1I2 



NA TURE 



\Dec. II, 187: 



work of the ice having been to deepen valleys, degrade 

 hills a little, and fill up the plains and hollows with clay 

 and sand. " Such as I understand it," says the Duke, " is 

 the new glacial theory." But surely he can have paid but 

 scant attention to the subject if he imagines that this idea 

 is in any sense new. I really cannot recall that the geo- 

 logists of the " younger school " have for many years past 

 held any other view than that which they are now said to 

 have adopted only recently. If, for example, his Grace 

 will turn to the little volume which he abused so heartily 

 in the spring of 1868, he will find the " new view " stated 

 as plainly there as words can express it (seepage 150). 

 And yet in this address he thinks it needful to adduce 

 evidence to disprove that valleys have been gouged out 

 by an universal ice-sheet — a notion which, according to 

 his own showing, the " younger school " does not hold. 

 ( These remarks have been extended this evening beyond 

 the length to which I had originally proposed to confine 

 them. My excuse must lie partly in what to myself is 

 the ever fresh charm of the subject, and partly in the 

 desire to vindicate the fair fame of the modern Huttonian 

 school of geology from attacks which had been in some 

 measure called forth by writings of my own. I have 

 again to express my regret that it was impossible to 

 avoid an appearance of personal conflict, and I am con- 

 scious that a man who does his best to give as good as 

 he gets in such conflict is apt to do more than he meant. 

 I can only hope that this consciousness has kept me far 

 within the bounds of legitimate reply. 



Of one thing I feel securely confident. When the din 

 of strife has ceased and men come to weigh opinions in 

 the dispassionate light of history, the profound influence 

 of the Huttonian doctrines of the present time on the 

 future course of geology will be abundantly recognised. 

 By their guidance it will be possible to reconstruct the 

 physical geography of the continents, in successive ages 

 back, perhaps into some of the earliest periods of geolo- 

 gical history. This work indeed is already in part accom- 

 plished. But much more remains to be done before the 

 history of the land on which we live has been wholly un- 

 ravelled. This is the task to which we have set ourselves, 

 in which we have found ample scope for enthusiasm and 

 hard work, and out of which we trust that there will 

 ■eventually come a story of permanent interest to all 

 whose range of vision extends beyond the pretent condi- 

 tion of things, and who would fain understand what now 

 is by the light of what once has been. 



.EXTERMINATION OF MARINE MAMMALIA 



THROUGH the kindness of a friend, there has been 

 placed in my hands a little book — one of the few 

 'Copies in England— which though not much bigger than a 

 pamphlet, seems to me more deserving of notice than I 

 iear it is likely to obtain. Of its author, 1 may say, I 

 know nothing. Its title is "Mammalia, Recent and Ex- 

 tinct ; an Elementary Treatise for the use of the Public 

 Schools of New South Wales. By A. W. Scott, IVI.A." 

 It is published at Sydney by Thomas Richards, Govern- 

 ment Printer, and bears date 1873. One's first wish on 

 looking at it was that such a book might be wanted 

 '•for the use of the Public Schools of " the old country ; 

 but it is not my object now to enlarge on this theme or 

 even to call attention to, or pass judgment upon it from a 

 scientific point of view — though some of the author's 

 opinions are, if not novel, such as have not been generally 

 received. Mr. Scott's treatise is confined to the " Fiiiiiata, 

 Seals, Dugongs, Whales," Sac. and he tells us in his preface 

 why he has so limited it : — 



"Whatever information we possess upon the natural 

 history of the finned mammals, particularly in a popular, 

 yet scientific form, has been so scantily and unequally dis- 

 tributed, that in this direction a comparatively new field 



may be said to be open to the teacher as well as to the 

 youthful inquirer. 



" Influenced, also, by the great commercial value of 

 several species of the pinnata. I have felt anxiously desir- 

 ous to direct, without further delay, the attention, and thus 

 possibly secure the sympathy, of readers, other than stu- 

 dents, to the necessity of prompt legislative interference, 

 in order to protect the oil and fur producing animals of 

 our hemisphere against the wanton and unseasonable 

 acts committed by unrestrained traders ; and thus not 

 only to prevent the inevitable extermination of this valuable 

 group, but to utilise their eminently beneficial qualities 

 into a methodical and profitable industry. 



" Keeping steadily in view these two objects, whose im- 

 portance, I trust, will bear me out in deviating from my 

 original intention in the order of the issue of publication, 

 I have endeavoured ... by devoting as much space as my 

 limits would pennit to the consideration of the animals 

 whose products are of such commercial value to man, and 

 whose extinction would so seriously affect his interests, to 

 point out the pressing necessity that exists for devising the 

 means of protection for the Fur Seals and the Sperm and 

 Right Whales of the Southern Ocean. 



" To evidence what great results may be effected by 

 considerate forethought, I refer the reader to pages 8 to 

 13 of this treatise [containing extracts from the excellent 

 paper on Otariidi^'b-j Messrs. Allen and Bryant (Bulletin 

 Harvard College, ii. pp. i-ioS)], where he will see that, 

 under the fostering care of the United States Government, 

 the Northern Fur Seals of commerce, which but a few years 

 ago were nearly extinct, have already, by their rapid in- 

 crease and mild disposition, developed themselves into a 

 permanent source of national wealth. 



" The islands of the Southern Seas, now lying barren and 

 waste, are not only numerous, but admirably suited for the 

 production and management of these valuable animals, 

 and need only the simple regulations enforced by the 

 American Legislature to resuscitate the present state of 

 decay of a once remunerative trade, and to bring into full 

 vigour another important e.^port to the many we already 

 possess." 



Mr.Scott's design appears tome eminently praiseworthy ; 

 nnd the question it raises is, without doubt, one which 

 must imperatively demand (and will, I trust, in time) the 

 attention not only of the naturalist, but of everyone who is 

 interested in the commercial prosperity of this country 

 and its colonies. Though to some extent their place has 

 been supplied by mineral and vegetable oils, for certain 

 purposes it is, 1 believe, admitted that animal oils are ab- 

 solutely required, and the demand for these oils increases 

 with the increase of civilization. Now no one who has at 

 all closely investigated the subject of the extermination of 

 animals by man can come to any other conclusion than 

 that unless, by some legislative restriction (which from the 

 nature of the case will probably have to be intcr)iatiomjl') it 

 is prevented, all the Marine Mammalia are inevitably 

 doomed to eaily extinction. Who can read of the butcheries 

 which are yearly perpetrated on the breeding Seals of the ice- 

 floes in the North Atlantic, and as yearly recorded with 

 more or less zest in the newspapers, without feeling certain 

 that the same fate awaits them as has overtaken, or is over- 

 taking, so many of theirfellow-denizcns of the deep ? Where 

 is the Rliytina of Behring's Island .? Absolutely abolished 

 from the face of the earth ! Where are the Manatees that 

 played in the waters of the Antilles, when those " isles of 

 the sun " were first visited by Europeans ? Limited to 

 some three or four muddy creeks in as many of the larger 

 islands ! Where is the Right Whale that used to throng 

 the Greenland seas, the Walrus that haunted the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence .'' Driven so far to the northward that ships 

 in the pursuit of either are now led to encounter the 

 greatest perils ! Where is that smaller Whale which 

 furnished employment for all the navies of Biscayan 

 ports ? You have to seek its remains in the museum at 



