WCP1776

Wallace on Early Pal[aeolithic]s <no> 3,0

I was very greatly interested in your collection of the oldest Pal[aeolithic]s. Could you not write a popular article giving an account of your discovery of them, with all the main features of their form & peculiarities, and the special areas in which they are found, illustrated by outline sketches of all the chief types of form, — and laying particular stress on the fact that each of these types, however rude, are illustrated by numbers of specimens, shewing how natural flint pebbles of suitable form have been selected and by being chipped on one side only have been brought to the required shape & edge.

If you could write as you speak I think such a paper would be published by one of the good Reviews.

[Printed Article:]

His special knowledge of the subjects caused Mr. Prestwich to be asked to serve on two important Royal Commissions — that on Coal Supply in 1866, and on Water Supply in 1867. He was one of the first to seriously discuss the probable extension of coal-bearing strata under the south-east of England, and his numerous papers on the subject had a great effect in promoting the successful experimental boring which proved his speculations to be correct. He was President of the Geographical Society in 1870-2, and delivered valuable Presidential addresses. In the latter year he retired from business. In 1874 the Institute of Civil Engineers awarded him the Telford Medal for his paper on "The Geological Conditions affecting the Construction of a Tunnel between England and France," which no man could have discussed with ampler knowledge of the strata on both sides of the Channel.

It was not surprising that, on the death of Professor Phillips, he was asked to become a candidate for the Professorship of Geology at Oxford, and was duly elected. Soon after delivering his inaugural lecture he undertook the laborious task of producing a completely new treatise on geology, which was published by the Clarendon Press in two large volumes, 1886-8. They do not approach Lyell's classic works for charm of style and persuasiveness, but they contain a large number of new facts, and put opposing arguments more fully than Lyell did. But the special difference of Professor Prestwich from most other geologists is the importance he is inclined to give to more violent or rapid action in past geological time than now, and his decided leaning to explanations based on fissures or rifts occurring ion the earth sometimes for hundreds of miles. This is all very well to speculate upon; but unless we see something of the kind now in operation, it must remain pure speculation.

In 1887 Professor Prestwich retired from his Oxford Professorship, and now remains the Father of the Geological Society, and as such proposed the vote of thanks to Professor A. Gelkie, the President, at the last annual meeting. Age has told on his frame, but his face still shows in its strongly-marked features the lines left by hard work, active and prolonged travel, and keen thought. Nothing could more clearly emphasise his position in geology than having been chosen president of the meeting of the International Geological Congress in London in 1888, which settled so many general geological terms and other open questions. He has continued to produce original papers, the latest referring to the early Glacial Period in the Thames Valley, and the length of time the valley has taken to form.

[1] [p. 171]

3^rd November 1891

I was very greatly interested in your collection of the oldest palaeoliths.

Could you not write a popular article giving an account of your discovery of them, with all the main features of their form and peculiarities, and the special areas in which they are found, illustrated by outline sketches of all the chief types of form, and laying particular stress on the fact that each of these types, however made, is illustrated by numbers of specimens showing how natural flint pebbles of suitable form have been selected, and by being chipped on one side only have been brought to the required shape and edge.

If you could write as you speak, I think such a paper would be published by one of the good reviews.