72 THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
man's Wood was read before the Field Club two years ago, but has
not been published in consequence of the incompleteness of our
labours. Fortunately what has been done remains, from its position,
just as we left it, unharmed either by man or the weather. And I
trust we may be able to bring our exploration to at least a provi-
sional termination in the spring. It may, perhaps, be asked whether
the Report already read could not have been printed, as its publica-
tion might have served to arouse or keep alive the interest of the
Club in the investigation. Against this course, however, the follow-
ing objection seems conclusive :—
I made a ground plan showing the relations of the various dene-
holes to each other as carefully as I could, feeling, however, that
owing to the amount of debris in each pit, to their want of perfect
symmetry, and to the impossibility of knowing accurately the posi-
tion of the centre of the shaft in closed pits, the accumulation of
small errors might lead to a more and more serious want of accuracy
as the work went on. It was only towards the end of our labours
that we entered a denehole which, from the comparatively small
amount of rubbish in it, seemed suitable for sifting operations, it
being obvious that testimony to age can only be met with close to
the original floor. But it is also obvious that the pit in which sifting
is going on should have two entrances, both in case accident should
close one of them, and in order to allow of the current of air through,
which is necessary to efficient labour. Now the very first operation
to be done on resuming our exploration must be the making of a
short tunnel from a pit entered at an early period of our work into-
that in which we propose to sift. Should the length and direction
of this tunnel be approximately that which the ground plan gives us
reason to expect, we shall have not only a second entrance into the
pit to be sifted, but a confirmation, or the reverse, of the practical
accuracy of the ground plan which is at present wanting. And with-
out a ground plan the Report would be neither interesting nor intel
ligible.
Among the papers we have printed in the department of pre-
historic archaeology, I cannot but mention that by Mr. Worthington
Smith on "Primaeval Man in the Valley of the Lea.''
It is thus evident that, considering the brevity of our past existence,
much good work has been done and recorded in our "Transactions,"
in Essex Geology, Botany, Zoology, and Prehistoric Archaeology.
But this brief sketch of what has been done only makes the vastness