﻿62 
  Scientific 
  Intelligence. 
  

  

  11. 
  Resemblances 
  between 
  the 
  grouping 
  of 
  figures 
  on 
  soap 
  films 
  

   and 
  the 
  arrangement 
  of 
  stars 
  and 
  nebulae. 
  — 
  In 
  a 
  leading 
  article, 
  

   Professor 
  Quincke, 
  of 
  Heidelberg, 
  draws 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  re- 
  

   markable 
  resemblances 
  between 
  the 
  figures 
  produced 
  on 
  oily 
  films 
  

   by 
  the 
  operation 
  of 
  water, 
  and 
  the 
  grouping 
  of 
  stars 
  and 
  nebulae. 
  

   He 
  suggests 
  that 
  the 
  tendency 
  of 
  modern 
  physics 
  is 
  to 
  ignore 
  any 
  

   qualitative 
  differences 
  between 
  infinitely 
  great 
  and 
  infinitely 
  small 
  

   distances. 
  The 
  great 
  masses 
  of 
  the 
  fixed 
  stars 
  in 
  infinite 
  space 
  

   and 
  the 
  little 
  masses 
  of 
  the 
  infinitely 
  near 
  molecules 
  in 
  the 
  soap 
  

   films 
  must 
  react 
  upon 
  each 
  other 
  according 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  laws. 
  

   The 
  protoplasm 
  of 
  organic 
  nature 
  also 
  resembles 
  in 
  structure 
  and 
  

   movement 
  phenomena, 
  the 
  structure 
  and 
  movements 
  observed 
  on 
  

   oily 
  films. 
  — 
  Ann. 
  der 
  Physik 
  und 
  Chemie, 
  No. 
  12, 
  1894, 
  pp. 
  593- 
  

   632. 
  j. 
  t. 
  

  

  II. 
  Geology 
  and 
  Mineralogy. 
  

  

  1. 
  Glacial 
  succession 
  in 
  Europe. 
  — 
  The 
  following 
  quotations 
  from 
  

   the 
  third 
  edition 
  of 
  Geikie's 
  The 
  Great 
  Ice 
  Age,* 
  will 
  present 
  to 
  

   our 
  readers 
  in 
  concise 
  form 
  the 
  latest 
  views 
  of 
  the 
  author 
  upon 
  

   the 
  glacial 
  succession 
  in 
  Great 
  Britain 
  and 
  Europe, 
  and 
  the 
  chief 
  

   data 
  upon 
  which 
  the 
  interpretation 
  is 
  based. 
  

  

  I. 
  Preglacial 
  TiMES.f 
  — 
  The 
  earliest 
  indications 
  of 
  the 
  ap- 
  

   proaching 
  Ice 
  Age 
  are 
  met 
  with 
  in 
  the 
  marine 
  deposits 
  of 
  the 
  

   Pliocene 
  system. 
  The 
  older 
  Pliocene 
  deposits 
  introduce 
  us 
  to 
  a 
  

   time 
  when 
  the 
  waters 
  of 
  the 
  North 
  Sea 
  were 
  tenanted 
  by 
  a 
  fauna 
  

   which 
  is 
  clearly 
  indicative 
  of 
  genial 
  climatic 
  conditions. 
  And 
  

   similar 
  testimony 
  to 
  the 
  warmth 
  of 
  the 
  period 
  is 
  furnished 
  by 
  the 
  

   contemporaneous 
  marine 
  lacustrine 
  and 
  terrestrial 
  accumulations 
  

   of 
  other 
  regions 
  of 
  Europe. 
  In 
  those 
  days 
  the 
  sea 
  occupied 
  con- 
  

   siderable 
  tracts 
  in 
  the 
  east 
  and 
  south 
  of 
  England, 
  in 
  Belgium, 
  

   Holland, 
  Northern 
  and 
  Western 
  France, 
  and 
  the 
  coast-lands 
  of 
  

   the 
  Mediterranean. 
  As 
  time 
  rolled 
  on, 
  however, 
  the 
  genial 
  con- 
  

   ditions 
  gradually 
  passed 
  away. 
  The 
  southern 
  forms 
  slowly 
  re- 
  

   treated 
  from 
  the 
  North 
  Sea, 
  while 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  northern 
  and 
  

   boreal 
  types 
  came 
  to 
  occupy 
  their 
  place. 
  Similar 
  migrations 
  were 
  

   in 
  progress 
  farther 
  south, 
  many 
  British 
  and 
  boreal 
  forms 
  finding 
  

   their 
  way 
  into 
  the 
  Mediterranean. 
  Upon 
  the 
  land 
  like 
  changes 
  

  

  * 
  The 
  Great 
  Ice 
  Age 
  and 
  its 
  relation 
  to 
  the 
  Antiquity 
  of 
  man 
  ; 
  by 
  James 
  

   Geikie, 
  third 
  edition, 
  largly 
  rewritten, 
  pp. 
  850. 
  (Edward 
  Stanford). 
  Lon- 
  

   don, 
  1894. 
  

  

  f 
  The 
  general 
  reader 
  will 
  quite 
  understand 
  what 
  is 
  meant 
  by 
  the 
  term 
  

   " 
  preglacial," 
  but 
  I 
  ought 
  to 
  mention 
  that 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  applied 
  by 
  geologists 
  

   to 
  certain 
  deposits 
  which 
  underlie 
  the 
  " 
  lower 
  boulder-clay 
  " 
  of 
  the 
  regions 
  in 
  

   which 
  these 
  deposits 
  occur. 
  But, 
  as 
  we 
  have 
  learned, 
  many 
  accumulations 
  

   of 
  so-called 
  ' 
  ' 
  lower 
  boulder-clay 
  " 
  are 
  not 
  the 
  products 
  of 
  the 
  earliest 
  epoch 
  

   of 
  glaciation, 
  and 
  the 
  fossiliferous 
  beds 
  which 
  sometimes 
  underlie 
  them 
  are, 
  

   therefore, 
  not 
  necessarily 
  of 
  preglacial 
  age. 
  I 
  apply 
  the 
  term 
  exclusively 
  to 
  

   deposits 
  which 
  were 
  laid 
  down 
  before 
  the 
  earliest 
  appearance 
  of 
  glacial 
  con- 
  

   ditions 
  in 
  temperate 
  latitudes. 
  These, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  our 
  present 
  knowledge 
  goes, 
  

   are 
  the 
  only 
  accumulations 
  which 
  we 
  are 
  justified 
  in 
  classing 
  as 
  preglacial. 
  

  

  