446 
NATURE : 
[ Sept. 29, 1870 
“Bs hat diesen Vorzug auch wesentlich zu verdanken der 
Sittenstrenge und der uneigennutzige Begetsterung welche die Man- 
ner der Wissenschaft beherrscht und beseelt hat, und welche sie 
nicht gekehrt hat an aussere Vortheile und gesellschaftliche Mei- 
nungen.” These words are, I think, to the effect that the 
characteristics in question are in reality to be ascribed to the 
severe simplicity of manners and to the absence of a spirit of self- 
seeking, which form the guiding and inspiring principles of their 
men of science, and prevent them from giving themselves up to 
the pursuit of mere worldly advantages, and from paying undue 
homage to the prejudices of society. I think Svéfenstrenge may 
be considered as more or less adequately rendered by the words 
severe simplicity of manners ; at any rate, as things are known by 
their opposites, let me say that it is the exact contradictory of 
that ‘‘ profound idleness and luxuriousness” which, we are told 
by an excellent authority (the Rev. Mark Pattison, ‘* Suggestions 
on Academic Organisation,” p. 241),—for whose accuracy | would 
vouch in this matter were there any need so to do,—*‘ have cor- 
rupted the nature” of a large class of young men amongst our- ; 
selves, whilst ‘ie absence of a spirit of self-sceking is, in its turn, 
the contradictory of a certain character which Mr. Mill (/c., | 
p- 90), has said to be one of the commonest amongst us adults, 
and to which Mr. Matthew Arnold has assigned the very con- 
venient epithet of “Philistine.” Investigation as to whether 
these undesirable tendencies are really becoming more rife 
amongst us, might be carried on with advantage in a place such 
as this, in the way of inquiries addressed to colonists returning 
home after a successful sojourn abroad. Such persons are able 
to note differences without prejudice, and, ev Aypothesi, with un- | 
jaundiced eyes, which we are apt to overlook, as they may have 
grown up gradually and slowly. But, perhaps, researches of 
this kind are not quite precisely the particular kind of investigation 
with which we should busy ourselves ; neither would the leaders 
of fashion, the persons with whom all the responsibility for this 
illimitable mischief rests, be very likely to listen to any statistics 
of ours, their ears being filled with very different sounds from 
any that, as I hope, will ever come from Section D. Whether 
men of science in England are more or less amenable to blame | 
in this matter than the rest of their countrymen, it does not be- 
come us to say ; but it doesbecome and concern us to recollect that 
we have particular and special reasons, and those not far to seek, 
nor dependent on authority alone, for believing and acting upon 
the belief that real success in our course of life is incompatible with a 
spirit of self-seeking and with habits of even refined self-indulgence. 
Department of Ethnology and Anthrepology.—John Evans, 
F.R.S., in the chair. 
Before commencing the business of the department, Mr. Evans 
offered a few remarks as to the subjects that properly came within 
the province of the department—the present condition of know- 
ledge of those subjects, and the methods at command for in- 
creasing that knowledge. The subjects which may with pro- 
priety be brought under the consideration of the Department may 
approximately be defined as :—(1) all that relates to the antiquity 
of man, or the origin of the various races of mankind ; (2) all 
that illustrates the progress and development of human civilisa- 
tion ; and (3) all that concerns the condition of the less civili-ed 
portions of the human race, even if not immediately connected 
with any general question of its origin or progress. The Presi- 
dent then proceeded to show what an enormous field these sub- 
jects embrace, how much there is still to learn in the means 
of investigating them, notwithstanding the efforts of the numerous 
labourers, who have now for many years been employed in this 
field of research, and concluded a very interesting address by ex- 
pressing his confidence that nothing would be said calculated to 
injure the feelings of any who, like ourselves, are in pursuit of 
truth, and that all will bear in mind how difficult it is to take in 
the whole of any single truth at one view, and how, of its many 
sides, two contending parties may each be seeing one only, and 
that possibly not the most important. 
On the Principal Geological Changes which have occurred in 
Europe since the Appearance of Man,—Professor P. Martin 
Duncan, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 
This short communication does not pretend to offer any new 
facts or opinions; but I trust that it will be found to be a truthful 
representation of the results of the more.important labours of 
men who hayt laboured so sedulously and conscientiously on the 
subject of the antiquity of man. As such, I hope the paper will 
be of interest to the associates of the Section, although I can- 
not anticipate that it will yield any satisfaction to my more 
learned colleagues. 
Most of the geological changes which have occurred since 
man first appeared in Europe are estimated and asserted in 
consequence of the results of direct observation upon the suc- 
cession of phenomena which belong to the debatable ground 
between what is usually termed physical geography and geology. 
Some, however, are dependent upon the arguments which are 
brought forward by naturalists respecting the limitation and 
separation of parts of great natural history provinces. 
For instance, if the remains of man or his early works are 
found in sediments high up on the sides of valleys, the sedi- 
ments having been produced by the river when it flowed far 
above its present level, the vertical distance between the remains ~ 
aud the existing water-level affords evidence of geological or 
physico-geographical changes. And if a vast number of bones 
belonging to extinct and existing species of large animals, such 
as elephants and rhinocerides, hyzenee and lions, are found upon 
islands the area of which could not possibly have sustained and 
nourished the mammalia during life, the separation of the areas 
from the nearest continent is inferred, especially if the species 
are still existing there, or if their remains abound there. 
It is necessary to premise that no trace of man has been found 
associated with any deposits which are formed during the Glacial 
Period in Northern Europe. The very nature of them would 
prevent such a discovery. 
The loftiest mountains of Europe, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, 
Ardennes, and Vosges, underwent a great grinding down during 
the Glacial Period; and when it was over the results of this 
wear and tear were scatiered far and wide all around them in 
the form of wash-down, gravel, and more or less angular stones. 
In a general view, this gravel, the result of the first glacialisa- 
tion, is of the same geological age as the drift gravel of England 
north of the Thames, and of Northern Germany, which is 
called glacial drift, and which, as I have just observed, is older 
than the earliest traces of man in Europe. ‘The earliest remains 
of man and his works, and of the beasts associated with him 
and hunted by him, rest upon these deposits, and are therefore 
later in time. 
It would appear that man followed up the retreating ice of 
the north of Europe, for the remains of his works are found high 
up in many British valleys, which must then have begun to be 
formed by the natural drainage out of the deposits of the Glacial 
Period. 
Now, after a time, there was another period of mountain glacial- 
isation; and the glaciers of the Alps and Pyrenees, especially, 
extended far into the districts below them. 
The grinding down of the mountain sides during this second 
glacialisation produced enormous quantities of mud and gravel ; 
and when the glaciers retreated this detritus was washed far and 
wide oyer the plains. This deposit is constantly found to cover 
the remains of man and his works, and is therefore later in 
ume, 
The second glacialisation, and the dispersal of the wash-down, 
appears to form a rude line of separation between the Palzeolithie 
Period, when man used rude stone weapons, and the Neolithic 
Period, when smooth or polished implements were made by 
him; and they also, in a general sense, mark the time when the 
great mammalia, the early prey of man, disappeared from the 
northern and western parts of Europe. 
The following are the principal geological changes which 
occurred after the appearance of man in Europe :— 
1. The subsidence of an area of land which connected Sicily 
with Crete and Northern Africa north of the Sahara. 
2, The formation of a volcanic tufa on the hills bordering the 
present valleys of the Tiber and its tributaries; the excavation 
of those valleys by the river and its streams; the last eruption 
of the volcanoes of Latium, and their permanent extinction. 
The space included in the Roman territory has received its con- 
tour, and vast tracts near the coast have been worn away. 
3. The formation of valleys in the Alpine detritus, which 
covered up large tracts of Northern Italy, and the re-execayation 
of old valleys, which had been mere or less filled with the de- 
tritus. This great gravel was the wash-down of the wear and 
tear of the first extension of the south Alpine glaciers, and was, 
in a general sense, contemporaneous with the upper glacial drift 
of Northern Europe. It was deposited before man, as traced by 
his relics and works, lived in South Europe. 
The dispersal of vast depths of silt and gravel over the plains 
into the valleys and far up the hill sides of the Sardinian States 
and Lombardo-Venetia, south, and to a certain extent south- 
east, of the Alps; the result of the wash-down of the wear and 
tear of the second extension of the Alpine glaciers ; the forma- 
