Notes and Comments. 389 



rather expected from that bill to find a pleasant seaside resort 

 with a good sand beach. The great stretch of mud fiats, 

 with a network of marine gullies, was somewhat of a surprise, 

 and the crossing of the gullies proved no easy matter, owing 

 to the very greasy nature of the ground. Eighty or a hundred 

 years ago the Frieston shore was a clean, white, hard sand, 

 quite suitable for sea bathing, and annual pony races were 

 held there. Years ago the tide sometimes flowed up the 

 River Witham with dangerous rapidity, so that a common 

 shout used to be, ' Flood hoa ! Fly hoa ! The tide's a-coming 

 higher.' Some time in the last century a new cut was made, 

 connecting a higher reach of the Witham, so as to bring some 

 of the water into other parts of the Wash, and also prevent, as 

 far as possible, the danger from the rushing tides. Since the 

 opening of this cut the silt brought down by the Witham and 

 its tributaries had found a fresh area of deposit, and the silver 

 sand beach of the Frieston shore had got covered up to such 

 an extent that the land side of the bank was several feet lower 

 than the water side, and many parts of the flats had risen 

 within memory of living persons more than three feet. 



DR. HENRY WOODWARD. 



We regret to announce the death of an old friend, and one 

 who has given encouragement to hundreds of geologists in 

 this country. Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., late keeper of 

 Geology at the British Museum (Natural History). He 

 was born at Norwich in 1832. In 1858, Owen appointed him 

 to a junior post in the geological department of the British 

 Museum. In 1880 he succeeded G. R. Waterhouse as Keeper 

 of Geology. Soon afterwards the natural history Collections 

 were transferred from Bloomsbury to South Kensington, 

 and on Woodward and his staff there fell the heavy work of 

 removing the geological collection, and rearranging it in the 

 new galleries. Under his direction the excellent series of 

 diagrams and descriptive labels and the illustrated guide- 

 books, which make the collection useful to the general public 

 and scientific visitors, were devised and carried out. Wood- 

 ward also superintended the preparation and publication of 

 twenty-eight volumes of the technical catalogue of fossils. 

 He retired from the Keepership in 1901, even at that date his 

 appointment having been extended beyond the usual age- 

 limit, and by sanction of the Treasury he was employed on 

 special duties at the Museum for a further term of three years. 

 On his final retirement in 1904, he had served in the Museum 

 for forty-six years. 



THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



In 1864 Woodward became editor of the monthly Geological 

 Magazine, work which he continued till his death. Under his 



1921 Dec. 1 



