NATURE 



\_May 12, 1 88 1 



splintered parts are bright, lustrous, and n jn-ochreous, exactly 

 resembling in the fractured parts the bright aad unabraded 

 iLQpletnents. This fact appears to me to demojstrate that the 

 abraded ochreous implements acquired their ochieous cru,t else- 

 where, and were objects of great antiquity when the Canterbury 

 gravels were laid doH n. I have one of these deep-brown greatly- 

 roUed flint implements that was found amongst chert in the famous 

 pi: at Broom, neai- Exeter : tils deep oclireoui colour was not 

 derived frooi chert gravel. From whence have these generally 

 missive, abraded, ochreous implements been derived, and how 

 laid down in distinct depo its ? 



As an instance of very high implementiferoui gravels, the same 

 distance south of London a^ the Ware gravels are north, the 

 ancient gravels on the escarpment of the hills north of Sev.enoaks 

 ani Ightham may be cited. So_ne of these heights exceed by 

 '203 feet the heights of the Hertford and Ware positions. 



Dr. John Evans, in his admirable boo'.c on the "Ancient 

 Stone Implements of Great Britain," pp. 531-532, records the 

 important discovery (on the surface) of ochreous and abraded 

 implemen'-S at great heights near Currie Wood, a few mile-i 

 sjiith of St, Mary's Cray, Kent, at 300 feet above the viUey of 

 the Darent, and 500 feet above the sea. Dr. Evans also says 

 (p. 531), "It is, however, necessary that furtlier discoveries 

 should be made in this district before it will be safe to speculate 

 oa the origin of these gravels and their relation to the superficial 

 configuration of the neighb lurhood." My friend, Mr. Benjamin 

 Harrison of Iglitham, has during the list year instituted a 

 ri,'orous search over the high level gravels sjuth of this district, 

 A tributary of the Medway rises at Ightham, near Seven jaks ; 

 the level of the present stream near the village is 254 feet, and 

 an outlying bed of old river-gravel is found at 330 feet, and 

 an jther bed up the stream at an altitude of from 380 feet to 

 400 feet. In these high level Wealden gravels Mr. Harrison 

 liAS recently found paleolithic implemeots in ^reat numbers, 

 generally missive, ochreous, and abraded. At 312 feet he has 

 found them in situ, and on the surface as high as 335 feet. 

 More recently Mr. Benjamin Harrison has examined the old 

 river gravel at Dunk's Green (two miles and a half s juth of 

 Ightham), and here at a level of 200 feet has proved the beds to 

 be implernentiferous. For these facts and heights I am in- 

 debted to Mr. Harrison, who has given me his permission for 

 their publication. 



In these two letters I have chiefly confined myself to state- 

 ments of dry facts, purposely abotiining from any comments on 

 th; meaning of the heights, &c., referred to. 



WORTHINGTON G. SMITH 



125, Grosvenor Road, Highbury, N. 



Naval Cadet Examinations 



I WISH to bring to your notice the injudicious severity to 

 wh'ch our competitive examinations have of late attained, re- 

 girdless, as it appears to me, of the possible injury they may 

 inflict on the health of those who are forced to strain every 

 ])Ovver, both physical and mental, in the struggle. 



The most recent example of the kind is, I believe, the New- 

 Standard for Naval Cadetships, which requires boys from 

 between the ages of twelve and thirteen and a half to pass a 

 competitive examination in Latin, French (both translating and 

 speaking), arithmetic up to decimal fractions, algebra, including 

 fractions and simple equations with one unknown quantity, 

 geometry up to first twenty-six propositions of Euclid, English — 

 with Scripture history. They are further tempted, if ambitious, 

 to take algebra up to quadratic equatio.is, and geometry up to 

 the end of the first book of Euclid. 



Now when the object to b; obtained is no less than a career 

 for life, one can imagine w liat a force of pressure — from the 

 parent anxious to provide for his son, from the schoolmaster's 

 p.ide in his pupil, and from the boy's own ambition — is brought 

 to bear to urge nature to the utmost in the trial. 



The casualties — for we are entitled to use theexpresjion —that 

 li.ive already occurred under the system have been sufficiently 

 numerous to make any one who will pause to think seriously 

 anxious. 



Education is most valuable, but when its attainment is at any 

 time carried out at the expense of health to the pupil it is a 

 failure, " Mens sana in corpore sano " is above everything to 

 be prized, and he who enters upon life's work possessed of that 

 advantage is fittest for its trials. 



I will quote an extract from the Lancet, which treats the 



subject from a professional point of view and with an admirable 

 clearness. It says ; — 



"There can be no room to question the extreme peril of 

 ' over-work ' to growing children and youths with undeveloped 

 brains. The excessive use of an im nature organ arrests its 

 development by diverting the energy which should be appro- 

 priated to its growth, and c nsuming it in work. What happens 

 to hor-es which are allosved to run races too early happens to 

 boys and girls who are over-worked at school. Tlie competitive 

 sy item as applied to youths has produced a most ruinous eftect 

 on the mental constitution which this generation has to hand 

 down to the next, and particularly the next-but-one enduing. 

 School-work .should b; purely and exclusively directed to deve- 

 lopmeit. "Cramming" the young for examination purposes is 

 like co.npelling an infant in arms t ) sit up before the muscles of 

 its back are strong e rough to sup,jox-t it ii the upright position, 

 or to sustain the weight of its body on its le^s by standing while 

 as yet the limbs are unable to bear ih ' burden imposed on them. _ 

 A crooked spine or weak or contorted legs is the inevitable ,.a 

 penalty of such folly. Another blunder is committed vvhen one 9 

 of the organs of the body — to wit, the brain — is worked at the ' 

 expense of other parts of the organism, in face of th; fact that 

 the measure of general health is proporti nied to the integrity of 

 development and the functional activity of the b ody as a wdiole 

 in the harmony of its component systems. No one organ can be ja 

 developed at the expense of the rest without a corresp mding ■ 

 weakening of the whole. These faults of ' training ' attain their ^ 

 supreme height of folly and short-sightedness when they are 

 committed in reference to the youths destined for the public 

 services. They are especially illustrated by the ' Regulations 

 respecting Naval Cadets ' just issue i, and which will take effect 

 in June of the present year. The work of the Civil Service 

 Commis.siouers in respect to these classes of the possible servants 

 of the State is personally and racially d-stnictivc. Sooner or 

 liter public opinion must recognise this fact, and then perhaps 

 the Government or the Legislature may be moved to interpose — 

 not before, but when it is too late " 



We live in an age of reactions, when ideas are hastily 

 adopted, hurriedly brought into practice, and fanatically adhered 

 to. I can only hope that public opinion will reognise the danger 

 that the Lancet so clearly points out, and that the Government 

 may interpo ,e before it be " too late." J, D. 



Flame-Length of Coal-Gas 

 I HAVE recently measured the flame-length of a sample of 

 coal-gas burning in air and burning in nitrous oxide (NjO). The 

 flame-length in air was xl'''^ of ^" \a&i and /'jths in nitrouo 

 oxide. The relation of 5 to 13 is very close to what my theory 

 would suggest, and is a confirmation of my law published in your 

 issue of April 7. 



I might add that I have recently noticed the flame of a mi.tture 

 of hydrogen and nitrous oxide burning in air to develop a bright 

 white spot about one-third from the top of the flame, and when 

 the proportion of nitrous oxide is larger, to extend into a cone 

 reaching to the jet. I have not examined this flame with a 

 spectroscope, but am certain, from the whiteness of the flame, 

 that the spectrum would be continuous. Lewis T. Wright 



Water in Australia 



A GENTLEMAN recently returned from Australia believes that 

 the arid plain which occupies the centre of that island-continent 

 might be amply supplied with water and converted into rich 

 fanu land by a very simple process. He founds his belief upon 

 observed facts in the three sciences of botany, physiography, and 

 geolojy, thus : — 



1. Gun-trees and the mallee scrub flourish there. The gu n- 

 trees grow to a great size and withstand the drought of many 

 summers. They must have water ; whence do they obtain it? 



2. Rivers which &3\y towards the centre from the mou.itain 

 ranges along the coasts have no apparent nu'let into the sea, but 

 are lost in the desert. What bee omes of them ? 



3. The underlying rock of the central plain is an almost hori- 

 zontal bed of Tertiary Sandstone. 



The conclusion is thaf the Sandstone is saturated with water 

 and forms an immense reservoir from which existing trees draw 

 their supplies by deep taproots, and that by sinking wells iu the 

 desert this water could easily be reached. 



The author of this theory, wishing only to confer a public 

 benefit, desires to bring it under the notice of scientific men, 



