I08 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



formed of water-rolled stratified gravels and sands, and left behind by 

 subsequent circum-den udation . 



These are the " Eskers," which have hitherto failed to give an 

 intelligible account of themselves to our professional geologists, but 

 which seem to me more easily accounted for than many geological 

 problems which have been successfully solved. Since the last ele- 

 vation of the land, doubtless, vast masses of rock matter have been 

 removed by atmospheric denuding agencies. These have greatly 

 modified the shape of the land, but still have not destroyed the evi- 

 dence of the sequence of events which I have enumerated. 



The frequent oscillations of the level of the land which seem to 

 have been necessary to produce the phenomena of the Eskers, have 

 been common events in all periods of the earth's history. The 

 occurrence of numerous beds of coal at different levels, with inter- 

 vening layers of clay, shale, or sandstone, can only be accounted 

 for by supposing an intermittent series of disturbances similar to 

 those I have described. Nor have these phenomena ceased. The 

 sea is at present making inroads on our coasts, on account of the 

 slow subsidence of the land. No doubt the process is a slow one, 

 but it may have been always so. The life of any of us, contras- 

 ted with the duration of one of the great geological periods, is, to 

 use an illustration borrowed from Holy Writ, like the moment oc- 

 cupied by the shuttle of the weaver in crossing his web, compared 

 with the time required to weave that web. 



Mr. William Gray, M.R.I. A., then read a paper, entitled 

 " Notes on the rudely-worked Flints of Antrim and Down — their 

 character, distribution, and similarity to specimens from England, 

 Scotland, and the Continent." Having referred to the various 

 authors who have written on the subject, including Mr. John 

 Evans, F.G.S., the late Mr. G. V. Du Noyer, F.G.S., Mr. J. H. 

 Staples, Mr. Robert Day, jun., F.S.A., and Mr. W. J. Knowles, 

 Mr. Gray explained that he had been collecting flint flakes for more 

 than ten years, and that he visited, and collected flakes in, every 

 locality referred to in his paper, and now only states the result of 



