Miscellaneous Intelligence. 571 



IV. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. The Antiquity of Man in Europe ; by James Geikie. Pp. 

 xi, 328 ; 4 maps, 21 plates, and 9 text-figures. New York, 1914 

 (I), van Nostrand Co.). — The volume includes ten lectures and 

 some twelve pages of notes. The author is especially known in 

 this country through his work entitled "The Great Ice Age" 

 (1894). Of the ten lectures now published, one is devoted to 

 Pleistocene Faunas and Floras, two to the Caves, one to the 

 River- Drifts, three to the Glacial Formations, one to the Inter- 

 glacial Formations and two to the Pleistocene Period. 



In the preface the author states that the result of recent in- 

 vestigations has been to confirm the view that the so-called Chel- 

 lean culture-stage dates back to the second Interglacial epoch, 

 and to prove that Mousterian man flourished during the third 

 Glacial and the succeeding Interglacial epoch. This view is held 

 by other well-known authorities, including Penck. On the other 

 hand Boule and Obermaier would place the Chellean in the third 

 Interglacial, and the Mousterian in the fourth Glacial. 



Geikie's principal contribution is in his treatment of the suc- 

 cessive glacial and interglacial phases and their bearing on the 

 antiquity of man as well as on the fauna and flora in general. 

 His views concerning the Ice Age correspond with those of 

 Penck, although he makes use of a different terminology. Instead 

 of the Gunz, Mindel, Riss, and Wiirm glacial epochs and the 

 alternating Giinz-Mindel, Mindel Riss, and Riss-Wiirm inter- 

 glacial epochs, we have the Scanian glacial and Norfolkian inter- 

 glacial, the ISaxonian glacial and Tyrolian interglacial, the 

 Polonial glacial and Dtirntenian interglacial, and the Mecklen- 

 burgian glacial. 



The warm phase following the fourth or Mecklenburg glacia- 

 tion Geikie calls Lower Forestian interglacial (probably corre- 

 sponding to the Achen retreat). Then came in succession : a 

 recrudescence of glacial conditions, to which is given the name 

 the Lower Turbarian glacial epoch, the Upper Forestian inter- 

 glacial epoch, the Upper Turbarian glacial epoch, and finally the 

 Recent and Present epoch. The author would seem to be in 

 error in regarding the Lower and Upper Turbarian as the equiva- 

 lents of the Gschnitz and Daun stadia of Penck (p. 293). They 

 should correspond with Penck's Buhl and Gschnitz stadia. 



While the absolute duration of Pleistocene time cannot be 

 determined, a "careful estimate of the geological work done dur- 

 ing the several interglacial epochs may enable us to form some 

 conception of the time involved." The author is inclined to 

 accept Penck's estimate of half a million to a million years as 

 being a fair approximation. 



For Geikie the Chellean industry dates back to at least the 

 middle Pleistocene, 250,000 to 500,000 years ago. From recent 

 discoveries, however, he believes that man may have been living 

 in Europe during the first Interglacial epoch, if not still earlier, 

 thus greatly increasing our estimate of his antiquity. 



GEORGE GRANT MACCtJRDY. 



Am. Jour Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 228.— December, 1914. 

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