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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., Keeper of 

 Geology at the British Museum (Cromwell Road), 

 is the president of the Geological Society for the 

 coming year, and Mr. Richard Lydekker a new 

 vice-president. 



The sixth session of the International Geological 

 Congress has been arranged for August 29th to 

 September 2nd, at Zurich, under the Presidency of 

 Prof. E. Renevier. Excursions are to be made to 

 different parts of the Jura and the Alps. British 

 geologists may obtain information from Mr. W. 

 Topley, 28, Jermyn Street, London. 



An interesting article appears in the March 

 issue of the" Geological Magazine" on the "Age and 

 Origin of the Dartmoor Granites," a subject which 

 has caused a considerable amount of discussion 

 among geologists, and which still remains in statu 

 quo. Prof. Bonney contributes to the same magazine 

 "Some Notes on Gneiss." "Natural Science" for 

 March has two articles of interest, viz., "The Fossil 

 Plants of Canada as tests of Climate and Age," by 

 Sir J. W. Dawson, and " Thermo- Metamorphism 

 in the South-Eastern Highlands," by Geo. Barrow, 

 F.G.S. 



Geologists' Association. — Among the excur- 

 sions of this energetic Association already arranged 

 for the approaching summer, we notice that at 

 Easter they will visit Bournemouth and its vicinity, 

 under the leadership of Mr. John Starkie Gardner. 

 The Whitsuntide holidays will be spent at Gam- 

 bridge, and the " Long Excursion," from July 30th 

 to August 4th, will be to Shropshire, under the 

 guidance of Prof. Lapworth and Mr. W. W. Watts. 

 In addition to the ordinary Saturday afternoon 

 visits to places of geological interest near London, 

 three whole day excursions will be made to Leighton 

 Buzzard, Caddington, and Heme Bay, the directors 

 being Messrs. H. B. Woodward, McKenny Hughes, 

 Marr, and W. Whitaker respectively. 



Tertiary Max. — A paper on " Tertiary Man " 

 was read on behalf of Mr. J. B. M. Findlay, at the 

 meeting of the Geologists' Association, held at the 

 University College, in London. The author passed 

 in brief review the evidence of the existence 

 of man during the Tertiary period, but had nothing 

 new or original to communicate. A discussion 

 followed, in which Dr. Woodward said that while 

 not wishing to disparage the labours of those 

 engaged in searching for the earliest traces of man 

 on the globe, he did not think that any of the 

 evidence brought forward as yet could be accepted. 

 It is with great pleasure that we are able to record 

 the large attendance of members of the Association 

 on this occasion, and the interest displayed by them 

 in the subject of the paper seems to show that the 

 prevalent prejudice against the antiquity of man is 

 at last being swept away. 



The Glacial Period in Switzerland. — In 

 the early days of geology, when certain superficial 

 deposits were first recognised as being due to the 

 action of ice, it was generally supposed that a 



period of intense cold had visited the earth, 

 causing it to be completely buried beneath a thick 

 mantle of ice. This idea, it is needless to say, was 

 afterwards found to be incorrect, and what was 

 still more curious, the remains of the elephant, 

 rhinoceros, cave-bear, etc., as well as ot such 

 temperate plants as oaks, larches, and hazel-nuts 

 were found in deposits of lignite and peat between 

 undoubted glacial moraines. These and other 

 facts showed beyond a doubt that the period of 

 glaciation had been interrupted, and that for a 

 considerable time a much warmer climate pre- 

 vailed. A careful study, however, of glacial 

 deposits led Messrs. James Geikie and Croll to 

 the conclusion that such an interruption had 

 occurred not once only, but many times, and Prof. 

 Pencke was also able to show that in the Eastern 

 Alps (Austria and Bavaria) the traces of a threefold 

 glaciation were present. 



Abbott's Fissure at Ightham. — At the meet- 

 ing of the Geological Society held in January, a 

 paper by Mr. Lewis Abbott was read, describing 

 some ossiferous fissures which that gentleman had 

 been exploring for several years past, in the valley 

 of the Shode, near Ightham, Kent. This was 

 followed by a paper from Mr. E.T. Newton, F.R.S., 

 giving the results of his examination of the 

 vertebrate remains collected by Mr. Abbott in one 

 of the fissures. The four fissures described occur 

 in the division of the lower greensand rocks known 

 as the Kentish rag, and they have been exposed to 

 view by the opening of a quarry. Unfortunately 

 three of them contain no fossils, but from the 

 fourth several thousand bones have been obtained, 

 as well as a dozen species of Mollusca, and several 

 plant remains ; and when we add that nearly 

 every particle of the three or four tons of 

 material which have already been removed from 

 this fissure has passed through Mr. Abbott's 

 fingers, we cannot but admire the patience 

 and perseverance displayed by him in con- 

 ducting these researches. Mr. Newton has been 

 able to identify forty-eight different species of 

 vertebrata, of which three or four are extinct, 

 eleven are extinct in Britain but living else- 

 where, twenty-one are still living in Britain, but 

 are already known as pleistocene fossils, while 

 twelve are existing species, and now recognised 

 for the first time in pleistocene or older deposits. 

 Among the better-known animals that have been 

 identified may be mentioned the mammoth, 

 rhinocerous, hyaena, brown bear, marmot, 

 lemming, etc. ; birds, reptiles, and amphibians 

 are also represented, while it is perhaps worthy of 

 note that no fish have as yet been found. The 

 interesting question now arises whether this 

 remarkable assemblage of animals lived at one and 

 the same time, which is the opinion of Mr. Abbott, 

 who maintains that the fissure has not been opened ' 

 since the time of its filling up, and he thinks there 

 can be no doubt that this operation took place in 

 pleistocene times. On the other hand, Sir Henry 

 Howarth and Dr. Hicks, in the discussion which 

 followed the reading of these papers, expressed it 

 as their opinion that the fissure might have been 

 filled up in more recent times, and contains the 

 debris of a pleistocene deposit, intermixed with the 

 remains of animals of much later date. Should 

 Mr. Abbott's view prove to be correct, it is hardly 

 exaggeration to say that this discovery will rank 

 among the most important palaeontological finds of 

 the century. — A. Abseil, jun., 245, Selhurst Road, 

 South Norwood. 



