3i8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY 



CONDUCTED BV EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S. 



Striae as Evidence of Ice Action. — We 

 regret that, owing to an unfortunate omission, the note 

 under this heading last month was not signed. It 

 should have been by Mr. J. .Sheppard, 78 Sherbourn 

 Street, Hull. 



Geological Exchange Meeting. — The next 

 exchange meeting will take place on Wednesday, 

 March 7th, from 5.15 r..M. to 7 p.m. Amongst 

 specimens awaiting to be exchanged are fossils from 

 the Upper Greensand of Faringdon, Gault of Folke- 

 stone, Oligocene of Colwell Bay, Eocene, etc. An ex- 

 changer asks for specimens of travelled blocks, erratic 

 boulders, flakes, or information relating to them. 



A Palaeozoic Ice-age. — Some interesting re- 

 marks by Professor Edgeworth David, of Sydney, on 

 evidence of glaciation in Permo-carboniferous times 

 in New South Wales, prefaced the papers which 

 were down for reading on February 7th at the meet- 

 ing of the Geological Society of London. Three 

 boulders were exhibited bearing striations which were 

 considered as undoubted evidence of ice-action. The 

 striae on the largest boulder were in all directions, 

 some crossing others at an angle of as much as 85"^. 

 Very great doubt has recently been cast on the evi- 

 dences of a glacial period in Permian times in Britain, 

 but in Australia there seems little doubt of its existence 

 in Palaeozoic times. Professor David reports, indeed, 

 striated boulders from the very tropics of Australia. 



Chalk Plateau Eoliths.- Whatever may be 

 the final result of the discussion which is being widely 

 debated at the present time, as to the authenticity or 

 otherwise of the Eolithic flint implements, those who 

 believe them to be true specimens of man's handi- 

 work are certainly leaving no effort unmade in the 

 direction of procuring all possible evidence in favour 

 of the point at issue. Over 3,000 of these implements 

 have been found from the chalk plateau of North 

 Kent. This, as is well known, is the ground where 

 the first specimens were discovered, which gave rise 

 to a belief in the evidence of plateau, or Eolithic man. 

 The supporters of the theory had the staunch support 

 to the end of the late Professor Prestwich, who, in Sep- 

 tember 1893, wrote to his friend Sir John Evans, "lam 

 more satisfied than ever of the great antiquity of the 

 chalk plateau specimens." Prestwich felt assured 

 that the belief which he possessed in these implements 

 would in the end prevail. He had lived through the 

 time when geologists were sceptical of the human 

 workmanship of the Acheul and Amiens implements, 

 in the placing of which in their true light he had so 

 large a measure of success. He had no doubt what- 

 ever that the authenticity of the rude plateau im- 

 plements would in the end be agreed upon. He was 

 fond of pointing out that although one might have 

 reasonable doubts when a single specimen was 

 viewed, and although his supporters were divided 

 amongst themselves as to which were authentic 

 implements and which were not, yet when a selection 

 was placed in sequence, commencing with the rudest. 



and working gradually towards the recognised Palaeo- 

 lithic type, the evidence was at once striking, and 

 seldom failed to carry conviction that there was such 

 a type of implement as the "Eolith." These flaked 

 flints have often been attributed to natural causes, 

 but as Mr. A. S. Kennard pointed out in 1898, no 

 attempt has been made to show what were those 

 causes, and how and when they operated. ' There 

 seems, in fact, to be almost unanimity of opinion that 

 the Eoliths are genuine plateau-gravel flakes, and 

 that many, if not most of them, were worked by man. 

 Man has therefore been carried back to an existence 

 during or previous to the deposition of the plateau 

 gravels, for the flints must have been flaked before the 

 gravel which contains them was deposited. Mr. 

 A. E. Salter would like to believe that the gravels 

 are of Pliocene age, but proof of this is wanting, 

 although the Rev. Ashington BuUen, the co-worker 

 in recent years with Prestwich, is satisfied of their 

 Pliocene age. Prestwich, however, said that the 

 plateau drift "dates from a time subsequent to the 

 Pliocene period, though still when the beds of that 

 age had a wider range southward, and anterior to 

 the Glacial period." Also that it " must therefore be 

 of Pre-glacial or early Glacial age." What, however, 

 still appears to be wanting, is evidence that these im- 

 plements are not really merely Palaeoliths, and that 

 there is no possibility of the Eolithic markings being of 

 subsequent workmanship to the Palaeolithic flaking. 

 Whatever may be the credit attached to the discovery 

 of this rude tyjje of implement, such will always 

 remain due to Mr. Benjamin Harrison. Prestwich 

 was anxious to give the discoverer his due, as the 

 following letter will .show, quoted from the recent 

 "Life of Sir Joseph Prestwich." He writes to Mr. 

 Harrison: — " Vou should have told your inquirer 

 who asked you why j'ou did not at first write about 

 the plateau implements, that long ago I asked you 

 whether you would not do so." — E. A. Martin. 



What is Oldhamia? — We ventured to suggest in 

 Science-Gossip some time ago that very possibly 

 the Cambrian fossils known as Oldhamia radiata 

 and 0, antitjita might prove after all to be merely 

 the remains of rock-markings, and not organisms at 

 all. Professor .SoUas, of Oxford University, has been 

 extending his researches into this question, and 

 microscopical observations which he has made prove, 

 in his opinion, that Oldhamia is not the remains of 

 an organism, but merely a marking on the rock, 

 although these markings may still have been of 

 organic origin. Certain markings on the mud at 

 Portishead, by the feeding habits of a small burrowing 

 crustacean, bear a considerable resemblance to speci- 

 mens of Oldhamia. Professor Sollas is inclined to 

 believe that they are traces of some kind of siphona- 

 ceous alga, the cavities left by their decay being 

 subsequently filled in by sediment under pressure. If 

 the surface of 0. antiqua were more resistant than 

 the lower, this might account for its preservation in 

 relief. Professor Joly observed that O. antiqua always 

 occurred in relief, whilst those of 0. 7'adiata are 

 depressions. There has been much discussion in the 

 past as to the place of Oldhamia in the organic world, 

 it being placed by different observers amongst the 

 polyzoa, the hydrozoa, as well as in the vegetable 

 world. It would be an interesting, and it might 

 prove a useful, subject for observation during the 

 holidays, for our readers to note the impressions 

 made by storm-blown seaweeds upon the sand. It 

 will be seen that 0. antiqua appears in the orna- 

 mental heading of our geological columns. — E. A. 

 Martin. 



