4 S8 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov. 9, 1888. 



origin of the new red sandstone. The beds, as developed 

 around Liverpool, might be divided into four divisions- 

 marine, estuarine, lacustrine, and riverine ; and some 

 points recently brought forward by Professor Bonney 

 would seem to indicate that many of the bunter rocks 

 may not have been deposited in deep water. Through- 

 out the pebble beds the pebbles are of a peculiar cha- 

 racter, being well rounded, and usually differing entirely 

 in composition from rocks of local origin. At a section 

 exposed on the west side of Hilbre Island a conglomerate 

 bed of remarkable character was found, many of the 

 pebbles in which appeared to have been derived from 

 the carboniferous rocks. There had recently been some 

 difference of opinion expressed as to the age of this bed, 

 which the survey regarded as a part of the bunter, 

 though it had lately been classed as a basement bed of 

 the keuper. The speaker invited the attention of mem- 

 bers to this interesting section, and proceeded to refer to 

 several local indications of sandstone beds having been 

 accumulated as aeolian deposits by the action of wind. 

 Attention was also drawn to the strata as exhibited at 

 Flaybrick Hill, where the junction of the lower keuper 

 and the upper bunter is well developed. The address 

 concluded with an appeal for members to take advantage 

 of the many opportunities constantly occurring in the 

 opening of new railway and canal cuttings, borings for 

 water, and other sections, a careful study of which would 

 frequently be found to throw new light on what has been 

 previously learnt as to the stratigraphy and physical 

 features of the country around our own homes. 



NEWCASTLE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. 

 At the meeting held on Oct. 31st, the Rev. Dr. Bruce 

 presiding, 



The Chairman called attention to Hodge's account of 

 the Abbey Church of Hexham. He said that he had 

 long been acquainted with that very beautiful structure, 

 the Hexham Abbey Church, which was one of the finest 

 specimens in England of the early British style, a style 

 which to his mind was better adapted for the construc- 

 tion of places of worship than any other. This very 

 interesting structure had met with one who could really 

 reveal to them its beauties. In the work he had men- 

 tioned they had very magnificent drawings of this very 

 elaborate structure, and an account of all the beauties of 

 it which would afford to any one who studied it an 

 amount of interest and instruction that could rarely be 

 met with. He did not believe there was any architec- 

 tural structure in Britain that was so well and so fully 

 described both by letterpress and by plates as this one, 

 and he was glad to say that the work was the work of 

 one of their members. He would strongly recom- 

 mend every architect and every antiquary to get a copy 

 of it. 



Mr. John Philipson read a paper on Vitality of Mummy 

 Wheat and Seeds taken out of the Wrappings of Egyptian 

 Mummies. He said : It may be remembered that at 

 the monthly meeting of our society on September 28th 

 last year, some conversation which passed between the 

 chairman and the late Captain Robinson came near 

 reviving the far-famed controversy respecting the 

 germinating possibilities of mummy wheat, in the same 

 manner that it had been renewed by Professor Judd at 

 the Geological Society, early in the summer of 1886. I 

 confess to a more than ordinary interest in the subject, 

 as I was aware of some instances of reputed mummy 



wheat having been successfully grown in our own 

 locality ; but as I am not one of those who venerate the 

 story simply because it is old, I set to work to collect 

 such evidence as might explain two problems that 

 presented themselves, viz. : 1st. Would seeds retain 

 their germinating powers during a period of 2,000 or 

 3,000 years ? and 2nd, have plants ever been raised 

 from such seeds ? The whole matter turns upon the 

 character of the seeds which have been discovered in the 

 folds of mummy wrappings. I have ample proof that 

 plants have been raised from such seeds not only in the 

 south of England, but in this neighbourhood, and it only 

 remains for the spurious or genuine nature of these seeds 

 to be decided to set the matter at rest. It is, of course, 

 impossible to obtain absolute proof in such a matter ; but 

 there are those who have not hesitated to assert that the 

 Arab, with his characteristic cunning, has placed modern 

 seeds within the folds of the mummy cloths. Nothing 

 s easier than to make a declaration of this kind. Crafty, 

 though he may be, the Arab would not take this trouble 

 until he knew that there was something to gain by it — 

 i.e., until he had heard of the finding of genuine seeds, 

 and the interest evoked by their discovery. There were, 

 however, three cases in which the receptacles — two 

 sarcophagi and a vase — could not possibly have been 

 tampered with, and the knowledge of these instances 

 have encouraged me to follow up the subject, with the 

 result that I am able to lay before you what I consider 

 sufficient evidence to prove that what is known as 

 mummy wheat has been raised from seeds more than 

 2,000 years old. Mr. Philipson then entered in detail 

 into the evidence referred to. 



CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held on the 29th of October, Professor 

 A. Macalister, M.D. (President), exhibited some specimens 

 of Roman pottery found in the excavations made for 

 building purposes in the Madingley Road. The most 

 perfect of these was a fragment of Samian ware with a 

 figure of a deer. Nearer the surface a silver halfpenny 

 of Edward III. was found. Most of the pottery was 

 found in a pit of black earth, evidently the trace of an 

 old excavation in the gault. 



Mr. J. W. Clark exhibited a skeleton of a Red Deer 

 (Cervus elaphus), lately mounted by his assistant, and 1 

 placed in the Museum of Zoology and Comparative I 

 Anatomy. The bones were found in December last in 1 

 a deposit of peat at Manea, on the estate of William | 

 Wiles Green, Esq., who kindly presented them to the 

 University. This skeleton is the largest, of a full-grown 

 animal, yet found in a complete state, measuring four 

 feet from the ground to the top ot the dorsal spines. A 

 skeleton of an adult Scotch stag, exhibited by the side of 

 it, measured only three feet four inches. 



The President remarked that the late Professor Jukes 

 described and figured in the proceedings of the Geological 

 Society oi Dublin a skeleton of a red deer of unusually 

 large size from Bohoe, Co. Fermanagh, and with fourteen 

 pairs of ribs. Another very large red deer skeleton 

 from Co. Limerick is in the National Museum of Dublin. 

 Mr. Green mentioned that a bronze coin of Vespasian 

 had been found in the immediate vicinity of the deer- 

 bones, and invited members of the Society to come and 

 co-operate with him in investigating the spot. 



The Rev. E. G. Wood read an elaborate memoir upon 

 the University at Stamford. 



