NATURE 



\August 9, 1877 



but have, on the contrary, endeavoured partiallyto account for their 

 absence in British cretaceous rocks. The age of the supposed 

 American cretaceous beds appear to me, however, to be deter- 

 mined principally from the presence of Ammonites, Hamites, and 

 other dibranchiate cephalopoda, and other types of moUusca as 

 Inoceramus. Now what I intended to imply was that the 

 presence of these is not conclusive evidence that the beds in 

 question are as old as our chaltc. Between our chalk and the 

 base of our eocene a great hiatus exists, during which almost 

 the whole of the cretaceous fauna became extinct, at least in 

 European seas. This extinction and complete change of fauna 

 implies an immense interval of time which, although we have 

 but little record of it in Europe, we may expect to find recorded 

 elsewhere. 



It is at least possible that the series in question in America 

 may be this record. In the lower, as in the Dakota group, we 

 have, mixed with many decidedly (as we have been wont to 

 consider them) cretaceous types of cephalopods, gastropods and 

 bivalves of an eocene aspect. No comparative tables of fossils 

 nor determinations of any value of European species from these 

 beds have been made. But assuming that a portion of the 

 lowermost cretaceous rocks of America were synchronous with 

 some of our upper European [^cretaceous rocks, we may still 

 suppose the mass of the strata to be of younger age. As very 

 fairly stated by Dr. Newberry, Mr. Lesquereux does not agree 

 with him as to where the division between cretaceous and 

 eocene in the lignitic beds should be placed. Hayden ' says 

 that the age of the lignite strata is obscure. " The evidence points 

 at the present time to the conclusion that the lower portions of 

 this group are cretaceous, passing up by gradual transition into 

 the tertiary, and that the greater portion may be regarded 

 as of the age of the later period." Cope and Marsh, again, 

 from the presence of Mososaurus, considered the lignites 

 to be cretaceous. It seems to me that as the lignitic flora 

 has the same character throughout its entire thickness, the 

 formation must be considered as a whole, and that instead of 

 endeavouring to correlate portions with either the European 

 chalk or eocene, it would be simpler for American geologists, 

 and more in accordance with the evidence we possess, to recognise 

 the fact that the American series more or less represents the 

 great hiatus existing in Europe between these formations. 

 Although the upper portion of the lignites, the total thickness of 

 which has been estimated at 10,000 feet, may be contemporaneous 

 with a part of our eocene, the absence of any of the types of 

 eocene flora, such as are characteristic at Sezanne, Bournemouth, 

 &c., is opposed to the supposition, as much as tlie absence of 

 anything at all approaching the Dalcota flora in our cretaceous 

 rocks is opposed to the contemporaneity of the latter. 



These series may still, however, be conveniently spoken of 

 relatively, and for the purposes of American geology, as cretaceous, 

 but not until further evidence is adduced can they be recognised 

 as synchronous with any portion of ours. 



J. S. Gard.ner 



Automatism 

 Mr. Spalding in his able review of "The Physical Basis of 

 Mind," alludes to the term automatism, about which there has 

 been so much controversy. The word, however, is a most 

 unsuitable one for designating the important doctrine inculcated 

 so clearly by Mr. Spalding, as well as by Huxley and Clifford. 

 The ordinary meaning of "automaton" is a machine whose 

 actions are unattended by feeling. Now as the most striking 

 difference between an organic machine and an inorganic one is 

 that the movements of the living machine are accompanied by 

 sensations, while those of the inorganic machine or automaton 

 are without concomitant sensations, it is plainly a mistake to 

 apply to the actions of the sentient machine a term which has 

 as a fundamental part of its meaning the absence of sentience. 

 The incongruity is so manifest that I think it not improbable 

 that it is one of the sources of the facile confidence displayed by 

 some of the opponents of " automatism" ; and if the word were 

 supplanted by a less objectionable one, it is possible that the 

 important doclrine intended to be designated by it might be 

 accepted with less difficulty. I would suggest that some word 

 meaning concomitant action or synchronous procedure might 

 be coined for the pui^pose. The Germans, who are so fond of 

 long, amalgamated expressions, would perhaps use something 

 like "associated — mutually inconvertible — processes" to desig- 

 ' ''Geological Survey of Territories," 1872. 



nate'this dual unity of the subjective and objective sides of 

 mental action. D. Sharp 



Thornhill, Aug. 5 



Local Museums 



In common with Mr. Allen, and doubtless very many others, 

 I have read the articles and letters on Local Museums with a 

 great deal of pleasure ; and I am very glad that Mr. Allen has 

 made his practical suggestion. In February last, in a paper 

 which I read before the Hastings Philosophical Society on 

 " Local Museums and Libraries of Reference," I made a similar 

 suggestion for our own locality. You may think the matter of 

 sufficient importance to justify the insertion of the following few 

 lines from my paper : — 



" I do not wish to put such institutions as I am advocating 

 into competition with things of a very different character ; but I 

 would ask whether a zeal somewhat akin to that which is exhibited 

 in raising funds for religious societies ought not to be exhibited 

 on behalf of such purposes as those under discussion ? Would 

 it be at all absurd to talk about having a tuisiion to establish a 

 public library ? . . . For my own part I can conceive of few 

 nobler aims than that of raising for one's town a permanent 

 public institution of an intellectual character. If a committee 

 were to take up the work with enthusiasm and were able, even 

 though after many years of toil, to say to the people of Hastings : 

 ' We have built for you, with your own help, a library and 

 museum, and we have, with funds with which the public have 

 supplied us, sufficiently endowed this institution to carry on all 

 its legitimate work, and we now hand it over to you, the people 

 of the town of Ilastings, as the property of you and your 

 children for ever ' — I say a committee that took in hand and 

 accomplished such a work would deserve the deepest gratitude 

 of the borough, and would have a right to claim to have 

 accomplished a mission of no small importance." A. R. 



Hastings, August 3 



July Shooting Stars 



I OBSERVED 197 shooting-stars in July— nearly all of them 

 between the 6th and 20th — in twenty-four hours of watching. 

 Tlie weather was generally very cloudy and stormy between the 

 13th and 23rd, or many more would have been seen. I looked 

 usually towards the eastern sky, and from the considerable 

 number of meteor paths registered, am enabled to give the 

 following table of radiant points visible in that quarter during 

 the period of my observations. The list may be considered 

 very fairly complete and accurate, for the great majority of the 

 meteors were well seen, and many of them h.ad short courses 

 evidently near their radiant centres : — 



Radiant Point. 



I have given the number of meteors conformable to each posi- 

 tion, but this detail cannot be very precise, inasmuch as in 

 several instances the path converged back on two radiants in the 

 same line, and near together. In such cases it is often quite 

 impossible to assign the true focus. Of the nineteen showers 

 included in the list, sixteen of them come near the dates and 

 places of radiants enumerated in Mr. R. P. Greg's catalogues. 



