SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



mum 



GEOLOGY 





CONDUCTED BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, P.G.S. 



Chalk and Drift at Rugen. — The meetings 

 of the Geological Society of London recommenced 

 on November 7th with a joint paper by Professor 

 T. G-. Bonney and the Rev. E. Hill. Their subject 

 was a reconsideration of the " Drifts on the Baltic 

 Coast of Germany." Rugen had been revisited by 

 them in ISliS, and the paper was in continuation 

 of their former one, which dealt with the deposits 

 of Drift resting upon the Chalk of that island at 

 Arkona, in Rugen. The Chalk apparently occurs 

 on a sort of island in the Drift. At the well-known 

 locality by the lighthouse it seems to overlie a 

 Drift, but on closer examination the latter appears 

 more probably to have filled a cavity excavated in 

 the Chalk ; this apparent inlier of Drift probably 

 being only a remnant of a much larger mass, so 

 that it is likely this part of the coast nearly cor- 

 responds with a pre-Glacial Chalk cliff against 

 which the Drift was deposited. Professor Bonney 

 gave reasons to show that neither solution of the 

 Chalk, nor ice-thrust, nor folding, nor even faulting, 

 can satisfactorily explain the peculiar relations of 

 the Drift and Chalk in Rugen. 



Fossil Botany.— The feeling of melancholy 

 that overspreads the mind on reading Professor 

 Sollas's opening address to the geological section 

 at the recent meeting of the British Association is 

 largely dispelled when that portion of Professor 

 Yines's address is perused which relates to Palaeo- 

 phytology. " It cannot be said," he states, " that 

 the study of Palaeobotany has as yet made clear 

 the ancestry and the descent of our existing flora." 

 There is no clue as to the origin of the Angio- 

 sperms, the pedigree of the Gymnosperms cannot 

 be traced, and no forms of their hypothetical fern 

 ancestry have as yet been recognised. The origin 

 of the ferns is still quite unknown ; in fact he 

 states, "we are not able to trace the ancestry of 

 any one of the larger groups of plants." I, for 

 one, have always felt extremely grateful that such 

 is the case. Indeed, it was hardly necessary for 

 Professor Vines to have reminded his audience 

 that such was the case, for it is negatively con- 

 firmed by perusal of any British botanical text- 

 book. That part of the occupation of our text- 

 book compilers which consists in long stories 

 about the ancestry or the evolution of the existing 

 forms of life is certainly gone, so far as botany is 

 concerned — to the eminent advantage of learning 

 and science. Personally I have no more faith in 

 the blood-relationship of plants depending upon 

 common descent than I have in the blood-rela- 

 tionship of lead and gold depending on their 

 pristine unity and amalgamation. How does it 

 happen that those Avho insist so emphatically on 

 the physical and mechanical nature and origin of 

 the vital forces, should so persistently insist on the 

 blood-relationship and propinquity of existing 

 plants and animals.' Therefore I trust that no- 

 thing but good can result from specially adverting 



and calling attention in this brief note to Pro- 

 fessor Vines's mosl excellent and admirable 

 address.- (Hr.)l'. Q. Keegan, Patterdale, n< 



iimrl/i nil. 



Iodine in Cuprite.— Mr. Arthur Dieseldorff' 

 ftf.E., has discovered tin' existence of iodine in 

 several examples of cuprite from New South Wales. 

 The iodine is present only in non-payable com- 

 mercial quantities. The total value of the world's 



production of iodine reached in 1896 the si E 



£350,000. 



Palaeolithic Man in Valley of the 

 WANDLE. — Referring to Mr. Roberts' note, in the 

 last number of Science-Gossip, on the Thornton 

 Heath implement, I naturally relied on the record 

 in the paper quoted, having no reason to doubt its 

 correctness. I have now seen the specimen, and 

 find that it is a chipped flint celt, which could not, 

 of course, have come from the gravel, as alleged by 

 the labourer who sold it. Mr. Roberts has kindly 

 shown me the implement of plateau type which he 

 mentions, also an implement from the surface at 

 Croham Hurst. I know of no other decisive evi- 

 dence of the work of Palaeolithic man from the 

 Valley of the Wandle. — J. P. Johnson, 150 High 

 Street, Sutton, Surrey. 



An Underground Temperature. — In connec- 

 tion with the deep sinking recently carried on at 

 the Sydney Harbour Colliery, Balmain, oppor- 

 tunity has been taken to note the increase of 

 underground temperature. Taking the mean 

 annual temperature of Sydney to be 63° F., it is 

 found that the temperature increases at the low 

 rate of 1° F. for every 90£ feet. The Xarrabeen 

 shales, which crop out on the coast at Narrabeen, 

 eight miles north of Manly, were met at practically 

 the same depth at Sydney as at Cremorne Bore, 

 three and three-quarter miles away. 



Geologists' Association. — A conversazione 

 took place on November 2nd in the Library of 

 University College, Gower Street, W.C. The ex- 

 hibits were numerous and interesting. Amongst 

 them were : —A series of minerals from Australia, 

 by F. P. Mennell ; rocks from the Lake District, by 

 A. C. Young; erratics and "Eoliths" from the 

 East Anglian drifts, etc.. by A. E. Salter ; palaeo- 

 lithic implements from Chard, by E. T. Newton : 

 geological photographs, by F. H. Teall, and a 

 faulted slate from the Lake District, by J. J. H. 

 Teall ; chalk fossils, by G. E. Dibley ; Miocene 

 fossils from the Faluns of Touraine ; specimens 

 from the Temple of Jupiter Serapis and vicinity, 

 etc., by W. F. Gwinnell ; concretionary types from 

 the magnesian limestone of Durham, by Dr. G. 

 Abbott ; geological photographs, by H. W. Monck- 

 ton. 



The Goldstone Monolith.— An interesting 

 monolith has just been disinterred at Goldstone 

 Bottom, Hove, in the shape of the original and 

 celebrated " Goldstone " or Druidic altar which 

 stood from time immemorial in this well-known 

 valley, but which was in 1883 deliberately buried. 

 The stone is of an irregular, wedge-like shape, and 

 measures about 14 feet by 9 feet, with a thickness 

 of between 5 feet and 6 feet. The stone is de- 

 scribed as an ironstone conglomerate, with veins 

 of spar running through it. and when struck 

 responds with a metallic ring. It is proposed to 

 raise the stone on to a suitable base, and place it 

 in the new park at Hove.— E. A. Mart in, F.Cr.S. 



