9 6 Obituaries. 



limited ? and is Dr. Spencer justified in saying that I converted the 

 correspondence into an academic disputation ? 



Because in my second letter I still denied that Professor Hull had 

 given any good reason for regarding the declivity as a feature of 

 subaerial origin, this denial is construed by Dr. Spencer into a flat 

 denial of all Professor Hull's evidence. His desire apparently is 

 that Professor Hull and himself should pose as martyrs for a new- 

 faith, and he hurls a defiance at any individual, council, or president 

 of any learned society in the universe who should venture to doubt 

 or deny his interpretation of the facts ! 



So long as Dr. Spencer maintains such an attitude it is impossible 

 to argue with him. I am deeply interested in the history of this 

 submerged portion of the European continent, and I look forward to 

 Professor Hull's promised consideration of it, when he will doubtless 

 answer my questions, for he is alwaj'^s a courteous opponent. 



I have supposed that the position of the great declivity and its 

 general course were determined by marine erosion (just as the 

 present coastline has been), and, further, that the platform between 

 the modern and the ancient coastlines was formed subsequently at the 

 expense of the ancient continent. Both platform and declivity may 

 have been afterwards modified by subaerial agencies, and this may have 

 been the penultimate phase in their history, but this order of events 

 is not that indicated by Professor Hull. A. J. Jukks-Brownk. 



William Colchksteb, J. P., F.G.S. This well-known 

 geologist, so long connected as Chairman with Messrs. Lawes' 

 Chemical Manui'e Company, of the Manganese Bronze and 

 Brass Company, and Senior Partner in Messrs. Colchester 

 and Ball's Chemical Manure Manufactory, who had attained 

 to the advanced age of 85 years, died at his residence, 

 Burwell Hall, Cambridgeshire, on the 16th November, 1898. 

 We shall give an obituary of Mr. Colchester in our March 

 Number. 



Henry Allkyne Nicholson, M.D., D.Sc, Ph.D., F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., Regius Professor of Natural History, Aberdeen 

 University, since 1882, — who had previously held the Chairs 

 of Natural History at Toronto, Dublin, and St. Andrews : 

 many years Swiney Lecturer in Geology in the British 

 Museum (Natural History) ; the well-known author of 

 a " Manual of Paleeontology," and many other important 

 geological publications, — died, after a short illness, at his 

 residence, Newtborpe, Queen's Road, Aberdeen, on the night 

 of the 19th January, at the age of 55 years. His ability 

 as a writer and lecturer, but still more his geniality and 

 kindness of heart, attracted to him a large and attached circle 

 of friends, who will long mourn his loss. We hope to give 

 a suitable notice of Professor Nicholson's life and work in the 

 March number of the Geological Magazine. — Ed. Geol. Mag. 



