A. R. Hunt — The Torhay Raised Beaches. 407 



ice." ^ This is not quite so. I wrote as follows : " If, on the other 

 hand, they [the blocks] were brought by floating ice from distant 

 regions, it remains to be explained why they should be found 

 collected together in a limited area of the English Channel." I 

 meant that no such explanation was forthcoming; and continued 

 subsequently — " The stone itself may be considered 'prima facie 

 evidence that the large detached stones in the sea off Salcombe are 

 really granite, and that the ground on which they lie is granite too."^ 

 This was in 1879. Many varieties have occurred in addition to 

 granite since then. My very last words on these stones, in 1889, 

 yv-exo — " However, it is clearly impossible to prove that some of 

 them may not have been ice-borne. Let those who maintain that 

 theory show cause for their belief." ^ The evidence is strangely 

 conflicting. About seven years ago I was staggered by a suggestion 

 which reached me from an influential quarter that it might be 

 doubtful whether there was anything further to be written on the 

 subject of the detached blocks trawled in the English Channel. 

 As a matter of fact, the necessary work is no more than commenced ; 

 and there is no prospect of it ever being resumed.* Let me dwell 

 for a moment on one single point — Let us assume that the crystalline 

 blocks are ice-borne : we are at once confronted with the fact that 

 they occur in an area of sands and gravels partly derived from 

 crystalline rocks, which sands and gravels are certainly not ice- 

 borne. In such an inquiry it is not safe to take anything for 

 granted. It seemed sate to assume, as was assumed, that the 

 Cliannel granites were connected with Dartmoor; whereas they 

 have proved themselves jDerfectly distinct. So, before taking for 

 granted a connection between the Channel blocks and the Sussex 

 boulders, it will be necessary to compare them in detail, and 

 minutely. It will also be necessai-y to do the same by the Channel 

 crystalline gravels, to ascertain whether they are related to England 

 or to France ; to both, or to neither. The coming man should have 

 his steam yacht, enthusiasm, patience, the acuteness of a Sherlock 

 Holmes, be a good practical micro-petrologist, and prepared to follow 

 where the clue leads instead of where he thinks it ought to lead. 

 Before the days of the microscope and steam, analogous work was 

 done by such men as Mr. Godwin-Austen, and it is to their suc- 

 cessors we must look in the future. To any such worker Professor 

 Prestwich's paper must prove of the greatest value, suggesting as it 

 does innumerable subjects for detailed research, as well as problems 

 to be solved and theories to be tested. 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlviii, p. 297. 



* Trans. Devon Assoc, vol. xi, p. 316. ^ Ibid., vol. xxi, p. 485. 



* The difficulty lies in interesting the fishermen sufficiently to preserve hand 

 specimens, and to take notes as to bearings. I was fortunate enough to interest 

 a most intelligent and trustworthy crew, on whom I could place all reliance, and 

 whose zeal was stimulated by half-a-crown for each large block, of which a frag- 

 ment was preserved and whose position was ascertained. Their vessel changed 

 hands long since, and her crew was dispersed. Thanks to my friend Professor 

 Hughes all their carefully collected specimens are preserved in the Woodwardian 

 Museum. 



