HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



135 



point of fact or not, is not to the purpose — 'tis so 

 popularly accepted. * 



Now when any creatures gain an advantage over 

 others, it is — or is supposed to be to the detriment of 

 those less advantageously placed — the former eventu- 

 ally, as it were, elbowing these latter not only out of 

 their appointed place, but often, ultimately, out of 

 existence. The conditions of their life have become 

 50 unfavourably altered, interrupted, interfered with 

 — i.e. disturbed, that in the "struggle for existence" 

 they are vanquished. Now it certainly cannot be 

 truly said that this is not a part of 1 ' Nature's scheme." 

 Doubtless it is ; nevertheless it is surely permissible 

 to speak of this whole or partial extinguishment of a 

 race as a "disturbance" of a harmonious scheme, 

 whether brought about by the gradual changes indi- 

 cated, or whether by cataclysms involving the anni- 

 hilation not of a single race, but of whole races of 

 -beings. Are not the hurricane and the earthquake 

 parts of Nature's scheme as much as the oft-unbroken 

 calm which precedes and follows them? Yet they 

 are commonly regarded and actually spoken of as 

 disttcrbances of Nature. 



But there, I need scarcely go further than Mr. 

 Tansley's own papers, which abound in terms and 

 phrases to which, if captiously inclined, I might take 

 exception. 



NOTE ON THE DISCOVERY OF SOME 

 RIVER-DRIFT IMPLEMENTS AT WEST 

 WICKHAM, KENT.* 



By George Clinch. 



THE age when flint implements were looked upon 

 as the handiwork of elves and fairies has 

 happily passed for ever away, and it is pleasant to 

 find that the suspicion and distrust with which they 

 were generally regarded, even in these latter days, 

 has, to a considerable extent, died out. Therefore, 

 in discoursing upon certain wrought flints which I 

 have found lately in my own parish, I do not antici- 

 pate that I shall be considered by my readers to 

 partake of the character of either a wizard or a 

 dissembler. 



In the parish of West Wickham, near to Hayes 

 Common, there is a field called Church Field ; and 

 through that field there runs a small valley ; on the 

 sides of this valley there are patches of stiff ochreous 

 clay, and in this clay were found the flint implements 

 to which I desire to draw attention. Although no 

 river or stream now runs through this valley, yet it is 

 quite clear that at some far distant time it had some 

 relation to the basin of the river Ravensbourne. 

 Indeed, the connection can easily be traced by any 

 one who follows the bottom of the dry valleys out to 



* The illustrations to this Paper will be given, with its 

 conclusion, in our next number. 



Bromley, where of course the junction with the 

 Ravensbourne takes place. Commencing at Church 

 Field, the valley after passing through two or three 

 fields, opens at right angles into a larger valley, 

 known in this place by the name of" Gates Green" 

 (a significant name). The Gates Green valley bounds 

 Hayes Common on its southern and western sides, 

 and after taking a gently curving sweep from Gates 

 Green to Coney Hall (where it is joined by the 

 Addington valley, in which there is a small stream 

 known as the "Bone" or "Bourne") it keeps a 

 tolerably uniform course to Bromley. There, at a 

 place called Hayes Ford, the Bourne joins the 

 Ravensbourne, and the two valleys may be considered 

 to have become one. 



Without entering into details, the outline of the 

 geological character of the little valley in Church 

 Field seems to be this : By some means the valley 

 was first cut through, perhaps, some twenty feet of 

 tertiary strata into the underlying chalk. The valley 

 bottom was then partially filled up with various debris 

 in which cretaceous and tertiary fragments were 

 indiscriminately commingled. Thus, the chalk is 

 much hidden from view, except in some instances 

 upon the brow of a hill, where the debris may not have 

 been deposited. It is not found upon the highest 

 ground, this being capped with tertiary strata, neither 

 is it found in the bottom of the valley (except in the 

 form of re-deposited chalk), this being invariably 

 occupied by debris. The patches of drift clay or 

 gravel upon the sides of the valley are comparatively, 

 only superficial, and are among the last deposits 

 which the valley has received. 



But let us now pass on to the flint implements 

 themselves, which I have found here at various times 

 during the past two years. They present the true 

 characteristics of drift implements of which so many 

 admirable examples are engraved in Dr. J. Evans 7 

 " Ancient Stone Implements of Britain," and Sir 

 John Lubbock's " Prehistoric Times," and other 

 works upon that subject. They are nearly all stained 

 a bright ochreous yellow colour, whilst a few have 

 retained a dark but highly glazed surface. The 

 angles and edges of some show considerable marks 

 of wear, but this abrasion is found only upon the 

 angles and ridges and is not to be found in the 

 hollows and depressions of the conchoidal fractures. 

 This shows that the abrasion did not arise from the 

 action of sand and waves upon a sea-beach, but was 

 due to contact with large stones and just such other 

 forces as we may suppose would be in operation in 

 floods, inundations, and strong river currents. But 

 there are some of the implements which do not bear 

 any marks of wear at all. These are not the neolithic 

 or surface flints, but they resemble in every other 

 respect those flints which are of unquestionable river- 

 drift character. The teaching of these seems to be. 

 that during at least the later periods of flood there 

 was an area of habitable land in the immediate vicinity. 



