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England and what would be the effect from a geological point of view? If the
meteorological conditions were altered in such a way, should we get a prevailing
easterly wind? The question interested Harmer much at the time when it was put
forward and he thought it a very useful form of speculation. It started a subject
which had proved to be one of the most attractive sections of meteorological
inquiry. In America they were devoting much attention to palaeometeorological
work: that is to say, the meteorology associated with changed geological condi-
tions. Brooks himself, who has done not a little work of that sort in this country,
was associated with Harmer in the inquiry at the Meteorological Office and from
that has developed a large amount of literature which is both geological and
meteorological. It is impossible to separate the geological from the meteorological,
as the two are expressions of the results of the same forces. It gave him much
pleasure to hear Harmer's paper read before the Society and to know that it will
find a permanent home in the Society's records.
In 1940 the palaeometeorological research of Harmer was again presented to
the Royal Meteorological Society this time by the leading British geologist Pro-
fessor Percy G.H. Boswell, F.R.S. in the George J. Symons Memorial Lecture on
17 April that year.
In connection with the problem of climatic fluctuations during the Ice Age, it is desirable
to refer to one of the few papers dealing with palaeometeorology that have appeared in
geological journals. In 1901, my old friend and master, the late F.W. Harmer, contributed
a paper to the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society on the influence of the winds
upon climate during past epochs. I mention it as the kind of speculation upon which
geologists may embark, although very few have the temerity to do so (Boswell
1940
).
Boswell called attention to the general principle that anomalous meteorological
situations in the past, even if more or less permanent, may have been due to the
same cause which brings about temporary changes of a similar character in the
present period, namely, variations in circulation patterns. Boswell continued that
Harmer appeared to have been drawn to consider this concept through his studies
of the Pliocene shell beds, or Crags of East Anglia. In his efforts to interpret the
conditions under which these shallow water deposits were formed, Boswell reit-
erated that Harmer referred to similar deposits being accumulated in the present
period on the Dutch coasts, especially when driven up on the beaches by strong
southwesterly winds. As a result, Harmer concluded that strong easterly winds had
occurred instead during the Pliocene epoch, causing shells and other marine
organisms to be torn from the sea bed and thrown up as detrimental accumulations
on the eastern England shores of the proto-North Sea.
Boswell continued that Harmer concerned himself particularly with the con-
ditions just before and during the Ice Age, and called attention to the general
principle that anomalous weather in the past, even if more or less permanent, may
have been due to the same cause which brings about temporary changes of a
similar character at present, namely, a change in the direction of the wind. He
seems to have been led to the consideration of the problem by his studies of the
Pliocene shell beds, or Crags, of his East Anglian homeland. In his efforts to
