August i8, 1904] 



NA TURE 



387 



had been completed before it was deposited. Nor again do 

 the nieinbers of the Oolitic group of the rocks cropping 

 out in succession further east show any such folds as those 

 visible in the Carboniferous, and it is not until we have 

 passed over a considerable tract of Secondary rocks in which 

 there are no signs of east and west folding that we reach 

 the anticlines of the Vales of Pewsey and Wardour. Nor 

 can we then fit these folds in the Cretaceous formation on 

 to any visible axes in the Carboniferous rocks. In these 

 circumstances it would be unjust to suppose that such 

 svndines and anticlines as those of the London and Hamp- 

 shire basins, or of the Weald, coincide with previously 

 formed synclines and anticlines in the older rocks. They 

 give a clue to the position of the old axis, but not necessarily 

 to the details of its structure. Yet it is upon the deter- 

 mination of the position of the older anticlines and synclines, 

 and of their intersection with the north and south disturb- 

 ances, that we must depend for locating concealed coal- 

 fields. So far but little has been done in the forty-eight 

 vears since the question was first mooted by Godwin-.\usten. 

 The existence of a coalfield in Kent has been proved, and 

 what appears to be a prolongation of a disturbance from 

 the Pas de Calais along the south-western side of it. The 

 other borings which have reached the Palreozoic floor round 

 London and at Harwich have thrown but little light on the 

 details of its structure. By far the greater part of the 

 ground remains yet to be explored. 



In this brief review of the earth-mov^ements of one period, 

 as manifested in one small part of the globe, we have found 

 reason to conclude that they were the result of compression 

 and upheaval ; that the crust yielded to the compression by 

 overthrusting and buckling along certain belts; that these 

 belts in the north of England and the Midlands ran for the 

 most part north and south, diverging, however, to the 

 south-west and to the south-east, while in the south of 

 England they took an east and west direction and con- 

 centrated themselves along a belt of country which presents 

 the phenomena of crushing on a stupendous scale. We have 

 touched in two cases the flanks of a mountain-range, the 

 Caledonian, which was built and ruined before the Carbon- 

 iferous period ; the Armorican, which was built after that 

 period, and which, though it has stirred so recently as the 

 late Tertiary period, and so energetically as to initiate the 

 physical features and river-system of the south of England, 

 yet expended the greater part of its energy before the 

 Permian period. Lastly, we have found evidence, in the 

 majority of cases, that the disturbances were but renewals 

 of movement along lines of weakness long before estab- 

 lished, and that in several cases there has been further 

 renewal along the same lines during successive periods later 

 than the one we have considered. With such a history 

 before us, and with the knowledge that mountain-ranges 

 have been built in other parts of the world by the upheaval 

 of strata of almost recent date, we have more cause to 

 wonder that the internal forces have left this quarter of the 

 globe alone for so long, than reason to believe that they 

 have ceased to exist. Changes of level, however, have taken 

 place in comparatively recent times, and are now in progress. 

 Though. almost imperceptibly slow, they serve to remind us 

 that a giant lies sleeping under our feet who has stretched 

 his limbs in the past, and will stretch them again in the 

 future. Nor in view of the fact that the structures I have 

 described have only been revealed by the denudation of vast 

 masses of strata does it seem unreasonable to suppose that 

 they are deep-seated phenomena. The slow changes of level 

 may be the outward manifestation of more complicated 

 movements being in progress at a depth. 



It is interesting to speculate on what appearance the globe 

 would have presented had it not been enveloped in an atmo- 

 sphere and covered for the most part with water. Owing 

 to those circumstances it possesses the power of healing old 

 wounds and burying old scars. In their absence we may 

 suppose that the belts of crushing and buckling would have 

 given rise to ridges growing in size at every renewal of 

 movement, for they would have been neither levelled by 

 denudation nor smoothed over by sedimentation. This 

 globe, we mav suppose, would have appeared to the in- 

 habitants of another planet as being encompassed In a net- 

 work, and we are prompted to ask whether our astronomers 

 I an distinguish In any other planet markings that may be 

 .iilributable to this cause. I must remind vou, however, 



NO. 18 16, VOL. 70] 



how much more remains to be done than I have been able 

 to touch upon to-day. The map [appended to the address] 

 represents one episode only In a long series of events, and 

 a series of such maps would be required to illustrate the first 

 appearance of lines of weakness in the earth's crust, the 

 subsequent renewals of movement along those lines, and the 

 formation of new lines In successive geological periods. 

 With the case thus set out we shall be justified In appealing 

 to the physicists for an explanation of the restlessness of 

 this globe. 



JVOT£:S. 



The Antarctic relief ship Terra Nova arrived at Plymouth 

 on Sunday night last, and afterwards left for Sheerness. 

 It will be remembered that the Terra Nova, in company 

 with the Morning, was engaged in the expedition for the 

 relief of the Discovery, which was ice-bound in the .Antarctic 

 Sea. The two relief ships left Hobart together, and first 

 encountered pack Ice on January 4. They saw the mast- 

 heads of the Discovery on January 8, and the crews of the 

 three ships were engaged from that time until February 14 

 in blasting a passage through the 12 miles of ice which 

 lay between the Discovery and open water. When they got 

 within two miles of the Discovery the ice began to break 

 up freely, and the task was quickly completed. The Dis- 

 covery, having been supplied with coal by the Terra Nova, 

 began her homeward journey, the two vessels during the 

 early stages travelling In company. Subsequently the vessels 

 parted owing to bad weather, but met again at the .Auck- 

 land Isles. Thence they proceeded to Lyttelton and home. 



The first instalment of specimens collected by the National 

 Antarctic Expedition in the Discovery has, according to the 

 Times, arrived at the British Museum (Natural History). 

 It consists of the collection of sealskins obtained by the 

 expedition in the pack ice and in McMurdo Strait in the 

 Polar summers of 1901-2, 1903-4. It Is proposed to await the 

 arrival of the Discovery before dealing with this instalment, 

 which has been sent on ahead in order to ensure the proper 

 preservation of the specimens ; but the report which has 

 been received with the collection Indicates that the four 

 species of true seals known to occur In the .Antarctic are 

 all represented. It is probable that the collection also 

 contains one or more specimens of the elephant-seal from 

 McMurdo Strait, a region where it was not hitherto known 

 to exist. The remainder of the specimens collected by the 

 expedition are coming home in the Discovery. On the 

 arrival of the Discovery,' the natural history specimens will 

 be sent to the Cromwell Road Museum to be worked out, 

 the trustees of the British Museum having, says the Times, 

 undertaken the classification, description, and publication 

 of the biological and geological results of the expedition. 



We much regret to have to announce the death, in his 

 seventy-fourth year, of Dr. J. D. Everett, F.R.S.. for thirty 

 years professor of natural philosophy at Queen's College, 

 Belfast. 



We note with great regret the death of the Rev. Dr. 

 H. P. Gurney, principal of the Durham College of Science, 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which occurred on Saturday last 

 through a fall while climbing in the .Alps. Dr. Gurney, who 

 did much to further the interests of science and education, 

 became principal of the Durham College of Science In 1894, 

 and was also professor of mathematics and lecturer in 

 mineralogy in the same institution. In Newcastle he was 

 a recognised leader in educational matters, and was a 

 co-opted member of both the Newcastle and the Northumber- 

 land education committees, being particularly useful on the 

 higher and other sub-committees. 



