NATURE 



INov. I, li 



existence, around and up to wliicli the earliest glacial marine 

 accumulations of tand and shingle were bedded, and which, as 

 subsequent southerly and \\esterly subsidence ingulphed all but 

 the highest downs of the south of England, eventually spread 

 over these islands, yet I did not connect this first movement 

 with the pressure of the land ice. I have since, however, 

 perceived that this connection exists ; for, as the Glacial 

 period came on, the precipitation must necessarily, on account 

 of latitude, have taken mora exclusively the form of snow- 

 in [ Scotland before it did so in Cumberland and Wales ; 

 and, by thus accumulating land ice earlier in Scotland, caused 

 this northerly subsidence. As the cold increased the pre- 

 cipitation in the form of snow reached its maximum in 

 Westmoreland and Cumberland, and yet later somewhat in 

 Wales ; and as it did so, the pressure of the land ice en- 

 gendered by it turned the depression increasingly in those 

 directions, so that eventually all England, save the highest 

 downs, and even the lower ends of the river valleys of North- 

 western France became submerged proportionately to their 

 contiguity to the foci of pressure. These increments of depres- 

 sion I have in this memoir traced by more than one train of 

 evidence, and shown how this change of inclination, by divert- 

 ing the directions talien by the land ice to the sea, changed al>o 

 the character of the materials of which the resulting morainic 

 clay is made up, and so gave rise to those Upper and Low er 

 clays of the major glaciation in Yorksliire, which have been 

 seized upon to support the hypothesis of alternations of climate 

 during that glaciation. 



The connection between the augmenting weight of the land 

 ice and subsidence seems to me so clear, that I cannot but think 

 that American geologists have fallen into an error, in regarding tlie 

 Champlain period as belonging to the wane of the great glacia- 

 tion, instead of to its culmination. It seems to me that although 

 the increasing volume of the land ice in the Lake (or St. Law- 

 rence) basin caused this ice at its western extremity, where llie 

 parting between the two basins is very low, to invade the upper 

 part of the great Mississippi basin, yet its weight where thickest 

 — that is to say, towards its eastern extremity, which was that of 

 greatest snow precipitation — so pressed this extremity down tliat 

 the seaward termination of this ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 retreated before the greater depth of sea there which thus re- 

 sulted, and so allowed the sea to penetrate to Montreal and Lake 

 Champlain, near the former of which places the remains of its 

 inhabitants have been left at an elevation of about 600 feet. 



With all this, however, we must not be led into regarding all 

 movements of subsidence as a result of increasing accumulations, 

 whether of sediment or otherwise ; for such is evidently not the 

 case, though to instance this would lead me beyond the object of 

 this letter. Searles V. Wood 



Martlesham, near Woodbridge, October 11 



The above remarks require but little conmient, and chiefly 

 tend to show that Mr. S. V. Wood attaches increased import- 

 ance to the idea that weight produces subsidence. lie speaks 

 of elevation commencing before the retreat of the glaciers, but 

 that they would be enormously lightened before retreating is a 

 fact that I can hardly suppose he has overlooked. In ascending 

 the Jungfrau many years ago, when the Swiss glaciers were 

 diminishing, I crossed from the Grindelwald on to the Aletsch, 

 and had to descend a cliff of nearly vertical ice, which my recol- 

 lection tells me was some sixty feet high, in order to piss from 

 one to the other. The difference in level w as caused by the extra 

 rapid melting of the Aletsch, owing to its more southern aspect 

 and exposure to the Fbhn wind. This was at the head of tlip 

 glacier, and the melting was much ninrc k-,.:j lower down, 

 though the superficial »-e", \ -' '"/; contracted to any appreciable 

 o„.._.. >~..o'aoss of weight would lead to elevation long before 

 tlic disappearance of the ice. J. StarivIE Gardner 



Snake Bite 



I \v.\s an eye-w-itness to the following: — My brother was 

 walking within a field of the Land's End when he stooped to 

 pick up a large snake, apparently nearly a yard long, which bit 

 him on the thumb. The bite became very painful in a few 

 moments, and we realised for the first time that it was poisoned. 

 In less than five minutes he was in the hotel and swallow ed half 

 a pint of neat brandy, and soon after some ammonia and w ater, 

 without any effect. The wound had been well sucked and was 



steeped in ammonia, but the arm sjon swelled to the size of the 

 body, and the swelling began to extend down the ribs. The 

 thumb was lanced while iiamcrsed in hot water, and the result 

 was similar to the first gashes in a shoulder of mutton, the ex- 

 posed flesh being dark mulberry colour, and not a drop of bloo.l 

 ilowing. He recovered in seven or eight days, but was weak 

 for some time. J. S. Gardner 



Park House, St. John's Wood Park, N.W. 



The Observation of Meteors 

 Accounts of l.irge meteors form a frequent subject of corre- 

 spondence in the columns of scientific journals, but it is not 

 often the case that the descriptions of these phenf.mena are suf- 

 ficiently exact to be valuable for purposes of calculation. Rough 

 estimates of the direction and jiosition of flight are of little 

 utility, and the vague statements often made occasion an endless 

 source of difficulty in the satisfactory reduction of results. It is 

 true that observers of fireballs are generally taken unawares by 

 the suddenness of the apparitions, and that the visible paths are 

 seldom to be noted accurately. Betore the observer collects 

 himself to record the facts of the display it has disappeared, 

 and he has to rely solely npon the impressions retained in his 

 memory. 



But, notwithstanding this drawback, the observations of large 

 meteors as published from time to time would posse-s far greater 

 scientific value if observers would attend more scrupulously to 

 that most essential detail, the diirclion of flight, and express 

 it by some method of uniformity. Sometimes we find the path 

 v.aguely slated as being from "cast to south," without any 

 attempt to estimate the altitude of the beginning and end points 

 of the course. On other occasions a meteor is described as pass- 

 ing above or below certain stars or planets. The latter method, 

 though an improvement upon the former, is to some extent 

 indefinite, and therefore unsatisfactory, as giving unnecessary 

 trouble to those who undertake the reduction of fuch materials. 

 For instance, a meteor is observed early in August, 18S1, shoot- 

 ing from "some distance below Saturn towards Comet B." 

 Now in reducing this account troublesome references have to 

 be made to find the places of the two objects on the dates men- 

 tioned, and then we are left to guess at the "distance below 

 Saturn " implied in the description. These oVijcctions would dis- 

 appear, and the comparison of observations be greatly facilitated, 

 could observers be induced to give the right ascension and de- 

 clination of the beginning and end points of the visible i^aths. 

 These elements admit of ready determination by projecting the 

 observed flights upon a star chart or celestial globe and reading 

 them off. Even in cases w here the observations are uncertain, 

 the observer should fix the path according to this method as 

 nearly as possible, for it is manifest that it is infinitely pre- 

 ferable to the vague and often worthless attempts to guess 

 altitudes, compass bearings, &c., and, moreover, it renders the 

 after comparison of obser\ ations a work of greater facility and 

 precision. 



Though the direction of flight is the all-important element to> 

 be determined by meteor observers, there .are some minor points 

 Avhich should also be carefully recorded. The time of appear- 

 ance, brightness, approximate duration, and whether accom- 

 panied by phosphoric streaks or spark trains, are each important 

 in their w.ay, and must i.e stated whenever feasible. If this 

 were done more systematically, the observations of fireballs 

 would acquire additional value, and may quite possibly develop 

 some new facts either as to their appearance or origin. 



Bristol. Ortober 22 W. F' 1 )ENNING 



" Partials " 



It is a well known fact that no mu-ical sound is produced 

 alone, but the instant it is sounded a series of other sounds 

 springs from it, and always in a certain order and ratio. Next 

 to the primary lone, the octave is heard, then the octave fifth, 

 the double octave, the double octave third, the double octave 

 fifth, the extra fiat double octave seventh, the treble octave, and 

 so on. The origin of these "partials" has long been an inter- 

 esting studj', and a solution has occurred to me which I think is 

 the true one. 



We have the fact that an object seen by the eye for ever so 

 short a time leaves its impression on the optic nerves about the 

 eighth of a second after it has fasscd away. By analogy it 

 seems highly probable that all our nerves, including those of the 



