331 
all over the "round and examined it carefully, and, as far as I saw, I came 
away with the clear conviction that the Somme river, although running 
through the Somme valley, never excavated that valley.* There are about 
twenty-eight miles of the valley between St. Acheul and Moulin Quignon, in 
both of which places implement-bearing gravels are found. St. Acheul is 
149 feet above the level of the sea at St. Valery, and Moulin Quignon 
106 feet above the same level. If, then, the river ever ran at the height of 
these gravel beds, the fall would be 43 feet between these places. A 
fall of 43 feet in twenty-eight miles gives a good deal less than 2 feet per 
mile. When I looked at this fact, I asked myself the question, — “ Is it 
possible that a river flowing with a fall of less than 2 feet per mile could 
have eroded this immense valley ? ” (Hear, hear.) Then it must be borne 
in mind that the Somme is but a small narrow river, while the valley 
through which it flows is wide, being sometimes two or three miles in 
breadth, and I would venture to say that if you could spread the river 
all over the valley I could walk across it without having my shoes covered 
with water. I am sure Professor Hughes will agree with me that there is 
no erosion going on at the present time, and if that be so, the data for 
calculation is taken away. I may add that I took a boat and rowed for five 
hours up the river, to see whether I could find the continuation of the 
banks that could have kept the river in, for we know that where there 
are no banks there can be no river. I had a friend with me, and the 
conclusion we reached was that there was an absence of continuous embank- 
ment necessary to keep the water up to the height where the implements 
were found, namely among the gravels of M. Tattegrain Brule, 80 feet above 
the level of the Somme. I crossed on my next visit to Amiens, Pont 
de Canion, to see how high the bank was on the other side, and I am quite 
certain I am right in saying there was not sufficient height of bank to have 
kept the stream in so as to have occasioned it to reach the higher 
parts on the St. Acheul side, where erosion is said to have occurred and 
the implements are found. Correctly speaking, there was no bank at all, 
but simply a rising ground stretching back into the country. [The speaker 
here pointed out on the map what he was describing.] From all the appear- 
ances I saw, it was clear to me that the water had never flowed up to the 
points I have indicated. I recrossed the river, and came along the banks 
on the south-western side, and before I had reached the peat beds of 
Longueau I could see that I was getting many feet below where the imple- 
ments were found, and I suppose I shall be justified in saying that the 
minimum of the banks must have been the maximum of the stream. If the 
water, half a mile from St. Acheul, had come this way [pointing to the 
map], it would have flowed out upon the surrounding country, whereas 
a river that could have done the amount of erosive work attributed to the 
Somme ought to have been well stemmed in, but no signs of this exist. 
* See Mr. J. Parkers view. (Vol. viii., p. 51. An extract from his paper 
will be found in the appendix.) 
YOL. XIII. 2 A 
