WAS THERE A FLOOD ?

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1033, 11 May 1894, Page 3

WAS THERE A FLOOD ?

♦ . One of the largest meetings ever held by the Victoria Institute of London, England, took place in the third week of March, to hear fehat well-knowm * Nestor among Geologists,' Prof. Prestwich, F.R.S., read a paper on 'A Possible "Cause for the Origin of the Tradition of the Flood, 7 in which he proposed to treat the. subject ' from a purely scientific standpoint.' The Chair was taken by the Ex-PresHent of the Royal Society, Sir George Stokes, Bart., F.R.S., the present occupant of that Professorial Chair at Cambridge University once occupied by Sir Isaac Newton, and also the President of the Victoria Institute, whose aim is to investigate all scientific questions bearing on the truth of the Bible, and to associate all scientific men, and people generally, in the colonies and in America, in aid of this work. The great hall was packed in every part, as those who came late found. The business was commenced by Captain F. Petrie, the Honorary Secretary, reading a letter from the Duke of Argyll, who was unable to be present ; after which Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S. read the paper prepared by Prof. Prestwich, he not being sufficiently recovered from a severe cold to do so himself. In it the author described at considerable length the various phenomena which had come under his observation during long years of geological research in Europe and tho coasts of the Mediterranean. Among these he specially referred to having found tho flints of the drift to be of two classes, one. with bones of animals, carved, and interspersed with the remains of man, and the other, which he termed Rubbledrift, containing bones of aminals of all ages and kinds in vast heaps. He cited the confirmatory opinions on this point of Prof. Geikie, F.R.S. , a member of the Institute, and drew special attention to the geological surroundings of these strange deposits, and the manner in which the bones were found. He then referred to phenomena in regard to Raised Sea Beaches, and the constant occurence of • Head,' the large masses of transported rock, loam and Loess, covering the high plains in Hungary and Southern Russia, and the Ossiferous Breccias in various localities. From the circumstances attending these and their surroundings he said he had been forced to the conclusion that all their phenomena were ' only explicable upon the hypothesis of a widespread and short submergence followed by early reelevation, and this hypothesis satisfied all the important conditions of the problem,' which forced one to recognise that there had been a submergence of continental dimensions. The age of Man was held to be divided into Palaeolithic and Neolithic, and he considered rightly so. He concluded by suggesting that thus there seemes cause for the origin of a tradition of a flood. The paper was followed by reference to a communication from Sir W. Dawson, F.R.S., who welcomed the paper as confirming his conclusion come to on geological and palaaontological grounds of a physical break in the anthropic age. The evidence for this was afforded by the cave remains and from a vast quantity of other sources. The discussion which ensued was commenced by Sir George Stokes, Bart., F.R.S., referring to the great value of the author's contribution to our knowledge and right understanding of the phenomena he had so long studied. Among those present were Mr Huddleston, F.R.S. , the past President of the Geological Society, and Dr Woodward, F.R.S,, the present President. The latter proposed a cordial vote of thanks to his friend and teacher, Dr Prestwich, 5 the Nestor among Geologists.' whose contributions to our knowledge of that science, were recognised by all as greater, more far-reaching, and more valuable than those of any other in the present century. After sundry other remarks Sir Henry Howdrth, Bart., F.R.S., spoke, urging the great importance of recognising the value of the arguments in the paper and many others which had come under his own observation in Asia. Prof. M'K. Hughes, F.R.S., of Cambridge University, followed with some criticisms, and bore warm testimony to the value of the paper, after which Professor Hull, F.R.S., late Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, spoke strongly in favor of the scientific nature of the author's arguments. Professor Rupert Jones, F.R.S., in a few sentences replied to the speakers, and the brilliant gathering dispersed.

The privilege of having danced with • the first gentleman of Europe ' is claimed by an old lady now living in Glasgow. According to her statement she was present at a ball in Holyrood Palace when George IV paid a visit to the Scottish capital, Her uncle was the royal restaurateur in Edinburgh at the time, and, by some means, he procured for- his niece an invitation to the ball. Chance gave her the King for a partner in a quadrille, and the old lady still recalls how handsome His Majesty was, with * diamond buckles on bis shoes, 1 how affable and easy were his manners, how he bowed to her and made her feel * quite at home.' She is now close upon a century, and her life touches four reigns,