i82 Notes and Comments. 



noticed in these pages, see ante p. 55) in which Prof. Kendall 

 clearly gives, for the first time, his views of the question 

 based on recent researches. 



THE GLACIAL QUESTION. 



In the Handbuch der regionaten Geologie Prof. Kendall 

 was entrusted with the section devoted to ' Carboniferous, 

 Permian and Quaternary of Great Britain,' a reprint of which 

 has recently come into" our hands. It is the last section of 

 this which is of such value on the Glacial question ; the author 

 reviews the evidence of the Glacial Period in Britain, and a 

 perusal of the pages brings back to mind the heated con- 

 troversies of years ago, in which Reade, Reid, Bell, Jamieson, 

 Howorth, James Geikie, Lamplugh, Bonney, H. C. Lewis, 

 Tiddeman and many others took part. 



DEEP GORGES. 



After dealing with the question of the raised beaches. 

 Prof. Kendall states ' In apparent conflict with the evidence 

 of pre-glacial raised beaches is that of a deep-sunken series 

 of river-valleys found in many parts of the glacial regions, 

 of which a few examples must suffice.' After referring to 

 these he continues ' three explanations of this common 

 phenomenon may be offered — (i) That there was another 

 outlet for the pre-glacial drainage — this is highly improbable 

 in the case of the Mersey and impossible in those of the Tyne 

 and the Humber : (2) That there has been a depression of the 

 interior of the countr}^ in consequence of the imposition of the 

 ice-load, from which the recovery is not yet complete — this 

 is highly improbable, for in the cases of the Tyne, Humber and 

 Mersey, the greater load was at the seaward end and therefore 

 the depression should have been greater there : (3) The last 

 is that the interior regions have suffered great glacial erosion. 

 This view, to which the writer has been brought with some 

 reluctance, has much to commend it. The existence of thick 

 deposits of boulder clay, consisting very largely of the ground-up 

 materials of the subjacent rock-floor, is proof of very drastic 

 local erosion. The floor of the Vale of York is a good illustra- 

 tion of this fact. It consists of the soft sandstones and marls 

 of the Trias, and, not only do these materials occur in recog- 

 nisable fragments in the drift, but the boulder-clays owe their 

 strong red colouration to triturated marl and to the presence 

 of large quantities of Triassic sand grains still retaining the 

 characteristic pellicle of iron oxide.' 



INTERGLACIAL CONDITIONS. 



With regard to the interglacial conditions we learn ' The 

 British evidence of Interglacial Conditions ' is indecisive. 

 While Prof. James Geikie (1894) argues for an extensive 

 series of Glacial and Interglacial periods, Clement Reid recog- 



Naturalist, 



