ve peroxide of iron. It must have the aid of decomposing 
nic matter. a only way in which this can be explained is : 
by the surface vegetation. In this matter the conclusions are not 
_ Slomerates must occur at the base.” But why? May not a part 
: of a sandhill be blown away by small degrees, leaving all the 
ae heavier pebbles behind on the surface as a thick layer to be 
Subsequently covered up by new layers of drift san 
_ _ I thought I should have had the concurrence of my friend, Mr. 
4 ‘ilkinson, sien regard to the change of drainage following the 
_ outpouring of tertiary volcanic lavas on the summits of the divide. 
He admits, however, that the old channels were often filled up ” 
_ jese igneous outpourings, and a new system formed. That 
higher watershed was formed is not to be denied. That a i cate 
 Ofclimate was probably the result is not, I think, a far-fetched __ 
_ Inference. The whole of the i igae s tablelands i in ‘New England 
a Period I rate to, and any one ia see what an important in- yee 
fluence this has had in effecting climatial changes. Itisone of 
the causes which I suggest may have given the desert area of the = 
Blue Mountains a more humid climate, and thus encouraged @ 
s To the rest of Mr. Wilkinson’s objections, as they are more matters 
thd than facts in dispute between us, I shall not refer more 
Ptticularly. The ice theory and the drift theory are now 
: bare the world, with the observations by which Fam 4 are sup- 
at Ported, and they must now rest upon their own m 
: ~ I think on the whole that I must thank Priest Stephens for 
: ge gh he has given to my views in this matter, On one or 
Wo points he has misunderstood me. One i is with : to the 
sneer ’ dredgings and the azoic regions of the deep. er I im 
+ these were not destitute of signs of life, I meant life = 
“ch was doubtless derived from the surface. Thus,in what is 
alld the the Globi bigerina ooze, there were abundant traces of forami- 
wi”, Now, these organisms have existed in all seas from the — 
tatliest or nearly the earliest geclogi ical and some of the 
es have come to us from very remote antiquity. “They al 
d'in all seas ; they are also very easily preserved in rocks. 
