312 Notes and Comments. 
indication of the local committee’s own estimation of its worth. 
It contains just over 100 pages with a brief supplement issued 
separately, without covers, and is, perhaps, more accurately 
described by its title, “ Manchester in 1915.’ There are articles: 
on the various Manchester Institutions, but we miss the 
valuable accounts of the geology, natural history and arche- 
ology, etc., of the district, which usually appear in these pub- 
lications. From the preface we gather that originally the 
committee responsible for this production was going to produce 
an even smaller volume, but owing to the generosity of the 
various people invited to contribute articles, it is even larger 
than» was contemplated ! Apparently this decision was 
arrived at without any considerations due to the war. As we 
feel sure many members value these local handbooks as guides 
to the respective districts, it seems a pity that Manchester was 
so cheese-paring in its policy. In the case of our own copy we 
have to hesitate whether to go to the expense of binding in 
order to preserve it. Unquestionably the articles appearing 
are excellent, but they do not seem to go far enough. 
IS EUROPE ‘ SETTLED’ ? 
In the Geological Section, Professor Grenville A. J. Cole 
(Royal College of Science, Dublin), in his presidential address,, 
discussed problems relating to the earth’s crust and crust 
movements. He said the globe was still strange to us because 
its vast interior was unseen, and we were apt to speculate about 
the stars, when the behaviour of the ground beneath concerned 
us tar more nearly. In spite of the swamping of the Alkmaar 
country in 1825, in spite of the tragedy of Messina only seven 
short years ago, we feel that Europe is a settled continent, and 
we judge the past and future by the present superficial peace. 
We have applied the same thoughts to human movements, 
and the inconceivable has happened in our midst. We natur- 
ally find it difficult to carry our minds back to epochs when the 
earth-blocks may have parted asunder as ice parts across the 
polar seas. We have, however, still very much to learn about 
causes now in action ; and the mystery of the earth, and of our 
connexion with it, grows upon us as we learn. 
THE GREATEST CHANGE. 
Can we at allrealise the greatest change that ever came upon 
the globe, the moment when living matter appeared upon its sur- 
face, perhaps over a few square miles? Matter is either dead or 
living, that is, endowed with life ; there is no intermediate state. 
And here was living matter, a product of the slime, if you will, 
but of a slime more glorious than the stars. Was this thing, life,. 
a surface-concentration, a specialisation, of something that had 
previously permeated all matter, but had remained powerless. 
because it was infinitely diffuse ? Here you will perceive that 
Naturalist, 
