the platform from the present lands seawards, and deeply indenting the continental slope. Of these important features, Nansen gives numerous instances; the Barents Sea and the platform off the coast of Siberia afford numerous examples. From all of which we learn, that the platform itself was formerly a land surface traversed by rivers draining out into the Arctic Ocean, and sometimes continuous with the streams which drain the adjoining lands of the present day. The discovery of such "drowned river-valleys" within the Arctic circle, as also along both borders of the Atlantic Ocean, when fully grasped in all their significance, cannot fail to convince us of the great changes which the crust of our globe and the enveloping hydrosphere have undergone within recent postTertiary times.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. HUDLESTON (CHAIRMAN).-I do not need to introduce Professor Hull to you. We are very much obliged to him for the interesting representation of these remarkable oceanic phenomena. I daresay that some of us remember the various papers we have had on these phenomena from the same author; but it is extremely interesting to me to be reminded of the existence of these features; and Professor Hull's object is to group all the features, all the suboceanic features, almost from the Equator to the Pole, as far as those features are known, and more especially on the eastern side of the Atlantic basin. It is in consequence of Dr. Nansen's visit to this country that Professor Hull has thought it desirable to reopen this subject, and it is a very useful opportunity for those who have not heard Nansen himself to have some idea of what he has been about of late.

Now I think that perhaps I might read one or two extracts from Nansen's remarks before inviting discussion upon the paper. It is the oscillation of the shore line which is the crux of the entire problem, and the amount of oscillation differs according to different views.

"It seems to be the common opinion that the continental coasts have been depressed at places and at other places elevated. I believe a thorough investigation must prove that this view is not correct. There are evidences that the mean level of the continental shore line has been very nearly the same for a long period.

"The coastal platform is a very characteristic feature, across the whole of the Norwegian coast, forming a belt of low islands. The coastal platform is situated about 100 mètres below present sea level and 100 mètres above

"Its surface is nearly horizontal. It is a fact that a similar coast platform does not seem to exist along the coast of Finland. There it seems to be represented by raised terraces. Along the west coast of Scotland there is an imperfect coast platform.

"The continental shelf along the Norwegian coast varies greatly as to depth and width. It is in some places high and narrow, lying at a mean depth of 200-300 feet, while at other places it is very broad and deep, lying between 700-900 feet below sea level. The shelf must therefore have been in solid rock.

All these evidences prove that the shelf must be built up of rock and have only been cut by erosion. They are evidently built up by coastal deposition of waste.

(Other extracts read in full.)

Professor LOBLEY, F.G.S.-We owe our gratitude to the author for his interesting remarks. It is a question that he has paid great attention to for many years, and he has brought before the Institute several very interesting papers on the subject of submerged river valleys. The Chairman has also read some very interesting extracts from Nansen's writings, but it seems to me that Professor Hull's point of view is quite different from that of Nansen. Nansen in his statement dwells principally on the coastal platform and the continental platform. Professor Hull principally dwells upon the submerged valleys across these platforms, which Dr. Nansen does not refer to in the passages quoted.*

Professor Lobley only refers to the passages above quoted, but Nansen, in his work, repeatedly points to the existence of deep river channels crossing the continental platform below the surface of the Arctic Ocean.-E. H.

The deduction that Professor Hull draws from these submerged valleys is that there has been an enormous oscillation of the vast oceanic margins in comparatively recent glacial periods. If the valleys descend to 7,000 feet that would seem to indicate that the adjacent lands have been 7,000 feet higher than they are at the present time to give time and conditions for the surface denudation to produce these river valleys. That would raise the Pyrenees region and the whole of the Western Europe to a height a long way above the snow line; and that being so there would be glacial conditions existing over a vast area of the western portion of the European and African continents; and that might be recognised as the cause of the "glacial period." It would seem to be the most important part of the deduction that Professor Hull seems to draw from his examination of the sea bottom of the western coast of our Continent, and it would appear to be the point of greatest interest in this communication.

Mr. HOWARD.-I venture to express the interest which I feel in these investigations, because it is impossible these river valleys should be there without some cause. It is inconceivable that any modern current should cut in that way. It must be either the result of water or ice, more probably, I would venture to suggest, of glaciation, more like the cut of glaciers. That would entirely agree with the idea of an enormous elevation. If the mountains were all that number of thousand feet high it would involve the glacial period; but there has been a very great change of elevation within a comparatively short period of time. The difference of elevation has taken place within a comparatively short period of geological time.

APPENDIX.

Professor Spencer in his essay (No. 11 of the list below) has given a most useful list of papers dealing with the subject of sub-oceanic phenomena on the American side of the globe; and with the object of showing what has been written on the same subject on the European side, the following list, which though not quite complete, will assist in providing investigators interested in the references.

(1) Investigations regarding the Submerged Terraces and River Valleys bordering the British Isles," by Professor E. Hull, F.R.S. (with map). Trans. Victoria Institute, vol. xxx. (2) "Sub-Oceanic Terraces and River-Valleys off the Coast of Western Europe" (with three plates), by the same author. Ibid. vol. xxxi.

(3) "Another possible cause of the Glacial Epoch" (with map), by the same author. Ibid. vol. xxxi.

(4) "The Sub-Oceanic Depression known as 'La Fosse de Cap Breton,'" by Professor Lobley. Ibid. vol. xxxiii.

(5) "Deep Sea Soundings in connection with Submarine Telegraphy," by Mr. Edward Stallibrass, F.R.G.S. Jour. Soc. Teleg. Engineers., vol. xvi, p. 479.

In this paper the author describes the Sub-Oceanic channel of the Congo down to the 1,000-fathom contour, giving the length of the channel as 100 miles.

(6) On the same subject:-"The Sub-Oceanic River-Valleys of the West African Continent, and of the Mediterranean Basin" (with map), by Professor E. Hull, F.R.S. Ibid. vol. xxxii.

(7) "The Physical History of the Norwegian Fjords," by the same author. Ibid. vol. xxxiv.

(8) "Submerged Platform of Western Europe." Geol. Mag., Lond., vol. vi, pp. 16-18 (1899).

(9) "Professor Hull's 'Sub-Oceanic Terraces and RiverValleys off the coast of Europe." A Review. American Geologist, vol. xxxv, March (1905). By Professor J. W. Spencer, Ph.D.

(10) "Dr. Fridtjof Nansen's Researches into the Bathymetrical Features of the North Polar Seas." A Review, by Professor E. Hull, F.R.S. Geol. Mag., Decade V., vol. i, No. 482, 1904.

(11) Review of the same by Professor J. W. Spencer. The American Geologist, vol. xxxv, April, 1905.

(12) "On the Physiographic Improbability of Land at the

North Pole," by Professor J. W. Spencer. American
Journal of Science, vol. xix, May, 1905.

ORDINARY MEETING.*

LIEUT.-COLONEL G. MACKINLAY IN THE CHAIR.

The following address was given by the Author :

THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. By Rev. Canon GIRDLESTONE, M.A.†

TH

THE subject is one that we shall all have in our minds on Easter Day, and perhaps if we look at it from a historic point of view it may help us when we want our own mind clear on this great fact. In one of the sermons by the celebrated Dr. Arnold, formerly Head Master of Rugby, a sermon called "The sign of the Prophet Jonah," there is a sentence which goes to this effect: "I have been in the habit of studying historical events for many years, and it is my firm conviction that there is no event of history so sure and trustworthy as the resurrection of Christ from the dead." That as coming from a man with a free mind is very strong and very encouraging, and it was one of several things that set me investigating the whole subject a good many years ago. I may say that I date my own personal investigation of it to the year 1860, when I spent Easter in Jerusalem and heard a sermon from the late Mr. Crawford on a text in the 1st chapter of Acts, where we read that Christ showed Himself alive to His followers by many infallible proofs.

Monday, April 17th, 1905.

+ Owing to the sudden withdrawal of another paper, this address had to be given at only a few minutes' uotice. Hence its lack of completeness: and many aspects of the question were left untouched.-R. B. Ĝ.