As One carried beyond his depth for the first time into the waters of ocean, and struggling shorewards, touches but now and then the yellow sands, with every heaving wave again to be set afloat, feels a delight when he plants his foot solidly on the sands, and wades through shallower water to the shore, so do we after our almost footless path through the wide waste of water of the first age, hail with delight our firmer footing on the spreading shores of this next great geological period.

Texture of Ore-Veins.—The varying texture of ore-veins referred to towards the end of Prof. Cotta's memoir may not be intelligible without a short explanation. We find that the two extreme textures of veins may be classed as (1) a compact texture, and (2) a banded or layer-like texture, both of these of course having many varieties, and passing into each other. The first is often characterized by a breccia-texture, that is by containing fragmenta—often very numerous—of the neighbouring rock. The figure below shows an extreme case of this breccia-vein; and also the peculiar manner in which these fragments are usually surrounded by some crystallized mineral, marked by the axes of the crystals all radiating as if from a centre.

“There are stranger things” wrote old Aubrey, “than a man sees in a journey between Staines and Windsor.” Doubtless there are, and not the least strange in modern times is the discovery of the works of men's hands in association with the bones of mammoths and other extinct terrestrial beasts, which have always hitherto been supposed to have passed away before the “lord of all he surveys” made his appearance. For years it has been the practice of geologists to ignore any asserted evidence of human remains in the same strata with those of the great extinct mammalia, and certainly, generally speaking, the evidence offered was carelessly got, or only very imperfectly substantiated, so that, in its general weakness and unreliableness there is some justification of the practice. An energetic French antiquary, however, has brought the matter so prominently forward, and substantiated his assertions by discoveries and proofs at once so novel and so convincing, that geologists and antiquaries were both alike compelled to investigate the matter, and neither have hesitated to accept the proofs afforded.