Journal of Proceedings. lxxix
in the Tilbury sand sent to the British Museum. I have a fair collection
of fossil bones from the Palaeolithic sand, and they are in an entirely
different mineral condition from the bones of the Tilbury skeleton.
There is no resemblance whatever either in sand or bones. I say this with
great deference to the opinion of Professor Owen, and confess that a
Palaeolithic skeleton might have been washed from the high ground to
the low and got into the mineral state of the Tilbury skeleton ; but I am
bound to say that I see no evidence of anything of the sort having taken
place. My opinion is that there is no proof of the Paleolithic age of the
relic.
Mr. Cole added that Mr. P. C. J. Spurrell had been down to the Docks
to see the sections, and was also decidedly of opinion that the skeleton
was not of Palaeolithic age.
The President having spoken of Mr. Holmes's paper as an admirable
example of the cautious observation and deduction which should
characterise the examination of new and startling ideas in science,
Mr. W. F. Robarts said he had himself paid a rapid visit to the Docks,
and he understood that the skeleton was found, not in the sand but in
the peat, at the foot of it, and at the base of a tree, one of the erect
stumps standing in the peat, the presence of which had caused the men
to work rather carefully there, with the result that the skeleton had
been got hold of more perfectly than would otherwise have been the
case. He took it that the presence of these erect stumps showed that
the subsidence of the bed had been rather rapid ; and he pointed out
also that being found in a forest at the base of a tree the presumption
was against the supposition of the skeleton having been washed into
that position. The peat must have grown up over it.
Mr. Meldola said he thought it very desirable that the Club should
visit the place as soon as possible, and he was very glad to hear that
arrangements were being made to hold a meeting there shortly, in order
to see the sections before they were cleared away.* As to the evidence
upon which Sir E. Owen seemed to have placed some reliance—the
chemical character of the bones—he (Mr. Meldola) fully agreed with
Mr. Holmes that chemical composition was a very unsafe guide in
such cases.
The following note was read by the author, who exhibited the
specimens of vegetable tissues referred to, and also samples of various
forms of Boro-glyceride :—
Note on a New Medium for Mounting Moist Vegetable Tissues for
THE Microscope.
By Alfred P. Wire.
Having been for some time past concerned with Professor Barff in
preparing Kreochyle, a liquid meat preserved with boro-glyceride, it
* A visit was made to the Docks ou May 17th (infra), and the observations then made
are incorporated In Mr. Holmes's paper as printed in the ' Transactions.'—Ed.