78 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
Tlie othor jiorlion of this deposit, which is not so hard, contains mclanise and 
cyrcnfc rcseinbliiig tliosc from Cliarlton, togctlicr with oysters and fresh-water 
mussels with the nacre preserved. I have other shells from this deposit which 
I cannot name — one in shape resembles the marine mussel. 
I have not been able to make a section, but I believe that this bed is 
situated beneath forty or fifty feet of clay. The sewer at this spot was nearly 
filled up wlien T last visited it, but shells may be obtained from the heaps 
thrown out at the side. I observed no pebbles or sand, which are so common 
at Woolwich and Blackheath. I shotild feel obliged to any of your readers, 
who may have visited this place, for information as to tlie position and correla- 
tion of this bed, and also whether any remains other than shells have been 
found there. A friend informs me that he has found the elytron of a small 
beetle m the limestone. — Yours truly, C. Evans, Hampstead. — Some few 
spines and very fragmentary portions of fish have been collected. — Ed. Geol. 
Supposed Traces of Human Manufacture. — Sir, — The very interesting 
q;iestion which has been opened up lately by the discovery of implements of 
human manufacture in the drift beds of Amiens, Abbeville, and other places 
abroad, reminds me of a very curious reUc, apparently of an exceedingly 
remote date, which was stored up in the Museum of Natural History at Derby 
when I paid a visit to that interesting collection, rather more than six years 
ago (August, 1853). It was nothmg more nor less than a very antique- 
fashioned smoking-pipe, wliich had been found in connection with fossil bones 
in undisturl)ed strata at a depth of sixteen feet or more beneath the surface of 
the soil (if I mistake not) in the neighbourhood of Derby. This relic of a 
bygone age was, from the extraordinary position in which it was foimd, 
regarded by its discoverer as of very remote antiquity, and the placard whicli 
was written over it to attract public observation was not umiaturally worded 
" Geological Problem." Erom the pencil memorandum I made in my pocket- 
book, I find that it was accompanied by the following explanation in a letter 
addressed to the curator of the museum : — " I send you a geological problem. 
The accompanyLng tobaeeo-pipe was found in the Blue Band, the same stratum 
that contained the bones, &c. It lies sixteen feet deep, and is nine inches 
thick. It has gravel above and below. The pipe is not of modem manufac- 
ture. I hear that similar pipes have been found near Gainsbro'. — Yours, dear 
sir, E. J. Jessop. To J. Jones, Esq." 
Of course, if the undisturbed condition of the strata could be proved vrith 
regard to this relic, it could not have been used for the purpose of smoking 
tobacco ; and if my memory serves me riglit, there was no appearance of olea- 
ginous carbonization in the pipe which could indicate that it nad been so used, 
but possibly it may turn out that this rude instrument had been employed for 
smoking some narcotic herb, for Herodotus makes mention of the fact that a 
Scythian tribe were in the habit of exciting themselves by the smoke of some 
vegetable production. It is not unlikely that the art of smoking was practised 
long antecedent to the discovery of the " narcotic weed" par excellence. Per- 
haps some of your readers living in the neighbourhood of Derby may be able 
to give you further particulars about this alleged geological problem, or if not, 
the mere reference to the finding of other human implements than the nide 
celts of flint in positions evidencing great antiquity of deposit, may lead to tlic 
mention of many similar discoveries in different parts of the world. — I am, 
Sir, yours very truly, Erancis E. Statham, E.G.S., Walworth. 
Implements in the Drift. — Erom a note which I made at Beauvais, in the 
summer of 1858, I find that the museum of that city contains several speci- 
mens of rude flint tools of the same kind as those found at St. Aeheul. I made 
a sketch of one of them at that time, to record the difference between these 
and the ordinary celts, though I was then unaware of any difference in their 
