The commencement of the thirtieth year of the publication of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE appears to be an appropriate occasion to offer a short account of the life and work of one who for the first twelvemonths Edited, with Henry Woodward, this Journal, and has, ever since, been one of its most regular contributors.

In a paper read by me before the Geological Society of London on November 26th, 1890, I mentioned that I had obtained evidence during a recent visit to North Devon which had led me to believe that far too little importance had hitherto been assigned to the results of movements in the earth's crust as affecting the succession of the rocks in that area. I mentioned also that the supposed continuous upward succession from the rocks on the shore of the Bristol Channel to those in the neighbourhood of Barnstaple, including, according to some authors, no less than ten distinct groups, was an erroneous interpretation; for the beds are greatly plicated and faulted and several times repeated. Therefore instead of being one continuous series with a regular dip to the south, the beds are much folded in several broken troughs.inthis paper I purpose giving some examples of the folds and faults near Ilfracombe which will enable those who visit that neighbourhood to verify the statements which I have made in regard to some of the rocks in that area.

The extraordinary abundance and almost universal distribution of fragments of Eskdale granite through the Drift of the North-West of England and part of North Wales is an impressive fact to the student of Glacial Geology. Mackintosh was the first to systematically trace this rock through the Drift and to note its origin. Since the time of this single-minded and patient investigator many other geologists have gone over the same ground and extended his observations, and all must bear witness to the accuracy of his facts.

In previous communications, to the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE I have subjected the evidence as to the age of the Mammoth in the British Islands to criticism, and I ventured to conclude that whereever we can find the remains of the Mammoth and its contemporaries undisturbed and in situ, these remains are found under and not over or in the drift. This, so far as I know, is the case in every recorded instance where the Mammoth beds and the drift have been found superimposed upon each other. Let us now turn to the Continent and test the problem there. If we are to test it in the same way, which I take to be the only satisfactory way, namely, by evidence of superposition, we must naturally limit our survey to countries where the drift actually occurs. First, let us turn to Switzerland.

The series of slates, schists, and grits, of the Isle of Man, which are regarded as identical with the Skiddaw Slates of the Lake District, have hitherto yielded no traces of fossils, if we except the rare worm-like markings known as Palasochorda. The writer during the month of August last, took the opportunity of a visit to the island (in connection with the geological mapping by Professor Dawkins) to search very closely the least altered slates of the series along their northern outcrop.

All students of British Glacial geology must feel that to Prof. James Geikie we owe much of our present knowledge concerning the Pleistocene succession in Europe; for he has not only been a zealous worker in the field, but has placed before us in a clear manner the valuable investigations of Continental geologists, with a view to showing how the succession that has been made out on the main land may be made to agree with that of our islands.

The new school of glacial geology has found a champion in Mr. Percy Kendall, who,inten pages of this MAGAZINE (November, 1892, pp. 491–500), attempts a reply to some of my criticisms. Since then Dr. G. F. Wright's work, entitled “Man and the Glacial Period,” has made its appearance, and in this Mr. Kendall is allowed 44 pages to explain his views of the glacial phenomena of the British Isles.