SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



195 



found in these deposits are not all of the same 

 age. Some are large and roughly fashioned : they 

 are covered with a thick ochreous crust, and are 

 always abraded. Others are not in the least worn, 

 and are as sharp as when first made. Occasionally 

 one comes across examples of the older type which 

 have been neatly retrimmed by later tribes. 



An extremely interesting feature of these deposits 

 is the occurrence in one or two places of the old 

 land surfaces on which these primitive men manu- 

 factured their tools. These surface planes are 

 strewn with flint flakes and the cores from which 

 they were struck. Specimens can be seen in the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington in 

 which the flakes have been collected and replaced 

 on the core, thus showing the method employed 

 in detaching them. So well defined are these old 

 land surfaces that in some instances the ancient 

 cracks which were produced when the sun's rays 

 beat down on the soft clay thousands of years ago 

 have been preserved, having been filled up and 

 covered by fresh drift. They are sometimes 

 strewn with branches, twigs, and even leaves. 

 Some of the wood has shown possible evidence of 

 artificial pointing, but its friability and bad state 

 of preservation prevent an absolutely certain 

 verdict. 



I have already alluded to the scarcity of human 

 bones in these old river deposits. Their con- 

 spicuous absence is not confined to the drift of the 

 Thames Valley, but is common to all the Pleistocene 

 drift of this country. Only two undoubted dis- 

 coveries are on record. In 1S82 a fragment of a 

 human skull was found in a red loam filling a 

 pocket in the chalk, near Bury St. Edmunds. 

 The discoverer says there can be no question as to 

 the great antiquity of the fragment, and that the 

 deposit of red loam in which it was found must 

 have been formed long anterior to the complete 

 ■excavation of the valley of the Linnet to the south. 

 In adjoining pockets two grinders of Elephas 

 primigenius were found, and four flint implements. 

 The discoverer considers this human fragment to 

 have belonged to an undersized, poorly-developed 

 individual of middle age, probably of the female 

 sex^). This specimen has unfortunately been 

 destroyed. 



The second and far more important discovery 

 was recorded in 1895, i n tne "Quarterly Journal of 

 the Geological Society." The find consisted of the 

 exposure some years previously of a complete 

 human skeleton in the Pleistocene river drift at 

 Galley Hill, Northfleet. The bones were found at 

 a depth of two metres in a stratum of gravel about 

 three metres thick. This bed of gravel, which rests 

 on the chalk, forms part of the high-level terrace 

 of the neighbourhood, and is situated at a height of 



(1) "Journal oi the Anthropological Institute," vol. xiv. 



almost twenty-seven metres above the present 

 Thames. Many palaeolithic flint implements have 

 been exhumed from this deposit at different times. 

 There is no doubt as to the remains being in situ, 

 for the skull was seen in position by one gentleman 

 and the limb-bones were dug out by another. 

 Moreover, they were so fragile that it was quite 

 impossible for them to have been placed there by 

 the workmen. The skeleton does not seem to have 

 been buried in the gravel at a date posterior to its 

 deposition. The two people who saw the bones 

 in the face of the gravel, and who were also well 

 acquainted with this pit, are very positive in saying 

 that there was no evidence whatever of the gravel 

 above the remains having been disturbed, as 

 it must have been if this were indeed a burial 

 subsequent to the accumulation of the gravel. 

 The skull is remarkable for its great length, the 

 cephalic index being calculated at -64. It has pro- 

 minent supraciliary ridges and a receding forehead. 

 The limb-bones present no marked peculiarities 

 and indicate a stature of but little over one and 

 a-half metres, or rather less than five feet. 



Whilst this article treats specially of the Thames 

 Valley deposits, it may be pointed out that these 

 observations apply equally to several rivers, such 

 as the Ouse, the Lea, the Colne, and others. 

 The Glen, Glengarry Road, East Dulwich. 



NATIONAL ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION. 



Q*IR Clements R. Markham, as President of the 

 "^ Royal Geographical Society, has appealed to 

 the numerous wealthy Englishmen with scientific 

 tastes to contribute to the formation of a fund to 

 equip a vessel for an Antarctic expedition. At the 

 present time the Government is unable to send out 

 such an enterprise, but the Admiralty will aid by 

 a loan of instruments and otherwise. The Royal 

 Society will also assist, though perhaps not finan- 

 cially. The sum required will probably amount 

 to about £100,000, towards which the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society and Mr. Alfred Harmsworth 

 have each contributed £5,000. Other subscrip- 

 tions have also been received by the Society, so 

 we have no reason to doubt that the total sum 

 will soon be forthcoming. From a scientific point 

 of view the expedition ought to be of the utmost 

 value, especially as it is probable that it will work 

 in conjunction with a German exploration party 

 that is expected to be within the Antarctic Circle 

 about the same time that is to say, during the 

 year 1900. There are many facts of scientific 

 importance yet to be cleared up in connection with 

 the Antarctic relating to both physical and natural 

 science. These will be of inestimable value to 

 navigators in the southern hemisphere. 



2 



