Natural History. 59 



North Sea have revealed the track of this Scandinavian 

 current, which has been traced far North rig-ht into Bothnia 

 and Finland.* 



iMoreover, methods of dating these events are now being- 

 tested and compared. The Baron de Geer has managed to 

 count the layers of sediment deposited annually by the Swedish 

 ice-sheet as it thawed away every summer, and he has found 

 that the retreat of the ice in Sweden required 5000 years. 

 From these ahd other calculations, Professor Sollas reckons 

 that the man of Chelles was living in France about 50,000 b.c, 

 and that the fourth or last Ice Age began to disappear about 

 14,000 B.C.* 



There are still, of course, many blanks in the story. Thus 

 great lakes were produced through the rivers being dammed 

 up by ice floes or moraine stuff, and these lakes have been 

 actually mapped in Cumberland, ^'orkshire, and Renfrew- 

 shire. They are not yet known for our district. I am, how- 

 ever, confident that Mr Wallace will soon supply us with this 

 information. 



Moreover, I have not yet found a geological map to show 

 the superficial deposits. Such a map would be of the first 

 value to agriculture. It would be as important perhaps as 

 are the geological survey maps of the Midland \'alley of 

 Scotland to the mining industry. 



There has also been an astonishing development in 

 Botanical knowledge. Botany has di\idcd into at least thir- 

 teen distinct and separate branches. 



Of these, one of the youngest but yet most vigorous is 

 Electro Culture. Every year since the very first harvest has 

 seen more of the earth subdued and utterly transformed, and 

 more water conducted to ever-increasing crops. But it has 

 been reserved for us to alter the atmosphere and to enlist 

 electricity for the aid of man's oldest and basic industry. 



Norwegian \\aterfalls are now being utilised to turn inert 

 nitrogen into nitrate of lime. Moreover, electric currents are 

 employed to foster and encourage the growing plant. 



* Kendall and Dwerryhouse. Quart. Jour. Geo. Soc, Vol. 08, 

 1902. 



* Sollas, Ancient Hunters. London, 1911. 



