§5 



There is a gravel deposit on the landward margin of the Fleet, 

 near Chickerel, and some of it is striated, and specimens are now 

 shown. 



Can the puzzle be solved by a theory of glaciation ? Did the 

 glacier that scratched the Chickerel gravel push up the clay of the 

 Chesil Bank. 



Of other matters of associated interest time does not permit me 

 to speak ; though passing reference must be made to the striation 

 of Mr. Ben. Harrison's eoliths of the plateau gravels of Sussex, and 

 of palaeolithic implements, some of which are on the table. 



In fine, the stones that I now show, grooved, rubbed, striated 

 are only a small part, whether in number or in size, of those I have 

 collected. 



Two years ago Mr. Horace Woodward came and inspected my 

 collection, and subsequently, in December 1907, wrote to me as 

 follows : " The facts you have gathered with regard to the drift 

 phenomena in South Dorset are most interesting, and I am quite 

 convinced that you have good evidence of the action of local snow 

 and ice and the slipping and melting of masses of snow and ice and 

 incorporated material. The local detritus on the slopes of the 

 Cotteswold Hills and on the South coast the Coombe rock of Sussex, 

 the Selsea erratics and the glacial phenomena of Scilly all come to 

 support your views." 



Let us, in conclusion, declare our allegiance to Sir William 

 Hamilton's " Law of Parcimony." P'ormulated in 1852, it was 

 shown by John Stuart Mill to be a principle identical with the 

 famous maxim, "Entianon sunt multiplicanda prseter necessitatem,' 1 " 

 meaning that substances, powers, and causes are not to be needlessly 

 multiplied. The law is thus expressed, " Neither more (numerous) 

 nor more onerous causes are to be assumed than are necessary to 

 account for the phenomena." And as an example he says that a 

 special hypothesis which serves to explain only one phenomenon is 

 more onerous than a general hypothesis which will explain many 

 phenomena. 



If this law be obeyed, the hypothesis that there was a glacia- 

 tion of Dorset will ultimately prevail. 



Hy. Colley March. 



ind December, 1909. 



Note. — In the Taunton Castle Museum is a specimen of glacial striation from a 

 mass of Old Red Sandstone about 200 yards along the lower road in the 

 grounds at Ashley Lodge, near Porlock Weir. It was found by Mr. G 

 Lucy, of Gloucester, Feb, 1874. 



II. C. M. 



