Revieics — SoivorWs Mammoth and the Flood. 473 



whole length of the cutting, but it was traced for 7 feet in that 

 direction by the side of the cliff against which the deposits abutted. 

 Beyond that point the cutting was made deep enough to reach the 

 sandy gravel under the boulder-clay, and at different parts test-holes 

 were sunk still deeper into the gravel and sand. One hole was also 

 sunk in the field in front of the cutting at a distance of over 35 feet 

 from the entrance to the cavern. The deposits here were found to 

 be similar to those in the cutting and in front of the cavern, but the 

 depth of the soil over the boulder-clay was only from one foot to 18 

 inches. A very large number of smoothed and ice-scratched boulders 

 were found, many of considerable size; the majority being fragments 

 of Wenlock shale from the neighbourhood, and Lower Silurian rocks 

 from the Snowdonian area. Amongst them also were fragments of 

 granite, gneiss, quartzites, flint, diorites, basalts, Carboniferous 

 rocks, etc. 



V. — The Disaster at Zug on July 5, 1887. By the Eev. E. 

 Hill, M.A., F.G.S., of St. John's College, Cambridge. 



ON July 5, 1887, at the town of Zug, in Switzerland, a portion of 

 the shore gave way and sank into the lake. About three hours 

 later another much larger adjacent area also suddenly subsided, so 

 that in all an area considerably over two acres, with half of one of 

 the principal streets, was submerged to a depth of about 20 feet. 

 It can be seen that the subsoil consists of coarse gravel and sand, 

 followed after a few feet by soft wet sand and fine mud. According 

 to Professor Heim, this fine mud or sludge reaches to a depth of 

 nearly 200 feet, and the disaster is shown to be due to a flowing out 

 into the lake of this mobile sludge from under the superincumbent 

 weight of buildings and firmer ground. The buildings collapsed as 

 they sank. The catastrophe must have been long impending; the 

 exact cause which precipitated it is indeterminate, but a low level of 

 the lake and tremors from pile-driving for new quays are suggested 

 as contributories. On the English coast the incessant changes of 

 pressure from tides probably render impossible such instability of 

 equilibrium. 



IS IB "V IIB ■\Ar S. 



The Mammoth and the Flood. An Attempt to Confront 

 THE Theory of Uniformity with the Facts of Kecent Geology. 

 By Henry H. Howorth, M.P., F.S.A., M.R.A.S. 8vo. pp. xxxii. 

 464. (London, 1887, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and 

 Rivington.) 



THE desire to find harmony between the Geological record and the 

 first chapter of Genesis, laudable enough when Science was in 

 its infancy, has ceased now-a-days to cause much anxiety. Geological 

 chronology, like human history, can only be separated into epochs 

 that are marked by local breaks or " landmarks " in the continuity 

 of events ; so that no sj'stem of subdivision that applies to one 

 tract of the earth's surface will be equally applicable in all countries. 



