing to be desired ; in fact, it 

 may be regarded as a kind of en cyclopaedia of the subject. 

 The physicist, the mechanic, the statistician, and the 

 lawyer, as well as the householder may each find matter of 

 interest within the covers of Colonel Bolton's portly volume. 

 We fail to see how it can be sold without a serious loss at 

 the almost nominal sum charged for it 



The Sjiitalfidds Genius ; the Story of Wm. Alien, F.R.S. 

 Re-told by J. Fayle, B. A. (London : Hodder k Stoughton. 

 1884.) — In a proem and seven effective chapters, Mr. Fayle 

 tells the interesting story of the life of the Quaker chemist 

 ot Plough-court, Lombard-street, who, boru in Spitaltields 

 in 1770, subsequently became famous as one of the most 

 popular lecturers on chemistry of his time, and whose 

 philanthropy was as extensive as his scientific knowledge. 

 How a business man in a dingy City court became the 

 friend and associate of men of the highest social rank and 

 of world-wide eminence, may be learned from the volume 

 before us, in which there is scarcely a dull or dry page to 

 be found. We will not spoil the reader's pleasure by any 

 attempted precis of its contents, but refer him to the work 

 itself. 



The First Principles of Natural Philomphy. By W. T. 

 Lynn, B.A., F.R.A.S. Second edition. (London : J. Van 

 A^oorst, 1884.) As an introduction to physics for use in 

 schools, or for the self-taught student, Jlr. Lynn's excellent 

 little book appears to be particularly well adapted. In 

 simple and intelligible language, illustrated, wherever neces- 

 sary, by diagrams, our author expounds the fundamental 

 principles of Statics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics and Hydrody- 

 namics, Pneumatics, and Optics : treating of the nature of 

 Light and Sound in a concluding chapter. The only mathe- 

 matical knowledge presupposed on the part of the reader is 

 that of the first six books of Euclid, and some elementary 

 algebra. Should Mr. Lynn ever expand this work, some 

 reference to the conservation of energy might well find a 

 place Ln its pages. 



Reasons for Dissentiny from t/ie Philosophy/ of M. Comte. 

 By Herbert Spencer. (London . Williams i Norgate. 

 1884.) — That Comte was one of the greatest thinkers that 

 this century has produced, it would be idle to deny. His 

 followers, however, are but indifferently contented with 

 I this admission, and virtually claim that all exponents of 

 modern scientific thought are indebted to their apostle and 

 prophet for inspiration. Among others who have been 

 accused of borrowing from the " Philosophie Positive " of 

 the famous Frenchman is our own great English philo- 

 sopher, Herbert Spencer, an accusation which he sets 

 himself to rebut in the pamphlet before us. By the simple 

 method of placing quotations from Comte's writings and 

 from hia own in parallel columns, Mr. Spencer shows 

 triumphantly that so far from deriving his inspiration from 

 Comte, he differs from him, to/o coeJo, on the most vital 

 point.". Every one interested in the controversy should 

 read hia tract. 



