222 Band Forbes — On Meteorites. 



should Mr. Fisher's theory of the origin of " Trail " be ultimately 

 accepted, as I can hardly doubt it will, then we shall be compelled to 

 admit the interglacial age of some English gravels also. For if it be 

 certain that no warm period has intervened since the close of the 

 Glacial epoch, it is equally certain that within the same time no 

 climate severe enough to nourish land-ice beyond the limits of our 

 mountain valleys has supervened in Britain. 



Some twenty years ago Mr. Godwin- Austen pointed out in one of 

 his most suggestive papers,^ that the " subaerial beds" of the English 

 Channel area were the equivalents of the glacial deposits elsewhere, 

 and that the broad alluvia and gravels of such rivers as the Severn, 

 the Fab, the Dart, the Thames, etc., belonged to a period anterior 

 in date to the great depression during which the high-level marine 

 drifts of Wales were accumulated. In other words, he showed that 

 these river-gravels could not be referred to post-glacial times. 



There are still some points tp be urged in favour of the views which 

 I have ventured to put forward in this paper ; but a consideration 

 of these points must be deferred for the present. 



VI. — On Meteokites.^ 



By David Forbes, F.E.S. 



ON the previous occasions upon which I have had the honour of 

 lecturing in this hall,^ my observations were confined to the 

 consideration of the structure of the earth beneath our feet. Now, 

 however, I would crave your indulgence still further, when I 

 attempt to carry yoiir thoughts with me to infinitely higher regions 

 by directing your attention to the study of what may be termed the 

 mineralogy of the heavens above us. 



In responding to the invitation of your worthy Secretary, to 

 deliver a lecture " On Meteorites," I feel myself greatly embarrassed 

 by the conviction that all we know of these wonderful natural 

 phenomena is so imperfect and incomplete that even those who have 

 devoted most time to their study will find difficulty in answering 

 such apparently simple questions as — What are Meteorites ? or. Where 

 do they come from ? — questions which most of you are doubtlessly 

 prepared to ask, in the full expectation of receiving a satisfactory 

 reply. 



Under these circumstances, therefore, all I can do is to lay be- 

 fore you a summary of what we at present know concerning 

 meteorites, and the opinions of those who have specially studied them; 

 but before commencing I would premise by explaining that the term 

 Meteorite, as understood in this present discourse, is restricted to 



I have been assured by a friend well acquainted with the superficial deposits of Scotland 

 and North America, that my inference is quite correct, and that the hardpan answers in 

 every respect to till. 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. vii., p. 118. 



2 Being a lecture delivered at St. George's Hall, Langham Place, London, 7th 

 April, 1872. 



^ See Geol. Mag., 1870, Vol. VII., p. 314. Lecture on Volcanos, delivered 

 June 19th, 1870. 



