22 



caves on a coast line, as proof that the last elevation was at 

 least 2,000 years ago. 



He next described the lowest level in connection with some 

 discoveries that had lately been made in the Valley of the 

 Blackstaff, where the elevation of the marine silt, abounding 

 in recent shells, had been exposed in making a large reservoir. 

 A large number of the bones and horns of the red deer, in 

 good preservation, and the remains of several other animals 

 had been found, together with several horns and bones, exhibit- 

 ing evident marks of their use by man.* A very curious 

 discovery, also, had lately been made in the boulder clay, in a 

 brick field off Dover Street, where large oak piles, rudely 

 fashioned, were found embeded on solid clay, and having all 

 the appearance of being there prior to the deposit of the 

 superincumbent mass. These piles, he believed, had formed an 

 ancient dwelling of the earlier inhabitants of the country, as 

 they exactly resembled those that had been found in other 

 parts of the country. 



Mr. Young exhibited a large number of the horns of the red 

 deer. The remains of about fifteen individuals were found, also 

 bones of the horse, dog, pig, and several other animals. The 

 silt also contained shells not now living in the locality. Mr. 

 Gray exhibited at this meeting a beautiful group of serpulse 

 from Belfast Lough. 



At the Second Meeting for the Session, held on Thursday 

 Evening, 6th December, Mr. Robert Smith read a paper on 

 " Glacial Periods : their Causes and Effects." 



The history of the world, written in the great stone book of 

 the earth's crust, proves that change, constant change, has been 

 the characteristic feature, not only in the forms of life, but also 

 in the conditions of existence. There have been periods of 

 intense heat, changing slowly to periods of cold, equally in- 



* One bone was evidently cross cut as if by a rude saw, and several of 

 the horns had artificial marks on them. 



