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For the Promotion of Research in

PALEOBOTANY and PALEOZOOLOGY

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THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

OF LONDON.
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NOVEMBER 1826 to JUNE 1833.
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LONDON: *

PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR, ‘RED LION COUKT, FLEET STREET 5
AND SOLD AT THE APARTMENTS OF THE SOCIETY,
SOMERSET HOUSE.

1834, e%

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1826—1827. No. 1.

Tue Council of the Geological Society, being desirous of commu- |
nicating to the Fellows as promptly as may be, an account of the
Proceedings of the Society, during the intervals which must necessa-
rily elapse between the appearance of the several Parts of the Trans-
actions, has made arrangements for distributing, to the Fellows who
reside in London and its vicinity, the abstracts of the papers read at
the ordinary meetings, with such official documents as it may be
thought expedient to publish ;—which if preserved, will furnish a
connected history of the Society.—Such of the non-resident Fel-
lows as may be desirous of obtaining copies, may have them sent
according to any address in town, notified by letter to the Secre-
traies.

The present Number contains an account of the Proceedings of
the Geological Society, from the commencement of the Session in
November last, to the annual meeting on the 16th of February, in-
clusive; and the Numbers will in future be continued, from time to
time, according to the space occupied by the abstracts of the papers.

The Council has the satisfaction to inform the Fellows, that the
Second Part of Volume II. of the second series of the Transactions,
which has been for some time in the press, will be ready for pub-
lication in a few weeks.

9th April 1827.

PROCEEDINGS DURING THE SESSION OF 1826—1827.

Nov. 3.—Colonel Charles Silvertop, of Minster Acres, Northum-
berland, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

A paper was read entitled “‘ Additional remarks on the nature
and character of the limestone and slate principally composing the
rocks and hills round Plymouth,” by the Rev. Richard Hennah, .
F.G.S.

The author refers to a former paper on this subject, in which
he confined his field of observation to the narrow tract between the
Plym and the Tamar;—he now extends its limits to Mount Batten
and Statten Heights, in a southerly direction. In this tract which

forms the east side of Plymouth Sound, as well as the western side
from Mount Edgcombe to Pudding Point, animal remains are im-
bedded in the slate. On the eastern side the superior beds are occa-
sionally of an ochreous clay-slate containing thin veins of iron with
trochites and stems of encrinites: these are associated with some
peculiar fossil remains, resembling the head of some plant or animal.
The lower beds consist of compact white or light gray slate inclo-
sing remains like those found in the limestone and slate. An iron-
stone bed occurs here which is used for pavements, and fragments
of the same animal relics are discoverable in it : a great fissure in
the cliff develops fossils of a new character, the nature of which
has not been determined.

From the above facts the author infers, that the slate which is
prolonged beyond the Plymouth limestone, even as far southward
as Whitesand Bay, is not primitive: but he remarks that he has
never perceived animal remains in the slate north of that limestone.

Extracts were read from letters from Captain Franklin, R.N. and
Dr. Richardson, to Dr. Fitton, V.P.G.S. dated 5th of November,
1825, at Fort Franklin, on the Great Bear Lake, North America.
Lat. 65° 12' N. ; long. 123° 5! W.

Capt. Franklin states, that the expedition under his command
had been so much favoured by the season of 1825, as to have ac-
complished some objects which he scarcely hoped to have attained
within that time. Of these the most important were his having
reached the sea in latitude 69° 29’, and longitude 135° 40'; and
having been enabled to see the direction of the coast, both east and
west from the mouth of the Mackenzie River:—and while he was
thus engaged on the Mackenzie, Dr. Richardson went round the
northern shore of the Great Bear Lake, for the purpose of becoming
acquainted with that part of it to which his course is to be directed
in returning from the mouth of the Copper Mine River.—Capt.
Franklin gives a general account of the structure of the tract on the
course of the Mackenzie, through which he had passed; and Dr.
Richardson describes the principal physical and geological features
of the country traversed by the expedition,—the total distance being
about 5100 miles.—The party, at the date of the letters, were es-
tablished in their winter quarters.

Nov. 17.—A notice was read “‘ On some beds associated with the
magnesian limestone, and on some fossil fish found in them,”’ by the
Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor, F.G.S.

This notice professes to be an abstract of a longer paper hereafter
to be presented to the Society. (1.) It first describes a deposit
which extends through Yorkshire and Durham, and separates the
magnesian limestone from the coal measures. This is principally

composed of sand and sandstone: but in one or two instances red
marl and gypsum have been found associated with it. Its general
character in Yorkshire is intermediate between the gritstone of the
carboniferous order, and the harder beds of the new-red-sandstone.
In the county of Durham it is said to appear in the form of a yei-
Jow incoherent sand of very variable thickness, which throws very

great difficulties in the way of all mining operations within the limits
of the magnesian limestone. On a great scale it is considered as un-
conformable to the coal strata, and nearly co-extensive with the
magnesian limestone; on which account it is classed with the latter
formation. (2.) Next described is a deposit consisting in some places
of shell-limestone, alternating with variously coloured marl,—and
in other places of thin-bedded, nearly compact limestone alternating
with bituminous marls. In the county of Durham this deposit is
associated with an extensive formation of marl-slate. In this marl-
slate many specimens of fish have been discovered; some of which
appear to be identical in species with the fish in the marl-slate of
Thuringia. In the same deposit have also been found many vege-
table impressions. (3.) The great deposit of yellow magnesian
limestone is briefly noticed; and it is stated not uncommonly to
exhibit traces of the muriates of lime and magnesia, a fact which
is supposed to connect it with the new-red-sandstone. (4.) The
deposit of red marl and gypsum imbedded in the formation of the
magnesian limestone is briefly described. (5.) Lastly is noticed the
deposit of thin-bedded limestone which surmounts the gypsum, and
in which magnesia is not so uniformly diffused as in the inferior mem-
ber of the formation. ‘Traces of this deposit are said to have been
discovered in the county of Durham. And in Yorkshire beds of ga-
lena have been found subordinate to it, and worked with advantage.
(6.) Over all these deposits comes the great formation of red marl
and new-red-sandstone, which appears to be so intimately interlaced
with the preceding subdivisions of the magnesian limestone, that
the two formations cannot in any natural classification be separated
from each other. The fossils found in various parts of the magne-
sian limestone are noticed, and are supposed to form a suite which
more nearly resembles that of the carboniferous limestone than has
generally been imagined.

A paper -was read entitled ‘‘ Observations on the bones of hyzenas
and other animals in the cavern of Lunel near Montpelier, and in
the adjacent strata of marine formation,” by the Rev. W. Buckland,
D.D. Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of
Oxford.

In a journey through France in the month of March 1826, the
author visited the cave of Lunel near Montpelier, (to which his
attention had been drawn by the description of M. Marcel de Ser-
res,) for the purpose of instituting a comparison between it and the
caves in England previously described by himself; and the result
has established nearly a perfect identity in the anima! and mineral
contents of the caverns, as well as in the history of their introduc-
tion.

The cave of Lunel is situated in compact calcaire grossier, with
subordinate beds of globular calcareous concretions; the whole
of the rock having something of an oolitic structure. In working a
free-stone quarry of this calcaire grossier, the side of the present
cavern was accidentally laid open; and considerable excavations
have since been made in it, at the expense of the French Govern-
ment, for the purpose of extracting its animal remains that lie ba-

ried in mud and gravel, and of searching for the aperture through
which all these extraneous substances have been introduced. ‘These
operations have exposed a long rectilinear vault of nearly 100 yards
in length and of from ten to twelve feet in width and height. The
floor is covered with a thick bed of diluvial mud and pebbles, occa-
sionally reaching almost to the roof, and composed at one extremity
chiefly of mud, whilst at the other end, pebbles predominate.

In another quarry of calcaire grossier a few miles distant, some
vertical fissures are filled with similar materials to those within the
cavern, and containing occasionally a few bones, sometimes cemented
by calcareous infiltrations into a breccia like that of Gibraltar, Cette,
and Nice. ‘These materials are similar in substance to, and are
uninterruptedly connected with, a superficial bed of diluvium that
covers the surface of these quarries, and are identical with the ge-
neral mass of diluvial detritus of the neighbourhood.

Stalactite and stalagmite are of rare occurrence in the cavern of
Lunel; hence neither its bones nor earthy contents are cemented
into a breccia.

On examining the bones collected in the cavern by M. Marcel de
Serres and his associate M. Cristol, Dr. Buckland found many of
them to bear the marks of gnawing by the teeth of ossivorous ani-
mals: he also discovered in the cave an extraordinary abundance
of balls of album gracum in the highest state of preservation. Both
these circumstances, so important to establish the fact of the cave
of Lunel having been inhabited, like that of Kirkdale, as a den of
hyenas, had been overlooked by the gentlemen above mentioned.
The more scanty occurrence of stalactite, and the greater supply:
of album grzcum in this cavern than in those of England, (see
Reliquae Diluviane, vol. i.) are referred to one and the same cause,
viz. the introduction of less rain water by infiltration into this cave,
than into that of Kirkdale:—in the latter case a large proportion of
the fecal balls of the hyenas appear to have been trod upon and
crushed at the bottom of a wet and narrow cave, whilst at Lunel
they have been preserved in consequence of the greater size and
dryness of the chamber in which they were deposited.

M. Marcel de Serres has published a list of the animal remains
contained in this cavern, which differ but little from those of Kirk-
dale: the most remarkable addition is that of the Beaver and the
Badger, together with the smaller striped, or Abyssinian, Hyena.
For these discoveries we are indebted to the exertions of M. Cristol,
a young naturalist of Montpelier, whose observations on the geology
of that district the author found to be in perfect accordance with
his own.

With respect to the bones of Camels said to have been discovered
in this cavern, Dr. Buckland found on comparing rigidly the only
bone which was supposed to be of that animal with the proportions
given in Cuvier, that it certainly does not belong to the Camel. In
some few parts of the diluvial mud there occur the bones of Rabbits
and Rats; and M. Cristol has also discovered the leg of a Domestic
Cock. All these Dr. B. found on examination to be of recent origin
(not adhering to the tongue when dry, as do the antediluvian bones).

‘The Rats and Rabbits are supposed to have entered the cave spon-
taneously, and died in the holes which they had burrowed in the
soft diluvial mud, and the Cock’s bone to have been introduced by
a Fox through a small hole in the side of the cavern, which had been
long known as a retreat of Foxes, in the bottom of an ancient
quarry.

Land shells, similar to those which hybernate in the soil, or in fis-
sures of the neighbouring rocks, are also found in the mud that filled
the cave. The author considers that these may either be the shells
of animals that in modern times have entered some small crevices
in the side of the cavern to hybernate there, and have buried them-
selves in the mud; or that they entered in more ancient times, and
died whilst the cave was inhabited by hyznas, and lay mixed with
the bones before the introduction of the mud and pebbles ;—or that
they were washed in by the same diluvial water which imported the
diluvial detritus in which they are now imbedded.

Dr. Buckland draws a strong line of distinction between the mud
and gravel of the caves and fissures, which he considers to be part
of the general diluvium so widely spread over the adjacent country,
and the local freshwater formations occurring also in the same
neighbourhood of Montpelier; and which differ as decidedly from
them, and bear to them the same relation as the gravel on the sum-
mit of Headen Hill in the Isle of Wight, bears to the strata of fresh-
water limestone that lie beneath it.

The author next proceeds to consider the epoch of the deposi-
tion of the remains of quadrupeds that have been found in some
extensive quarries of stone and sand in the Fauxbourg St. Domi-
nique at Montpelier, imbedded in a very recent marine formation
which has been described by M. Marcel de Serres, in the 4th vo-
lume of the Linnean Transactions of Paris.

In the central beds of this deposit, the remains of the Elephant,
Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Mastodon, Ox and of the Stag, are
found intermingled with those of Cetacea, (the Dugong, or La-
mantin); they are more or less rolled, and are occasionally covered
with marine shells. Beds of oysters also (the Ostrea crassissima of
Lamarck) and barnacles, occur in horizontal and nearly parallel
strata amid the marine sand, and show this deposition to have ta-
ken place gradually and at successive though perhaps short inter-
vals, rather than to have resulted from a sudden marine irruption.
The period of this deposition is supposed by the author to have been
that which immediately preceded, and was terminated by the last
grand aqueous revolution which formed the diluvium.

To a similar and contemporaneous period with this upper marine
formation of Montpelier, he refers the bones of the Elephant, Rhi-
noceros, &c. with marine shells, (oysters and barnacles, ) adhering
to them, that have been found in certain parts of the Sub-apennine
hills; and also the bones of similar quadrupeds and shells that occur
in the Crag of Norfolk and Suffolk.

To the same period also he assigns the bones of the osseous brec-
cia of Gibraltar, Cette, and other fissures and caves along the north
coast of the Mediterranean; and the accumulation of the remains

of bears, hyzenas, &c. in the caves of Germany, England and France.
He attributes the same date also to the bones of similar animals
that are found buried in the sediments of the antediluvian fresh-wa-
ter lake of the Upper Val d’ Arno.

Dec. 1.—Henry Peile, Esq., of Hyde Park Place, West; and
Henry Witham, Esq., of Lartington Hall, Yorkshire, were elected
Fellows of the Society.

An extract of a letter from B. de Basterot, Esq. to Dr. Fitton,
V.P.G.S. was read.

The author gives a short account of the succession of the strata
in the vicinity of Folkstone, about which there had existed some
uncertainty ; from whence it appears that the Folkstone marl (or
Gault) is separated from the lowest beds of the chalk by a stratum
of green-sand, and is itself succeeded by sand and stone also abound-
ing in green particles. The order being as follows: 1st, white chalk;
2nd, gray chalk ; 3rd, (a.) sand containing green particles, and indi-
stinct organic remains. (b.) marl of a dirty white colour mixed with
the sand, and containing compact nodules; 4th, the blue marl of
Folkstone (Gault) with Hamites, Inocerami, Ammonites and a
small Belemnite; 5th, thick beds of sand and sandstone full of green
particles, but void of organic remains.

The reading of a paper was commenced, entitled “ Additional
notes on part of the opposite coasts of France and England, inclu-
ding some account of the Lower Boulonnois, by W. H. Fitton,
M.D. V.P.G.S.”

Dec. 15.—Sir Henry Calvert, Baronet, was elected a Fellow of
the Society.

The reading of Dr. Fitten’s paper, begun at the last meeting, was
concluded.—Since the reading of a former communication of the
author, the correct identification of the beds beneath the chalk sug-
gested by Mr. Lyell, and an examination of the strata in the vicinity
of Weymouth, have enabled him to compare some portions of the
country on the opposite sides of the English Channel more accu-
rately than before was practicable: and he now, Ist, describes in
detail the strata which succeed the chalk in the vicinity of Folk-
ane and 2ndly, gives a general description of the Lower Bou-
onnois.

Lend
é

The following table exhibits the series of beds within the tracts
just mentioned.
Names, chiefly
derived from lo-
cality inEngland.

8 ps ae SS

Places of Occurrence.

In the Lower Boulonnois.

Coast from Sangatte to Blanc-
nez,—and thence on the
boundary of the Lower
Boulonnois, to Mont St.
Frieux, &c. W. of Neuf-
chatel.

Merstham Stone|Merstham, Reygate, and|Coast between Blanc-nez and

In England.

. {Cliffs from Dover to Folk-
stone-hill-— Beachy-head
to Brighton—I. of Wight
—I. of Purbeck, Dorset-
shire, &c.

Chalk.....+->+

(Greensand —| Godstone Firestone-pits| Wissant.
Fire-stone. —} —Western Sussex (Malm
Upper-green- | Rock)—I.of Wight—Swa-
sand.— Tufau| nageBay,l.of Purbeck,é&c.
ofthe French. )
GOUlbeicarececees Copt-Point, N.ofFolkstone.|Coast on the N. of Wissant.

(Folkstone- —Valleybeneath thechalk
marl. — Diéve| in Kent, Surrey, and Sus-
oftheFrench,)| sex.

Shanklin Sands |Coast FolkstonetoHythe.—
(lower Green-| vicinity of Maidstone,
sand.— Your-| Kent.—Western Sussex.
tia of the) —Shanklin and Black-

—vicinity of Hardinghen,
—Lottinghen.—Vicinity of
Samer.

Coast N. of Wissant :—vici-
nity of Wissant.— Wooded
hills parallel to the chalk,
from Desvres to Samer, &c.

French.) gang-chines, I. of Wight.| &c.
Weald Clay ...... Wealdsof Kent and Sussex.|)
—Cowleaze-chine, I. of
Wight. —N. of Swan- Puls f
age Bay, I. of Purbeck. res eee aalnes in the
Hastings Sands...\Hastings, Sussex.—S. coast f

of the l.of Wight—Swan-
age Bay.
[Purbeck Stone ?)]|I. of Purbeck—Summit, of|Qu. traces in the upper part
the I. of Portland ? of the cliffs from Gris-nez
to Equihen.
Upper part of the cliffs from
ton, Oxfordshire— Brill-| Gris-nez to Equihen. —
hill, Bucks. Mont-Lambert quarries.
Kimmeridge, and|Coast near Weymouth, —|Coast from Gris-nez to Equi-
Weymouthbeds| Hedington-quarries, Ox-| hen.—Mont-Lambert quar-
fordshire. ries.—Vicinity of Desvres.
—of Samer, &c. &c.
Coast near Weymouth, —-|Basinghen, Hautenbert, A-

[ Portland Stone?)Shotover Hill, and Garsing-

Pisoliteand Coral-

rag. Hedington-quarries, &c.,| linctun;—Hesdin L’Abbé,
Oxfordshire. &c. ; Vicinity of Samer.
Oxford Clay.....\Coast near Weymouth. —|Vicinity of Wast—Houlfort.

vicinity of Oxford. —Between Basinghen and

Marquise.

Bath-oolite .... Vicinity of Marquise—Qvuar-

.|Vicinity of Bath.

\ ries at Leubringhen — Ar-
! —(uncjonformable)— dentun—Rety, &c.
Coal-formation. Vicinity of Hardinghen, —

Lochinghen,—Cedur, &c.
Leulinghen, — Quarries at
Ferques, Haut-banc, &c.

Mountain-Lime-
stowe.

Derbyshire.—Devon.—Vici-
nity of Brstol.— Dublin.

I. On the N.E. of Folkstone, the chalk is succeeded by the equi-
valent of the Merstham Firestone, (or green sand,) which is there
however not more than fifteen or sixteen feet in thickness ; and this
is followed immediately by Gault. The Shanklin Sands, (or lower
green sand, ) which come next in succession, are composed of three
groups,which may be recognized also in the interior of the country:
The first and uppermost consists of sand, abounding in irregular
concretions of limestone and chert, sometimes disposed in courses
oblique to the general direction of the strata: and the top of this
sand, in the vicinity of Folkstone and Hythe, forms an exten-
sive plateau resembling that of the Blackdown range of hills in De-
vonshire.—The second group of this formation likewise consists
chiefly of sand, but in some places so much mixed with clay, or
with oxide of iron, as to retain water; and it is remarkable for the
great variation of its colour and consistency,—from the state of
loose bright yellow or ferruginous sand, to that of a dark greenish
tough mass, like that of the cliffs of Shanklin and Black Gang-
chines, which correspond to it in geological situation.—The third
and lowest group of the Shanklin.Sands abounds, near Folkstone,
much more in stone; the concretional beds being closer together
and more nearly continuous. The fossils of this group, which
are very numerous, agree with those of the corresponding beds in
Sussex, the Isle of Wight, and Devonshire; and some of them are
found also in the limestone of the Isle of Portland. The sections of
the Weald Clay, and Hastings Sands, being imperfectly displayed on
the coasts of Kent and Sussex, the author gives detailed lists of the
beds at Cowleaze-chine, &c., on the south coast of the Isle of Wight,
and on the shore of Swanage Bay in the Isle of Purbeck, where
these formations are fully disclosed; referring for an account of the
geological relations of those tracts, to a paper published by himself
in the Annals of Philosophy for November 1824*.

II. The Lower Boulonnois may be described as constituting a
flattened dome of unequal curvature, surrounded on three sides by
an amphitheatre of chalk, which has been removed by denudation
from the whole of the interior; the lower strata having a very
gentle inclination where they emerge from beneath the chalk, but
rising from the sea at a much more considerable angle. From the
chalk down to the Shanklin (or lower green) sands, the strata of the
opposite coasts near Calais and Folkstone, precisely correspond ;
and the same beds may be traced beneath the chalk, almost without
interruption, around the whole of the denudation; the gault espe-
cially, being very distinctly disclosed in the vicinity of Hardinghen
where it is succeeded by the Bath-oolite, and by the coal formation.
The next succeeding beds of the English coast, Weald-clay and
Hastings sands, (which it is remarkable, have not yet been found
in the interior of England,) appear to be wanting also in the Bou-
lonnois; or, if they do exist there, to occupy a very small space.
But some traces of the lowest members of the group to which these
two strata belong, and which is remarkable from its containing

* New Series, vol. vill. p. 365, &c.

throughout the remains of freshwater shells, are visible on the sum-
mit of the cliffs between Gris-nez and Equihen: where a thin bed oc-
curs of somewhat bituminous clay, abounding in silicified wood, the
cavities of which are coated with minute crystals of quartz. This
bed corresponds precisely to that which exists on the top of the Isle
of Portland, bearing there the name of < Dirt,’ and abounding in si-
milar wood; and on the French coast it is associated with beds of
limestone, different from the stone beneath, and containing shells
in great numbers, apparently of the genera Cyclas and Ampullaria.
The next stratum of the Boulonnois is the same with that which
occurs at Garsington and Shotover-Hill in Oxfordshire, and at Brill
and other places in the vicinity of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire,—
and which has hitherto been regarded as the representative of the
Portland limestone.—Respecting its geological relations, however,
some doubts still remain to be cleared up; since, although several
of the fossils are the same with those of the Isle of Portland, the
aspect of some of the beds, differs a good deal from that of the
Portland stone; and the characters agree in many respects with
those of the lowest beds of the Shanklin-sands in the vicinity of
Hythe. The formation in the Boulonnois consists, as in Oxford-
shire, of calcareous concretions of great size, abounding in petrifac-
tions, and imbedded in yellowish somewhat ferruginous sand: and
the appearance of the stratum, especially between Gris-nez and Au-
dreselles, where the shore is covered with these enormous masses
fallen from the sands above, is exceedingly striking and remarkable.
To this formation a series of beds succeeds, the equivalent of the
strata between the Portland limestone and the coral rag :—corres-
ponding precisely to those of the shore near Weymouth, and con-
sisting of alternations of sand, limestone and clay,in some instances
bituminous and abounding in fossils.—These occupy the whole of
the lower part of the cliffs from Gris-nez to Equihen, and are visible
in several places in the interior. The pisolite and coral rag are not
seen upon the coast, but come up at a short distance within it ; and
their outcrop is conspicuous at Basinghen, and along a line extend-
ing from that place, by Wierre and Hautenbert, to Alinctun. On
the north of that line this formation is succeeded by a valley con-
stituting a very remarkable feature of the country, and occupied by
beds of clay containing fossils identical with those of the Oxford
clay, and including, especially at the lower part, subordinate beds of
sand and calcareous grit. These are followed on the north, near
Marquise, by the equivalent of the Bath-oolite, (the Cornbrash and
Forest-marble, which precede the oolitic beds near Bath, being in-
distinct or wanting ) :—and this formation seems to come in without
any intervention, immediately after the gault or subjacent sand, on
the north of the denudation ; where it occupies the surface, in nearly
horizontal strata placed unconformably over beds of the coal forma-
tion, or of mountain:limestone.-—The former of these is disclosed in
a small space only, in the vicinity of Hardinghen: and the author
refers for an account of it to a Memoir now preparing for publication
by M. Garnier of Arras.—The mountain limestone, which is the
lowest formation of the Boulonnois, in some places comes in imme-

diately after the lower green sand, or the gault, without the inter-
vention even of the oolite: and near Landrethun the distance from
the chalk to the limestone beds is not more than a quarter of a mile,
In some casés, when the incumbent mass of oolite is removed, the
surface of the limestone beneath is found to be smooth, or slightly
waved like the sands of the shore after the tide has retired ; and the
rock is pierced by tubular perforations evidently the work of marine
animals ; a proof that the surface must have been exposed to their
activity for some time before the oolite was deposited. The beds of
mountain limestone of the ordinary character, in some places alter-
nate with dolomite, precisely resembling that which is found in the
same geological situation near Dublin. And the fossils of this for-
mation in the Boulonnois are the same with those of Derbyshire,
Gloucestershire, and Dublin.

On comparing in a general view the strata of the opposite coasts,
it will be seen that those of the Boulonnois do not occur upon the
English shore, except in the vicinity of Weymouth: and if the line |
of elevated strata which extends from that part of the coast of Dor-
setshire, through the Isle of Purbeck and the Isle of Wight, were
continued to the eastward, it would reach the French coast near
Gris-nez ;—just at the place where the same beds arise, and where
it is remarkable their position is likewise very highly inclined.

Jan. 5.—A notice was read, accompanying some specimens from
the Hastings-Sand Formation, with a copy of a work on the fossils
of Tilgate Forest ; by G. Mantell, Esq. F.R., L. and G.S.,—in a
letter to R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S.

The author states that his principal object in the present volume,
is to give a correct and extended view of that division of the Has-
tings Sands, distinguished by him in the strata of Tilgate Forest,
the relations of which he illustrates by the section of a quarry at
Pounceford, where the Ashburnham limestone with bivalves, &c. is
seen overlying sandstone and calciferous grit (Tilgate stone).

A recapitulation of the animal and vegetable remains (in which
the author particularly notices that gigantic Saurian the Iguanodon)
shows the vast preponderance of land and freshwater exuvie in the
Hastings strata over those of marine origin ; a circumstance in strict
accordance with what is now constantly occurring in all deltas and
estuaries of great rivers.—A description is given in the concluding
chapter of the work, of the probable condition of the country ante-
rior to the epoch of this deposit.

The reading of a paper was commenced, entitled “On the
coal-field of Brora, in Sutherlandshire, and some other stratified
deposits of the North of Scotland ;” by R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec.
G.S. F.R.S.

Jan. 19.—The Meeting intended for this evening was postponed
in consequence of the decease of his Royal Highness the Duke of
York.

Feb. 2.—Lord Ribblesdale, of Ribblesdale Park, Yorkshire, and

John Hoptown Forbes, Esq. of Ely Place, were elected Fellows of |
this Society.

The reading of a paper was concluded, ‘‘ On the coal-field of
Brora in Sutherlandshire, and some other stratified deposits in the
north of Scotland ;” by R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

The Brora coal-field forms a part of the deposits, which on the
S.E. coast of Sutherlandshire occupy a tract of about twenty miles
in length, from Golspie to the Ord of Caithness; and three miles in
its greatest breadth :—divided into the valleys of Brora, Loth, and
Navidale, by the successive advance to the coast of portions of the
adjoining mountain range which bounds them on the W. and N.W.
The first of these valleys is flanked on the S.W. by hills of red-con-
glomerate; which pass inland on the N.E. of Loch Brora, and give
place to an unstratified granitic rock that forms the remainder of
the mountainous boundary.

With a view to the comparison of the strata at Brora with those
of England, the author had previously examined the N.E. coast of
Yorkshire, from Filey-Bridge to Whitby, comprising the coal-field
of the Eastern Moorlands above the lias.

The highest beds at Brora consist of a white quartzose sandstone,
partially overlaid by a fissile limestone, containing many fossils,—
the greater number of which have been identified with those of the
calcareous grit beneath the coral rag;—and along with these Mr.
Sowerby has discovered several new species. The next beds, in a
descending order, are obscured, inthe interior, by the diluvium which
is generally spread over the surface of these valleys, but are ex-
posed on other places on the coast ; and they consist of shale with
the fossils of the Oxford clay, overlying a limestone resembling
Cornbrash and Forest Marble, the latter associated with calciferous
grit. To these succeed sandstone, and shale containing belemnites
and ammonites, through which the shaft of the present coal-pit is
sunk, to the depth of near 80 yards below the level of the river Brora.
The principal bed of coal is 3 feet 5 inches in thickness, and the roof
is a sandy calcareous mixture, of fossil shells and a compressed as-
semblage of leaves and stems of plants, passing into the coal itself.
The fossils of this and the superior beds are identical for the greater
part, with those which occur in the strata above the coal in the E. of
Yorkshire: and of the whole number of species collected by the au-
thor, amounting nearly to fifty, two-thirds are well known fossils of
the oolite ;—the remainder belonging to new species represented in
the last numbers of the Mineral Conchology. The plant of which
the Brora coal appears to have been formed, is identical with one of
the most characteristic vegetables of the Yorkshire coast, but differs
essentially from any of the plants found in the coal measures be-
neath the new-red-sandstone :—It has been formed into a new genus
by Mr Konig, and is described by him in the present memoir, under
the name of Oncylogonatum.

The author, therefore, considers the Brora coal, from its asso-
ciated shells and plants, as the equivalent of that of the Hastern
Moorlands of Yorkshire.

At Loth, Helmsdale, and Navidale, shale and sandstone overlie

calcareous strata resembling the Cornbrash and Forest marble, and
these are in many cases dislocated where they are in contact with
the granitic rock, and distorted where they approach it.

The base of the entire series above mentioned is seen at low water
on the coast near the north and south Sutors of Cromarty, where the
lias with some of its characteristic fossils is observable resting upon
the sandstone of the red conglomerate,— the latter in contact with
granitic rock.

On the N.W. coast of Scotland, several members of the oolitic se-
ries with their peculiar organic remains were recognized by the au-
thor in the isles of Skye, Pabba, Scalpa, Mull, &c.; where their
occurrence was first noticed generally by Dr. MacCulloch.

A short sketch is given of the geognostic relations of the schists
and sandstones of Caithness, which are probably referrible to the
new-red-sandstone ;—some of these beds resembling the copper slate
of Thuringia, and its associates: whilst the fossil fish recently dis-
covered at Banniskirk, though the species is new, appear to belong
to the same family with those of Mansfelt, in Germany.

The paper concludes by adverting to the support given by the
preceding facts to the great importance of zoological evidence in
the identification of distant deposits :—since the existence in the N.
of Scotland, of a large portion of the oolitic series of England, has
been demonstrated from the agreement of organic remains, although
the mineralogical characters of the beds containing these fossils are
perfectly distinct at the extremes of the tract through which the
strata are distributed.

Annual General Meeting of the Fellows, 16th February 1827.

A Report from the Council was read, of which the following is an
abstract.

Comparative Statement of the number of Fellows and Foreign
Members, at the last and present Anniversaries.

Fellows. 17th Feb. 1826, 16th Feb. 1827.
Having compounded .......... 41 42
Contributin oi, )sey- eer ee 134 133
INon-residentyr (oclacih. id eke 193 200

Total 368 375

Foreign Members SH Ao Sine Ran 47 47

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The Council has to report to the General Meeting that they have
prepared a draft of the Bye-laws under the charter, which they pro-
pose to submit to the Society at an early period.

The Museum has received many valuable donations since the last
Anniversary, of which the following are the most important.

British.—Fossil bones from Kent’s hole near Torquay ; presented
by Mrs. Cazalet.

Specimens of Crinoidea from Lancaster ; presented by Mr. Gil-
berston.

Specimens of Rocks and of organic remains, to illustrate his memoir
on certain stratified deposits in the North of Scotland; present-
ed by R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S.

Specimens from Cader Idris N. Wales, in illustration of his me-
moir; presented by A. Aikin, Esq., F.G.S. ,

Specimens chiefly of primitive rocks, from Sutherland N. Britain;
presented by Matthew Culley, Esq., F.G.S.

Foreign.—Organic remains from N. America; presented by Lieut.
Bayfield, and Henry Warburton, Esq. F.G.S.

Fossils from Volhynia, the Volga, and Jamaica; presented by Sir
A. Crichton, V.P.G.S.

Rocks and simple minerals from N. America: presented by Dr.
Hossack.

By the plan adopted last year for the disposal of the duplicates,
space has been obtained for the reception of several thousand new
specimens; and the Council hopes that the collection will be still
further condensed and improved, in the course of the ensuing year.

The Library has been increased, by the donation of 45 volumes;
and among the maps received, the Council has particularly to men-
tion those of the neighbourhood of the Rhine and Low Countries,
accompanied by Sections ; presented by the authors Messrs. Oeyn-
hausen and Dechen.

The first Part of a Second Volume of the Second Series of Trans-
actions has been published, since the last Anniversary; and another
Part is now in the press.

Papers read at the Meetings of the Society since the last Anniversary.

On the strata of the Plastic clay formation exhibited in the cliffs
between Christchurch Head, Hampshire, and Studland Bay, Dor-
setshire; by Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S.

On the Geology of the valley of St. Lawrence ; by Dr. Bigsby.

On the Geological position of some of the rocks of the N. E. of Ire-
land; by Lieut. Portlock, R.E. F.G.S.

On the Freshwater strata of Hordwell, Beacon, and Barton Cliffs,
Hants ; by Charles Lyell, Esq., F.G.S.

On the Geological structure of Cader Idris; by Arthur Aikin, Esq,
F.G.S.

On the nature and character of the limestone and slate composing
principally the rocks and hills round Plymouth; by the Rev.
Richard Hennah, F.G.S.

On some beds associated with the Magnesian limestone and on some
Fossil fish found in them; by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Wood-
wardian Professor, University of Cambridge, F.G.S.

Observations on the bones of hyznas and other animals in the ca-
vern of Lunel near Montpelier, and in the adjacent strata of ma-
rine formation; by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. &c.

Additional notes on part of the opposite coasts of France and En-
gland, including some account of the Lower Boulonnois; by
William Henry Fitton, M.D. V.P.R.S.

On the Coal Field of Brora in Sutherlandshire N. B., and some
other stratified deposits of the North of Scotland; by R. I. Mur-
chison, Esq., Sec. G.S.

The Reports having been read—it was Resolved,

1. Tuat these Reports be approved of, and that such parts of them
as the Council shall think fit, be printed and distributed among
the Fellows of the Society.

2, Tuat the thanks of the Society be given to John Bostock, M.D.
retiring from the office of President.

3. Tuat the thanks of the Society be given to Sir Alexander
Crichton, Charles Stokes, Esq., and William Henry Fitton, M.D.
retiring from the office of Vice-presidents.

The Meeting then proceeded to the election of officers for the
_ensuing year, when the following list was delivered in by the scru-
tineers,—VvI1Z.:

President : William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S.— Vice-Presidents +
Arthur Aikin, Esq. F.L.S.; John Bostock, M.D. F.R.S.; Rev. W.
D. Conybeare, F.R.S.; Rev. Adam Sedgwick, F.R.S. Woodward-
ian Professor, Cambridge.—Secretaries: W. J. Broderip, Esq.
F.L.S.; R. I. Murchison, Esq. F.R.S.—Forezgn Secretary : Henry
Heuland, Esq.— Treasurer: John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S.—Council.
Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.R. & L.S.; J. E. Bicheno,
Esq. Sec. L.S.; Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. V.P.R.S. ; George Bel-
las Greenough, Esq. F.R. & L.S.; John Frederick William Her-
schel, Esq. Sec. R.S.; Armand Levy, Esq.; Charles Lyell, Esq.
F.R.S.; William Hasledine Pepys, Esq. F.R.S.; Rev. John Ho-
neywood Randolph; Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.; J. F.
Vandercom, Esq.; Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P. F.R.S.; Thomas
Webster, Esq.; Thomas Young, Esq.

PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827. No. 2.

March 2.—Henry Blanshard, Esq. of Great Ormond Street, Lon-
don; Richard Cowling Taylor, Esq. of Wilmington Square, London ;
and John Watson Pringle, Esq., Captain in the Royal Engineers,—
were elected Fellows of the Society.

A paper was read, “ On the volcanic district of Naples ;” by G.
Poulett Scrope, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

In this paper the author purposes to confine himself to a general view
of the volcanic formation of this district, and to such observations as
have hitherto escaped notice, or on which he differs from other writers.

At one extremity of the tract in question lies the habitually erup-
tive volcano of Somma; at the other the once active vent of Ischia ;
the intermediate space is studded with hills, evidently thrown up by
numerous eruptions, succeeding one another at distant intervals,
and from separate though neighbouring orifices. These are arranged
in one general band, which is remarkable from its parallelism to the
elevated limestone range forming the opposite side of the Bay of
Naples, and separating it from that of Salerno.

Somma is a very regular, volcanic mountain, created by the accu-
mulation of repeated streams of basaltic lava and beds of ejected
ashes, sand and scoria, round a central and habitual vent.

The author dissents from the theory of Von Buch, that such
mountains were produced by the forcible elevation of horizontal
beds round an aperture of eruption ;—though he allows that beds
originally inclined, may often suffer a certain degree of elevation,
during the shocks occasioned by the forcible protrusion of lavas
from below, into the fissures through which they are emitted.

The great crater of Somma is attributed to the explosions of the
‘‘paroxysmal eruption” of A. D. 79; and the whole cone of Ve-
suvius which occupies the centre of that crater, is stated to have
been created by repeated, subsequent eruptions. This cone is si-
milar in structure to that of Somma, as is seen in the walls of its
actual crater, compared with those of the Atrio del Cavallo.

Ischia is a less regular, volcanic mountain ; has produced no leu-
cite, and none but trachytic, or rather, according to the author’s
nomenclature, gray-stone lavas,—a class intermediate between tra-
chyte and basalt, and consisting of felspar and augite. The great
mass of the island is composed of the conglomerates belonging to
this class of lavas, forming an indurated tufa of a light green colour.
There are traces of a vast central crater on the west of the Monte

Epomeo. Some of the lavas of Ischia are remarkably brecciated
and zoned,—with varieties of grain, texture, and mineral composi-
tion.

The intermediate district between Somma and Ischia, properly
called the Campi Phlegrei, including the islands of Procida and Ni-
cida, exhibits the traces of between twenty and thirty crateriform
basins, many of very large diameter, but in general much degraded,
and sometimes almost obliterated, by the erosive action of the sea
and of rains on the loose conglomerates of which they are partly
composed, and by the ejections of later, neighbouring eruptions.
Ten at least of these cones, with their included craters, are however
very nearly entire; such are the Monte Nuovo, produced in the
year 1538; Capo Mazza, a hill entirely composed of silky pumice
and its detritus ; the Monte Gauro, which incloses a deep circular
crater a mile in diameter; Astroni, which is nearly equal to the
Jast in size, and precisely similar in figure; the basins of the lakes
Averno and Agnano ; the island of Nicida; the southern extremity
of the island of Procida ; the Capo di Miseno ; and the Solfatara of
Pozzuoli.

The author disputes the evateice of any large vaulted cavity
under the floor of the last-mentioned crater; and attributes the rever-
beration produced when it is struck sharply, to the cellular nature of
the beds of indurated clay which form this floor, and have been de-
posited from the washings of the surrounding slopes, and hardened
by the influence of heat and ‘moisture.

The author accounts for the production of two varieties of Piso-
lite, which occur in the tufa and decomposed lava of the Solfatara.
This hill is recorded to have been in eruption in A. D. 1180; and
the present crater may have been formed at that late epoch. The
hill which supports the Camaldoli, 1643 feet above the sea, is a re-
markable mass of indurated tufa ; from beneath which, on the N. E.
side, crops out a bed of gray-stone, in which a singular, concretion-
ary separation has taken place, of the augitic from the felspathose
parts ; the former appearing as lenticular patches in a base consist-
ing of the latter. This and other somewhat similar lavas in the
same neighbourhood, give rise to important inferences as to the
condition of such substances at the period of their emission from the
earth. The solid tufa of Capo di Monte and other hills envelops
shells of the same species with those which at present inhabit the
Bay of Naples. It is likewise in some points traversed by vertical
veins of a finer and harder matter, seeming to have exuded from
the sides of a fissure formed in the rock, before it was completely
desiccated.

The author attributes the formation of all these volcanic hills to
successive eruptions from below the surface of the sea, though on
a shallow shore: and, from the existence of loose tufa over the
whole plane of the Campagna, and even to some distance up its prin-
cipal valleys, he infers that the sea once washed the foot of the
Apennines behind Capua; and that this plain has since suffered an
elevation of 200 feet at least,—an elevation in which the whole
western coast of Italy and the Apennines probably shared; as ap-

pears from the traces of lithophagi in the cliffs between Rome and
Palermo, much above the present sea-level, and from other colla-
teral testimony.

March 16.—W. P. Brigstock, Esq. of Stokes Hill, near Guildford,
in Surrey; Robert Ingham, Esq. of the Inner Temple, London ;
James Overbury Anstie, Esq. of Devizes, Wilts; and James Back-
well, Esq. of Charlotte Street, Blackfriars, London,—were elected
Fellows of the Society.

A paper was read, ‘On the Geology of the vicinity of Pulborough,
Sussex ;”’ by P. J. Martin, Esq.

The author’s object is to give a detailed account of the district
on the north of the South Downs, extending from about Petworth
on the west, to Steyning and the Adur on the east, and inter-
vening between the portions of Sussex described by Mr. Mantell
and Mr. Murchison. The structure of this tract agrees, in general,
with part of the adjoining district on the west ; but two of the for-
mations are here subdivided into natural groups, which the author
conceives ought to be distinguished ; the following being the series in
a descending order, which has come under his observation :—1. Chalk.
2. Firestone,—including upper greensand, and Malm-rock. 3. Gault.
4, Shanklin sand,—including, as subdivisions, ferruginous sand, and
lower greensand and sandstone. 5. Weald clay.

The portion of the Firestone, which the author denominates Up-
per Greensand, may be traced distinctly as a thin bed at the foot of
the chalk hills from Sutton to Washington, and is best exposed at
the entrance of the Arundel defile, resting upon the Malm-rock,—an
argillaceous limestone which extends into terraces in some places
20 feet thick and half a mile in breadth. The Gault is probably
not more than 60 feet in its greatest thickness: it is widest on the
E. of Sutton, and thence eastward varies in width from a few hun-
dred yards to a quarter of a mile. The upper, or ferruginous, por-
tion of the Shanklin sand, occupies the broadest space between the
chalk and the weald, and is from one to three miles in width, its
northern boundary forming a very distinct escarpment. The sur-
face of these sands is distinguished by its barrenness; they vary
much in consistency and colour, and the lower beds especially, are
pervaded by seams of clay, and abound in a stone consisting of
coarse, siliceous sand cemented by oxyd of iron. The lower divi-
sion of this formation (green sandstone) has in some portions
a strong external resemblance to the stratum immediately be-
neath the chalk. It constitutes a fertile arable country, and afiords
pure and copious springs. The upper part contains thick layers
and nodules of limestone, chert, and clay resembling fuller’s earth.
The lower affords 2 compact building-stone, which has long been
quarried at Pulborough: but further west, these beds pass into
chert. This stratum has obviously suffered great disturbance; and
one of its natural chasms, forming the valley of Greenhurst, and
about 4 miles in length, points towards the outlet of the Arun, and
might probably be taken advantage of to connect that river with
the Adur. The demarcation between the lower part of the Weald

clay and the subjacent Hastings’ sands, is not well defined in the
tract which the author describes. A considerable bed of sand oc-
curs within the clay at its upper part; after this comes in a bed of
Sussex marble ; and, lower down in the clay, a second layer of
sand containing siliceous grit in thin beds,—beneath which, the prin-
cipal beds of Sussex marble (about 18 inches in thickness) occur ;
and these are finally succeeded by blue, brown, and red clay, and
micaceous sand, the commencement of the forest ridge.

The author gives a particular description of the defile of the
Arun, the principal outlet of the Weald in the south of Sussex.
This river traverses about 15 miles of a country almost mountain-
ous, cutting across the ridges of the sand and the chalk escarp-
ment nearly at right angles to the valley of the Weald. The gorge,
where it enters the green sandstone, is more than 400 or 500
yards in width at the bottom; the banks rise quickly to the
height of about 200 feet on the east, and on the west to about 400
or 500 feet. At Bury and Amberly, where the river penetrates the
chalk, the hills are 600 or 700 feet high; the ravine having all the
characters of a fissure. And, as the strata, in several cases of this
description, rise on both sides towards the crack, the author sup-
poses that the channels now existing on the surface, have been
produced by the operation of some internal forces by which the beds
were broken up and elevated; and that the drainage of the country
by the present outlets, can be thus explained, without having re-
course to a debacle, or to denuding operations: and he supports
this hypothesis by reference to the local features of the country,
illustrated by sections.

April. 6.—William Carpenter Row, Esq. of Baliol College, Ox-
ford ; W. A. Mackinnon, Esq. of Hyde Park Place, London ; John
Lindley, Esq. of Chiswick, F.L.S.; Neil Malcolm, Jun. Esq. M.P. of
Duntroun Castle,.Ayrshire ; and The Rev. J. Mc Enery, of Torquay,
Devon,—were elected Fellows of the Society.

M. C. Von Oeynhausen, of Berlin; and M. C. Von Dechen, of
Berlin,—were elected Foreign Members of the Society.

The reading of a paper ‘“‘ On the magnesian limestone of the
northern counties;” by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian
Professor in the University of Cambridge, was begun.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827. Nox 3.

April 20.—Lieut.-Gen. Sir Rufane Donkin, K.C.B. &c. of Park
Street, Grosvenor Square; Major T. L. Mitchell, of the Quarter
Master General’s department, Assistant Surveyor General of New
South Wales; and the Rev. W. Whewell, M.A. F.R.S., Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge,—were elected Fellows of the Society.

The reading of Professor Sedgwick’s paper, on the Magnesian
Limestone, was continued.

A paper was read giving an account of the discovery of a num-
ber of fossil bones of bears, in the Grotto of Osselles, or Quingey,
near Besancon in France, by the Rev. Dr. Buckland, Professor of
Geology in the University of Oxford.

The author visited this cave in October 1826, for the purpose of
applying to it the method of investigation, which his experience in
other caverns had taught him to adopt with success in He pursuit
of fossil bones.

The Grotto of Osselles is of vast extent, nearly a Santee of a
mile in length, and made up of a succession of more than thirty
vaults, or chambers, connected together by narrow passages, and
runuing almost horizontally into the body of a mountain of Jura
limestone, on the left bank of the Doubs near Besancon.

The only entrance to the grotto is by an irrecular aperture about
the size of a common door, in the slope of the hill about 60 feet
from the river. The abundance and beauty of the stalactite in
many parts of this cavern, have rendered it one of the most cele-
brated and most frequented of any in France ; but before Dr. Buck-
land, no one had ever sought for bones beneath the crust of sta-
lagmite, which in most of the chambers covers the floor.

On breaking for the first time through the stalagmite, the guides
were much surprised to find the author’s prediction verified, as to
the existence of a thick bed of mud and pebbles, beneath what
they had considered to be the impenetrable pavement of the cave,
and still more so, to see that in every one of the only four places
which he selected for investigation, this diluvium was abundantly
loaded with the teeth and bones of fossil bears. These lie scat-
tered through the mud and gravel, in the same irregular manner as
the bones of bears lie in the caves of Franconia and the Hartz; and
like them, are the remains of animals that appear to have lived and
died in these caverns before the introduction of the diluvium. The
bones were found no where in entire skeletons, but dispersed con-
fusedly through the mud : They were from bears of all ages, and none
bore marks of either having been rolled by water, or gnawed by the

teeth of hyenas, of which last-named animal Dr. Buckland found no
traces in this cave, in the few spots which he examined.

Insulated teeth, ribs, and vertebrae, separate fragments of skulls,
and epiphyses detached from bones, lay scattered through the mud
and pebbles.

In one extensive grotto called the ‘Salle 4 danser,” which from
its size and dryness is selected by visitors to eat and dance in, there
is neither stalactite on the roof, nor stalagmite on the floor, but
simply a thick deposit of diluvial mud, containing the same bones
as in the other chambers ; this mud being very dry is intersected by
narrow crevices descending from its surface ; and the shells of eggs
and nuts, and the bones of chickens, &c. that are carelessly thrown
aside by visitors, have sometimes fallen into these fissures, where
they lie in juxtaposition with the antediluvian bones. Some of these
modern remains are also dragged by rats into holes made in the mud
by themselves, or by rabbits, badgers, and foxes.

The author concludes by stating that the best rule to follow in
pursuit of antediluvian remains in caverns, is to select the lowest
parts in which any diluvium can have been accumulated, and there
dig through the stalagmitic crust, and seek for teeth and bones in
the mud and pebbles that lie below. He also proposes, as a test for
distinguishing bones of this antiquity, their property of adhering
to the tongue if applied to them after they are dry ;—a property
apparently derived from the loss of animal gelatine, without the
substitution of any mineral substance, such as we find in bones im-
bedded in the regular strata. This test extends equally to the
bones of the osseous breccia of caverns and fissures, and to those
in all superficial deposits of diluvium, excepting such as are too ar-
gillaceous to have admitted the percolation of water; but the pro-
perty of adhesion is rarely found in bones from recent alluvium,
or from peat bogs, nor does it exist in human bones, which the
author has examined from Roman graves in England, and from the
druidical tombs of the ancient Britons, nor in any of the human
bones which he has discovered in the caves of Paviland and Wokey
Hole.

Dr. Buckland proposes to apply this test to the much disputed
case of human bones, said by M. Schlotheim to have been discovered
in the cave of Késtriz in contact with those of the rhinoceros and
other extinct animals.

Dr. Buckland also found, in the collection of Professor Fargeaud
of Besancon, some teeth of fossil bears from a mine of Pea-iron-
ore in that neighbourhood ; but could not visit the spot to ascertain
whether this ore was extracted from a bed of superficial diluvium,
or from a fissure. Such iron-ore abounds in the diluvium of the
east of France ; and in fissures at Plymouth, and near Spa.

May 4.—Thomas Bell, Esq. of New Broad Street, was elected
a Fellow of the Society.

The reading of Professor Sedgwick’s paper on the Magnesian
Limestone was continued.

G
rv)

May 18.—G. J. Roupell, Esq. M.D. of Caroline Street, Bedford
Square ; and Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Esq., of Dulwich Hill House,
Camberwell,—were elected Fellows of the Society.

A notice was read “On a Whin dyke in Cooper Colliery, near
Blythe, Northumberland,” drawn up from the information of Mr.
Bryham, agent at the Cooper Coal Works, by W. C. Trevelyan,
Esq. F.G.S. &c.

The total length to which this dyke has been traced is 1577 yards.
It increases in breadth fromS. to N.; being 43 yards wide near the
most southern point, where it has been cut through, and 214 yards
wide at the most northern spot hitherto observed. It is formed of
two walls of greenstone, each from two to four feet in thickness ;
and these walls contain between them a breccia, composed of frag-
ments of shale and whin, cemented by calcareous and argillaceous
matter. Carburetted hydrogen and pure water issue from a narrow
fissure in the broadest part of the dyke. The coal of the beds through
which the dyke passes is charred, and deteriorated in quality, to the
distance of about forty yards on each side. .

The reading of a paper was begun, “On the fixed rocks of the
Valley of the St. Lawrence, in North America,” by John J. Bigsby,
Esq. M.D. F.G.S. &c.

June 1.—Henry Campbell White, Esq. of Comer-Hall, Hemel
Hempstead ; and Samuel Sharpe, Esq. of New Ormond Street,
London,—were elected Fellows of the Society.

The reading of Dr. Bigsby’s paper, begun at the last meeting,
was concluded.

The observations of the author in person were made principally
in the Canadas, and on the northern shores of the great Lakes ; and
he connects with them a sketch from various authorities, of the re-
gions which border the Valley of the St. Lawrence upon the 8.W.
and the lakes on the south and west of Upper Canada.

The north-western side of the St. Lawrence Valley consists
principally of an arm of the primitive ranges which extend from
Labrador and Hudson’s Bay to the sources of the Mississippi: and
from this, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, a band is sent out across the
Valley of the St. Lawrence to join the primitive formations of the
United States. Numerous boulders of a limestone resembling the
mountain limestone of England, are found on the north shore of Lake
Erie; and this with other rocks in horizontal strata appears i situ
at Lake Huron: the line of junction with the primitive rocks ex-
tending from Penitanguishene to Kingston, thence up the Ottawa to
the Falls of the Chat, and the Longsault Rapids, from whence it
stretches north-easterly to Cape Tourment in the north bank of the
St. Lawrence 30 miles below Quebec.

The strata which overlie the transition rocks, in the St. Lawrence
Valley, are, in a descending order, the following :—

1. Dark shale resting upon limestone, and containing terebratule,
favosites, turbinolia, milleporites, trilobites, &c.; this extends for
many miles, along the south of Lake Ontario and the south-eastern
shore of Lake Erie.

2. Cherty limestone, beneath which is blue limestone with copper
pyrites, and foliated strontian ;—this last containing producti, and
corallines, in addition to the fossils above enumerated. The brown
limestone of Niagara contains cellular madrepores, pentamere, tro-
chi, trilobites, &c.; and the junction of this limestone with the shale
is well seen beneath the table rock of the Niagara Falls. The shale
on the south of Lake Ontario is from 120 to 250 feet in thickness.
Its place is superior to that of the muriatiferous sandstone: and in
this respect the author conceives the order of stratification here to
be distinguished from that which obtains in Europe ; since the same
fossil remains have not yet been found in Europe above the salife-
rous sandstone.

3. Arenaceous rocks, in the lower beds of which are brine springs.
The stratum which forms the floor of the salt springs on the south
borders of Ontario, varies from a red or greenish sandstone to a
greenish or red clayey slate; and is occasionally 80 feet in thick-
ness.

4, Another group consists of a quartzose aggregate, from 40 to
60 feet thick, resting on grauwacke, either fine-grained or slaty ;
the finer varieties containing the asaphus latocaudatus, bellerophon,
and a bivalve resembling a sanguinolaria. No coal has been found
in this vicinity.

5. Another portion of the stratified rocks is ranked by the author
with the mtermediary limestone of Daubuisson; the higher beds
containing organic remains resembling those of the transition lime-
stone of Germany and Wales; while none of the organic remains
of the superior deposits are found in it. It occurs in many parts of
Lower Canada, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe,
Lake Huron, and Lake Superior.

Near the outlet of Lake Ontario, cliffs upwards of 100 feet in height
are formed of sandstone, grauwacke, and conglomerate ; and for
many miles down the St. Lawrence these rocks underlie the inter-
mediary limestone. At the Falls of Montmorency near Quebec, the
conglomerate rests upon gneiss and other primitive rocks; but at
Malbay it is interstratified with brown limestone, and contains spiral
univalves and various bivalves*. The author is inclined to refer
the formation to the old red sandstone.

The porphyries of Gros Cap and Nipigeon on Lake Superior, contain
agate, chalcedony, fluor, green earth, and vitreous felspar: they are
unstratified, and form serrated precipices. Near Gravel Point they
much resemble some of the porphyries of Arran in Scotland.

The rocks of the St. Lawrence Valley, beneath the series above
mentioned, consist, in a descending order, of grauwacke, interme-
diary limestone, quartz-rock, primitive limestone, and various slaty
rocks,—including gneiss, mica slate, actinolite slate, with syenite,
greenstone, and ophicalcic rock. The prevailing direction of the
strata, for more than 1000 miles, from the River Saguenai, on the
north of the St. Lawrence, to the northern shore of Lake Huron, is
to the N.E.; and the rocks are regarded by the author as the most

* Some of the fossils of this formation have been figured in the Geolo-
gical Transactions, 2nd Series, Vol. I.

recent of the primitive class. Quartz-rock prevails on the north of
Lake Huron for more than 70 miles ; and the islands in that part of
the lake consist of fine-grained red and gray granite, with quartz-rock
and trap: and vast masses of granite alternate with greenstone for a
space of 300 miles on the north shore of Lake Superior. Of the
slaty primitive rocks, the most abundant is gneiss ;_ which constitutes
some of the principal heights, and forms the mountains N.E. of Que-
bec, and lines the northern shore of the St. Lawrence. Cape Tour-
ment, 1800 feet in height, consists of this rock ; so also the outlet of
Lake Ontario, and it skirts the north shore of Lake Simcoe and
Huron, and occupies a considerable tract on the north of Lake
Nipissing, and at the upper part of the river Ottawa.

The author supposes that the numerous boulders of Labrador fel-
spar on the shores of Lake Huron, on the S.W. of Lake Simcoe, and
even so far eastward as the outlet of Lake Ontario, have been de-
rived from a tract about 60 miles west of Penetanegeneshene, where
the gneiss passes into Labrador felspar, traversed by veins of pyroxene
and garnet ; and this he supposes to be the southern verge of a vast
tract of the same composition. Magnetic iron ore is associated with
syenite onthe north of Ontario. Greenstone occurs in veins in Lower
Canada: near Lake Huron it supports intermediary limestone; and
it is found at Gros Cap in Lake Superior, and forms numerous dykes
of great size in the north shore of that lake. A mass composed of
a mixture of augite and hornblende occurs near Montreal, constitu-
ting Montreal Hill, 650 feet high, from which numerous dykes cut
through the shelly deposits at the base of the hill.

The primitive limestone appears in every part of the St. Lawrence
Valley to belong to one and the same epoch, and occupies a conside-
rable space on the south-western frontier of Lower Canada, near Lake
Champlain. In Upper Canada, the upper part of the river Ottawa
has its course through this rock, and considerable masses of it oc-
cur in Crew Lake: the same white marble is seen at Lake Chat, and
on the left of Lake Chaucliére, on the river Calumet and on the river
Gauanoque, about 18 miles below Kingston; it is blended with ser-
pentine.

June 15.—The Hon. William Francis Spencer Ponsonby, of St.
James’s Square, London; William Terry, Esq. of High Wycombe,
and Duke Street, St. James’s Square; the Rev. Richard Gwatkin,
B.D. Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s College, Cambridge ; the Rev.
George Peacock, M.A. F.R.S. Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College,
Cambridge; the Rev. Julius Charles Hare, M.A. Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge; the Rev. John Hutton Fisher, M.A. Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge; the Rev. Richard Sheepshanks, M.A.
Member of the Astronomical Society, and Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge; and Major General Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B. F.R.S.
&c.,—were elected Fellows of the Society.

A notice was read, “On some fossil bones of the elephant and
other animals, found near Salisbury :’—by Charles Lyell, Esq.
E.R.S. F.G.S. &c.

Bones and teeth of the elephant, rhinoceros, and ox, have been

found for many years past in the brick-earth at the village of Fish-
erton Anger, at the distance of about = of a mile from Salisbury
Cathedral. Several pits sunk in this brick-earth show that it varies
in thickness in different places from about 10 to 20 feet. It bears
every mark of a tranquil sedimentary deposit from water ; but the
laminze are sometimes divided by thin layers of fine sand, or oeca-
sionally, but rarely, by a layer of small flint pebbles. There are no
marine remains ; but land-shells are said to occur sometimes in this
deposit. The brick-earth rests upon a bed of chalk flints, the
greater part of which are not water-worn: and beneath these is
chalk, which is loose and rubbly in the upper part.

This brick-earth is not connected with the alluvial soil of the pre-
sent valley, but appears to have been deposited when the valley was
at a higher level; for it forms a low terrace, along the side of the
river Wily, between Salisbury and Wilton, rising 30 or 40 feet above
the present water-meadows. It is necessary at least to suppose that
when these beds were accumulated, thé water rose much higher than
it now does.

The bones are in a very decomposed state, but have no appear-
ance of having been rolled ; they are found in the lower part of the
brick-earth, and not in the subjacent flint gravel. And in one spot
there is reason to believe that the remains of an entire skeleton of
an elephant might have been procured.

A paper was read, entitled ‘‘ Remarks on some of the strata be-
tween the chalk and the Kimmeridge clay, in the south-east of En-
gland :”—in a letter to Charles Lyell, Esq., from Wm. Henry Fitton,
M.D. P.G.S. &c.—The objects of the author were ; first, to ascertain
in the interior, the existence of that remarkable group of strata,
which on the coast has been found to include the remains of orga-
nized bodies supposed to belong to freshwater ; and secondly, to trace
along the western boundary of the chalk the strata which imme-
diately succeed it. For the latter purpose, he gives a series of sections
at right angles to the outcrop of the chalk, on the boundary of that
formation passing from the coast of Dorsetshire, round the Black-
down hills in Devonshire, and thence by the vales of Wardour,
Warminster and Pewsey, through Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Bedfordshire, &c. to Hunstanton Clitf on the coast of Norfolk, where
the course of the chalk range is interrupted by the sea. These sec-
tions prove that the order of the strata is throughout the same as in
the Isle of Wight, and in Kent, Surrey and Sussex ;—and the paper
describes the principal variations in the proportions and characters
of the beds, at the site of the several sections.

In proceeding westward from the Isle of Wight, the beds which
intervene between the chalk and the Purbeck limestone appear to
run together; and cannot well be distinguished further west than
Lulworth Cove. Beyond that point no trace has yet been detected of
any of the freshwater beds beneath the lower green-sand ; nor is the
separation of the upper from the lower of these sands by a stratum
of clay (Gault) any longer discernible. Some fossils, however, of
the gault occur in the sands on the coast near Lyme Regis, and at
the well-known quarries of Blackdown ; and the presence of the

gault itself beneath the upper green-sand is again distinct in the
Vale of Wardour, and throughout the entire range from thence to
Norfolk.

The only places in which the author has detected the presence
of the freshwater beds succeeding the lower green-sand, are in the
Vale of Wardour, and in the vicinity of Aylesbury: and it would
appear that the great extent of the sands immediately beneath
the chalk, shooting out beyond the subjacent strata, and concealing
their outcrop, may be one cause why the group next in succession
is but rarely visible in the interior ;—though it is also probable that
strata produced at the bottom of freshwater-lakes, or of estuaries,
were originally deposited in detached portions, comparatively of no
great extent.

In the Vale of Wardour, the series consists of,—-1. Chalk; 2.
Upper green-sand; 3. Gault; 4. Traces of the lower green-sand
(Shanklin sands); 5. Traces of the Hastings sands; 6. the Purbeck
strata,—containing in great abundance freshwater shells, principally
of the genus Cyclas, and in the upper part the Cypris faba: which
remarkable fossil therefore pervades the whole group between the
lower green-sand and the Portland stone ; 7. Calcareous strata, con-
taining the fossils of the Portland stone, and of the same mineralo-
gical character with the beds of that formation in the Isle of Pur-
beck; 8. Clay, like that of Kimmeridge, &c.

The succession in the vicinity of Aylesbury is nearly the same
with that of the Vale of Wardour ; the Portland stone being covered
at Whitchurch by beds of whiteish fissile limestone, containing
freshwater shells, among which are Cyclades, and a species of Cypris.
The Portland strata occur also at Brill Hillin Buckinghamshire, and
at Garsington in Oxfordshire ; and the remarkable nodules of Shot-
over-hill, though differing considerably in appearance from the lime-
stone of Portland itself, must probably be referred either to that
formation, or to a group of strata which, from their abounding in
green particles, might be confounded with some of the calcareous
beds of the lower green-sand, but which, both in Buckinghamshire
and on the coast of the Lower Boulonnois, occur beneath the equi-
valent of the Portland stone.

At the close of this meeting, which terminated the session, the
Society adjourned till Friday evening, the 2nd of November.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827—1828. No. 4.

November 2.—The Society having assembled this evening for the
session :—

An extract was read, of “A letter from Captain P. P. King, R.N.,
to Dr. Fitton, P.G.S., dated at Rio de Janeiro, 10th June, 1827 :—
with some observations on the specimens sent home by Captain King ;
by the President.”

The expedition under Capt. King, for the purpose of surveying the
Straits of Magellan, left Monte Video on the 19th of November, 1826 ;
and after putting into Port St. Elena, about lat. 45° south, and remain-
ing for a day or two in the vicinity of Cape Fairweather, continued for
ninety days within the Strait ; during which time, its shores, to the
east of Cape Froward, were surveyed under the superintendence of
Capt. King himself ; while his consort, under Capt. Stokes, examined
the western entrance. The map and specimens sent to England,
contain the results of these operations ; and Capt. King intended to
sail within a short time after the date of his letter, for the purpose of
continuing the survey.

The coast at Port St. Elena is described by Capt. King as consist-
ing of porphyritic claystone ; of which the hills, from 300 to 400 feet
high, are entirely composed. The specimens from thence consist
of claystone, compact felspar, and hyperstene rock ; and the beach
affords a conglomerate, consisting of rounded fragments of these
substances, cemented by carbonate of lime containing portions of
shells, and resembling the recent calcareous conglomerates which
abound on the shores of Asia Minor, Australia, and several other
parts of the world.

Cape Fairweather is near the southern extremity of a range of
coast, occupying between two and three degrees on the east of Pata-
gonia; a great part of which is described in the Admiralty Chart, as
being “like the coast of Kent, and consisting of steep chalk hills ;”’
—one of the prominences being named, from a supposed resemblance,
“ Beachy Head.” This, however, from Capt. King’s statement,
would appear to be erroneous :—the whole coast examined by
him, was found to be composed of horizontal strata of clay, which
may be traced for several miles in unbroken continuity ; the clifis
being from 300 to 400 feet in height, and entirely bare of vegetation.
Some of the specimens, however, from this quarter, consist of a white
marl, not unlike certain varieties of the lower chalk ; and with these,

are portions of a greenish sand-rock, much resembling that of the
upper green-sand formation, and of a clay having many of the pro-
perties of fuller’s earth. ‘The pebbles of the shore consist of quartz,
red jasper, hornstone, and flinty slate ; but do not contain any stone
resembling chalk flint.

Cape Virgins at the north-eastern entrance of the Straits of Ma-
gellan, consists of clay clifis, like those of Cape Fairweather ; and
between these two Capes the coast is of the same character.

What may be called the eastern branch of the Straits, from Cape
Virgins to Cape Froward, though its general course is from north-east
to south-west, varies considerably in width and direction ; but from
thence to the western entrance, the direction is nearly straight, from
south-east to north-west,—and the width much more uniform : and one
of the principal points already determined by Capt. King’s survey, is
that the fissure constituting this portion of the Strait is continued in
the same direction, for about a hundred miles towards the south-east
from Cape Froward ; through St. Gabriel’s Channel, and a deep inlet,
discovered by Capt. King and named “ Admiralty Sound,” which runs
neatly fifty miles into the interior of Terra del Fuego. This separation
of the land, by a narrow rectilinear channel of such great length,
appears to be analogous to the division of Scotland, by the chain of
Lochs on the line of the Caledonian Canal.

In proceeding westward from the eastern entrance, the coast gra-
dually changes its character ; and primitive rocks appear about Cape
Negro near Elizabeth Island, where mountains of slate rise to the
height of from 2000 to 3000 feet. Capt. King remarks that the direc-
tion of all the ranges, commencing at Port Famine about thirty miles
from Cape Froward, is towards the S.E.; and that all the sounds
and openings of the land in Terra del Fuego trend in the same direc-
tion ; this being also the direction of the strata, which dip towards
the south. This coincidence in the direction of the mountain ranges,
has been carefully expressed on Capt. King’s map ; and he supposes
that a similar structure holds good throughout the western branch
of the Strait, from Cape Froward to the entrance on that side.

The specimens from Freshwater Bay, about 120 miles from Cape
Virgins, onthe Patagonian side of the Strait, consist of highly crystal-
line greenstone and hyperstene rock, resembling those of Scotland ;
and the pebbles and boulders on the shore, are of granite, hornstone,
sienitic rock, quartz and flinty slate.

The vicinity of Mount Tarn and Eagle Bay, about midway between
Port Famine and Cape Froward, affords also porphyritic and crystal-
line rocks, abounding in hornblende, or hyperstene; with grauwacke,
siliceous slate, and gray splintery limestone.—The slate of Mount
Tarn contains traces of organic remains. The specimens from the
south side of this eastern branch of the Strait consist of mica-slate
approaching to gneiss, found at the entrance of St. Magdalen’s Sound,
and at Card Point on the south-west of St. Gabriel’s Channel. The
rocks at Cape Waterfall near Card Point, are of clay-slate ; and the
shores of Admiralty Sound afford granite, and various porphyritic rocks,
including clinkstone-porphyry, and greenish compact felspar. Capt.

King also mentions his having observed here reddish quartzose-sand-
stone, like that of the old red-sandstone formation of Europe: and he
remarks, that the soil over this rock is barren, while that above the slate
produces luxuriant vegetation ; beeches of great size growing there
within a few feet of the water-side. In general, the hills in this part
of Terra del Fuego appear to be of slate: they rise to the height of
3000 feet, and are covered with snow and ice. Mount Sarmiento,
however, which is more than 5000 feet high, appears, from the shape
of its summit, to be volcanic ; and was called by, the navigator,
after whom it was named, ‘‘ The Snowy Volcano.”

The specimens from the western branch of the Straits of Magellan,
collected by Capt. Stokes, all consist of primitive rocks : Cape Notch,
Cape Tamar, and the Scilly Islands affording granite; Port Gallant,
and Cape Victory, gneiss and mica-slate ; and Valentine’s Bay, clay-
slate much resembling that of Port Famine. These places are all on
the north of the Strait. On the southern side, in Terradel Fuego, Cape
Upright affords granite and gneiss ; and the latter rock is found also at
Tuesday Harbour, and in the neighbourhood of Cape Pillar: the co-
lumnar mass, from which that remarkable point was named, is com-
posed of mica-slate.

Of the specimens sent home by Capt. King from this remote quarter
of the globe, it may be remarked, in general, that they agree perfectly
with the rocks of Europe and other parts of the world ;—the resem-
blance amounting, in several cases, to almost complete identity.

The reading was begun of a, paper ‘‘ On the Geology of Tor and
Babbacombe Bays, Devon ;” by H.T. De la Beche, Esq. F.R.S. &c.

Nov. 16.—The reading of Mr. De la Beche’s paper, begun at the
last Meeting, was concluded.

The coasts of Babbacombe and Tor Bays are composed of new red-
sandstone, carboniferous limestone, old red-sandstone, and trap-
rocks: and the sections presented by the cliffs exhibit various marks of
disturbance, which the author conceives to have been caused by the
intrusion of trap among the strata, subsequently to their deposition.

1. The new red-sandstone here consists of red conglomerate re-
sembling that of Heavitree and Exeter, being made up of portions of
old red-sandstone, carboniferous limestone, shale, quartz, grauwacke,
and porphyry, with small crystals of felspar :—the whole cemented by
a red paste, and occasionally interstratified with red-sandstone and
marl. The conglomerate is regarded by the author as the lowest
part of the new red-sandstone formation, and as the equivalent of
the réthe-tédte-liegende of Germany: and the fragments of porphyry
included in it, are supposed to be the remains of pre-existing trap-
rocks ; both from their rounded form, and their admixture with the
detritus of other formations inferior to the new red-sandstone.

This red conglomerate occupies three small districts: 1. That of
St. Mary Church and Watcombe. 2.Tor-Moham. 3. Paington.—
The first extending along the coast from the Ness Point (Teignmouth)
to Oddicombe Sands; with the exception of an insulated mass of car-

boniferous limestone at Petit Tor, which is bounded by the conglo-
merate, and partially overlaid by it.

The conglomerate of 'Tor-Moham, connected with that of St. Mary
Church by an isthmus, is of similar composition, and rests upon car-
boniferous limestone and old red-sandstone.

Near Paington, the conglomerate abuts against the old red-sand-
stone ; and having fallen from the cliff in considerable quantity, near:
Livermeed and Preston Sands, has the appearance of underlying the
latter.

2. Carboniferous Limestone-—The rocks of this formation in the
neighbourhood of Torquay, have hitherto been regarded as belonging
to the transition series; but the author supposes them to be identified
with the carboniferous or mountain limestone, by their mineralogical
characters and organic remains. The limestone is of a gray colour,
traversed by numerous veins of carbonate of lime, is occasionally in-

-terstratified with marl, and generally reposes upon argillaceous shale,

—the lower limestone shale of the carboniferous series. In the vici-
nity of trap, however, it assumes a semi-crystalline structure, and
thus affords the numerous varieties of the well-known Babbacombe
marble.

Very remarkable curves and contortions in the limestone strata
are visible near Torquay ; the disturbed beds in general dipping away
from the old red-sandstone. Andon the west of Babbacombe, the
coast exhibits the limestone and shale in great confusion ; particularly
where it is in contact with the trap of the promontory called Black
Head.

At Saltern-Cove, near Goodrington, the limestone is intermixed
with, and disturbed by, trap,—which appears to have assumed the
character of serpentine, and to have so altered the calcareous rock
that it does not effervesce with acids.

The author gives a general list of the organic remains in this de-
posit: including trilobites, encrinites, corals, nautili, orthocere, and
several species of testaceous mollusca characteristic of the carboni-
ferous limestone. A very singular fossil also is figured, which appears
to have been attached in the manner of the Alcyonia; but whether
it is to be classed with the corals, or considered as intermediate be-
tween the crinoidea and echinodermata, has not yet been determined.

The cavern called Kent’s Hole, near Torquay on the N.E., lately
celebrated from its containing the remains of various antediluvian
animals, is in this carboniferous limestone.

3. Old Red-sandstone—This formation, which occupies a con-
siderable space in this country, is well exposed at Cockington, where
the sandstone is compact, micaceous and siliceous, and associated
with a slaty rock. Near Ockham, and N.N.W. of Paington, the
lowest beds lose their red colour, becoming more schistose ; and
these, as well as the grit and slate of Meedfoot Sands, seem to pass
into grauwacke. The old red-sandstone is extensively overlaid by
unconformable beds of the new red conglomerate at Chelston near
Cockington, and in other places.

4. Grauwacke.—At Westerland, there is a schistose and micaceous

variety of grauwacke, containing stems of encrinites, corals, and bivalve
shells.

5. Trap Rocks——The connection of these rocks with the disturbed
state of the stratified deposits, constitutes the chief interest of the
tract described in this paper. A small headland, east of Babbacombe,
consists of greenstone containing much iron pyrites, and traversed
by veins of quartz, jasper, &c.; the contiguous limestones being
semi-crystalline. On the west of the same place, another headland
is composed of porphyritic greenstone, occasionally amygdaloidal :
—and here the trap is protruded upwards, into the overlying argilla-
ceous slate of the carboniferous limestone ; the adjacent beds of shale
being broken, much contorted, and some portions of them even in-
cluded in the mass of trap ; whilst the limestone in the upper part of
the cliff also is much dislocated. In the inaccessible cliffs near Oddi-
combe Sands, the trap has intruded itself among the limestone and
shale, the beds of which are much altered in character, and so broken
up near the summit, that they are with difficulty distinguished from
each other. The largest mass of trap on this part of the coast is at
Black Head ; and is remarkable as inclosing a large detached portion
of the contorted limestone.

Near to a great fault at Oddicombe Sands, the argillaceous slate is
elevated to the top of the cliff, and the adjoining new red conglome-
rate also rises, as if forced up by the same movement which had
affected the slate.

The author conceives that the appearances of the coast which he
has described, point out two distinct geological epochs :—1st. That
of the formation of the new red conglomerate, after the limestone
and shale had been partially broken up. 2ndly. The intrusion of the
trap, ata period subsequent to the deposition of the conglomerate
and new red-sandstone. And besides attributing the disturbed state
of this region to the operation of trap, the author is disposed to refer
to the same period and agency, the great dislocations in the oolitic
series on the east of the tract which he has described ; and to con-
nect with the convulsion by which he supposes that disturbance to
have been produced, the greater catastrophe which elevated the
chalk of the Isle of Wight,—and even, possibly, that which threw up
the main ridge of the Alps.

A paper was read, entitled, ‘‘ Supplementary Remarks on the
Strata of the Oolitic series, and the Rocks associated with them, in
Sutherland, Ross, and the Hebrides ;”’ by Roderick Impey Murchison,
Esq., Sec. G.S. F.R.S., &c.

The author, in company with Professor Sedgwick, having visited,
during the last summer, the districts which he described in a former
memoir (Geol. Trans. 2nd series, vol. ii. part 2.), has been enabled to
make some additional observations, and to collect further specimens
illustrative of the strata of the oolitic series, and their associated rocks
in the north of Scotland.

1. On the connexion of the primary rocks with the secondary
deposits, on the east coasts of Sutherland and Ross.—The Ord of
Caithness, and the mountainous ridge connected with it, which had

been described as consisting of a rock made up of felspar, quartz, and
a decomposing green substance, is now ascertained to contain well-
crystallized mica. This granite, on its northern flank, supports the
old red conglomerate ; whilst to the south it occupies a cliff, on and
near the shore, the verge of which affords a remarkable breccia, com-
pounded from all the beds of the oolitic series that occur upon this
coast. These appearances were cursorily noticed in the author’s paper
above referred to ; they are now described more in detail: and it is
shown, that this breccia of sandstone shale, fossils and limestone, is
tilted off from the granite, wherever that rock protrudes upon the
shore; whilst the strata are regularly developed when the granite
recedes into the interior. And since the amount of disturbance is in
every case proportioned to the greater or less proximity of the granite,
the author infers, that this rock was elevated subsequently to the de-
position of the oolitic strata. Thin beds of primary slaty rocks have
been observed in several places, interposed between the secondary
beds and the granite: and the greater portion of the Sutors of Cro-
marty consist of felspathose gneiss ; which rock, however, is in some
situations so much charged with veins of granite, that the whole has a
granitiform aspect, whilst in other places the mass when decomposed
strongly resembles the rock of the Ord of Caithness above mentioned.

That the granite of this coast has been elevated, is further rendered
probable, by the position of the red conglomerate on the tops of the
granitic mountains ; thus giving to that deposit the appearance of
overlying the more recent formations of the oolitic series, to which
they are in fact superior in point of height above the sea.

Without dissenting from the opinions of other geologists, as to the
formation of veins in gneiss by the injection of granite in a state of
softness, the author states that Mr. Sedgwick and himself were led
toa different hypothesis, in order to account for the appearance of
the brecciated secondary beds in contact with the granite of this coast :
and they suppose that the latter rock must have been upheaved, not
in a liquid form, but in a state of solidity, since no veins or portions
of the granite are to be met with in or above the breccia.

2. Denudation of Braambury, and Hare Hills——These hills, the
highest in geological position of the Brora district, and celebrated for
their quarries of white siliceous sandstone abounding in fossils, afford,
upon their sides and summits, distinct traces of a strong diluvial cur-
rent; which has swept them free of covering matter, and deposited in
the plain of Clyne Milltown, a mass composed of the debris of the de-
nuded hills, mixed with boulders of the coarse red conglomerate. A
large portion of the turf having recently been removed, the surface of
the rock is now seen tobe scored with parallel lines, precisely similar
to those observed in other places, and described by Sir James Hall,
Dr. Buckland, &c. And in this case, although the surface of the ground
is very unequal, and. the dip and bearings of the denuded strata vary
considerably, the direction of the markings is uniformly from N.N.W.
to E.S.E.

3. Hebrides, and Mainland of the West Coast.—Pitchstone, a
mineral not previously found in Scotland in association with the more

recent stratified rocks, has been discovered by Professor Sedgwick
and Mr. Murchison in two places ; forming portions of trap dykes,—
one of which cuts through the lias and inferior oolite at Carsaig Mull;
the other traverses the cornbrash and forest-marble, at Beal near
Portree in Skye.

The identity of the various secondary strata in the {sles of Mull,
Skye, Pabba, Scalpa, Rasay, &c., is now established by the numerous
organic remains which they have been found to contain; many of which
belong to new species, but the greater number are well known as cha-
racteristic fossils of the oolitic formations in Nngland.

The former vast, and perhaps continuous, extent of these deposits
on the western coast, is further rendered probable, by their having
been observed by Professor Sedgwick and the author, on the N.E.
coast of Mull, at and near Tobermory ; and at Applecross on the west
coast of Ross-shire. In the latter place, lias-limestone, similar to that
on the opposite shores of Skye and Rasay, rests conformably upon the
new red conglomerate ; and as the same fact had been previously
remarked on the east coast, near Cromarty, evidence is thus af-
forded that the members of the oolitic series of Scotland, generally,
were of subsequent formation to that great mechanical deposit ; being
lodged, apparently ,in the basins or undulations presented by its surface.

A letter was read from G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. to W. H.
Fitton, M.D. P.G.S. &ec.; containing an account of an excavation in
the chalk at Norwich.

The writer, having learnt that an extensive cavity in the chalk of
Heigham Hill near Norwich, had been discovered about four years
ago, in consequence of the workmen who were digging a well, having
suddenly sunk into a vault, examined the place ; and he describes the
excavation as consisting of various galleries, (a plan of which is an-
nexed to his letter,) of about eight feet in height, from two to five feet
in breadth, and occupying a total length of 4600 feet. He conceives
that the object of this laborious work, was to extract the flints, which
were used in great quantity in the construction of the ancient build-
ings and walls of Norwich; since the nodules of flint have been
almost entirely removed from the catacombs, while the chalk itself
is left. And he states in support of this opinion, that upon re-opening
the original entrance, which had been blocked up by ruins, the date
1571, with the name of one of the workmen, was found written on
the side of the cavern :—a year which corresponds with a period,
when the walls of the town are known to have been repaired with
flints, and various buildings formed of them.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827—1828. No. 5.

1827. Dec. 7.—John Braddick, Esq. of Boughton-Mount near
Maidstone; G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. of Duanesburgh, New
York ; Arthur Kett Barclay, Esq. of Grosvenor Place, London ; and
Lord Francis Leveson Gower, of Albemarle Street, were elected
Fellows of the Society.

A paper was read, ‘‘ On the Geology of Quebec and its Vicinity,
by J. T. Bigsby, M.D. F.L.S. G.S.” &c. &c.

The author, who acknowledges the assistance he has derived from
the manuscripts of Lieut. Skene, R. E., first describes the tract, on
the eastern termination of which the city of Quebec is situated, as an
oblong ridge of 2bout seven miles and a half in length, and in aver-
age width about one mile and a half; subsiding on the north-west,
by steep and rocky slopes, into rich meadows ; whilst on the south-
east it advances in the form of cliffs towards the northern bank of
the St. Lawrence.

Several rivers traverse the district above mentioned, nearly from
north to south, of which the most considerable are the St. Charles
and the Montmorenci. On the southern bank of the St. Lawrence,
Point Levi is the most conspicuous promontory ; and to the west of
it, the country is intersected by several streams running from south to
north.

The districts above mentioned are partially covered with boulders
of gneiss, granite, syenite, and labrador felspar ; the greatest quan-
tities of which are found on and near Cape Diamond, Point Levi,
and Point Montmorenci; whilst occasional deposits of clay, gravel,
and sand, including organic remains, the author supposes to be of di-
luvial origin,—and not produced by the operation of any existing
watercourses.

The rocks of this region repose upon each other in the following
descending order:—Ist. A slaty series, composed of shale and grau-
wacke, occasionally passing into a brown limestone, and alternating
with calcareous conglomerate in -beds, some of which are charged
with fossils—2nd. A conchiferous brown and biack limestone, some-
times based upon a calcareous conglomerate.—3rd. Gneiss. The
author’s chief reason for considering the slaty-series as superior to the
limestone, is, that the latter is in some situations in immediate con-
tact with gneiss ; while in others it passes into beds of the first series
above mentioned; the conglomerates of which contain organic re-
mains derived from the conchiferous limestone.

1. The slaty-series occupies the whole of the southern shore of the

St. Lawrence, the Island of Orleans, and a considerable portion of the
north bank of the river, including the ridge upon which Quebec is
placed. In that neighbourhood the mass of the deposit consists of a
black and brown slaty limestone, inclined at very high angles, and
alternating withsemi-crystalline limestone, and various conglomerates.
The limestone contains several varieties of crystallized carbonate of
lime, intermixed with quartz crystals, and occasionally traversed by
seams of bituminous matter. Near Cape-Rouge, and on the plains
of Abraham and Kilgraston, some of the strata consist of red and
greenish clay-slate. In the calcareous conglomerates, organic re-
mains are mixed with fragments of clay-slate; and the beds alternate
with compact gray limestone and quartzose layers. Between Que-
bec and Cape-Rouge, boulders of primary rocks, and fragments of
compact grauwacke, are buried deep in the red schist.

The channels of the various streams east and west of Quebec, afford
instructive sections, which, according to the author, prove these slaty
deposits to be more recent than the conchiferous limestone.

On the south side of the river St. Lawrence, the slaty limestone of
Quebec is no longer seen ; but several new beds of conglomerate pre-
sent themselves, one of the lowest of which contains trilobites, en-
crinites, corallines, and other fossils,—associated with vegetable im-
pressions, probably of fuci and amansiz. In the schistose beds near
the mouth of the Etchemin are thin seams of coal ; and at the village
of St. Henry the slate is so compact as to be used for hones.

2. The horizontal conchiferous limestone occupies a zone from
two to three miles in breadth, on the north of the slaty tract, and
included between the slate and a mountainous range of gneiss. It is
exposed in the beds of all the rivers which flow southwards into the
St. Lawrence, and its characters are well developed at the falls of
the Montmorenci and the St. Charles, and at the quarries of Beaufort.
The organic remains consist of several species of trilobite, orthocera,
terebratula, encrinite, ammonite, &c. On the Montmorenci the beds
are nearly horizontal, from eighteen inches to two feet in thickness,
and of a blackish-brown colour; in one situation they pass into a
subjacent calcareous conglomerate, whilst in other places the lime-
stone itself contains large blue nodules, and reposes immediately
upon gneiss. At Beaufort-quarries, ledges of fetid limestone alter-
nate with calcareo-bituminous shale, containing organic remains
similar to those noticed on the Montmorenci.

From the characters and fossils of the limestone above described,
the author regards it as the same with the calcaire intermediaire of
D’Aubuisson,—and the equivalent of the “ Carboniferous-limestone”’
of English geologists.

Dec. 21.—Henry Holland Stutzer, Esq. River-Terrace, Islington,
was elected a Fellow of the Society.

The reading was begun of a paper “On a Group of Slate-Rocks
in Yorkshire, between the Rivers Lune and Wharfe, from near Kirby
Lonsdale to near Malham,’’—by John Phillips, Esq. Hon. Mem. of the
Yorkshire Leeds and Hull Philosophical Societies.

1828. Jan. 4.—John Murray, Esq. Jun. of Albemarle Street, Lon-
don ; Henry Tuffnell, Esq. of Christchurch, Oxford ; The Right Hon.
Viscount Cole, of Christchurch, Oxford; R.C. Fergusson, Esq. M.P.,
of Craigdarroch, Dumfriesshire, and of Great Cumberland Street,
London ; John Phillips, Esq. of York ; and John Gurdon, Esq. of As-
sington Hall, Suffolk,—were elected Fellows of the Suciety. _

The reading of Mr. Phillips’s paper, begun at the last meeting, was
concluded. :

The object of this paper is to describe the geological structure and
relations of a group of rocks, which the author characterizes as ‘‘ aber-
rant from the slate district of Cumberland,” and extending about
fifteen miles towards the east under the summits of Greygarth, Ingle-
borough, and Pen-y-gant ;—a tract remarkable for the variety and sin-
gularity of its geological appearances, among which the proofs of
dislocation are peculiarly striking and important.

To this description a sketch is premised of the slate-series of the
Lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland; where the rocks are grouped
in three principal divisions, the lowest consisting of dark soft slate
much contorted, with fine-grained gneiss beneath it passing into
granite. The second division occupies a country of very different
aspect from that of the slate: the mountain-ranges being marked by
abrupt precipices, as at Helvellyn, Langdale-Pikes, and the Lakes of
Ulswater, &c. and consisting of brecciated argillaceous rocks contain-
ing calcareous spar, green-earth, and caleedony, with greenstone and
other forms of trap. On the south of this chain is a tract of transi-
tion limestone, containing caryophylliz, productz, spirifere, and other
fossils; and this is covered by a third zone of slate, the most recent
rock of the country, usually divisible into rhomboidal blocks, of which
two principal varieties are observable, alternating with each other ; the
one homogeneous and fissile, and containing organic remains spa-
ringly distributed, of the genera trigonia, pecten, yryphea, turritella
and terebratula ;—the other more granular and micaceous. This for-
mation is in some cases succeeded by red conglomerate, but more
commonly by mountain-limestone, the lowest beds of which centain
numerous pebbles of slate and quartz; and above the limestone are
the carboniferous rocks, including the millstone grit and the upper
coal-measures. The highest strata known in the country, consist of
the new red sandstone, placed in an unconformable position above
the coal formation.

The tract, which is the more immediate object of this paper, extends
from the valley of the Lune in an easterly direction, to that of the
Wharfe. Along its middle, from Casterton Fells to a few miles east
of the Ribble, ranges an almost continuous line of argillaceous rocks,
generally fissile, and belonging to the third division of slates above
mentioned. This tract is bounded on the north by the elevated strata
that support the summits of Greygarth and Pen-y-gant ; and on the
south (in consequence of great dislocations) by millstone grit and the
coal measures. If the rivers Lune and Wharfe are included, no fewer
than nine streams cross the district from north to south, and exhibit

very distinctly the structure and relations of the rocks ; the greater
number of the streams cutting through the limestone and millstone
grit, exposing the subjacent slate, and finally passing off on the de-
pressed strata of the coal measures. The author describes in detail
the phenomena presented in these several sections, and illustrates his
observations by sectional views and sketches.

The structure of the country is very well displayed in the course of
the Ribble ; where, on the north, the slate first appears beneath pa-
rallel bands of limestone; while on the south, the carboniferous
strata, the northern portion of which is horizontal, decline at.a high
angle, thus indicating a vertical dislocation of about four hundred
feet. Besides this fault on the southern verge of the slate, another
still more important one in a parallel direction, may be traced across
the valley of Ribbles-dale, and over Malham Moor ;—by which, strata
have been brought into immediate opposition, that in their original
place were separated by a thickness of more than five hundred feet.
Various facts are stated by the author in proof of this derangement,
and descriptive of the phenomena produced by it.

The author subjoins to his descriptions some remarks on the strati-
fication of slate, and on the difficulty of discriminating between the
planes of general stratification, or dip, and those of the cleavage ef-
fected by a blow,—the latter of which are often disposed at consider-
able angles to those of the dip. He is disposed to think, that in the
fissile granular varieties of slate approaching to sandstone, the lamin
of cleavage may really be those of deposition ; since the surfaces are
frequently coated with mica, and the fossil remains are in a disposition
parallel to them. Besides this more general cleavage, however, the
slate is also traversed by other planes, oblique to those of the cleavage,
and less conspicuous,—to which the quarry-men give the name of
“Bate.” The direction of these planes, though nearly alike in limited
spaces, is found to vary considerably in different portions of the same
tract; and even the better-defined planes of the ordinary cleavage are
seldom parallel to each other throughout any great extent of country.

A collection was exhibited at this meeting, of fossil vegetables,
chiefly from the Jarrow and Felling collieries, in the Northumberland
and Durham coal-field, presented to the Society by William Hutton,
Esq. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; with a catalogue describing the plants
according to the system of M. A. Brongniart, and drawings, with
some remarks by the donor.—The collection consists of specimens of
Calamites, Sigillariz, Sagenarie, Stigmarie, Filices, Sphenophylla,
Asterophylla, &c. ; and includes several undescribed confervz, leaves,
stems, &c.

Jan. 18.—A notice was read “ On the Occurrence of ‘ Chloropheite’
in Basaltic Dikes, in Northumberland ; and of Carbonate of Strontian
in the Lead Measures at Fallowfield near Hexham,’—by William
Hutton, Esq. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The author discovered ‘ Chloropheite’ in a basaltic dyke near the
river Coquet, about. two miles N.E. of Felton; in the form of small

nodules, which upon fracture exhibit the changes of colour and ap-
pearance mentioned by Dr. MacCulloch, who first discovered this
mineral in the Isle of Rum. This substance has also been observed
by the author at Coaley-hill near Newcastle, in the steatitic or earthy
form, and but rarely crystallized.

The reading was begun of a paper ‘‘ On the Geological Relations
of the Secondary Strata in the Isle of Arran ;’”—by the Rev. A. Sedg-
wick, V.P.G.S. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor, and Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. F.LS. &c.

Feb. 1.—The reading of Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison’s
paper, begun at the last meeting, was concluded.

This paper consists of three divisions: Ist. A brief outline of the
general structure of the Isle of Arran. 2d. An account of the section
on the N.E. coast of the island. 3d. Concluding remarks explanatory
of the probable causes, and geological epochs of the several phe-
nomena. In the Ist division, the authors, considering that the sub-
ject has been amply elucidated by Jameson, MacCulloch, and Hen-
drick, confine themselves to such details as are necessary to make
their subsequent description intelligible. In the 2d part, the strata
on the N.E. coast are described in great detail, for the purpose of
comparison with the corresponding members of the English Series ;
from whence it appears, that a succession of formations, analogous to
the old red sandstone, carboniferous series, and new red sandstone,
are exhibited twice over, in an anticlinal section.

The mineralogical centre of this section is at North Sannox, and
the lower red conglomerate is there seen in several situations, rising
to the height of about 1000 feet above the sea. 1. This formation is
supposed to be identified with the old red sandstone ; from its lowest
members graduating into grauwacke ; from its containing concretionary
limestone not distinguishable from the cornstone of Herefordshire ;
and its being regularly overlaid by the carboniferous series. 2. The
middle deposit of the section is clearly referable to the carboniferous
series, by its mineralogical structure, by the organic remains in the
caleareous beds, which are identical with those of the mountain-
limestone ; by its containing seams of coal, which have been worked ;
and by the plants in the shale being of the same species with many
of those most abundant in the coal-measures of England. 3. The
superior sandstone and conglomerate are of enormous thickness, rising
into lofty and precipitous hills upon the coast. These are referred to
the new red sandstone, from their position and internal characters ;
and this classification is confirmed particularly by the structure of the
sandstone on the southern coasts of the island. This formation differs
however from the new red sandstone of England, not only in being
conformable to the beds on which it rests, but also by graduating into

the superior parts of the carboniferous order.

- In conclusion, the authors endeavour to show, that the great dis-
locations of the secondary deposits have been produced by an up-
heaving of the granite; and they state, in corroboration of this

opinion, that where the breaks in the strata are greatest, there the
granite makes the nearest approaches to them. It is further attempted
to be proved, that the granite could not have been in a perfectly fluid
state at the period of its elevation, from the fact of its existence in
the form of mural and serrated precipices on the flanks of the se-
condary strata ; being in this respect prominently distinguished from
the trap of the southern regions of the island, which has, in number-
less places, not only penetrated, but overflowed upon the new red
sandstone.

Erratum IN THE “Proceepines, No. 4.—Page 35, line 16 & 17.

for “ rest conformably on the new red conglomerate,”
read ‘rest upon the red conglomerate’.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827—1828. No. 6.

At the Annual General Meeting of the Fellows, 15th February 1828 ;

A Report from the Council was read, of which the following is an
abstract.—
“« Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the last
and present Anniversaries,

Fellows. 16th Feb. 1827. 15th Feb. 1828.
Having compounded .......... Waban Bula bop 44
Contributing yy ici) eae soto Ba aaa. Ue aia 150
Non-residents, .2))- 7 -jone\aners) ste - PANU AG aioe Alaa 211

SO Maser staiiaet Pelee 405

Honorary Members ............ Det cl olee eval 90

Maree MEMES Ub ooeseebeodon “css ccocoaues 47

Mota ya ey secon sale 507

«The Names of the Fellows deceased within the past year are as
follow :—

Dr. Clarke Abel.
Captain Apsley.

Morris Birkbeck, Esq.
Sir Harry Calvert, Bart.
Rev. Dr. Haggit.

Right Hon. Geo. Knox.

Rev. Thomas Leman.

Abraham Mills, Esq.

Daniel Moore, Esq.

Robert Morison, Esq.

M. le Chevalier Luis D’Onis.
John Harrison Thompson, Esq.

Honorary Members deceased :
John Hawker, Esq. | Joseph Wilkinson, Esq.

Foreign Members elected :
M. Charles von Oeynhausen. | M. Henry von Dechen.

Foreign Member deceased :
Signor G. Brocchi.

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“The Museum has received many valuable donations since the last
Anniversary, of which the following are the most important :—

I. British Specimens.

“ Portion of a large Head of theIchthyosaurus Platyodon ; presented
by H. T. De la Beche, Esq., F.R.S. GS. &c.

Fossil bones of the Hyena and other Animals, found in a cave near
Maidstone ; presented by John Braddick, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from the Strata between the Chalk, and the Kimmeridge
Clay, from the vicinity of Folkstone, the Vale of Wardour, Berk-
shire, and other places ; in illustration of a Paper read before the
Society ; presented by W. HH. Fitton, M.D. Pres. G.S. &c.

Fossils from the ferruginous sandstone of Parham Park, and Pul-
borough Mount, and from the lower yreen-sand of Pulborough ;
presented by P. [. Martin, Esq. of Pulborough.

Additional Fossils of the Oolitic series in Scotland, and Rocks asso-
ciated with them ; to illustrate a Paper read before the Society ;
presented by R. I. "Murchison, Ksq- Sec. G.S, F.R.S. &c.

Specimens of Fossil vegetables from the Northumberland and Durham
Coal-Field ; arranged and presented by W. Hutton, Esq. of New-
castle-on- Tyne.

Specimens from Arran, to illustrate their memoir on the peconden
strata of that island :—-presented by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, W ood-
wardian Professor, Cambridge ; and R. I. Murchison, Esq: Sec.
G.S. F.R.S. &e.

II. Foreign Specimens.

“© Specimens of Volcanic Rocks from Auvergne ; presented by G. P.
Scrope, Esq. F.G.S. &c.

A specimen of Apennine Landscape-Limestone from near Placentia ;
presented by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. and L.S. Pro-
fessor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of Oxford.

Specimens of Rocks collected during his survey of part of the Straits
of Magellan; presented by Capt. P. P. King, R.N.

Specimens of Fossil bones, wood, and shells, from Ava; presented
by J. Crawfurd, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens and Fossils from Spitzbergen, obtained during the late
Northern Expedition ; presented by Capt. Parry, R.N. and Capt.
Foster, R.N.

A series of specimens collected during the late Expedition to the
North-west coast of America ; presented by Capt. Franklin, R.N.
and Dr. Richardson.

Ill. British and Foreign Specimens.

“A legacy of recent shells, fossil organic remains, and minerals ; left
by the late Capt. Apsley, F.G.S.

“The Lisrary has been increased by the donation of 49 volumes.

«The second Part of the Second Volume of the New Series of
Transactions has been published since the last Anniversary ; and
directions have been given for putting to press the third and con-
cluding Part which will contain an Index to the whole volume, and
discharge, with very few unavoidable exceptions, all the ‘unpublished
arrears of papers, to the end of the last session.

“The circulation of the printed ProcrEpines of the Society
has given such general satisfaction, that the Council has had no
hesitation in recommending the continuance of it ; since a record is
thus obtained of the progress of the Institution, which may hereafter
become an object of reference, with a view to the history of the subject;
whilst an opportunity is afforded of circulating with promptitude,
notices of transitory interest, or that require immediate attention ;
and of giving publicity to various papers on geological subjects, too
valuable to lose, but not of sufficient importance to occupy a place in
the more permanent and costly record of the Transactions.

“It is requested that such Members as do not now receive the Pro-
ceedings, and may be desirous of obtaining them in future, will
leave sith the clerk, some address zn London, to which they may be
directed, as heretofore, through the medium of the two-penny post.

“* Papers read at the Meetings of the Society since the last Anniversary.

On the Volcanic district of Naples; by G. P. EIN Esq. F.R.S.
G.S. &c.

On the Geology of the vicinity of Pulborough, Sussex ; by P. I.
Martin, Esq.

On the Magnesian Limestone of the northern counties ; by she
Rev. A. Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor, Cambridge.

On the discovery of fossil bones near Besangon in France ; by Pro-
fessor Buckland.

Notice of a Whin Dyke in Cowpen Colliery near Blythe, in Northum-_
berland ; by W. C. Trevelyan, Esq. F.L.S. G.S. &c.

On the fixed rocks of the valley of St. Lawrence in North America;
by J. F. Bigsby, M.D. &c.

On some Fossil bones of the Elephant, and other Animals, found
near Salisbury ; by Charles Lyell, Esq. F.G.S. &e.

Remarks on some ‘of the strata between the Chalk and the Kimmeridge
clay, in the South East of England; by W.H. Fitton, M.D. F.GS.
&e.

Extract of a Letter from Capt. P. P. King, R.N. to Dr. Fitton, P.G.S.
dated at Rio Janeiro 10th June 1827 ; with some observations on
the specimens sent home by Capt. King ; by the President.

On the Geology of Torr and Babbacombe Bays, Devon; by H. T.
De la Beche, Esq. F.R.S. &e.

Supplementary remarks on the Strata of the Oolitic Series and the
rocks associated with them in Sutherland, Ross, and the Hebrides;
by R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. &c.

A Letter from G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. containing an account
of an Excavation in the chalk at Norwich.

On the Geology of Quebec and its vicinity , by Dr. Bigsby.

On a group of Slate-rocks between the rivers Lune and Wharfe, in
the north of England, from near Kirby Lonsdale to near Malham,

c.; by John Phillips, Esq. Hon. Mem. of the Yorkshire, Leeds
and Hull Philosophical Societies.

A notice of the occurrence of Chloropheite in basaltic Dykes, in Nor-
thumberland ; and of Carbonate of Strontian in the Lead Measures
near Hexham ; by W. Hutton, Esq. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

On the Geological relations of the secondary strata, in the Isle of

- Arran ; by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, V.P.G.S. &c. Woodwardian Pro-
feccar! and R. f. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. &c.

“The following List contains the Names of all the Persons, from whom
Donations to the Library and Museum have been received during

the past year.

Aikin, Arthur, Esq.
Allan, Robert, Esq.
American Phil. Society.
Andreossy, Comte. |
Apsley, Captain.
Asiatic Society.
Astronomical Society.

Backwell, Joseph, Esq.
Bathurst, Charles, Esq.
Beaufort, Captain, R.N.
Benett, Miss.

Bicheno, J. E., Esq., F.R.S, Sec.

L.S. &c.
Biddle, N., Esq.
Bouillet, M. J. B.
Braddick, James, Esq.
Bristol Institution.

Brongniart, M.A., For. Mem.G:S.

Brooke, Captain De Capell.
Brooke, Henry James, Esq.
Buckland, Rev. W.,
&e.

Bullock, W., Esq. F.LS.

Cambridge Phil. Society.
Cazalet, Mrs.

Cole, Visconnie

ardier, M. L.

Crawfurd, J., Esq. F.G.S.
Crosse, ub , Esq.

Daubeny, C.G.B., M.D. F.R.S.

&e.

D.D. F.R.S.

Dechen Von, M. Henry.

De la Beche, H. T., Esq. F.R.S.
L. S. &c.

Drapiez, M.

Dulau and Co.

East India Company Directors,
Court of.

Editors of Phil. Mag. and Annals
of Philosophy.

Faraday, Michael, Esq., F.R.S.
&e.

Featherstonhaugh, G. W., Esq.
F.G.S: ©

Ferrara, Francesco. _

Ferussac, M. le Baron de.

Firsch, S. G., Dr.

Fitton, W. H., M.D., President
G.S.F.B.S. &c.

Foster, Captain, R.N.

Franklin, Captain, R.N.

Frost, J., Esq. F.A.S. L.S. G.S.

Goldsmid, Jeol dHsqs Eves:

Hammond, W. O., Esq.

Heathfield, R. Jan., Esq. F.G.S.

Hoeninghaus, F. G.

Horticultural Society.

Humboidt, Baron de, For. Mem.
G.S.

Hutton, William, Esq.
are Captain, P. P., R.N.

Ae, Dr.

Leeds Phil. and Literary Society.

Leonhard, M. C. C. Von.
Linnean Society.

Majendie, A., Esq. F.R.S. G.S.

&e.
Martin, G. P., Esq.

Medico-Botanical Soc. of London.

Mitchell, Major.

Murchison, R. I., Esq. Sec. GS.
F.R.S. &c.

Murray, A., Esq.

Oeynhausen Von, M. Charles.
Parry, Captain, R. N.
Randolph, Rev. J. H.

Richardson, Dr.
Royal Institution.

Royal Academy of Berlin. '
Royal Academy of Sciences of
France.

Scrope, G. P., Esq. F.G.S.

Sedgewick, Rev. Adam, M.A.
> V.P.G.S. F.RS. &c.

Sibbald, Dr.

Silliman, Benjamin, M.D. LL.D.

Society of Arts.

Sternberg, Count.

Stift, M. gen., Superintendent of
Mines of Nassau.

Stokes, Charles, Esq., F.R.S. &e:

Taylor, Richard Cowling, Esq.

Taylor, S.
Trevelyan, W.C. » Esq.

Weiss, Prof.

Wilks, Col. Mark.
Woodward, S., Esq.
Yorkshire Phil. Society.

Zoological Society.

The Report having been read, it was Resolved,—

1. Tat the Report of the Council be approved of; and that such
parts of it as the Council shall think fit, be printed and distri-
buted among the Fellows of the Society.

2. Tuar the thanks of the Society be given to John Bostock, M.D.
retiring from the office of Vice-president.

The President then delivered the following Address from the chair,

GENTLEMEN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

You have just received from your Council a report on the condition of

your finances ;

with a statement of the accessions to your number du-

ring the past year, and of the measures adopted for advancing the wel-
fare of the Institution. It remains for me to lay before you a few
remarks on the branch of knowledge which the Geological Society
is intended to promote: and what I shall offer upon this subject will
be confined, in a great measure, to the state of Geology in this coun-
try ; since neither have my opportunities of acquiring information
during the past year enabled me to give, nor does my duty appear
to call for, a more extended view ;—though such periodical reports in

other hands, and on more suitable occasions, have been frequently
attended with advantage.

We have had since our last Anniversary to regret the loss of one of
our foreign members. Mr. Broccut, whose death, according to the
accounts we have received, took place in Egypt, whither he had been
invited to discharge the duties of a mining Engineer, is distinguished
in the recent scientific history of Italy by numerous contributions to
the Geology of that country ;—and his principal work “On the Fossil
Conchology of the Subapennine Hills,” abounds in valuable obser-
vations, and in proofs of accuracy and acuteness in the comparison
of the fossil and existing species. His talents, however, were not
merely those of an observer ;—his general views were always wide
and philosophic ; and the style of his writings is considered by com-
petent judges as remarkable for its purity and good taste. But those
only, who have had the pleasure of being personally acquainted
with Mr. Brocchi, could appreciate his patriotism and philanthropy,
the variety of his acquirements, and the spirit and eloquence which
rendered his conversation more than commonly instructive.

The printed “‘ Proceedings” of the Society, and the portion of the
Transactions published within the year, are the best records of our
contributions to geological science during that period: and the vo-
lume now in progress will, I trust, be found to have contributed in
no small degree to the advancement of inductive Geology. New
monsters, it is true, have not been brought to light from the depths of
our strata ; nor has Zoology been enriched with new genera, by such
rare coincidences of genius and good fortune as distinguish the last
volume of our Transactions : but the Geology of England has been
illustrated by various memoirs, on tracts not previously examined ;
and by more exact and extended researches on portions of our strata,
the general relations of which had been before determined. Cor-
rect data have thus been recorded, to which inquirers in other coun-
tries may refer, for the purpose of comparison with their own.

I have to congratulate you upon the progress which has been
made in the Trigonometrical survey of Ireland; a work designed
with all the skill of modern science, and committed for the execution
to such hands, and with such instruments, as to leave no doubt of the
result. Maps alone, such as this survey will produce, are an acqui-
sition of the first importance to our inquiries ; since they form one of
the chief and indispensable instruments of geological research :—but
with these, in the present case, will be connected a series of obser-
vations more strictly geological, which cannot fail to throw great light

upon the structure and composition of the country to which the ope-
rations extend. The Tract, which I now show you, has been drawn
up by one of the principal officers engaged in the Irish survey *, and
ithographized for the use of the subordinate surveyors ; and it con-
tains so clear and able a system of instruction for their guidance, il-
lustrated by sectional sketches, as greatly to facilitate the task of
geological investigation. The surveyors will thus accumulate a series
of specimens, the precise places of which will have been recorded in
maps upon a very large scale,—on which also the heights above the
sea will be determined, in points almost innumerable ; while sections
are taken in well chosen situations, for the purpose of illustrating
_ more effectually the order of the strata. Thé ultimate results of ope-
rations so well combined, must be equally honourable to those who
are engaged in this vast work, and feriile in various and substantial
advantage to physical science.

But while the survey of Irelandis in progress, it is to be hoped that
that of England will not cease to advance ; and that no great delay
will take place in the publication of the maps which have been actu-
ally prepared by the Ordnance. To geologists who have travelled in
England, I need not mention the benefits that our science has derived
from the maps already engraved; nor dwell upon the misery of plung-
ing, from a tract that we have traversed with the advantage of this
guide, into regions where the survey leaves us, lost, as it were, and
bewildered from the want of such assistance. The sheets of the Ord-
nance Survey which I now lay before you, represent a portion of the
midland counties, coloured geologically by a gentleman whose activity
and accuracy of research have made him minutely acquainted with
the stratification of the district around him? ; and the maps thus co-
loured, are probably as complete specimens of geological illustration
as ever have been produced. The knowledge of this observer extends
with equal precision several miles to the north of the tract here re-
presented ; but these sheets, you perceive, are bounded by a right
line ;—and beyond that line it has not been in his power to extend his
colours, because no good map of the adjacent district is in existence.
In this instance therefore, and no doubt in numberless other cases,
the want of adequate maps may cause the final and irreparable loss
of much geological information: And when it is considered, that
Geology is but one of many departments of useful mquiry, to which.
good maps administer,—how much they contribute to the advancement
of commerce, and to the comforts and conveniences of life,—it will

* Captain Pringle, of the Royal Engineers. ,
+ Mr. Lonsdale of Bath.

aye)

be unnecessary to urge the enlightened and public: spirited persons,
to whose hands this great undertaking is committed, to finish with as
much promptitude as possible what has been so admirably begun.

The effective establishment in this country of a society for the
cultivation of Zootoay,—a source of just gratification to all who are
interested in the progress of Natural History,—is an event connected
very intimately with the advancement of our subject: for to the
Geologist it is of great importance to obtain facility of access to ca-
binets and to living specimens, in elucidation of fossi] remains; and
and to have the privilege of appealing, -in doubtful cases, to compe-
tent authorities, in what relates to the animal kingdom. But the
connection of Zoology with our science, is a field too wide to be dis-
cussed upon the present occasion ; nor would my own acquaintance
with the subject justify my dwelling upon it.

The numerous provincial institutions, which have been recently
established for the promotion of useful knowledge, will also materially
contribute to the diffusion of a taste for Geology; and will throw
new light upon the structure and productions of their respective dis-
tricts.

I wish that it had been in my power to speak with equal eratifica-
tion, of the relation in which our subject stands to another principal
department of Natural History ; but the fossil remains of the vege-
table kingdom do not appear to occupy, at present, a just share of the
attention of Botanists in England : and hence it has happened, that
of the numerous and interesting specimens of fossil plants continu-
ally brought to light from our strata, especially within the coal dis-
tricts, the greater part has been sent for illustration to those na-
turalists on the continent, whuse publications upon this branch of
inquiry, are so creditably known to science. Ought we not then
to imitate the example of those, for whose labours we have so much
reason to be grateful; and to reflect, that—if the botanical charac-
ters of fossil specimens be obscure, and the investigation of them at
present unsatisfactory,—the subject is still comparatively new, and
the difficulties such as perseverance and the multiplication of speci-
mens must every day diminish: whilst the views to be derived from
the connection of vegetable remains with geology, are scarcely infe-
rior in interest to those already disclosed by the fossil remains of
animals? he distribution of plants upon the former surfaces of the
globe,—its relation to the epochs of geological deposition,—the varia.
tions it may have undergone from change of climate, either by alter-
ation of internal temperature, or of elevation above the sea ;—the
former existence of vegetation in the more complex forms, in tracts

where scarcely any traces of it exist at present,—are subjects which
give rise to some of the most important general questions connected
with the history of the globe ;—and that require for their due con-
sideration such an acquaintance with the characters of fossil vegetable
remains, as none but the most skilful and experienced botanists
can be expected to possess.

On the Geology of foreign countries, the last year has not been
unproductive. A valuable paper on the structure of Jamaica, has
been published in our Transactions, by one of the most skilful of our
practical observers. We have received a very important contribution
of specimens from Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson, under whose
direction the expedition to the northern coast of America has been
conducted with so much ability and success ;—and a memoir by the
latter, on the structure and components of those regions, will soon
be read at one of our meetings. Captain Parry also, and Captain
Foster, have presented us with a valuable collection of specimens from
Spitzbergen, obtained during their late expedition to the north.
Captain King, who has enriched our cabinets with specimens from
the coasts of Australia, and done so much for other departments
of natural history, has recently sent home a collection of rocks
obtained during the earlier part of his survey in the Straits of Magel-
lan ; and further collections, accompanied with new information, may
still be expected from the same indefatigable observer. We have rea-
son also to hope that Geology will not be neglected during the expe-
ditions soon about to sail,—of Captain Boieler, for the survey of the
western coast of Africa, and of Captain Foster, for the purpose
of determining the longitude of important stations on the shores of
the Atlantic.

There is the greater reason to rejoice in the contributions thus
given, or to be expected, from the Naval department of the public
service, since it has not unfrequently been the reproach of this
country, that—possessing colonies, which have dispersed the natives
of Britain in every region of the habitable globe, and commerce, that
maintains continual intercourse with them,—the benefits conferred
by England on the natural history of distant countries, have fallen
very far short of what the intelligence and activity of our national
character might have afforded. Let us hope, however, that brighter
days are opening upon us ; and that those who are employed in the
various departments of our foreign service, will universally feel, that
where such frequent opportunities of advancing useful knowledge are
likely to occur, an acquaintance with branches of science not imme-

OD
diately essential to professional duty, is strictly accordant with the
dignity of the naval and military character.

Among the donations of foreign specimens to our cabinets, there is
one of very peculiar interest ;—the rich collection of fossil bones and
shells presented to us by Mr. Crawfurd from Ava: which has the
greater value, as it is one of the first collections of this description,
that has made its way into England from our extensive empire in
the East, or the adjoining territories. These specimens afford some
very striking novelties, both to the Geologist and Zoologist ; an ac-
count of which, I trust, will soon be laid before you by competent
describers.

The last year has produced some valuable publications on the Geo-
logy of Volcanoes, which, though not emanating immediately from this
Society, are the work of our own members. We are indebted to Dr.
Daubeny for a judicious volume, in which he has combined what had
been previously published on volcanoes, with much valuable obser-
vation of his own. The productions of Mr. Scrope, though his
speculative views are not free from objection, are full of originality
and talent.—To that especially, which describes the extraordinary
volcanic region in the centre of France, illustrated with such effect as
to render the task of comparison with other districts easy and inviting,
I should have had pleasure in alluding more fully ; if an eloquent ac-
count of it, in one of our leading journals, were not familiar to us
all * : and this, also I believe I do not err in ascribing to an active
member of our Institution.

In the speculative department of Geology, nothing has been of
late more remarkable, with reference to its history in this country,
than the universal adoption of a modified Volcanic theory, and the
complete subsidence, or almost oblivion, of the Wernerian and
Neptunian hypotheses ;—so that what, but a few years since, it
was by some considered as hardihood to propose in the form of con-
jecture, seems now to be established nearly with the evidence of fact.
It is no longer denied, that volcanic power has been active during all
the revolutions which the surface of the globe has undergone, and has
probably been itself the cause of many of them ;—-and that ourcontinents
have not merely been shaken by some mighty subterraneous force,
but that strata, originally horizontal, have thus been raised, shattered,
and contorted, and traversed, perhaps repeatedly, by veins of fluid mat-
ter ;—operations which have produced phenomena, so nearly resem-

* Quarterly Review, Vol. xxxy. page 447, &c.

56 .

bling those of recent volcanic agency, that to have so long disputed the
identity of their cause, is one of the most remarkable proofs in the an-
nals of philcsophic history, of the power of hypothesis in distorting or
concealing truth. Whatever, therefore, be the fate of the Huttonian
theory in general, it must be admitted, that many of its leading pro-
positions have been confirmed in a manner which the inventor could
not have foreseen.

The most striking modern support of these correcter views, is due
to Von Buch and Humboldt, and to the facts and inferences derived
by Dr. MacCulloch from the country which gave birth to Hutton,
and to his illustrator, Mr. Playfair, and in which were made the expe-
riments of Sir James Hall. More recently, a series of facts observed
by Professor Henslow, in the Isle of Anglesea*, has proved, in the most
satisfactory manner, the connection of veins of trap with very high tem-
perature; since the change produced upon the strata, through which
the substances now occupying the veins were injected, has approached
so nearly to fluidity, as to admit of their crystallization, in forms differ-
ent from any which the components of the rocks, if they had not been
thus acted on, would have afforded. Sir Humphry Davy’s experiments
on the fluids contained within cavities in crystals ¢, are another strik-
ing and unexpected confirmation of Hutton’s views: and our own
Transactions, besides various incidental pieces of evidence derived
from this country, supply the testimony of an unprejudiced witness to
an earthquake on the coast of Chilit, which brings almost before the
eyes of the reader, the movement and permanent elevation of the land.

Having alluded to Mr. Playfair’s support of the volcanic theory, it
would be unjust to the memory of that distinguished man, not to
mention, that his geological writings have had, indirectly, an effect in
accelerating the progress of our subject, the benefit of which we expe-
rience at this moment, and probably shall long continue to feel ; and
which, perhaps, outweighs in value the partial success of the specula-
tions for which he so strenuously contended. He clothed our sub-
ject with the dignity of an eloquence most happily adapted to phi-
losophic inquiry ; and redeemed the geologist from association with
that class of naturalists who lose sight of general laws, and are
occupied incessantly with details,—placing him, where he ought
to stand, beside the mathematician, the astronomer, and the che-
mist , and permanently raising. our science into an elevated depart-
ment of inductive inquiry. His mild and tolerant character threw an
assuaging influence upon the waves of a controversy, which in his

* Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. vol. i. page 406.

+ Philosophical Transactions, 1522, page 367, &c.

{ Geological Transactions, second series, vol. 1. page 413.

time considerations, entirely foreign to science, had exasperated into
unusual violence : and if, fortunately, there is no longer any trace of
this asperity, the change must, in a great degree, be ascribed to the
tone of Mr. Playfair’s writings, enforced by the manly and consistent
tenour of his blameless life.

I cannot, for your sake, regret that the presence of some of those
who have had a large share in the foundation of this Institution, pro-
hibits my alluding to their continued and unremitting efforts in sup-
port of it.—And the same cause prevents my dwelling on the effects .
produced, at both our Universities, by the geological instructions de- —
livered there ; which have given to the subject an impulse perhaps
without example in the history of those institutions, and gone far to
render natural science a permanent department of general education.

But there is one of our number, whom professional and domestic
occupations retain so much in a remote quarter of the country, that
we have seldom the gratification of his presence amongst us, though
his writings are:in all our hands : and it is a duty,—not to Mr. Cony-
beare, but to the subject, and to ourseives,—to say, that among the
more recent causes which have accelerated the progress of Geology in
England, the publication of the ‘‘ Outlines of England and Wales,”
by him and Mr. Phillips, has had an effect, to which nothing since
the institution of this Society, and the diffusion of the geological maps
of England, can be compared. Itis with peculiar pleasure that this
statement can. be made in this place ; since a large proportion of that
work has been derived from our own Transactions, and the authors
have long been distinguished members of our Society. Of course
their publication is not free from defects and inequalities, — inseparable
perhaps from a first ‘edition, composed for the greater part during its
progress through the press:—but, regarding it as the first general
sketch of a country so complex as our own, it may be said without
fear of contradiction, that no equal portion of the earth’s surface has
ever been more ably illustrated ;—nor any geological work produced,
which bears more strongly impressed upon it the stamp of original
talent for natural science.

The object, however, of our Institution, to adopt the language of
the charter, is “‘ to investigate the mineral structure of the Earru;””—
not to confine ourselves to the British Islands only, (and even they
are best illustrated by comparison,) but to extend our researches if
possible, to every part of the globe ;—to record the geological phx-
nomena of the most distant countries, as well as of our own,—and from
the whole, derive the laws that have regulated the structure of this

planet, and still fluence the changes which are in progress upon it.
It is our good fortune, and the fact is intimately connected with the
commercial wealth of our country, that it affords perhaps a greater
variety of strata and of geological appearances, than most other por-
tions of the civilized world of such limited extent ; while the range
and variety of our coasts unveil the geological anatomy of England,
‘with an obviousness and convincing facility to the observer, that have
greatly accelerated ourinquiries. The Geology of England, therefore,—
which, with a view only to commercial advantage, and to the com-
forts and conveniences of life, would have well deserved all the labour
that has been bestowed upon it,—acquires a new and more dignified
interest, when we reflect that this island is in a great measure an
epitome of the globe ; and that the observer, who makes himself fa-
miliar with our strata, and the fossil remains which they include,
has not only prepared himself for similar inquiries in other quarters,
but is already, as it were, acquainted by anticipation with what
he must expect to find there. If, therefore, | were called upon
to state in what manner those who have leisure, health, and talent
for such inquiries, can most effectually advance the bounds of our
science, and increase the reputation which England has begun to ac-
quire in this department of natural knowledge,—I should say, that it
- would be,—First, by rendering themselves accurately familiar with the
geological phenomena of our own country; and then,—by taking
abroad with them the knowledge thus acquired, and comparing the
phenomena with those of distant regions; since it is only from the
multiplication of such comparisons, that sound general views can
be derived.

But even within the British Islands, there still are tracts, and of no
small extent, which are comparatively, and a great part of them abso-
lutely, unknown. More than one half of Ireland is in this condition : for
the publications of Conybeare and Buckland, Stephens, Weaver, Grif-
fith, and Dr. Berger, comprehend nearly all that has been done in that
country. But this subject, as I have already mentioned, has passed into
such hands, as will, no doubt, accomplish every thing that can be
desired.

In the North and North-west of England, the labours of Otley*,
Smith, Professor Sedgwick, and some other inquirers, have already
ascertained the principal relations of one of the most important dis-

* The work here referred to, is a brief but valuable notice, “On the
succession of rocks in the district of the Lakes,” published in the Lonsdale
Magazine, or Provincial Repository, for October 1820:—Vol. I. No. x.
pp. 433, &c.

tricts ;- but-very little has yet been published upon it. And on the
mountainous tracts in Wales, the ancient and very interesting essay
of Owen *, and the valuable papers of Mr. Aikin and Professor
Henslow, with that of Mr. De la Beche on Pembrokeshire, and of
Mr. Martin on the Coal Basin of Glamorganshire +,—a tract on which
Mr. Conybeare is occupied at present,—comprehend nearly every
thing that deserves to be mentioned here.

In Scotland also, notwithstanding the graphic and copious illus-
trations of Dr. MacCulloch, and the mineralogical skill and perse-
verance of other eminent naturalists who have applied themselves to
the Geology of their native country,—no geological map has yet ap-
peared ; and agreat part of that rich and varied region remains to be
explored. But the Society will have pleasure in observing, in the last
portion of their Transactions ¢, that an effective comparison of the
more recent strata of Scotland with our English formations has
been already begun. The memoir of Mr. Murchison on the Brora
Coal-field is an excellent specimen of what may be effected in this
department of inquiry; anda paper produced at the last meeting by
the joint labours of Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison, leaves no
doubt that the remaining memoirs which are to be expected from
those gentlemen, will throw great light on the comparative geology
of that distant portion of our island.

The value, however, of the researches and identification at Brora,
goes much further than the mere comparison of a remote tract, with
the stratification of England: they confirm a suggestion of Dr. Buck-
land and Mr. Lyell, that the coal formation of that neighbourhood
was in reality the equivalent of a portion of our Oolitic strata ; and
demonstrate the remarkable fact, that the same fossils which in En-
gland occur in oolitic limestone, exist there in strata of quartzose sand-
stone and of shale! The whole series indeed, of the phenomena
developed by recent examination in Scotland and the north of En-
gland, gives rise to the most interesting speculations on the questions
of geological identity, and of the relative value in geology of mine-
ralogical and zoological characters,—which has been so ably treated
by Brongniart and other continental writers :—questions, which it is
necessary to keep continually in view, and that acquire fresh interest
and importance in proportion as we extend our researches to the re-
moter districts of the world.

To those amongst us who are confined to England, the most use-

* Dated in 1570:—See Cambrian Register, for 1796, and Geol. Trans.
N.S. Vol. I. page 312.

+ Philosophical Transactions, 1806. page 342.

{t Second Series, vol. ii. p. 293.

ful task perhaps would be, when we have mastered the general re-
lations of our series, to take up some one portion of the subject,—
a group of strata, or even a single stratum, or any one of the num-
berless questions connected with their zoological and mineralogical
relations,—and to publish in the form of Monographs the results of
our inquiries. For it may be stated with confidence, that there
is not any one of our strata, however familiarly it may be supposed
to be already known, that would not, if thus treated, reward the
most elaborate and minute examination.

But those who are deprived of the privilege of travelling even in
England, must not suppose that they can be of no service as geo-
logists ; or if they belong to our body, that they are thus released
from their obligation to be active in our cause: and there are two
descriptions of persons,—the resident clergy, and members of the
medical profession in the country,—to whom what I am about to
say may be more particularly deserving of attention. Such persons,
if they have not yet acquired a taste for natural science, can hardly
conceive the interest which the face of the country in their vicinity
would gain, however unpromising it may appear, by their having such
inquiries before them ; how much the monotony of life in a remote
or thinly inhabited district would thus be relieved; nor how much
benefit they might confer on the natural history of their coun-
try. Even of those who have made some progress in geological
studies, many, I apprehend, are prevented from investigating atten-
tively the tracts where they reside, or from communicating their know-
ledge, by a belief that the Geology of England itself is sufficiently
known already ; and that the district, with the phenomena of which
they are themselves familiar, would have no interest or novelty for
the world at large :—whereas it may be asserted (and it were easy to
produce examples from modern researches in some of the counties
near London), that there is no district that will not furnish sufficient
interest and novelty to an attentive inquirer, not merely to repay his
own exertions, but to instruct the most learned, and enlarge the
bounds of our science.

To landed proprietors also, it can hardly be known, without some
tinge of geological information, how nearly our subject is connected
with Agriculture,—with an acquaintance with the nature and correc=
tives of the soil, the supply of water, and facility of effectual drainage,
and numberless facts essential to the perfection of rural economy ;—
with the discovery and supply of stone, for building and the construc-
tion of roads,—the choice of the line of roads and of canals, and the
facility of their execution. All these are but a few of the topics that

come strictly within the province of the geologist: and which are so
essential to the prosperous management of landed property, that a
geological map may perhaps with truth be considered as not: less
necessary to the country-gentleman, than the topographical plan of
his estates.

I am fully aware, that much of what I have just said is obvious ;—
and even familiar, to the greater part of those who hear me :—But
my object is to be useful; and I believe that some of those whom
these remarks are likely to reach, are not sufficiently acquainted with
the practical advantages derivable from our pursuits ;—and that others
are unconscious of the means within their own power for advancing
them.

I shall conclude, Gentlemen, by congratulating you on the good
feeling by which the proceedings of this Society have always been cha-
racterized ; and on the self-command that renders both agreeable and
instructive the conversations, (I will not call them discussions—much
less debates) with which it is now our practice to follow up the reading
of memoirs at our table; and which have given to our evening
meetings a character more like that of social intercourse in a private
circle, than of the formal proceedings of a public body. This practice,
I know, has been a subject of doubt, to many who wish well to our
institution, and do not undervalue the personal character and dispo-
sition of our members. But, so long as our conversations are car-
ried on with the urbanity by which they have hitherto been dis-
tinguished,—while it is the wish of those who share in them to
give or to receive information, and not to shine,—and the object is
not victory but truth,—there seems to be no reason to apprehend
any very serious injury from the continuance of our geological war-
fare.

There is still another train of thought connected with our meet-
ings, on which I confess I have sometimes delighted to dwell. The
spirit in which they have been conducted has been so kind,—so little
tainted with, or rather so perfectly free from, any admixture of the
leaven with which from interest or ambition most of the pur-
suits of life are embittered ;—and our duties here have been asso-
ciated with so many offices of ‘cordiality and friendship ;—that when,
in after life, the cares and chances of the world may have dispersed
those whom I have now the happiness to see around me, I am fond to
believe that the remembrance of these evenings will be called to mind
with pleasure :—And I feel confident, that, as many of us already de-
rive the chief part of our enjoyments from the friendships to which
congenial pursuits have led, the Geological Society will continue to

be no less effective, in the production of warm personal attachment,
and of manly and ingenuous intercourse among its members, than
it has been, in maintaining an active and energetic spirit of research.

The Meeting then proceeded to the election of the Council and
Officers for the ensuing year; when the following list was delivered
in by the Scrutineers :—viz.

President.
William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. &c.
Vice-Presidents.

Arthur Aikin, Esq. F.L.S.

Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. &c. Professor of Mineralogy
and Geology in the University of Oxford.

Charles Lyell, Esq. F.R.S. &c.

Rey. A. Sedgwick, F.R.S. &c. Woodwardian Professor, Cam-
bridge.

Secretaries.
W. J. Broderip, Esq. F.R.S. &c.
R. 1. Murchison, Esq. F.R.S. &c.

Foreign Secretary.
Henry Heuland, Esq.
Treasurer.
John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S.
Council.

J. E. Bicheno, Esq. F.R.S. Sec. L.S.
John Bostock, M.D. F.R.S.

Rey. W. D. Conybeare, F.R.S. &c.

John Crawfurd, Esq. F.R.S.

Michael Faraday, Esq. F.R.S. &c.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. Pres. R.S.

G. B. Greenough, Esq. F.R.S.

J. F. W. Herschel, Esq. F.R.S. Pres. A.S.
Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. &c.
Ashurst Majendie, Esq. F.R.S.

Rey. J. H. Randolph, M.A.

N. A. Vigors, Esq. F.R.S. Sec. Z.S. arn
Sir R. R. Vyvyan, Bart. M.P.

Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P. F.R.S. &c.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827—1828. No. 7.

March 7.—A Paper was read “ On the Geological Relations and
Internal Structure of the Magnesian Limestone, and the lower por-
tions of the New Red Sandstone series, in their range through Not-
tinghamshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Durham.”’—By the Rev. A.
Sedgwick, M.A. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

A sketch of the subjects contained in this paper was laid before
the Society in 1826 (Nov. 17) :—They were resumed in a more sy-
stematic and detailed form during two meetings in 1827; and are
now terminated by the observations read at the present meeting,

The contents of the Memoir are presented in the following order :

Parr I.—§ 1. Introduction.—The new red sandstone is considered
as one great complex formation, interposed between the coal mea-
sures and the lias ;—with two calcareous formations subordinate to it,
one in the lower part of the series (the magnesian limestone), and
another in the upper part (the muschel-kalkstein). The lower of the
two calcareous formations is considered in detail ; the upper has not
yet been discovered among the British secondary deposits.

§ 2. External characters of the country through which the Magne-
sian. Limestone ranges.—The form of the western escarpment is de-
scribed, and is supposed to exhibit proofs of great denudations ; and
the general character of the soils resting upon the formation is no-
ticed.

§ 3. General distribution of the formation.—The range of the es-
carpment is given in great detail; some errors of the geological maps
are corrected ; and in describing the eastern boundary, the enormous
masses of diluvium in the county of Durham are briefly noticed.

§ 4. Outhers.—Sixteen outliers from the western escarpment are
described ; the most southern of which is at Conisborough. In addi-
tion to these, there are eight detached patches of magnesian lime-
stone on the line of bearing, which are not considered as outliers.
The most remarkable of these are seen in the range through York-
shire.

§ 5. Relations of the Magnesian Limestone to a succession of Coal
Measures.—In a general point of view these formations must be un-
conformable, because the overlying beds are extended far beyond the
limits of the productive parts of the carboniferous order : and the fact
is also proved by actual sections in several parts of Yorkshire and
Durham. At the same time there are continuous tracts of country
where the want of conformity does not appear, and where the oyer-

lying beds seem almost to graduate into the coal measures. Several
details are given respecting ancient coal works, in which, in more
than one hundred places, the coal had been extracted by shafts sunk
through the magnesian limestone : and it is asserted that the quality of
the coal is never injured by the presence of the overlying formations.
Such injury is not only contrary to fact, but seems to be a physical
impossibility.

§ 6. On the Faults affecting the Magnesian Limestone and Coal
strata, Trap dyes, &c.—Examples are given of some great faults
which traverse both the carboniferous and the superior formations :
but it is remarked that many of the dislocations of the lower order of
rocks do not affect the upper. Respecting the age of the trap dykes
of the coal-fields, it is not possible to determine their epoch in com-
parison with that of the magnesian limestone, where they range up
to the escarpment :—and of such dykes there are only two examples ;
one of which does, and the other does not, pass through the beds of
the overlying series.

Part Il.—Internal Structure and great Subdivisions of the Magne-
sian Limestone-—Considered as a subordinate part of the new-red-
sandstone series, this formation admits of five natural subdivisions,
each of which is described in a separate section.

§ 1. Lower Red-sandstone, or Rothe-todte-liegende.—In Yorkshire
this appears generally in the form of a coarse siliceous sandstone, of
a reddish tinge. It is associated with incoherent sand, red micaceous
shale, and sometimes with variegated marls. In Durham it is gene-
rally represented by a yellowish and nearly incoherent sand. In
some places it cannot be distinguished from the gritstone beds of the
coal measures: but as it commences in the edge of Derbyshire, and
is almost co-extensive with the magnesian limestone as far as the
mouth of the Tyne, it must on the whole be unconformable to the
inferior order. it is, however, of very unequal thickness, and its
upper beds are not always parallel to the strata of limestone which
rest upon it. In Durham, being of loose texture and pervious to
water, it throws the greatest difficulties in the way of mining opera-
tions carried on within the limits of the limestone.

§ 2. (a). Variegated Marls, with irregular Beds of Compact and of
Shell Limestone.—This deposit is not either of great extent or thick-
ness, and is confined to a small part of the escarpment in Notting-
hamshire and Derbyshire. It is supposed to be contemporaneous
with the following subdivision :

(b). Marl-slate, and Compact Limestone-—This is much more ex-
tensively developed than the preceding formation ; and though by
no means co-extensive with the yellow limestone, derives importance
from its constancy of position and from its fossils. _ Several localities
in the county of Durham are described ; and among the beds of marl-
slate of East Thickley, &c., two or three species of fern have been
discovered ; and seven or eight species of fish, four of which at least
seem to be identical with fish of the Copper-slate.

§ 3. Great central deposit of Yellow Limestone.—lIt is subdivided
into, the following modifications, each of which is described in detail.

(1) Dolomite, a simple crystalline rock.—(a) Arenaceous dolomite,
coarse, nearly incoherent, often in minute rhombs.—(b) Swale
grained dolomite. Many quarries of this variety are described as ex-
isting on the back of the deposit, and extending from the neighbour-
hood of Mansfield to Bramham Moor. The crystalline beds pass into
others of mechanical structure, and in some extreme cases contain
20 or 30 per cent of siliceous sand.—(2) Compact magnesian lime-
stone.—(3) Laminated.—(4) Earthy.—(5) Masses of irregular con-
cretionary structure.—(6) Beds or coneretionary masses of crystalline
limestone without magnesia. Examples of these are derived from
quarries near Ripon, Knaresborough, and Newton Kyme, &c.—(7)
Brecciated structure.. This modification abounds on the coast of
Durham.—(8) Small concretionary structure—(a) Irregular.—(b)
Regular or oolitic—(9) Large globular concretionary structure.—Of
this, four principal modifications are described with minute detail.
All these several subdivisions of structure are supposed to have been
produced by great internal movements, after the mechanical deposi-
tion of the formation.

§ 4. Lower Red Marl and Gypsum.—This extends from the edge
of Nottinghamshire to the banks of the Wharf; thins off at the two
extremities ; attains its greatest thickness (perhaps nearly 100 feet)
on the right bank of the Ain ;—but has not been discovered in Dur-
ham or the northern parts of Yorkshire. ,

§5. Upper thin-bedded Gray Limestone —Near Ferry Bridge this
contains very little magnesia. In other places it contains subordinate
dolomitic beds. It commences at Carlton near Worksop, and ranges
without interruption to the left bank of the Wharf. Further north
it reappears in several places, under a modified form : and the highest
beds on the coast of Durham may perhaps be referred to it; but
the classifications are made obscure by the absence of the lower red
marl.

§ 6. Great Subdivisions of the new red Sandsione which are superior
to the dolomitic series.—In Nottinghamshire these consist of two
principal deposits—(a) Upper red sandstone—(b) Upper red marl
and gypsum.—The same subdivisions may be traced near the mouth
of the Tees. In the central parts of Yorkshire they are obscured ay
diluvium.

By way of conclusion,—the deposits described in § 1 and § 2, are
supposed to be the equivalents of the rothe-iodte-liegende, the kupfer-
schiefer, and zechstein.—Those described in §§ 3, 4, and 5, are in
like manner supposed to be the equivalents of the rauchwacke, asche,
foliated sdinkstein, breccias, and gypsum, which compose the upper
part of the Thuringerwald system. The coincidence, in order, mi-
neralogical character, and organic remains, seems to be nearly per-
fect. In like manner the two divisions described in § 6, are taken
as the respective equivalents of the bunter, sandstein and keuper ;
and, the enormously thick deposits between the coal measures and
the lias, with the exception of the muschel-kalkstein, are‘ thus found)
to admit of the same natural subdivisions in England and in central
’ Germany. Finally, the author speculates about the origin of the do-

lomitic deposits, and adopts in part the theory which derives them
from the mechanical destruction of the rocks of the carboniferous
order. He states however two facts, which seem to imply that the
waters of the ocean had a power of separating carbonate of mag-
nesia from the pre-existing rocks, in a manner which is not ex-
plained by the mere mechanical hypothesis :—Ist, the greater abun-
dance of magnesia than could have been supplied by the dolomites of
the carboniferous limestone ; 2ndly, the fact that some beds contain a
greater proportion of magnesia than is found in true dolomites.—
Whatever may have been the origin of the whole system ; its extent,
regular subdivisions, and characteristic organic remains, seem to
prove, that it originated in the long continued and consistent opera-
tion of powerful causes, acting simultaneously in distant parts of the
earth.

March 21.—Benjamin Silliman, M.D. LL.D. of Yale College,
North America, was elected a Foreign Member of this Society.
Francis Finch, Esq. and Thomas Winter, Esq., both of West Brom-
wich, Staffordshire, were elected Fellows of this Society.

A Paper was read, entitled “Topographical and Geological No-
tices, from information collected during the Expedition to the North-
west coast of America under the command of Captain Franklin ;_ by
John Richardson, M.D. F.R.S., &c.”’

The expedition under Captain Franklin having arrived at their in-
tended winter quarters on the shore of Great Bear Lake, examined
in 1825 the vicinity of that lake, and the course of the Mackenzie
River from thence to the sea. The author subsequently accompanied
Captain Franklin down the river, as far as Point Separation, in lat.
67° 38'; from whence the latter proceeded westward to lat. 70° 26’,
long. 148° 52':—the extreme western point seen by the expedition
being in long. 149° 37! west. Dr. Richardson at the same time
went eastward to the mouth of the Copper Mine River, and thence
returned overland and across the Great Bear Lake, to the head-
quarters.

This Paper contains an account of the specimens collected, and the
geological observations made by both divisions of the party ; and
gives in considerable detail a description of the vicinity of Great Bear
Lake, with a more general one of the banks of the Mackenzie and
of the coast to the East of it; to which are subjoined some observa-:
tions respecting the country previously passed over by the expedi-
tion, between Lake Superior and Fort Franklin. The distances
traversed being, in latitude, about 23 degrees N. of Lake Supe-
rior ; and in longitude, altogether about 80 degrees ;—60 degrees
to the west of Lake Superior, and 20 degrees on the coast, east-
ward from the mouth of the Mackenzie. The total extent passed
over in America by the expedition, in going and returning, was about
14,000 miles ; and that surveyed and laid down for the first time on
the maps, is about 5000 miles.

The author however mentions, that a very limited portion of his
time could be devoted to geological researches ; the ground being for:

eight months in the year covered with snow ; and the other objects
of the journey demanding his principal attention during the short
summer.

The country described consists, in general, of three or four forma-
tions, or series of beds, which occupy well marked divisions :—

1. The most western division comprehends the Rocky Mountains,
which appear to be composed of primitive rocks ; and the course of
the ranges is from about S.E. to N.W.; the faces of the hills to
the eastward being abrupt, but the slope towards the W. more gra-
dual. These mountains join the sea on the west of the Mackenzie ;
and at their termination are divided into four groups or chains, to
which Captain Franklin has given the names of Richardson’s, Buck-
land’s, the British, and Romanzoff chains. The land again becomes
lower to the west of the chain last mentioned, and continues to be so
from thence to the remotest point arrived at ; no prominent elevations
having been observed to the west of long. 146°.

2, Another very extensive tract of primitive rocks in the north of
America has nearly the same direction with the range of the Rocky
Mountains, but the two ranges converge towards the north; the
distance between them being, in lat. 50°, 700 miles ;—about 220 miles
where it was traversed by Captain Franklin, in going from Hudson’s
Bay to Lake Winipeg ;—and in lat. 66° only 200 miles. This east-
ern primitive tract consists principally of granite and gneiss ; it ex-
hibits great uniformity of character, contains no very elevated ground,
and is in fact traversed by several rivers which arise in the Rocky
Mountains. Itis flanked on both sides by extensive calcareous tracts.

3. The north-eastern extremity of the Rocky Mountain chain, near
the mouth of the Mackenzie, consists of grauwacke and other transi-
tion-rocks, interposed apparently between the primary and the cal-
careous districts. In some of the other places described, a rock
resembling the old-red-sandstone of England, occupies a similar si-
tuation.

4. The tract that intervenes between the Rocky Mountains and the
eastern primary band above mentioned, consists principally of cal-
careous strata, and is remarkable from its including, throughout, a
series of great lakes or lake-like rivers, with which a very large pro-
portion of the surface is occupied, and the bottoms of which appear
in several instances to be below the level of the sea. This interme-
diate calcareous band was traced in one place by the author, to the
width of about 280 miles from the eastern primary tract; and one of
its highest summits, about a mile from Bear Lake, was supposed to
be about 950 feet above the sea. The limestone of which this district
is composed, as well as that of the calcareous tract on the east of
the primary band above mentioned, presents considerable uniformity
of character: the ridges of hills are nearly parallel to those of the
Rocky Mountains ; and a very large proportion of the rocks observed
by the author, was found to be magnesian limestone,—apparently
belonging either to the magnesian limestone formation of England,
or to our mountain-limestone, which it is well known includes in
Europe numerous beds of dolomite.

The fossils also of this calcareous formation, are of the same genera
with those of our mountain-limestone and of the magnesian beds in
the north of England ; including corallines, product, terebratulites,
and a cardium : and in several places the calcareous beds contain a
large proportion of chert and flinty slate. The correct determination
of the relations of this great calcareous tract, is one of the chief
points of interest remaining for future research, in the country de-
scribed by the author; for while he agrees with other geologists in
assigning a portion of it, (as in the vicinity of Lake Winipeg,) to the
mountain-limestone of Europe, he justly remarks that in other places
the quantity of gypsum, in connection with copious salt springs, and
great abundance of petroleum, together with the occurrence of soft
marly-sandstone, and beds of breccia interstratified with those of
dolomite, and above all, the fact that dolomitic limestone is by far
the most common and extensive rock in the deposit, would lead to its
identification with the zechstein of continental geologists,—the mag-
nesian limestone of the North of England.

5. Above the limestones, and in some cases, it would appear,
alternating with the dolomite, is a very extensive deposition of sand-
stone, bituminous-shale, and slaty-clay (which last exhibits in some
places the peculiar structure denominated cone-in-cone) containing
nodular ranges of clay-iron-stone and beds of lignite. The shales
include impressions of ferns, lepidodendrons, and other vegetable.
remains ; and among the fossils of this formation was also found an
ammonite, supposed by Mr. Sowerby to belong to a part of the
oolitic series of England. It deserves inquiry therefore, whether
this may not be the equivalent of the carboniferous strata which
form a portion of the oolitic series in Yorkshire, and at Brora in Scot-
land.

The series of beds above described occurs extensively in the
course of the Mackenzie River, and on the shores of the Great Bear
Lake ; and from its being found also on the northern coast, at a
distance of about 300 miles from thence, and in a direction precisely
corresponding, it not improbably occupies the intervening country.

About Cape Bathurst (lat. 70° 36', long. 127° 35’) cliffs of alum
shale form the coast for more than 60 geographical miles, and are
described as resembling those of Whitby in Yorkshire.

6. On the promontory of Cape Lyon are extensive ridges of co-
lumnar trap associated with limestone and slate-clay ; and green-
stone is of frequent occurrence there and in some other places.
Porphyry also, forms low conical hills in the high ground between
the Copper Mountains and Bear Lake. -

7. Near the western boundary of the limestone, and not far from
the base of the Rocky Mountains, there occur at intervals, from lat.
20° to 69° N. extensive (tertiary ?) deposits, consisting generally of
sandstone, gravel, clay more or less bituminous, and brown wood-
coal. In some spots the wood-coal was replaced by an excellent
pitch-coal, the fractured surface of which is marked with very peculiar
concentric semicircular depressions ; and it is interesting to know
that this coal, which would be excellent fuel for a steam-vessel, occurs

on the coast of the Polar sea near the Mackenzie in considerable
quantity. This formation contains layers of a variety of pipe-clay which
‘is eaten by the natives, and is said to sustain life for a considerable
time. The deposit at the mouth of Bear Lake River includes some
beds of impure porcelain earth. The author found occasionally much
difficulty in distinguishing the sandstones and shales of this deposit,
from those of the formation mentioned above in Section 5.
_ 8. Among the indications of other strata more recent than the
magnesian limestone, was a loose fragment of soft limestone found
at the mouth of Babbage River, on the coast west of the Mackenzie,
containing the species of Cyclas (C. medius) which occurs extensively
in the weald-clay of England. | |

This memoir, which will be published in full in the Appendix to
Captain Franklin’s Narrative of the expedition, is illustrated by maps
and drawings, and accompanied by a catalogue in detail, of the
specimens referred to, which have been presented to the Geological
Society.

April 18.—William Hutton, Esq. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Beriak
Botfield, Esq. of Christchurch Oxford, and William Parker Hamond,
Esq. of St. John’s College Cambridge, were elected Fellows of this
Soaety.

A Paper was read, “ On the fossil remains of two new species of
Mastodon, and of other vertebrated animals, found on the left bank of
the rawadi; by William Clift, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S., conservator of the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.”

The author having been requested to describe the fossil remains
wlich the zeal and liberality of Mr. Crawfurd have transferred from
the deserts of the Irawadi to the Museum of the Geological Society,
confines himself strictly to zoological and anatomical details ; and fol-
loving the system of Cuvier, commences with the

Pachydermata proboscidifera.—The only genus of this order indi-
cated by the remains is the Mastodon ; and of this there are two spe-
des, Mastodon latidens and Mastodon elephantoides, not only com-
nanding attention from their novelty, but from the beautiful gradation
vhich they exhibit between the mastodons already described and the
cephant. On comparing the teeth of Mastodon latidens with those
0 the mastodon of the Ohio (M. giganteum) the denticules are found
tbe more numerous, and less distant, and the interstices less deep
tian in those of the latter. The teeth, in short, begin to assume the
apearance of those of the elephant. On advancing to Mastodon
e:phantoides, these features of similarity are more strongly deve-
loed: the many-pointed denticules are sti]l more numerous and
mre compressed ; and the structure, were it not for the absence of
custa petrosa, becomes almost that of the tooth of the elephant.
Ir both, though the teeth are formed upon the principle by which
th tooth of the mastodon is distinguished from that of the elephant,
th crown of the tooth wears away more like that of the elephant than
tht of the other mastodons:

The species are thus characterized :

Mastodon Jatidens.— Mastodon dentibus molaribus latissimis, den-
ticulis rotundatis, elevatis. Palato valdé angusto.

The dentition very much resembles that of the elephant. ‘The
molar tooth is gradually pushed forward, and rises as the fangs are
added, according to the demand occasioned by the abrasion of the ex-
posed crown, and the consequent absorption of the anterior fang ; the
posterior part of the tooth not having yet cut the gum, while the an-
terior portion is completely worn away. Before it are seen the relics
of the preceding tooth, the place of which the tooth in use was pro-
gressively supplying.

The lower jaw in this species is less square and deeper than it is in
M. giganteum.

The tusks, judging from the alveoli, must have been of equal vo-
lume with those of the largest living elephant.

The following is the measurement of some of the remains of M.

latidens.
' Extreme breadth of fragment of cranium (upper jaw

with the greatest part of both grinders) ........ 1Ft.3 In.
ength obidittowe is ee Te) eh MN Ee NT a tet is)
Extreme length of right anterior grinder (6 denticuli

and thelspuy)) eee ee eee CR 2 Oe 0 &
Extreme breadth at third denticulus ............ 0 4
Circumference of lower jaw, measured over the grind-

ingsuriacevol thettoothi sess ce > seme Died
Extreme) lengthiottooth see se eee wees 0 Wa
Extreme ‘breadth 1.1) 410 One Tae NS es eee OK eae
Circumference of the lower extremity of right femur 2 2.
Same, round the condyles! “is... ae 4

Mastodon elephantoides.—M. dentibus latis ; denticulis numerogs,
compressis.

This species must have been smaller than the last. There is a fine
example of the lower jaw, showing the tooth in the highest degret
of perfection. The tooth is 11 inches long and 34 inches broad
has no less than ten denticules, and each of these denticules is ma
millated with small points ; five being the smallest, and eight th
greatest number on any one denticule. In front of this tooth $
seen the remnant of the preceding one, worn down and disappeat
ing ; and behind it is the cavity wherein the young tooth, intendd
as a successor to that in existence, was in the course of formatio.
The denticules are much more compressed than those in the specis
last described ; they are closer together, and the whole tooth a-
proaches still more nearly to that of the elephant, while the jaw isn
unison with the appearance of the tooth.

Pachydermata ordinaria.—In this group we have the remainspf
the genera Sus, Hippopotamus, and Rhinoceros. Of the first thee
is only a single specimen, consisting of a small portion of the lowr
jaw, containing one molar tooth and the fragment of another. !f
the second there are but few fragments, nor are they sufficiently ch-
racteristic to warrant a definition of the species, which must have ben

comparatively small. Of the third there is a portion of the upper
jaw, containing two molar teeth; and portions of the lower jaw with
molares, which seem to approach nearer to those of the rhinoceros
of Java than to those of any other living species.’

Ruminantia.—In this group we have fragments of the ox and of
the deer.
; Repri.ia.

Chelonia, Cuv.—(Testudinata, Bell).—There are many fragments
of a large species of trionyx, and some of anemys. But the remains
are not sufficiently defined for specific description.

Sauria——Fam. Crocodilide.—Of this family we have the remains
of two genera; viz. a Leptorhynchus allied to, if not identical with,
the great gavial ; and a crocodile resembling Crocodilus vulgaris. Of
the former there are portions of the lower jaw and several vertebre;
of the latter, there is the anterior termination of the lower jaw, which
must have belonged to a very large individual.

The specimens, in general, do not appear to have undergone any
mineral change, with the exception of being abundantly penetrated
with iron, and are very brittle. This last circumstance, arising from
the loss of their animal gluten, indicates great antiquity, and that they
have not been imbedded in any very compact soil; unlike the teeth
of the mastodon of the Ohio, which lie in a strong blue clay, and have
almost as much animal matter as is to be found in a recent tooth.

The bones are almost in every instance broken ; and from the
firmness of texture of most of them, the direction and cleanness of the
fracture, and the sharpness of its edges, the injury, which must have
been the result of an immense power operating with sudden violence,
appears to have taken place at the period, or very soon after the
period, of the destruction of the animal.

A Paper was next read “On a collection of vegetable and animal
remains, and rocks, from the Burmese Country, presented to the
Geological Society by J. Crawfurd, Esq,’ by the Rev. W. Buckland,
D.D. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Mr. Crawfurd collected these specimens during his voyage up the
Irawadi in a steam-boat, on an embassy to Ava, in the latter part of
the year 1826. The author considers them to be of high importance,
as affording an answer to the curious, and till now undecided ques-
tion, whether there be, or be not, in the southern regions of Asia, any
remains of fossil quadrupeds analogous to those which are found so
widely dispersed in the diluvium of northern Asia, and of Europe and
America.

_ The evidence which Mr. Crawfurd has imported, consists of several

chests full of fossil wood and fossil bones, and of specimens of the
strata that are found along the course of the lrawadi, from Prome up
to Ava, being a distance of nearly 500 miles. The greater part of the
fossil wood is beautifully silicified ; other specimens of it are calca-
reous ; they are mostly portions of large trees, both monocotyledo-
nous and dicotyledonous, and were found along the whole valley of
the Irawadi from Ava to Prome. ‘The bones were all collected from

a small district near some wells of petroleum, about half way between
these towns, and on the left bank of the river. From Mr, Clift’s exa-
mination, it appears, that although we have among them no remains
of fossil elephants, we have the same fossil pachydermata that are
found associated with elephants in Europe; namely, rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, mastodon, and hog. We have also two or three spe-
cies of ruminantia resembling the ox, antelope and deer, with the
addition of the gavial and alligator, and two freshwater tortoises,
namely, trionyx Sail emys.

The teeth of the mastodon belong to two unknown species of that
genus, both of them approaching in size to the largest elephant. Mr.
Clift has designated them by the names of Mastodon latidens and
M. elephantoides. The teeth are from animals of all ages ; and there
are many fragments of ivory, derived probably also fea the mas-

todon.

The remains of the mastodon are by far the most abundant in this
collection, and amount to about 150 fragments.

Of the rhinoceros there are about 10 fragments.

Of a small species of hippopotamus, 2.

Of the hog, 1 ; and of the ox, deer and antelope, about 20.

Of the gavial and alligator, about 50.

Of the emys, 20 ; and trionyx, 10.

One fragment of emys is so large, that the animal of which it
formed a part, must have been several feet in width.

The state of preservation of these bones is very perfect, from their
being penetrated with hydrate of iron, and thereby rendered strong.
Not one of them is silicified,- though they have been erroneously
stated to be so, in some of the periodical journals.

The district in which they were found is a little North of the town
of Wetmasut, and is composed of barren sand-hills and beds of gravel
intersected by ravines, and cemented occasionally into a breccia by
carbonate of lime, and sometimes by hydrate of iron. Over the sur-
face of these hills were scattered the fragments of bones and wood,
some quite naked and loose, others half buried in the sand and gravel.
Many fragments of wood lay also at the bottom of the ravines.
‘About one-third of the bones have been slightly rolled; and the rest
had all been broken before they were lodged in the places where Mr.
Crawfurd found them, and where they appear to have been dispersed
and buried, by the action of the same waters that produced the dilu-
vial sand and gravel, whence they have since been washed out, and
left bare by the action of rains and torrents.

Concretions of sand and gravel adhere to many of the panes but
they contain no traces of shells, and differ mineralogically from all
the rock specimens in this collection, which we recognize as belong-
ing to tertiary and freshwater strata.

Indications of freshwater formation were found in one spot only,
not far from the fossil bones, and they consist of a marly blue clay,
abounding with shells of a large and thick species of Cyrena.

The tertiary rocks are: Ist, a dark slaty Haesrens: containing

many shells, that have been identified by Mr. Sowerby with those of
the London clay. 2nd,a yellow sandy limestone containing shells,
and resembling the calcaire grossier, and 3rd, a soft greenish sand-
stone resembling the sandy beds of our plastic clay formation.

‘This London clay and calcaire grossier afford an additional locality
of these strata to these indicated by the specimens described by Mr.
Colebrooke, in vol.i. Part 1, 2nd series of the Geological Transactions,
—which had already established the existence of bhis formation in
the N.E. border of Bengal.

Mr. Crawfurd states distinctly, that it is impossible to refer the si-
tuation of the bones, or the origin of the hills containing them, to any
operations of the existing river: these hills are sixty feet above the
level of its highest flood ; the effect of its actual operations, he ob-
serves also, is distinctly visible in the shifting islands of mud and sand
that abound along the whole course of the river within this high-
flood level, and in the great alluvial delta that extends from a little
below Prome to Rangoon and the gulf of Martaban.

The recent bones and recent wood which he observed to be stranded
on some of these islands, were not in a state of progress towards
becoming mineralized, but were falling rapidly to decay.

The existence of so many animal remains analogous to those that
occur in the diluvium of Europe, in a matrix which so nearly re-
sembles that diluvium, and which so decidedly differs from the allu-
vium, and freshwater, and tertiary strata of the adjacent country,
seems to authorize us to refer this matrix to a similar diluvial de-
posit in the valley of the Irawadi, reposing irregularly upon the ter-
tiary and other stratified rocks, that form the basis of that district.

Besides the tertiary strata above enumerated, there are specimens
of grauwacke and transition-limestone from several distant points in
the valley of the Irawadi between Prome and Ava, which render it
probable that the fundamentai rocks of this valley belong to the trans-
ition series.

On the north of Ava there are chains of primitive mountains
abounding with statuary marble, associated, as usual, with horn-
blende and mica slate.

We may therefore consider it as now opined on the authority
of Mr. Crawfurd’s notes and specimens, that the Burmese country
not only contains the remains of fossil animals above enumerated,
but also affords examples of the following geological formations,
which can be identified with those of Europe ; namely—

. Alluvium.

. Diluvium.

. Freshwater Marl.

. London Clay and Calcaire grossier.

. Plastic Clay, with its sands and gravel.
. Transition limestone and grauwacke.

. Primitive marble and mica slate.

NI Or & Go bo =

On the same evening, after the ordinary business of the Society

had been transacted, a special general meeting was held, when the
President having stated, that the Lords Commissioners of his Ma-
jesty’s Treasury had been pleased to transfer to this Society some of
the apartments in Somerset House, formerly used as the Lottery
Office, and lately in the possession of the Royal Society ; and that a
sum not less than 1000/. would be required for preparing the said
apartments for the reception of the Society, and the removal of their
Library and Collections :—

It was resolved unanimously,

I. On the motion of Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P., Pres. R.S., se-
conded by Henry Warburton, Esq., M.P.,—That the thanks of this
Society be given to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners
of his Majesty’s Treasury, for the grant which they have been pleased
to make to this Society, of apartments in Somerset House.

II. On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Buckland, Professor of Geology
at Oxford, seconded by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, Woodwardian Pro-
fessor at Cambridge,—That the thanks of this Society be given to
Davies Gilbert, Esq. the President, and to the Council of the Royal
Society, for their aid and cooperation in obtaining from the Lords of
his Majesty’s Treasury a grant of the apartments in Somerset House.

III. On the motion of Robert Ferguson, Esq., seconded by Leo-
nard Horner, Esq.,—That a Subscription be immediately entered
upon, to defray the expense of the necessary repairs in the apartments
recently granted to the Society in Somerset House, and of the re-
moval thereto.

May 2.—At a special general meeting holden this day at one
o'clock, for the purpose of electing a Member of the Council in the
room of Ashhurst Majendie, Esq.; and also for electing a Secretary
in the room of R. I. Murchison, Esq., and a Foreign Secretary in the
room of Henry Heuland, Esq., who had retired from their re-
spective offices ;

It was resolved unanimously,

{. That the thanks of this Society be given to Ashhurst Majendie,
Esq., retiring from the Council.

II. That the thanks of this Society be given to Henry Heuland,
Esq., for his long services in the office of Foreign Secretary, and for
the high regard which he has always manifested for the welfare of the
Society.

III. That the thanks of this Society be presented to R. I. Mur-
chison, Esq. on his retiring from the office of Secretary.

A ballot having been held for electing a Member of Council in the
room of Ashhurst Majendie, Esq., the scrutineers reported that Dr.
Henry Burton was duly elected.

A ballot having been held for electing a Secretary in the room of
R. I. Murchison, Esq., and a Foreign Secretary in the room of
Henry Heuland, Esgq., the scrutineers reported that Dr. Burton was
elected Secretary ; and that R, 1. Murchison, Esq., was elected Fo-
reign Secretary.

At the Ordinary Meeting holden on the same evening, John Clau-
dius Loudon, Esq., of Porehester Terrace, Bayswater ; and Thomas
Copeland, Esq., of Golden Square, were ‘elected Fellows of this So-
ciety.

An extract of a letter was read from Lieutenant William Glennie,
R.N., dated Mexico, May 6th, 1827, entitled “‘ The Ascent of Popo-
catapetl.”’

Many contradictory reports having long existed respecting the
volcanic nature of this mountain, the author felt desirous of ascer-
taining its actual condition in person.

The ascent commenced during the month of April 1827, from the
village of Ameca, situated in the province of Puebla, and near the
N.W. foot of the volcano, at an elevation of 8216 feet above the
level of the sea, and distant 14 leagues from Mexico.

The author describes the sides of the mountain as thickly wooded
with forests of pines, extending to the height of near 12,693
feet, beyond which altitude vegetation ceased entirely. ‘The ground
consisted of loose black sand of considerable depth, on which nume-
rous fragments of basalt and pumice-stone were dispersed. At a
greater elevation, several projecting ridges, composed of loose frag-
ments of basalt, arranged one abuve another, and overhanging preci-
pices 600 or 700 feet deep, presented formidable impediments to the
author’s progress ; and, in one direction only, a ravine was observed
to pass through these ridges, having its surface covered with loose
black sand, down which fragments of rocks ejected from the crater
continually descended.

After twelve hours of incessant fatigue the author gained the highest
point of the mountain on the western side of the crater, 17,884 feet
above the sea; at which station the mercury in the barometer sub-
sided to 15°63 inches, and the temperature indicated by the attached
and detached thermometers, was respectively 39° and 33° Fahr. at
5 o'clock P.M., when exposed to the direct rays of the sun, The
plain of Mexico was enveloped in a thick haze, and the only distant
objects visible at that time, were the volcanoes of Orizaba and Iztac-
cihuatl. The crater of Popocatapetl appeared to extend one mile in
diameter, and its edges of unequal thickness descended towards the
east. The interior walls consisted of masses of rock arranged per-
pendicularly, and marked by numerous vertical channels, in man
places filled with black sand. Four horizontal circles of rock diffe-
rently coloured were also noticed within the crater; and from the
edges of the latter, as well as from its perpendicular walls, several
small columns of vapour arose smelling strongly of sulphur. The
noise was incessant, resembling that heard at a short distance from
the sea shore during a storm; and at intervals of two or three mi-
nutes the sound increased, followed by an eruption of stones of va-
rious dimensions ; the smaller were projected into the ravine before
mentioned, the larger fell again within the crater.

The sensations experienced by the author were analogous to those
usually felt by travellers at considerable elevations ; viz. weariness,
difficult respiration, and headache, the latter inconvenience having

been first nunca at a height of 16,895 feet. ‘Tobacco smoke and
spirituous liquors were also found to produce an aay rapid ef-
fect upon the sensorium.

‘At the same meeting a letter was read from J. B. Pentland, Ksq.,
addressed to W. H. Fitton, M.D. P.G.S.. respecting the fossil re-
mains of some animals from the N.E. border of Bengal.

The author has discovered among the mutilated fragments of bones
obtained from the tertiary deposits on the Bramahpootra River in the
small state of Cooch-Behar,—presented to the Society some years ago,
by David Scott, Esq., and referred to in a former volume of the
Transactions *,—the remains ‘of four distinct species of mammalia,
making an. interesting. addition to the list sub) published by Mr.
Colebrooke, viz.—

1. A species of the genus Anthracotherium’ of Cuvier, which the
author proposes to distinguish by the name of A. Silistrense, —d spe-
cific denomination derived from one of the many names by which the
great Bramahpootra river appears to have been designated by ancient
geographers.

2. A small species of the order Ruminantia allied to the genus
Moschus.’

3. A small species of herbivorous animal referable to the Pachy-
dermata, but more diminutive than any of the fossil or living species
of that family at present known.

.4..A carnivorous animaliof the genus Viverra.

* Geol. Trans. 2nd Series. vol. i. p- 135.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1827—1828. No. 8.

May 16.—Decimus Burton, Esq. of Spring Gardens ; and Major
T. Perronet Thompson, of the 65th Regiment, were elected Fellows of
this Society.
The reading was begun of a Paper entitled, <‘ On the Old Conglo-
merates, and other secondary deposits on the north coasts of Scot-
‘land;” by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor, Cam-
bridge, V.P.G.S. &c. and R. 1. Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. and
F.R.S.

June 6.—M. H. Ducrotay de Blainville. Member of the Institute
of France, and of many other learned and scientific Societies, was
elected a Foreign Member of this Society ; and Richard Taylor, Esq.
Sec. L.S. of Middleton Square ; Charles Larkin Francis, Esq. of Nine
Elms, Surrey; and Jefiry Wyattville, Esq. R.A. of Lower Brook
Street, —were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of the Paper of Professor Sedgwick, and R. I. Murchi-
son, Esq., begun at the last Meeting, was concluded.

§ 1. Introduction.—The authors here give a brief sketch of the ge-
neral structure of Scotland, to the north of the Forth and the Clyde.
They consider the country to be composed of two entirely distinct
classes of deposits—primary and secondary; but with the primary de-
posits are associated many mountain masses “of er ystalline rock, which
appear to have been protruded since the deposition of the newest of the
secondary series ; and hence arises great, and sometimes insuperable,
difficulty, in passing from one class of deposits to the other. The low-
est of the secondary strata are chiefly composed of red-sandstone
and red-conglomerate : and from a general review of this part of the
subject, the wuthors conclude, that the conglomerate system on the
N.E. coast of the Highlands is identical with that on the N.W. coast ;
and that both the systems are of the same epoch with the great masses
of conglomerate which commence at Stonehaven, and range along
the southern flank of the Grampian chain.

§ 2. Range of the old-red-conglomerates through Caithness, and on
the shores of the Murray Firth, &c.—These rocks are stated to appear
in several unconnected masses on the north coast, between Cape
Wrath and Port Skerry ; and from the latter place they range into
the interior, and rise into a mountain chain (the highest parts reach-
ing the elevation of 3500 feet), which is continued to the granite of
the Ord of Caithness. Their range parallel to the shores of the Murray
Firth, is also given with many details. They are stated to be deye-

loped upon an enormous scale, and sometimes to form two distinct
chains of broken mountains, resting unconformably upon the primary
strata. On the south-eastern shores of the Murray Firth they gra-
dually thin off; and finally disappear near Cullen bay, in Banfshire.

§ 3. On the general structure of Caithness.—After an account of
the external appearance of the county, the authors describe in great
detail two coast sections. The first, commencing with the old con-
glomerates of Port Skerry, which rest immediately upon the gra-
nite, exhibits the successive deposits in ascending order, and termi-
nates with the newer red-sandstone on the shores of the Pentland
Firth, The second section exhibited on the east coast, commences
with the newer red-sandstone, and passing through all the interme-
diate deposits, finally exposes the old conglomerate system in a part
of the coast between Borridale and the Ord. From a general review
of the phenomena exhibited in these two sections, as well as from
other details derived from the interior of the county, the authors
conclude that the secondary deposits may be divided into three great
natural groups :—

1. The old conglomerates,—which contain some subordinate masses
of red-sandstone, red marle, and calcareo-siliceous flagstone; and
which, through the intervention of the red-sandstone, sometimes gra-
duate into the next system.

2. A great formation, occupying all the lower regions of the county,
and composed of alternating beds of sandstone, siliceous and calcareo-
siliceous schist and flagstone, dark foliated bituminous limestone,
pyritous shale, &c.; the siliceous beds giving the type to the lower
part of the formation, and the calcareo-bituminous beds to the interme-
diate part. This formation again becomes more siliceous and arena-
ceous in the upper portion, and so appears to graduate into the next
superior division.

3. A great formation of red, brown, and variegated sandstone, which
composes lofty precipices on the south shores of the Pentland Firth.
It reappears on the other side of the Firth in the lofty red cliffs of the
Orkneys, and there also reposes upon a calcareo-bituminous schist. —

§ 4. Fossil fish of the secondary deposits of Caithness, &c.—These
seem to be contained almost exclusively in the calcareo-bituminous
schist, which is subordinate to the middle group of § 3. They do not
appear to be confined to any particular part of it, but were found in ~
various localities, some in the lowest and others in the highest part of
the series ; and in many places scales and imperfect impressions ex-
ist in the greatest abundance. Some imperfect specimens were ex-
amined during a preceding year by the Baron Cuvier, who found that
they all exhibited a pointed tail (with the rays. exclusively on the lower
side,—as in the fish of the copper-slate of Thuringia), and notwith-
standing the great imperfection of the specimens, he concluded that
they were of the order Malacopterygii abdominales, and analogous to
the bony pike. Since that time much more perfect specimens have
been procured, which have been examined by Mr. Pentland; who has
not only been enabled to confirm the conjectures of Baron Cuvier,
but has ascertained two new genera, each containing two species.

The first genus (Dipterus) has a double dorsal fin, and the other fins
are nearly in the same position as in the Esocii.—One of the species
(Dipterus macrolepidon) is remarkable for the size of its scales, which
sometimes exceed half an inch in diameter. The second genus is
nearly allied to Amia and Lepisosteus. ‘The body is covered with
hard quadrangular scales, disposed in obliquerows. In all the spe-
cies the peculiar formation of the tail, before alluded to, is the same.

Along with the fish were found the remains of a Testudo, nearly al-
lied to Trionyx, and one specimen of a vegetable impression: but not
a single fossil shell or zoophyte has yet been discovered in any part
of the county. It adds to the interest of this singular assemblage
of organic remains, that they all resemblethe inhabitants of fresh
water.

§ 9. Secondary deposits on the shores of the Murray Firth_—Several
transverse sections through these deposits are described in great de-
tail; and from a comparative view of the phenomena exhibited in a
section from the conglomerate mountains in Hast Ross to the north
Sutor of Cromarty, and from thence to Tarbet Ness, it appears that
these secondary deposits admit of three natural divisions, like those
described in Caithness. The conglomerates in both counties are the
same. ‘The formations in the lower region of East Ross contain sub-
ordinate beds of calcareo-bituminous schist; and though fossils are
much more rare than in Caithness, yet a few examples of fish-scales,
and a fragment of a Testudo resembling a Trionyx, have been found
between the north Sutor and Tarbet Ness.—Lastly, the highest beds
of the whole series near Tarbet Ness, may be compared with the
newer red-sandstone of the Pentland Firth.

The transverse sections exhibited near the south shores of the Mur-
ray Firth, differ considerably in their details from what has been de-
scribed, The bituminous schists seem to be in some measure replaced
by beds of concretionary limestone, resembling the cornstone of Here-
fordshire: and these beds are surmounted by a great formation of
white sandstone, nearly resembling the sandstone associated with the
coal measures between the old and new-red-conglomerates in the Isle
of Arran.

§ 6. Red-sandstone and conglomerate series on the N.W. coast of Su-
therland and Ross-shire-—These extend almost without interruption
from Cape Wrath to Applecross ; and the authors (after stating afew
facts in addition to the details already given by Dr. MacCulloch) as-
sert that, through the intervention of the patches of conglomerate on
the north coast of Scotland, they are most intimately connected with
the conglomerates which extend from Port Skerry to the Ord of Caith-
ness. The two systems appear also to be identical in their general
character and relations. There are some difficulties arising out of the
peculiar modifications of the quartz-rock, which sometimes cannot be
distinguished, mineralogically, from that of the unconformable red-
sandstone and conglomerate series. The authors have, however, no
hesitation in classing the great red-sandstone series, which extends
from Applecross to Cape Wrath, with the older portions of the se<
condary deposits of Caithness and Sutherland,

§ 7. Conclusion.—The deposits previously described are here compared
with the corresponding formations of England.—1. ‘The old-red-con-
glomerates are, from their mineralogical character and position, iden-
tified with the old-red-sandstone of English geclogists—2. The great
central deposit, containing the ichthyolites, does not appear to be
perfectly identical with any formation hitherto described. It seems
in some measure to occupy the place of the coal formation. Many
parts of it resemble grauwacke in mineralogical character; and from
its enormous development, it can hardly be compared with the cop-
per-slate of Germany. Again, none of the fish of Caithness are iden-
tical with the fish of the copper-slate. The upper part of the Caith-
ness schist might however, in accordance with the Arran section, be
compared with the copper-slate; in which case the red-sandstone of the
Pentland Firth might be considered as the representative of the new-
red-sandstone of England. There is however a break in the series,
and it is perhaps impossible to determine where the interruption takes
place.—3. The red-sandstone on the shores of the Pentland Firth
most nearly resembles the red-sandstone of Arran, which is interposed
between the coal measures and the conglomerates of the new-red-
sandstone.

A Paper was read by the Rev. Dr. Buckland, on the Cycadeoidee,
a new family of fossil plants, specimens of which occur silicified in the
Free-stone quarries of the Isle of Portland.

These fossils have as yet been noticed only in the Isle of Portland ;
their existence has long been known to many persons, and to the au-
thor, who acknowledges the assistance of Mr. Brown and Mr. Lod-
diges, in assigning to them their place in the vegetable kingdom,
where they stand near the living Genera Zamia and Cycas.

Their external form approaches to that of the fruit of a pine-apple,
andis still more like the trunk of a living Zamia, varying from five to
fifteen inches in height, and from eight to fifteen inches in width. The
stems are nearly cylindrical, and terminate downwards in a broad flat
bottom, without any indication of roots : they have no true bark, but
are inclosed in a thick case, composed of the permanent bases of de-
cayed leaves, having a structure like that of the bases of the leaves of
the recent Zamia ; they are terminated externally by lozenge-shaped
impressions, or scars, of which a continuous series winds spirally, like
the scales on a fir cone, round the whole exterior of the plant.

As yet no leaves have been found adherent to any of these fossils,
but at the upper end there is a cavity, from which the crown and last
leaves appear to have been removed, before the petrifaction of the
stems.

The author describes and gives engravings of two species of these
fossils, with comparative sections of the recent Zamia and Cycas.

1. In the larger species, which he calls Cycadeoidea megalophylla,
the bases of the leaves are two inches long, and have nearly the form
and size of those of the Zamia horrida. ‘The trunk is short, and has
a deep central cavity, like the interior of a bird’s nest,—in which a
number of siliceous plates intersect one another, and form an irre-

Si!

gular plexus, unlike any vegetable structure, but resembling the
coarse cellular appearance that is common in fossil wood. Nearer
the circumference there appear distinct organic radiations, disposed’
in an insulated circle,—like that in the trunk of a recent Zamia, but
differing, in that it is much broader, and placed nearer the circumfer-
ence of the stem. The larger plates of this circle are made up of
smaller plates, almost invisible to the naked eye. Between this radi-
ating circle and the outer case or leaf stalks, is a narrow band, com-
posed of a minutely cellular, and nearly amorphous substance, but
analogous in structure and position to a much broader band that is
exterior to the radiating circle of the recent Zamia.

2. In the second and smaller species (Cycadeoidea microphylla),
the bases of the leaves are about an inch in length, but small and
numerous, much like those of the Xanthorrhoea, or Gum Plant, of New
South Wales. The trunk is more elongated, and the cavity at the
summit less deep, whilst the transverse section exhibits the same irre-
gular net-work at the centre, but near the circumference has two
concentric circles composed of radiating plates; and exterior to each
of these a narrow ring devoid of plates,—analogous to the two lami-
nated circles within two cellular circles in a recent Cycas.

In external and internal structure, these plants approach more
closely to the existing family of Cycadee than to any other; and
they supply, from the fossil world, a link to fill the distant void which
separates the Cycadez from the nearest existing family, the Conifere.
Their occurrence in the Portland oolite adds another to the many
facts which indicate the climate of these regions, during the period of
the oolitic formations, to have been similar to that of our tropics.

A letter to the President was read, from Gideon Mantell, Esq.
F.G.S. &c. enclosing a list of the fossils of the county of Sussex.

This list, which is taken principally from specimens in the author's
own collection, enumerates the fossils, first, of the alluvial and dilu-
vial deposits ; and, successively, those of the London clay, the plas-
tic. clay, chalk, chalk-marle, firestone, gault, Shanklin sand, and Hast-
ings deposits, including the Ashburnham beds.

Subjoined is a comparative table ; one of the most remarkable fea-
tures of which, is the preponderance of the number of species in the
marine formations over those of the beds assumed to be of fresh-water
origin, in a ratio of not less than six to one ; the testaceous mo!lusca
forming two-thirds of the whole, while in the fresh-water strata, the
proportion is reversed. Thus the marine deposits contain upwards
of two hundred and forty species of shells, and the two fresh-water
formations but twenty-two species. In the other classes and orders,
equally striking differences are observable.

On the other hand the marine formations are destitute of the cha-
racteristic fossils of the fresh-water formations, viz. birds, terrestrial
and fresh-water reptiles, shells and vegetables. The author, in short,
concludes that a comparison of the living inhabitants of our lakes and
rivers, with those of the ocean, would not offer more striking discre-
pancies.

June 20.—John, Earl of Shrewsbury, of Great Stanhope Street,
May Fair, and of Alton Abbey, Staffordshire ; Robert Allan, Esq. of
Charlotte Square, Edinburgh; W. S. Henwood, Esq. of Perran Wharf,
Truro, Cornwall ; and the Rev. John Ward, Vicar of Great Bedwin,
Wilts,— were elected Fellows of this Society.

A Paper was read ‘ On the Geology of Bundelcund, Boghelcund,
-and the districts of Saugor and Jabalpoor in central India.” By
Captain James Franklin, of the Bengal Army, F.R.S. F.A.S.

The tract of country described by the author is a portion of the
lowest northern steps of the Vindaya mountains, situated between the
latitudes 22° 40”, and 25° 20” N., and the longitudes 78° 30”,
and 83° E.; having on its north-eastern extremity the towns of Mir-
zapoor and Allahabad, and near its southern limit, those of Tendu-
‘kaira, Singpoor and Mundla.

In this extent of country the principal situations examined by Cap-
tain Franklin were, the pass of Tara in the first range of hills ; the
pass of Kattra in the second range; the cataracts of Billohi, Bauti,
‘Kenti, Chachye, and of the Tonse river; the neighbourhood of the
villages of Simmereah, Hathee, Birsingpur, Sohawel, Nagound, and
Lohargaon ; the bed of the Cané river near Tigra; the neighbour-
‘hood of Hatta, Narsing-hagarh, Patteriya, Saugor, Tendukaira ; the
valley of the Nermada river; Garha-kota, Great Deori ; the Bandair
and Kymur hills ; Jabalpoor, and the waterfall of Beragurh.

The succession of formations observed by the author consisted,
‘in a descending order :—1. Of diluvial deposits —2. Of overlying
‘rocks of the trap formation—3. Of a compact limestone.—-4. Of
red-sandstone.—And, lastly, 5. Of primitive rocks, including granite,
gneiss, &c. The Paper is illustrated by a geological map and sec-
tion of the country ; and the author particularly wishes to direct the
attention of geologists to the limestone of the second range of hills,
‘which he is of opinion corresponds with the lias-limestone of En-
gland, a formation which has not hitherto been shown to exist in
India.

Having commenced his route at Mirzapoor on the Ganges,—in a
district covered with alluvium reposing in some places on beds of
“Canker,” in others on sandstone, the author ascended the first
range of hills at the pass of Tara. These hills are composed of fine-
‘grained sandstone horizontally stratified, and more or less coloured
by red oxide of iron; the rock appears to be saliferous, and is in
many places quarried for architectural purposes ; and it seems to cor-
respond with the central portion of the new-red-sandstone of En-

land.
‘ At the pass of Kattra, near the summit of the second range of hills,
a friable variegated sandstone appears, in which thin lamine of sand-
stone alternate with red clay, resembling the red marle of England,
both reposing on slaty marle coloured by chlorite, which rests, appa-
rently, on massive horizontal strata, resembling clay-slate or grau-
wacke.

At the bottom of the cataract of Billohi, 398 feet in height, argilla-
ceous sandstone was found, tinged deeply by red oxide of iron, and

containing disseminated mica,—on which reposed a siliceous sand-
stone of a more compact texture.

Greenish white arenaceous sandstone not quite so compact was
found at the cataract of Bauti, 420 feet below the summit, varying
in colour as it ascended: and twenty-four miles further westward, at
the cataract of Kenti, and at a depth of 272 feet, as well as at the ca-
taracts of Chachye and of the Tonse river, sandstone of the same
general character was observed rising to the surface.

The sandstone of Simmereah is sometimes ferruginous, at others
slaty, and interspersed with mica ; in the neighbourhood of Hathee it
is succeeded by what the author considers as the equivalent of the
lias-limestone.

At Birsingpur, in the bed of a small river, is a stratum of red marle
or sandstone, containing lamine of calc-spar ; at Sohawel the red
marle underlies the limestone above mentioned ; and at Nagound in
the bed of the Omeron river, the lower and central beds of limestone
are exposed to view, containing fragments of fossil wood, stems of
ferns,—and, as the author states, the gryphite which is characteristic
of this formation in Europe.

This limestone appears also at Hatta and Narsinghagarh reposing
on red marle, and in the latter situation is tinged green by chlorite.
At Patteriya, where the limestone comes into contact with trap, the
strata assume in some places the form of chert.

The aspect of this limestone is dull and earthy ; its stratification ho-
rizontal or nearly so, and always conformable to the red marle on
which it reposes.

Between the pass of Patteriya and Saugor, the author met with no
other rock than trap, generally in the form of boulders imbedded in
friable wacken, and composed of concentric layers: beneath the bould-
ers is a bed of indurated wacken and basalt; and under the latter a
stratum of impure limestone, in some parts containing a large pro-
portion of alumine ; below the limestone is a stratum of amygdaloid,
containing cale-spar and a few zeolites, which at Saugor reposes
on sandstone.

The trap of Saugor continues without interruption to Tendukaira :
it contains abundance of chalcedony, semiopal, mealy zeolite, ca-
chalong, agates, jaspars and heliotrope.

At about the distance of three miles from the foot of the hills near
Tendukaira, in the valley of the Nermada river, the older rocks are
exposed to view, in strata which are highly inclined,—in some in-
stances nearly vertical, and in all cases unconformable to those already
noticed.

On his route from Tendukaira to Garha-Kota, captain Franklin
was enabled to ascertain the eastern boundary of the trap formation,
which is throughout intimately associated with earthy limestone ;
the whole series reposing on red marle and sandstone. '

Trap in horizontal strata was also observed for an extent of three
miles near Great Deori, previous to the appearance of the sandstone
of the Bandair hills, which last-mentioned rock the author is of opinion

corresponds with the new-red-sandstone of England; the same chain
of hills is composed of sandstone opposite Nagound, Lohargaon, Tigra,
and Gurreha. The Kymurrange in some parts appears to be composed
of quartz-rock, varying to siliceous grit, in strata nearly vertical ;
but to the S.W. near Hirapur, the rock becomes more compact ;
and still further west, opposite Googni, it is intermixed with clay-
slate and schistose limestone.

A broad valley covered with diluvium, intervenes between the Ky-
mur range of hills and Jabalpoor ; and near that town another range is
situated, composed of granite containing fiesh-coloured felspar, smoky
quartz, black mica and hornblende ;—and in which, also almost
every rock commonly associated with granite is to be found.

Snow-white dolomite, traversed occasionally by chlorite schist, is
to be seen near the waterfall of Beragurh, intimately associated with
quartz ; it is here capable of taking a fine polish, and scarcely effer-
vesces with acids ; but a few miles further west, near Bograi, it is ex-
ceedingly friable, and effervesces freely : it moreover contains crystals
of Tremolite.

Captain Franklin observes that a part of the southern barrier of the
valley of the Nermada river, like the northern barrier opposite Ten-
dukaira, is composed of trap-rocks, the contour of which, to the
extent of 80 miles, he has laid down on his map. The eastern
deposit of overlying rocks extends southwards as far as Chuparah,
and thence eastward towards Mandela, Omercuntuc, and Sohagpoor ;
but whether it is united with the great central mass, he was unable
to ascertain.

The Paper concludes with some inferences from the observations ;
and after stating the opinion of the late Dr. Voysey, that ‘‘ the basis
of the whole peninsula of India is granite,”’ (Asiatic Researches, Vol.
XV. page 123.) the author observes,—1. That although granite is
very near the surface in many parts of the tract which fell under his
examination, yet there is here, as in other countries, a series of pri-
mary stratified rocks intervening between the granite and secondary
formations ; which series however, there is reason to conclude, is
thin and often wanting.

2. The sandstone formation has a visible thickness of 420 feet at the
cataract of Bouti, and is considerably thicker no doubt near Chachye
and the Bandair hills, &c. The limestone formation on the contrary,
which in other countries sometimes forms mountain tracts, and occu-
pies extensive portions of the earth’s surface, is in India a mere
plastering, as it were, over the red marle or sandstone ; and Captain
Franklin doubts whether it ever attains a thickness of 100 feet ; 50
feet being perhaps a fair average. He never met with it in any other
situation than on the summit of the second range of hills.

3. The overlying trap-rocks are not only the most extensive, but,
considering them in a geological view, the most important formation
in this part of India. The thickness of this formation is variable :
it reposes on every rock indiscriminately, from granite upwards ; and
at Saugor it may be seen on sandstone, where its inferior boundary is

about 1350 feet above the sea. In the centre of India it occupies the
summits of the highest mountains ; and at Bombay it descends to the
level of the sea.

There are two kinds of basaltic rock in the district of Jabalpoor,
clearly of distinct formations ; the older variety penetrates the grau-
wacke stratum, in the bed of Nermada river, near Lamaita; the
younger is an overlying rock like that at Saugor,—but reposing on
granite, and containing a greater proportion of augite and olivine.

Captain Franklin also describes a calcareous conglomerate, found
in the beds of most of the rivers whose sources or channels are in the
trap, and of sufficient cohesion for architectural purposes : its strati-
fication is always horizontal, and in point of age he thinks it must be
classed with the tufas and concretionary formations so prevalent in
India.

An appendix to this Paper contains the results of barometrical and
thermometrical observations made between Nov. 1826, and Feb.
1827, on the route from Mirzapoor to Saugor, and thence to Ten-
dukaira and Jabalpoor ; with the heights of fifty-four places above
the sea, and the latitudes and longitudes of the respective stations.

- An extract was read of. a letter from Samuel Hobson, Esq. to Dr.
Roget, F.G.5. Sec. R.S. &c. (dated at New Orleans, 6th April, 1827,)
and enclosing.an account of some gigantic bones,—by Samuel W.
Logan, M.D.

The place where these bones had been found is not mentioned ;
but at the date of the letter, they were exhibited publicly at New
Orleans. Dr. Logan describes them as consisting of one of the bones
of the cranium, fifteen or twenty vertebre, two entire ribs and a part
of a third, one thigh-bone, two bones of the leg, and several large
masses of a cancellated structure.

The cranial bone was twenty feet and some inches in its greatest
length, about four feet in extreme width (for the bone tapers to a
point), and it weighed twelve hundred pounds. Dr. Logan inclines
to think that this is the temporal bone.

The vertebre, consisting of a body, oblique transverse, and spinous
processes, gave sixteen inches as the mean diameter, and twelve
inches as the depth of the bodies; while the passage for the spinal
cord measured nine inches by six. The spinous processes stand off
backwards and downwards, fourteen inches in the dorsal, and some-
what less in the lumbar vertebre, three of which latter are entire.

The ribs, well formed and in a perfect state of preservation, mea-
sured nine feet along the curve, and about three inches in thickness.

The thigh-bone, measured in length, gave only one foot six inches,
but is very thick. The bones of the leg are of similar dimensions,
but perhaps a little more slender.

It had been conjectured that the animal to which these remains be-
longed, was amphibious, and perhaps of the crocodile family ; and
the conjecture appeared to Dr. Logan to be justified by the great
length and flatness of the head (judging from the single specimen of
the. cranial bone), and the shortness of the limbs. It was also sup-

posedthat the animal, when alive, must have measured five and twenty
feet around the body, and about one hundred and thirty feet in
length.

An Extract was read of a letter from his Grace the Duke of Buck-
ingham, to Professor Buckland, V.P.G.S. dated at Naples, 3rd April,
1828, giving an account of certain phenomena, which attended the
late eruption of Vesuvius. The author states that the Solfaterra was
in no degree affected by the eruption.

A Letter was read from Charles Stokes, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. to W. J.
Broderip, Esq. Sec. G.S. explanatory of three drawings of Echini, re-
presenting,—]. A specimen of Galeorites albo-galerus (Lam.), from
the chalk, in which the plates of the mouth, consisting of five pairs, are
preserved in situ ;—2. A Cidaris, also from the chalk, in which por-
tions of the plates of the mouth and the teeth are visible: they are
displaced, but exhibit a system quite analogous to that of the recent
cidaris ;—and, 3. A Cidaris from Stonesfield, in which the anal plates
are in the best preservation.

At the. close of this Meeting, which terminated the Session, the
Society adjourned till Friday Evening, the 7th of November; when
they will meet at their Apartments in Somerset House.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1828—1829. No. 9.

November 7.—The Society having assembled this evening for the
session :—

The reading of a Paper “ On the Geology of Nice,” by H. T. De
la Beche, Esq. F.R.S. L.S. & G.S. was begun.

Noy. 21.—The reading of Mr. De la Beche’s Paper ““On the Geo-
logy of Nice” was concluded.

The author, after describing the situation of Nice, enters into a
detailed account of the diluvium and the strata in its neighbourhood.

I.—The diluvium (if indeed it can be so considered) is peculiar ; in
general it takes the form of breccia, either diffused irregularly or oc-
cupying clefts : appearing however in both situations to be intimately
connected.

1. Most of the diffused fragments correspond mineralogically with
the rocks on which they rest ; some few are rounded, and seem to
have been transported from a distance. The cement varies in hard-
ness and colour with the substratum. Where the breccia reposes on
dolomite or light-coloured limestone, it is so hard as to be blasted by
gunpowder, is reddish and vesicular; the vesicles being lined with
calcareous crystals—Where it rests upon gray secondary limestone,
or on any of the tertiary beds, it is soft, friable, and almost white.
Between Ville-franche and Hospice, the substratum is a sand, full of
shells so like those of the Mediterranean as to have been called sub-
fossil: some of these shells retain traces of their native colour ; the
rest are bleached. This sand-bed at Ville-franche is ten feet at least
above the sea: at Baussi Raussi, where it descends to that level, the
breccia exhibits pebbles of serpentine as well as limestone :—the
limestone pebbles being perforated by lithodomi, and the cement con-
taining sub-fossil shells. None of these breccias contain bones.

2. The other variety of the diluvium is lodged in fissures. A vein
on the south-east of the Castle Hill has its northern side perforated
by lithodomi, and yields two different kinds of pebbles,—in the blue
limestone of the lower part, and the magnesian above. This spot,
therefore, affords evidence of four distinct epochs.—1. When the sea,
higher than at present, introduced lithodomi into the fissure —
2. When the lower part of the fissure was filled with pebbles trans-
ported from a distance.—3. When its upper part was filled with the
broken bones of animals, shells terrestrial and marine, and with frag-
ments, principally but not solely, of contiguous rocks—4. When the
sea attained its present level.

3. The fossils under the breccia seem to have been quietly deposited
by a sea that stood several feet higher than the present Mediterra-
nean. To explain this difficulty, some authors imagine that the Me-
diterranean has sunk, by forcing its passage through the Straits of
Gibraltar; but this supposition the author conceives to be impro-
bable.

II. 1.—Tertiary rocks consisting of sand, sandstone, and a conglo-
merate of various rolled pebbles, shell marl, calcareous gritstone
and breccia, and gray marl, occupy an extensive area on the west
and north-west of Nice.

The shell marl here mentioned is that which Brocchi has described ;
and it contains, in the Sub-Alps, the same fossils as in the Sub-Appe-
nines.

In the calcareous breccia are angular pieces of the contiguous
limestone and dolomite perforated by lithodomi ; adhering to which
are sometimes found the lower valves of spondyli, quite perfect, not-
withstanding the delicate texture of their edges. The cement con-
tains three species of pecten ;—with remains, perhaps, of a Saurian.
Care must be taken not to confound this latter breccia, which rises
more than a thousand feet above the sea, with the diluvial breccia
above described.

On reviewing the tertiary beds, the author remarks in their probable
history three distinct epochs ; viz. two of repose, and one of violent
disturbance.

2. The Secondary rocks of Nice consist of two great formations ;
the upper one composed of siliceous, argillaceous, and calcareous par-
ticles intimately mixed, but in very variable proportions ; some of the
beds abounding in green grains; which circumstance, together with
the nature of their fossils, induces the author to rank the formation
to which they belong with the green-sand of England. Nummulites,
however, which are rarely found in the green-sand of this country,
are found plentifully in that of Nice. The strata are very much dis-
turbed and contorted ; so that an unguarded observer might often
suppose them to be inferior to rocks on which they are in reality in-
cumbent.

The green-sand is succeeded by a lower formation, which the author
refers to the Jura-limestone or oolite. In this he has found, occasion-
ally, terebratule ; in addition to which, Mr. Allan states that it
contains ammonites, pectens, an echinus, and, near the lighthouse at
St. Hospice, numerous corals. In mineralogical character, this stra-
tum is very unlike the English rocks which it is supposed to repre-
sent; its principal members being compact limestone, with occasion-
ally, flint, dolomite, and gypsum. The dolomite and compact lime-
stone are intimately connected; but the connection of these two
beds with the gypsum is less evident. At Sospello the gypsum
affords numerous small crystals of carbonate of magnesia or dolo-
mite ; but both these substances are found in too many formations
to be considered as characteristic.

The strata to which the compact limestone, dolomite and gypsum
of Nice are most analogous, are those of the Tyrol, Carinthia, Stiria,

and the North of Italy; in regard to the history of which, M. Von
Buch has supposed that what is now dolomite, was in the first instance
ordinary limestone; the magnesia which they contain at present
having been absorbed from pyroxenic lava, by the forcible intrusion
of which both this and the contiguous rocks were elevated, dislocated
and contorted. The author assents to this theory; and as the phe-
nomena of the tract described by M. Von Buch agree with those of
the vicinity of Nice, he ascribes the interchange of magnesian and
non-magnesian limestones, and the violent disturbances which both
have undergone in the latter instance, to the same cause which
M. Von Buch adduces, viz. the proximity of pyroxenic lava. Trap-
rocks, however, have not been observed very near Nice: but there
may be such, he conceives, within a short distance in depth; and the
probability that there are, is strengthened by the prevalence of rocks
of this class in the mountains of S. Troper and l’Estrelles, and by
the frequency of pebbles both of trap and porphyry in the tertiary
conglomerates above described.

The occurrence of dolomite and gypsum in what the author consi-
ders as the oolite formation, and the impracticability of recognizing
in this formation near Nice any of the individual beds of which it is
composed in England, are new proofs of the danger of judging of
large tracts of country, by rules derived from the study of detached
specimens.—The same stratum, in different parts of Europe, assumes
very different appearances ; and extreme nicety of discrimination in-

judiciously applied, is more apt to mislead the geologist than to in-
struct him.

Dec. 5.—The reading was begun, of a Paper “ On the Excavation
of Valleys, as illustrated by the Volcanic rocks of Central France,”

by Charles Lyell, Esq. V.P. G.S. F.R.S. &c. and R. 1. Murchison, Esq.
For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S: &c.

Dec. 16.—Messrs. Lyell and Murchison’s Paper, begun at the last
Meeting, was concluded.

The theory, long since enounced, which ascribes the excavation of
valleys to the long-continued erosion of streams, has been supposed
to derive remarkable support from the appearances of the volcanic
tracts in the interior of France ; and the authors, referring especially
to the works of M. De Montlosier, and the illustrations of that district
recently published by Mr. Scrope, conceive that what they have seen
themselves in Auvergne and the Vivarrais, strongly confirms the views
of these and other preceding writers.

1. In the commencement of this paper, several peculiarities are
stated in the original form of the lava-currents, or ‘“ cheires,”’ of
Auvergne ; which, if overlooked, might lead to an exaggerated es-
timate of the quantity of matter removed by the action of rivers. The
abruptness, especially, of the lateral termination of many of these
currents, is very remarkable; even where the lavas flowed in open
spaces, and where the surface has remained entire and apparently
unaltered since the time of their consolidation. But the authors still

conceive, that the waste exclusively attributable to running water
and its detritus in Central France, must in the course of ages have
exerted a most powerful influence on the external form of the country.

2. In the new Valley, about 250 feet in depth, opened at the Etang
de Fung by the waters of the Sioule, after the stream had been di-
verted from its course by the lava of Come, the matter removed,
and still continually carried away by the river, consists of alluvial
clay and sand, and in some cases of the subjacent. gneiss, which has
thus been excavated to the depth of forty feet. That no general
inundation contributed to this effect, is inferred from the total absence
of sand, mud, or pebbles, on the surface of the lava of Come; although
that current has occupied a low and exposed situation, ever since the
period when the Sioule began to open for itself its present channel.

3. Near the volcano of Chaluzet, the Sioule has not only cut
through more than 100 feet of compact basalt, but also the gneiss
beneath, to the depth of at least 50 feet ; the ancient channel of the
river being marked by a bed of pebbles, intervening between the gneiss
and the basalt, and now at a considerable height above the actual
stream. And here the authors discovered an ancient mining gallery,
driven in horizontally between the basalt and gneiss, so as to exhibit
the pebble bed to the distance of fifty or sixty feet; a proof that this ©
deposit was a true river alluvion, and not merely an external accu-
mulation of debris covering superficially a mountain slope. The state
of the cone and lava of Chaluzet demonstrates further, that no flood
has passed over the country since the commencement of the exca-
vation ; and similar inferences are drawn from the condition of the
cone of Montpezat in the Vivarrais. At Thueyts, in the same tract,
the gneiss is worn into by the Ardéche, in one instance to seventy feet
below an ancient alluvion overlaid by basalt. And in this valley an
undulating band of pitchstone, at right angles to the vertical columns,
occurs between the prismatic basalt and the subjacent gneiss ; afford-
ing an exact parallel to the external portions of the dykes which
traverse the oolitic strata in the Hebrides.

4. The lavas of the Vivarrais have suffered more from the action
of rivers than the recent currents in Auvergne: but the greater ve-
locity and volume of the waters, in the narrow and steep valleys of
the former country, may account for this, without supposing the
lavas to be much more ancient. In Auvergne, there are currents
of ages unquestionably intermediate between the oldest and most
modern ; the remains of which are in many cases seen to follow the
direction of the valleys, reposing upon ancient alluvions, and elevated
above the modern lavas and the present rivers. The authors, how-
ever, do not admit that relative altitude can be considered as an in-
variable criterion of the relative antiquity of basaltic plateaus, as
some writers have supposed.

5. In conclusion, a detailed account is given of the deposits at
Mont-Perrier or Boulade; where the fossil remains of various extinct
quadrupeds are found, alternating with beds of transported materials
of different kinds, which rest against the sloping side of a hill to the
height of between 200 and 300 feet. This hill itself is essentially

composed of tertiary marls, capped with basalt ; but the basalt does
not here overlie the alluvions, as has been asserted.

Phenomena perfectly analogous to those of Perrier are exhibited
on the Allier at St. Maurice, and in the hill of Monton, not far di-
stant: and these three sections, as well as that above mentioned at
the new passage of the Sioule, all concur in proving that many val-
leys in Auvergne, anciently excavated through gneiss and lacustrine
marls capped with old basalt, have at some remote periods been
filled up with transported matter, and afterwards been excavated a
second time,—generally to a depth below their original bottom.

6. The authors conceive, with the writers already mentioned,
that a satisfactory explanation of these phenomena may be derived
from the effects of the latest volcanic eruptions of Central France.
For the more recent lavas appear to have dammed up the channels
of several rivers, and converted ancient valleys into lakes; wherein,
as at Aidat and Chambon, alluvial matter is continually accumulating
at present. The modern lava of Montpezat, in the Vivarrais, has
thus obstructed the course of the Fontaulier, and given origin to a
lake, since filled with river alluvion and volcanic ashes; and these
deposits themselves, together with a part of the volcanic barrier,
have been subsequently cut through, by the action of the river and
the waters of the lake. The early and more copious lava-currents
of Auvergne must have occasioned larger lakes than those of recent
formation; and these, as has been stated by other authors, seem to
have been gradually filled up, with materials introduced by rivers,
and occasionally by floods from the sides or craters of volcanoes,
probably during their moments of eruption ; through which accu-
mulations new valleys were excavated by the continued action of
the rivers :—as at Mont-Perrier, to the depth of about 100 feet ; and
at Maurice on the Allier, to 400 feet, below their original bottoms.
The high antiquity of these alluvial depositions is inferred from the
fact, that their lowest remnants occupy as elevated a position on the
sides of the valleys, as the lava-currents of intermediate age in Au-
vergne; and from the compactness and enormous mass of the tra-
chytic breccias, which overlie and alternate with the alluvions.

7. Lastly, since the sand and gravel containing the fossil bones,
found on two different sides of the mountain of Perrier, are overlaid
by a vast mass of trachytic breccia, it is concluded, that the ele-
phant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyena, tiger, wild cat and other
quadrupeds, whose remains have been recently disinterred, must
have been inhabitants of this district, before the most recent cones
and lavas of Auvergne had appeared, or the valleys had been exca-
vated to their present depth; and even before the > Hees of Mont
Dor were extinguished.

Jan. 2, 1829.—A letter was read, addressed to R. I. Murchison,
Esq. For, Sec. G.S. &e. by G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. F.G.S
“© On the Series of Rocks in the United States.”’

Mr. Eaton has published, in Silliman’s Journal of Science, (vol. xin)
a Synopsis of the rocks of North America. In the commencement of

the present Paper, the author, after having made himself acquainted
by personal observation with the rocks of England,—states his opi-
nion, that the rocks in North America, which would appear from Mr.
Eaton’s Synopsis to succeed one another in an order perfectly irre-
concileable with that which has been observed in the British Islands,
do in reality follow the same order.

A comparative view of the respective systems, of Mr. Eaton and
the author of this letter, will be conveyed in the following table :—

Series of North American Rocks.

(According to Mr. Eaton.) (Mr. Featherstonehaugh.)
Superficial Analluvien.
Stratified Analluvion.
Post Diluvion.
Ante Diluvianiasiy Woes oa) sense Diluvium ? ?
Basal tiie pu seh ee ea oti camels Basalt.
3rd Grau- ¢ Pyritiferous Grit

wacke. 1 Pyritiferous sir .. Coal measures of England.

Cornitiferous Lime Rock

Geodiferous Lime Rock } eg vat Carboniferous Limestone.

ier Calcareous Grit

wi ball Calearennae ate } Ab esl Lower Limestone Shale.
Saliferous Rock poco ae } Old red-stone, similar to that of
Millstone Grit............ iat Monmouth.

2nd Grauwackessoen saci nk Grauwacke Slate.

Metalliferous Lime Rock. . Transition Limestone ; with En-
Calciferous Sand Rock .. } crinites, Madrepores, Corals, Tri-

Sparry Lime Rock ...... lobites, Producte, Spirifera, &c.
ist Grauwacke iin iilineevuer) cavee Whetstone-Slate, and Alum-Slate.
Argillitey sayeth aie uavspeiegd siayotelel Clay-Slate, and Flinty Slate.
Granular Lime Rock .......... Primitive Limestone.

Granular Quartz.

Malcase; Slates oa\-jaiitelsteyre bi skal Talcose Slate.

Hornblende Rock.

MicaySlatesy ie. la eeacisciy aie Mica Slate.

Granite poss siovsteyecss Gauetene sreseusheh- Granite.

It is stated, moreover, to be the opinion of Mr. Eaton, that the
coal measures of North America are analogous to those found at
Cloughton on the Coast of Yorkshire ; and consequently that the
English oolite, in which that coal is included, is represented by what
he calls the third Grauwacke. The author dissents altogether from
this doctrine. His opinion is, that neither the oolite, nor indeed any
of the beds which are in England higher in the series than the coal
measures, are to be found in North America, at least, north of
40° north latitude ; unless, perhaps, a very thick and extensive bed
of marl, destitute of fossils, but containing Septaria, and not unfre-
quently pebbles, (designated by Mr, Eaton by the term antediluvion) ;
—which, though the author has not been able as yet to refer them to
any of the regular formations, may hereafter be found to belong to
some stratum in the English Series.

In confirmation of the opinions here advanced, the author gives
a detailed account of observations made by himself, in the course
of an excursion from the City of Albany to the Hilderberg moun-
tains, over a plain which extends about thirty miles from north to south,
and sixteen miles from east to west. The surface of this plain, which is
324 feet above the level of the Hudson River, consists of sand incum-
bent upon a very thick deposit of the marl above noticed, which is
found also in various parts of the United States, as far south as
Louisiana. Near the Hudson River this marl is incumbent upon
transition rocks ; but at the Hilderberg mountains, it rests on carbo-
niferous limestone, containing the fossils usually found in that forma-
tion, and imperfect seams of black chert or flint. This range is re-
markable for its fissures and caves, one of which, more than 1500
feet long, situated in the town of Bethlehem, is minutely described by
the author. Within this cavern is a pool of water, along which one
of the attendants paddled himself in a small skiff, to the distance of
800 feet, in a course parallel to that pursued by the author, and
separated by a screen of natural pilasters with occasional openings :
this pool forms the head of a rivulet about one third of a mile from
the entrance of the cave.—The author was unsuccessful in his endea-
vours to discover bones within the cavern, though it abounds in
diluvial matter, which in some places presents a section of at least
seven feet in height——There is another cave in the same neighbour-
hood, said to be still more extensive, which he proposes to explore.

No regular search for bones has yet been made in the ‘caves of the
United States. The only fossil bones hitherto found in any cave in
that country, are those of the megaloriyx ; although the bones of the
megatherium, elephant, mastodon, ox and horse, have been discovered
in other situations. But so little attention has been paid to the cir-
cumstances under which these remains occurred, that it is impossible
to decide whether they were lodged in alluvial or diluvial deposits.
In the author’s opinion, no fossil remains of the hyena, rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, bear, or tiger, have ever yet been found in the United
States.

A letter was read, addressed to Dr. Fitton, President of the Geo-
logical Society, by Samuel Woodward, Esq., respecting some re?
markable fossil remains found near Cromer, in Norfolk.

The author notices the limited extent of the marine formation of
Eastern Norfolk, and is of opinion that its rejectamenta may point
out the boundary of a former sea in that district.

The marine remains, denominated Crag, are found at Cromer, and
westward of that town, at Coltishall, and around Norwich. To the
eastward of these situations, instead of marine shells, a layer of lig-
neous and mammalian remains is found reposing on the chalk.—
The author considers that a line drawn from Cromer, or a little east
of it, and passing in a south-east direction towards Lake Lothing by
Lowestoff, will very nearly describe the course of the antediluvian
shore ;—to the eastward of which, immense numbers of the fossil re-
mains of the elephant, horse, deer, &c. mingled with the trunks,
branches and leaves of trees, have been found, even to the distance

of twenty miles out at sea; and on the Knoll-sand the tusk of a Mam-
moth (drawings of which are annexed to this letter) was found in the
year 1826, resembling those recently brought to England from
Behring’s Straits.

Jan. 16.—An Appendix was read to Mr. De la Beche’s Paper, on the
Geology of Nice, by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. &c. &c. &c.

After bearing testimony to the correctness of the description given
by Mr. De la Beche of the immediate neighbourhood of Nice, the
author communicates his own observations made along the high road
from that city to the Col de Tende, for the distance of about fifty miles.

The hill on the south of Scarena, twelve miles N.E. of Nice, pre-
sents a section of the green-sand formation, with nummulites, turri-
lites, and its other usual fossils, alternately with compact gray-lime-
stone destitute of fossils. At Mont Brause the same beds of green-
sand occur loaded with ammonites and belemnites.

On the descent to Sospello are found, in a regular descending se-
ries, green-sand, Jura, oolitic (or younger Alpine) limestone, lias, red-
marle, and older Alpine limestone or dolomite, abounding in rauch-
wacke, and with vast beds of gypsum; on the N. of Brais mountain,
is a similar section, at least 1500 feet in thickness.

In approaching the primitive chain we find in the vale of the Roya
various beds of the new-red-sandstone formation, loaded, near Scorglio,
with pebbles, (rothe-todte-liegende) ; and three miles beyond, at La
Fontana, this conglomerate rests on a coarse red micaceous grau-
wacke, which is succeeded by primitive rocks.

From hence the author infers, that the lower part of the calcareous
deposit near Nice, is the older Alpine limestone ; as is the opinion of
M. Risso. On the authority of that gentleman, Professor Buckland
remarks, that near the source of the Var the older Alpine limestone
contains gypsum, with sulphur and salt springs; and he thinks it
probable, that the gypsum found near Vinaigre and Requiez, and at
Cimiez, belongs to this formation, rather than to the younger Alpine
limestone, to which Mr. De la Beche refers it. A similar develope- °
ment of the new red sandstone is seen between Toulon and Frejus,
accompanied with gypsum, saccharine dolomite, rauch-wacke, and
conglomerate.

The author repeats, what he has advanced elsewhere, that although
limestone of all ages is occasionally more or less dolomitic, yet it is
peculiar to that of the new-red-sandstone formation, to be so very
decidedly, and almost invariably. He dissents altogether from the
theory which ascribes the magnesia contained in the calcareous beds
of the Tyrol to the proximity of trap rocks ; since he cannot conceive
that strata many hundred feet thick, and many miles distant, so far
as is known, from any pyroxenic rock, have derived from such rocks
their magnesian character ;—particularly as the beds, which are mag-
nesian, are found not unfrequently to alternate with calcareous beds
that are not so.

Jan. 16.—A Letter was read, addressed to the President of the
Society, by MM. Von Oeynhausen and Von Dechen, containing

’

Observations on the mountain Ben Nevis, and on some other places
in Scotland.

The authors of this communication, two Prussian naturalists, have
here presented their observations on some of the more interesting por-
tions of Scotland, which they visited about three years ago, with a view
to a comparison of the rocks of Great Britain with those of the continent.

1. The Paper commences with a description of the great barrier of
the Caledonian Canal: High mountains of crystalline rocks form its
western boundary ; conglomerate and sandstone, with subordinate beds
of black calcareous shale, reach from the east to the upper end of
Lochness; on the banks of the river of that name, is a flat pebble
beach 150 feet higher than the sea, portions of which form islands that
have the aspect of old fortifications.

Ben-Nevis is wholly crystalline: its summit consists of felspar-
porphyry; its sides of granite, which rises to the height of 3000 feet
above the sea, and is bordered by gneiss and mica-slate.

Near Inverlochy Castle, a low rock projecting above the surface
of the bog, consists of mica-slate, alternating, as in the valley of the
Spean, with gray granular limestone.

On the N. of Ben-Nevis, sienite containing mica and hornblende,
both of them black, and therefore easily confounded, forms below the
granitic declivity a narrow ridge nearly 1000 feet high.

On the right bank of Glen-Nevis, the schistose rocks are lower
towards the west, and repose on the steep side of the granite, small
hollows, however, intervening ; they soon disappear on the north,
but gain ground eastward.

A single summit only, of Glen-Nevis, consists of mica-slate; beneath
are chlorite slate, and a rock composed of alternate lamine of com-
pact white felspar and green mica; in the hollow below is contorted
gneiss, connected intimately with the rock just described, or rather
passing into it.

Compact white, and pale-green felspar occurs frequently in the
slates, at and near their junction with the granite.

The granite at the sides of Ben-Nevis is large-grained, composed
of flesh-coloured felspar, albite, gray-quartz, and black mica in equal
proportions ; higher up, it loses the albite and quartz, acquires a few
specks of hornblende, and passes into a kind of felspar-porphyry ;
which last-mentioned substance constitutes the summit.

The junction of the granite and porphyry is laid bare on the E. and
S. sides of the mountain; but on the N. and W. is concealed by
scattered blocks of porphyry.

At the head of Glen Ptarmigan, is a steep cliffof porphyry, at least
1500 feet high. Its shape is that of an oblique four-sided pyramid,
irregular and truncated, rising on the east and south, through the
granite; and not merely overlying it, as M. Boué supposed. This
fact the authors consider themselves as having fully established.

With equal confidence they affirm, that the gneiss and mica-slate
are not conformable to the granite ; and that the latter has forced its
way through them: the granite traverses them also in the form of veins.

They remark further, the frequent occurrence of compact felspar,
where these substances adjoin the granite.

2. The mountains N. of Ben-Nevis are chiefly mica-slate: S.E. of
Loch Lochy this rock passes into gneiss; on the sides of Glen Gloy,
Glen Tuntick, and Glen Roy, it contains garnets, and alternates with
quartz rock; in the valley of the Spean it is interstratified with
granular limestone.

Felspar, porphyry, and greenstone occur, in the mica-slate, in Glen
Gloy, in Glen Roy, at Caldivan, and in the valley of the Spean.

The S. shore of Glen-Nevis, near Ballahulish, is a granitic aggregate
of felspar and mica; with concretions of micaand hornblende: granite
_ occupies the low ground; gneiss succeeds, passing eastward ,into mica-
slate and clay-slate, in which are beds of roof-slate alternating with,
and traversed by, greenstone dykes, and interstratified with granular
limestone.

In Glen Coe mica-slate is cut through obliquely by compact felspar-
porphyry ; in the bed of the river is a fine-grained granite, with con-
cretions like those of Ballahulish ; the granite is succeeded by gneiss
at a lower level, and at a higher, by compact felspar, speckled and
veined with epidote.

3. On the Isle of Sky the authors offer the following observations :

The syenite lies upon the hyperstene rock ; the passage into which
is not gradual, but abrupt; the hyperstene rock passes into compact
greenstone, and often skirts the syenitic mountains; the lias rests on
syenite, or forms detached outliers ; and this observation holds good
invariably.

There is no such thing as a vein of syenite in the lias. The trans-
mutation of lias into white granular and compact limestone is more
constant at its junction with syenite, than with greenstone or trap;
in the latter case it sometimes varies, sometimes not,—a circumstance
difficult to account for. saivat

The hyperstene rock seldom adjoins the lias; when it does, like
greenstone or trap, it both intersects and covers it.

Although the authors make a distinction between the rocks of
syenite and those of trap and hyperstene, on account of their position
relatively to the stratified rocks, they do not ascribe to the former a
higher antiquity than to the latter; for the syenite must be the pro-
duction of a later era than the lias, since it has materially altered it.

Feb. 6th.—A Paper was read, “On the discovery of a new species
of Pterodactyle ; and also of the Feces of the Ichthyosaurus ; and of a
black substance resembling Sepia, or Indian Ink, in the Lias at Lyme
Regis ;°—by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. Professor of Mine-
ralogy and Geology in the University of Oxford.

1.—This specimen of Pterodactyle was discovered, in December
last, by Miss Mary Anning, and was found to belong to a new species
of that extinct genus, hitherto recognized only in the lithographic
Jura-limestone of Sollenhofen,—which the author considers as nearly
coeval with the English chalk.

The head of this new species is wanting, but the rest of the ske-
leton, though dislocated, is nearly entire; and the length of the claws
so much exceeds that of the claws of the Pterodactylus-longirostris
and brevirostris, of which the only two known specimens are mi-

nutely described by Cuvier, as to show that it belongs to another
species,—for. which the name of Pterodactylus macronyx is proposed.
A drawing of this fossil by Mr. Clift accompanies the paper. The
author had for some time past conjectured, that certain small bones
found in the lias at Lyme Regis, and referred to birds, belong rather
to the genus Pterodactyle. This conjecture is now verified. It was
also suggested to him, in 1823, by Mr. J. S. Miller of Bristol, that
the bones in the Stonesfield-slate, which have been usually con-
sidered as derived from birds, ought to be attributed to this extraor-
dinary family of flying reptiles: Dr. Buckland is now inclined to
adopt this opinion, and is disposed to think still further, that the co-
leopterous insects, whose elytra occur in the Stonesfield-slate, may
have formed, the food of those insectivorous Pterodactyles. He con-
ceives also, that many of the bones from Tilgate Forest, hitherto re-
ferred to birds, may beiong to this extinct family of anomalous reptiles :
and, from its presence in these various localities, he infers that the
genus Pterodactyle was in existence, throughout the entire period of
the deposition of the great Jura-limestone formation, from the lias to
the chalk ; expressing doubts as to the occurrence of any remains of
birds before the commencement of the tertiary strata.

2.—Fossil Faces of the Ichthyosaurus.—The author concludes from
an extensive series of specimens, that the fossils, locally called Bezoar-
stones, which abound at Lyme, in the same beds of lias with the bones
of Ichthyosaurus, are the feces of that animal. In variety of size and
form they resemble elongated pebbles, or kidney-potatoes, varying ge-
nerally from two to four inches in length, and from one to two inches
In diameter; some few being larger, others much smaller. Their
‘colour is dark gray; their substance, like indurated clay, of a com-
pact earthy texture ; and their chemical analysis approaches to that
of album grecum. Undigested bones and scales of fishes occur abun-
dantly in these faecal masses. The scales are referable to the Dapedium
politum, and other fish that occur in the lias ; the bones are those
of fish, and also of small Ichthyosauri. The interior of these bezoars
is arranged in spiral folds; their exterior also bears impressions re-
ceived from the convolutions of the intestines of the living animals.
In many of the entire skeletons of young Ichthyosauri, the bezoars
are seen within the ribs and near the pelvis: these must probably
have been included within the animal’s body at the moment of his
death. The author found, three years ago, a similar ball of fecal
matter, in the collection of Mr. Mantell, from the strata of Tilgate
Forest, which abound in bones of Ichthyosauri and other large reptiles ;
and he conjectures that these bezoars exist wherever the remains of
Saurians are abundant.

3.—Fossil Sepia —An indurated black animal substance, like that
in the ink-bag of the cuttle-fish, occurs in the lias at Lyme Regis ;
and a drawing made with this fossil pigment, three years ago, was
pronounced by an eminent artist to have been tinted with Sepia. It
is nearly of the colour and consistence of jet, and very fragile, with
a bright splintery fracture; its powder is brown, like that of the
painter's Sepia ; it occurs in single masses, nearly of the shape and
size of a small gall-bladder, broadest at the base and gradually con-

tracted towards the neck; these masses are always surrounded by athin
nacreous case, brilliant as the most vivid Lumachella ; the nacre seems
to have formed the lining of a fibrous thin shelly substance, which
together with this nacreous lining was prolonged into a hollow cone
like that of a belemnite, beyond the neck of the ink-bag ; close to
the base of the ink-bag there is a series of circular transverse plates
and narrow chambers, resembling the chambered alveolus within the
cone of a belemnite ; but beyond the apex of this alveolus, no spa-
those body has been found.

The author infers, that the animal from which these fossil ink-bags
are derived, was some unknown cephalopode, nearly allied in its in-
ternal structure to the inhabitant of the belemnite ; the circular form
of the septa showing that they cannot be referred to the molluscous
inhabitant of any nautilus or Cornu-ammonis.

Feb. 6th.—A paper was read “ On the Oolitic District of Bath,”
by William Lonsdale, Esq., of Bath-Easton.

The tract described in this paper comprehends a space included
between lines passing,—on the north, from Wicke north-west of
Bath, through Marshfield, Kingston-St. ‘Michael, and Lynham, to the
Chalk-downs north of Calne and ‘Cherhill; and on the south and
south-east,—from the south of Radstock, through Frome and Westbury
to Devizes. The author refers to the works of Mr. Smith, and of
Messrs. Conybeare, De la Beche, and Phillips, as the principal pub-
lished authorities on the district ; and states his obligations for much
valuable information to the Rev. B. Richardson of Farleigh, near Bath.

The geological boundaries of this tract are, on the west and north-
west, the lias ; on the south-east and east, the Chalk-downs, extend-
ing from Salisbur y Plain near Westbury to near Urchford, and thence
to Cherhill-hill on the east of Calne. The series of strata which it
includes, being the following, in a descending order.—

Strata. Thickness. Strata. Thickness.
Feet. Feei.
Lower chalk Forest marble (continued) ;
Challemanlycys isch ete 150 ClayAW, trace baile 10
Upper green-sand ...... 79 coarse oolite ...... 25
Gauleai en) (oni ers. 150 sandy clayand grit 10
Lower green-sand ...... 50 Bradford-clay .... 50
Kimmeridge-clay........ 1502) Great.Oolite<..)...2. ..0. 140
Upper calcareous grit.... 10 Fuller’s-earth .... 150
Coral rag..... Sth. laa 40 Inferior Oolite
Clavie Aai\eisiete a 40 sandy oolite..... 60
calcareous grit .... 50 sand and grit.... 70
Oxtord¢clay. ee ee eal 300? j — 130
Kelloway rock.... 4) marlstone ..+..... 10
Comibrashiy.t Sn ee ee. 16 Lias; uppermarl.... 200
Forest marble blue lias...... 50
Clay Mie Sie Shey ain 15 white lias .... 10,
sand and grit. 40 lower marl.... 20
—- 280?

The surface of the country described in this paper is characterized

99
by three ranges of hills connected by two plains.—1. The most western
ridge is that of the great oolite, the highest part of which is 813 feet
above the sea. It is separated, by the plain of the Oxford clay, from
—2. The range of the coral-rag ; which again is detached, by the
valley and plain of the Kimmeridge-clay and gault, from—3. The
range of Chalk-hills.

The author describes in succession the several members of the se-
ries above mentioned: giving for each stratum an account of the
range and boundaries, a general type of the succession and propor-
tion of the component beds, with a detail of the physical characters
and local peculiarities and names, and an enumeration of the orga-
nized remains, detailing the species of the fossils, with their localities
and references to published figures. These copious details do not -
admit of abridgement.

The paper is illustrated by the corresponding sheets of the Ordnance-
map, so far as they have been hitherto engraved, coloured geologi-
cally ; and by several sections explanatory of the succession of the
strata, and of the forms of the surface.

The following Persons have been elected Fellows, and Foreign Members,
since the commencement of the present Session.

FELLOWS.

1828. Nov. 7th.—Joseph Henry Green, Esq. F.R.S. Mem. Royal
Coll. of Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn Fields ; William Petrie Crau-
furd, Esq., Horse Guards ; and Joshua King, Esq. M.A. Fellow
and Tutor of Queen’s College, Cambridge. __ |

Nov. 2lst.—Frederick Page, Esq. of Goldwell House, near Newe-
bury.

Dec. 5th.—John Auldjo, Esq. of Lancaster Place, Waterloo Bridge ;
George Ormerod, Esq. LL.D. F.R.S. &c., of Tildesley in Lanca-
shire, and of Sedbury Park, Gloucestershire; and the Rev. David
Williams, Rector of Bleadon, Somersetshire.

Dec. 19th.—William Frederick Hertzog, Esq. Assistant Surveyor-
General at the Cape of Good Hope.

1829. Jan. 2nd.—William Gladdish, Esq. of Gravesend; and Daniel

Chambers Macreight, M.D. of 37 Somerset Street, Portman
Square.

Jan. 16th.—Philip de Malpas Egerton, Esq. of Oulton Park, Che-
shire; Thomas Alderson, Esq. of Great Marlborough Street ;
and Richard Cowlishaw Sale, Esq. of Surrey Street, Strand.

Feb. 6th.—Sydney Smirke, Esq. of Carlton Chambers, Regent Street.

Foreign MemeBers,

1828. Dec. 5th.—M. Léonce Elie de Beaumont, Professeur Suppléant
de Géologie a 1’Kcole des Mines, Paris.

Dec. 19th.—Frangois Dominique de Reynaud, Comte de Montlo-
sier, President de la Societe des Sciences, &c. &c., Clermont, Puy
de Dome; and M. J. M. Bertrand de Doue, President dela Societé
d’ Agriculture, Sciences, Arts, et Commerce du Puy, Haute-Loire.

rat
ia

[

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1828—1829. No. 10.

AT THE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
20th February 1829;

A Report from the Council was read, of which the following is an
abstract :—
“Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the
last Anniversary, and at the close of the year 1828.

Fellows. - 15th Feb. 1828. 31st Dec. 1828.
Having compounded.......... AAA OAc E85) ae ey 4.8
Contnibutinoy enon LUGO CIR Aiea 14:7
INICMDARETOGNG Sg ba gbosPonsbebe CAE ae pio eee 223

Boelt Nh, ieee il) 418

Honorary, Members) 044.0: ve eee a BOUD NOS, 50 HON 51

Rorereny Membersiss 5) 0250.50: AVP ever oats eh Oe

Total, 507s Wo Walls 521

“The Names of the Fellows deceased, en the past year, are
as follow:— _
. William Hyde Wollaston, M.D.
Compounders. . Nar Wiliams Wedd, ISG,
( R. Stark Macmurdo, Esq.
Contributing Fellows. . William Phillips, Esq.
Henry Holland Stutzer, Esq.
ne John Braddick, Esq.
INGMSESITG TI gee ck Rev. E. E. Chaundy.
WOnele ny Wy tee yes: - < (None.)
( J. R. Barclay, M.D.
Richard Faber, M.D.
1 O2ENEYY “a oaae Buna Robert Lovel, M.D.
L John Lord Oriel.

102
“Sums actually Received and Expended,

RECEIPTS.
Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1828: Bh TMP PIG ie Si) ath (01
Banker ass: SRP E Bik la Bee lee 432 2 O
(CD eye ean EAR CGR RUE NEAR ae BOM eZ NS
462 4 3
Arrears : B SNR CAA
OP ACNISsIONVEEES “ey wae eno he cae DK! Gh (0)
of Contributions) ieee eels see Pe HOWTO.
OL AEDES Heo CL eee 8210 0O
165 9-0
Ordinary Income: Le Sods
Annual Contributions, 1828........ 414 10 6
Admission-Fees: USO
Resident yi ai eye senate 69 6 O
Non-resident ........ 168 0 0
2377) ou, 0
651 16 6
CWompositions/(Seven)) Apman cece r ree) err er AN the
Rents, to the end of the Society’s ae 95 0 0
pationof/ BedfordiStreet |. 4). nine §
28 Gs ah
Premium for lease of Bedford Street... 25 OO
Valuation of Fixtures, &c........... 63 13 0
88 13 0
Mransactionsisoldie yey wey uae ee ce ana 7 af avey 0)

[N.B. The receipts from the Subscription for fitting up the
Apartments in Somerset House, are placed to the Account of
the “ Repairing Fund ;” which still remains open, and will
be stated at the close of the current year. |

£11897 1479

103

during the year ending 31st December 1828.”

PAYMENTS. iss ae
Bills of 1827; outstanding January 1, 1828 ........ 181 7 8
General Expenditure : Siete Qe) Son Seis
House repairs, Bedford St. 18 5 3
Charges on removal from do. 30 14 9
Taxes and Parish charges .. 91 19 2
Do. Somerset House ...... 410 2
Insurance gis ae nui hple as 911 5
Burniture eee eee sia $6 6S 9
— 191 7 6
Salaries and Wages: g8) Sy Gh
Clerk es eA ents Misc age 87 18 O
Collector’s Poundage ...... 15 0 0
Occasional Clerk ......... 5 2)
Porter and Servants ..:... 61 4 §
216 310
s5 8 Ot
Coals ee eres 32 15 O
Oil, lamps, candles, ae 31 13 2
SUTATICS! Mey csp ante aiet
64 8 2
BB 8 Ob
Stationery). yee ee isons DA STO
Miscellaneous printing .... 26 2 O
Books ean sod ah She Gal 17 19 O
Bookbinding ............ ao 1, ©)
Arranging part of collection 11 11 O
84 7 YG
Miscellaneous : Gr sa as
Petty expemses ............ 65 5 6
Tea (for Meetings) and waiters 20 13 3
Sundry earthenware, &c. .... 14 12 11
100 11 8
656 18 11
Rents paid, to the end of the Society’s occupation 157 10 0
of Bedford Street ........ ANGRY ene eT
Cost of Publications ; LS!) ithe
Transactions ............+. By a shulseeuelacee 195 8 2
Broceedinestiennyteiterio elie eee 3114 8
RMN)
Contributions repaid ...... Seatevettel stele swal ete) APeveeys(eelal 8 O
£11232) 8) 70
Balances in hand; Ist Jan. 1829. a8 oy Gh,
Banker Wee eG ia, ah ey Se aie gy 607 4 9
(ON Ta UMA i Ce eRe EEN Bly C5 26 12 O
Collector ....... sdenbaad aievelisaea nbs .. 31.10 O
665 6 9

£1897 14 9

io)

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106

‘©The Museum has received many valuable donations since the
last Anniversary, of which the following are the most important :—

I. British Specimens.

‘¢ A Collection of Fossil bones, from the Diluvium near Brentford;
presented by the Rev. J. H. Randolph, F.G.S.

Fossils of the mountain limestone, from Closeburn, Dumfriesshire ;
presented by J. S. Menteith, Esq.

Various specimens of sandstone, conglomerate, and organic remains
from Caithness; presented by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, V.P.G.S.
Woodwardian Professor, Cambridge; and R. I. Murchison, Esq.
For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Specimen of Ichthyosaurus intermedius; presented by H. T. De la
Beche, Esq. F.R.S. G.S. &c.

Specimens of Fossil vegetables in Coal-shale, from Merthyr Tydfil
in Glamorganshire; presented by Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S.
S.A. G.S. &c.

Organic remains, found in digging the New Basin of the London
ae presented by Henry Palmer, Esq. Engineer to the London

ocks.

Specimens of Fossil antlers, and remains of a species of Deer, and
Fossil remains of a species of Ox, found above the Chalk at Graves-
end: presented by the Earl of Darnley, and William Gladdish,
Esq. F.G.S. &c.

Two specimens of antlers of the Irish Elk; presented by the Rev.
W. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. Professor of Mineralogy in
the University of Oxford.

Fossils of the London Clay, &c. from Highgate; presented by Ber-
nard Geary Snow, Esq. F.G.S.

Casts of Bones of Fossil Crocodiles; presented by the Rev. W. D.
Conybeare, F.R.S. G.S. &c.

Specimens of Fossil shells, rocks, &c.; presented by Sir Alexander
Crichton, M.D. F.R.S. G.S. &c.

II. Foreign Specimens.

“« Modern columnar Lava,—from the coulée of Jaujac, at the bridge
of Naigles, Ardéche; presented by the Rev. Dr. Buckland,
V.P.G.S. &c.

Casts of Fossil bones of various animals, particularly of the Plesio-
saurus and Mososaurus; presented by the Baron Cuvier, For.
Mem. R.S. and GS. &c. &c. &c.

Fossil bones from the Caverns of Echenoz, near Vesoul; presented
by J. B. Pentland, Esq.

prec from the vicinity of Christiania; presented by M. Otto
Tank. ;

Specimens from the River Colombia, N.W. coast of America; pre-
sented by Mr. Alexander Douglas. :

Specimens to illustrate a Paper on the Volcanic Districts of Central
France; presented by C. Lyell, Esq. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c., and
R. I. Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S, F.R.S. &c.

107

‘© The Lisrary has been increased by the donation of 74 vo-
lumes and smaller pamphlets.

“The third Part of a Second Volume of the Society's TRANS-
Actions, (Second Series), has been published since the last Anni-
versary.

«PAPERS read atthe Meetings of the Society, since the last Anniversary.

On the Geological Relations and internal structure of the Magnesian
Limestone, and the lower portions of the new red-Sandstone
Series; by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, M.A. F.R.S. V.P.G.S. Wood-
wardian Professor, Cambridge.

Topographical and Geological Notice, from information collected
during the Expedition to the North-west coast of ‘America, under
the command of Capt. Franklin; by John Richardson, M.D.
F.R.S. &c. |

On the Fossil remains of two new Species of Mastodon, &c. found
on the left Bank of the Irawadi; by William Clift, Esq. F.G.S.
F.R.S. &c.

On a Collection of Vegetable and Animal remains and Rocks, from
the Burmese Country, presented to the Geological Society by
J. Crawfurd, Esq.; by the Rev. William Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S.
F.R.S. Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of
Oxford.

Extract of a Letter from Lieut. William Glennie, R.N. entitled,
«The Ascent of Popocatapetl.”

A Letter from J. B. Pentland, Esq. to W. H. Fitton, M.D. Pres. G.S.
F.R.S. &c. respecting the Fossil remains of some. Animals from
the N.E. coast of Bengal.

On the Old Conglomerates, and other Secondary Deposits, of the
North coasts of Scotland; by the Rev. A. Sedgwick, V.P.G.S.
&c. and R. I. Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c.

On the Cycadeoidez, a new family of Fossil Plants; by the Rev.
W. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. &c.

A Letter to the President, with a list of the Fossils of Sussex; by

' Gideon Mantell, Esq. F.G.S.

On the Geology of Bundelcund, Boghelcund, and the Districts of
Saugor and Jabalpoor in Central India; by Capt. James Franklin,
of the Bengal Army, F.R.S. G.S. &c.

A Letter from Samuel Hobson, Esq. to Dr. Roget, F.G.S. Sec. R.S.
&c. enclosing an account of some gigantic Bones; by Samuel
W. Logan, M.D. &c.

A Letter from His Grace the Duke of Buckingham ; with an account

of the late Eruption of Vesuvius.

A Letter from Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S.G.S. &c. to W. J. Broderip,
Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c. explanatory of three drawings of
Echini.

On the Geology of Nice; by H.T. De Ja Beche, Esq. F.G.S.
F.R.S. &e. ‘

74,

108

On the Excavation of Valleys, as illustrated by the Volcanic Rocks
of Central France; by Charles Lyell, Esq. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c.
and R. I. Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. &c.

Letter addressed to R. I. Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. &c., by
G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. F.G.S. On the Series of Rocks
in the United States.

Letter addressed to the President, by Samuel Woodward, Esq.
respecting some remarkable Fossil remains found near Cromer.

An Appendix to Mr. De la Beche’s Paper on the Geology of Nice;
by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. &c. &c.

Letter addressed to the President, by MM. Von Oeynhausen, and
Von Dechen, on the Geological Structure of Ben Nevis, and the
neighbouring Country.

On the Discovery of a new Species of Pterodactyle; and also of the
Feces of the Ichthyosaurus; and of a black substance resembling
Sepia, or Indian Ink, in the Lias at Lyme Regis; by the Rev.
William Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. &c. &c.

On the Oolitic District of Bath; by William Lonsdale, Esq. of Bath-

Easton.

«« The following List contains the Names of all the Persons, from
whom Donations to the Library and Museum have been received,

during the past year.

American Phil. Society.
Astronomical Society of London.

Beaumont, M. Elie de, Ingé-
nieur des Mines, For. Mem.
G.S. &c.

Bostock, John, M.D. F.R.S.
G.S. &c.

Bouillet, M. J. B., Membre de la

- Société pour |’Industrie Natio-
nale, &c.

Bowen, Captain.

Bristol Institution.

Broderip, W. J., Esq., Sec. G.S.
F.R.S. L.S. &e.

Brongniart, M. Adolphe.

Brongniart, M. Alexandre, de
l Académie Royale des Sci-
ences, &c.:

Brookes, Joshua, Esq., F.R.S.
L.S

Buckland, Rev.W.,D.D.V.P.G.S.

F.R.S. Professor of Mineralogy

and Geology, in the University
of Oxford.

Charles, M. des Moulins, Pres.
de la Société Linnéenne de
Bourdeaux, &c.

Conybeare, Rev. W. D., F.R.S.
V.P.G.S.

Coxe, L. S., Esq., F.G.S.

Crichton, Sir Alexander, M.D.
F.R.S. L.S. G.S.

Croizet, M. L’ Abbé.

Cuvier, M. le Baron, For. Mem.
L.S. G.S. &c.

Darnley, Earl of.

De la Beche, H. T., Esq., F.R.S.
L.S. G.S.

De Pierola, M. N.

De Rivero, M. M. E., Director
Jeneral de Mineria, xc.

Deveze, M. I. S. de Chabriol.

Directors of the Honourable East
India Company.

Douglas, Alexander, Esq.

Ducrotay, M. H. De Blainville,
For, Mem. G.S. &c.

109
Dufrenoy, M., Higenieus des | Pentland, J. B., Esq.

Mines.
Engelspach, M. la Riviere.

Fiedler, Dr. Carl. Gustav.
Franklin, Captain John, R.N.
F.R.S. &c.

Garnier, M. F., Ingénieur au
Corps Royal des Mines.
Gerolt, M. Frederico de.
Gladdish, William, Esq., F.G.S.
Gray, John Edw.,Esq.,F'.G.S.&c.

Harding and Lepard, Messrs.

Hericart, de Thury, M. le Vis-
comte, Conseiller d’ Etat, Mem-
bre de I’ Académie des Sci-
ences, &c.

Honinghaus, F. G., Esq.

Horticultural Society of London.

Leeds Phil. and Literary Society.

Linnean Society of London.

Loudon, J. C., Esq., F.G.S.

Lushington, Th E., Esq.

Lyell, Charles, Esq. 5 V.P.GS:
F.R.S. &c.

Mantell,Gideon, Esq., F.G.S. &c.

Marcel, de Serres, Membre Cor-'

respondant de la Société Lin-
néenne a Montpelier.

Martin, G. P., Esq.

Martin, P. yk Esq.

Menteith, J. S., Esq.

Moses, Moses, Esq.

Mousinho d’ Albuquerque, M.

Murchison, R.1., Esq., For. Sec.
G.S. F.R.S. &ce.

Murray, John, Jun., Esq., F.G.S.

Nelson, B., Esq.

Nordenskiold, Nils, Esq., Pro-
fessor of Mineralogy, Abo.
For. Mem. G:S.

Palmer, Henry, Esq.
Parkinson, J., Esq., Consul at
Pernambuco.

Philadelphia Maclurian Lyceum.

Randolph, Rev. J. H., F.G:S.

Rang, M., Lieut. de Vaisseau.

Richardson, John, M.D. F.R:S.
L.S. &c.

Roget, P. M., M.D. Sec. R.S.
F.GS. &c.

Royal Academy of Sciences of
France.

Royal Asiatic Society.

Royal Institution.

Royal Society of London.

Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Rozet, -M., Officier au Corps
Royal des Ingénieurs Géo-
graphes.

Scrope, G. P., Esq., F.R.S. G.S.

Sedgwick, Rev.A.,M.A.V.P.G.S.
F.R.S. Woodwardian Profes-
sor, Cambridge.

Silliman, Benjamin, M.D. L.L.D.
Professor of Chemistry and
Mineralogy in Yale College,
North America.

Snow, BernardGeary,Esq.,F.G.S.

Stanhope, the Earl.

Stokes, Charles, Esq., F.R.S. S.A.
L.S. G.S.

Tank, M. Otto.
Taylor, John, Esq., Treas. G.S.
F.R.S.
Taylor, R. C., Esq., F.G.S.
Taylor, Richard, Esq.,F.L.S. G.S.
een W.C,, Esq. + F.L.S.
S

Twopenny, Mrs.
Whewell, Rev. W., M.A. F.R.S.

Professor of Mineralogy in the
University of Cambridge.
White, John, Esq.

Yarrell, William, Esq., F.L.S. &e.
Yates, Rev. James, F.L.S. G.S.
Yorkshire Philosuphical Society.

Zoological Society.

110

The Council on the 10th of December last, received from the late
Dr. Wollaston, a communication to the following effect :

*¢ Dorset Street, December 8, 1828.

“TI have this day invested one thousand pounds three per cent.
reduced Bank annuities in the joint names of myself and the Geo-
logical Society of London, in trust, that the said trustees shall,
during my life, pay to me the dividends on the said stock; and after
my decease, that the said Society, as surviving trustee, shall apply
the said dividends in promoting researches concerning the mineral
structure of the earth; or in rewarding those by whom such re-
searches may hereafter be made, or in such other manner as shall
appear to the Council of the said Society for the time being, con-
ducive to the interests of the Society in particular, or of the science
of Geology in general; such latter application however, of the
dividends to the purposes of science will, in my opinion, be most
creditable to the Council.

«And I hereby empower the Council of the said Society, in
furtherance of the above declared objects of this trust, to apply the
said dividends in aiding or rewarding the researches of any indivi-
dual or individuals, of any country; saving only that no member of
the Council for the time being shall be entitled to receive or par-
take of such aid or reward.

«‘ And I hereby enjoin the said Society not to hoard the said
dividends parsimoniously; but to expend them liberally, and as
nearly as may be annually, in furthering the objects of the trust.

«And I request the Society to entitle the fund hereby to be
created, ‘ The Donation Fund; in full confidence, that as there
never have been wanting in the Society members who, in cases of
emergency, have been willing to contribute in aid of the ordinary
funds of the Society; so there now are, and hereafter will be
members who will make additional contributions to this < Donation
Fund.’

(Signed) “W. H. WoLLAston.”

“Witness, Henry WaRBURTON.

Whereupon it was resolved,—

“ That the Council, on behalf of the Geological Society, do accept
the trust, on the conditions mentioned in the communication of Dr.
Wollaston, with gratitude and respect; and they beg to assure him,
that however important this accession to their funds may be, both
in itself, and in the effect which they are convinced it will have in
obtaining similar contributions from other Fellows; hey attach still
greater importance to it from the testimony which it conveys of his
approbation, and of the interest which he takes in their pursuits.”

The deeply lamented death of Dr. Wollaston since the date of
the preceding document, having placed the property above men-
tioned entirely at the disposal of the Society, it will be the business
of the Council for the ensuing year, to make such arrangements as
shall be thought expedient, in order to carry his wishes, in the
establishment of this “‘ Donation Fund,” into effect.

111

The Society, at a special meeting on the 18th of April, 1828,
was informed of the grant from the Lords Commissioners of his
Majesty’s Treasury, through the mediation of the President and
Council of the Royal Society, of apartments in Somerset-house; at
which time a subscription was opened for the purpose of repairing
and fitting up the apartments, whereby the sum of 923/. 8s. 6d. has
been produced.

From that time till the entrance of the Society into their apart-
ments, the attention of the Council was occupied unremittingly in
making arrangements connected with the removal from Bedford-
street, and in superintending the progress of the works necessary
for the reception of the Society at Somerset-house. They disposed
of the lease of the late premises in Bedford-street on satisfactory
terms ; and, under the direction of Mr. Decimus Burton, they were
enabled to. adapt the present apartments to their new purposes,
much more effectually than at first was thought practicable. The
Council hope that, considering the limited space for the reception
and display of the collections, what has been done with these objects
will be approved of by the Society, and be found effective and con-
venient.

The Council has the satisfaction of stating, that all the debts
incurred to the present time, in repairing and fitting up the new
apartments, have been entirely discharged ; including the cost of a
stove for heating the house with warm air, and of apparatus for
supplying the lower rooms and staircase with gas light; and the
purchase of several new cabinets and articles of furniture. The
amount of these demands, from various and inevitable causes, has
been found considerably to exceed what at first was hoped or ex-
pected. But the Council has, nevertheless, thought it expedient
to pay off the whole, by taking from the ordinary funds of the Su-
ciety a sufficient sum to make up the present deficiency of the
subscription ; leaving open, however, for the present, the subscrip-
tion fund, and the account of the expenditure on the repairs; in
order that such Fellows as have not yet subscribed, may bave an
opportunity, if they think proper, of adding their names to the
subscription list; and thus, in effect, increasing the sum which
will then be applicable to the essential purposes of carrying on the
publications, and improving the Museum.

The Council cannot close what they have to state on this subject
without informing the Society, that Mr. Decimus Burton, having
throughout the progress of these operations, devoted to them his
well-known skill and taste as an architect, has declined receiving
any pecuniary compensation; stating that his satisfaction in being
useful to the Society was much more acceptable to him than any
such reward. ,

In the early part of the past year the arrangement of the Museum
was improved, particularly of that part which relates to the English
and Scotch series. All the specimens not yet introduced into the
cabinets were examined, and numerous duplicates discarded. Con-
siderable progress was made in classing the fossil bones, and at-

112

taching to them their proper names and localities: but the mea-
sures for completing these important operations were found to be
incompatible with the transfer of the cabinets to their new situations.

The Council, however, has been careful to provide for the re-
ception of such specimens as are not yet placed in the cabinets;
and they have provided such places for storing them as will, they
trust, prevent confusion, and insure facility of access to them.
The Council has no doubt that the further measures necessary to
render the collections effectively useful, will be carried into exe-
cution without delay, by their successors in office.

The Report having been read, it was Resolved,—

1. Tar this Report be received.

2. Tuar the thanks of the Society be given to W. H. Fitton, M.D.
retiring from the office of President.

3. Tuart the thanks of the Society be given to Arthur Aikin, Esq.
Charles Lyell, Esq., and the Rev. A. Sedgwick, respectively re-
tiring from the office of Vice-presidents. |

4, Tuat the thanks of the Society be given to Dr. Burton, retiring

_ from the office of Secretary.

5. Tuat the thanks of the Society be given to R. I. Murchison,
Esq., retiring from the office of Foreign Secretary. __

6. Tuat the thanks of the Society be given to the Rev. W. D.
Conybeare, John Crawfurd, Esq., J. W. F. Herschel, Esq.,
Henry Heuland, Esq., and Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, Bart.,
retiring from the Council.

7, Tuat the thanks of this Meeting be given to Decimus Burton,
Esq. for the valuable professional assistance which he has render-
ed, gratuitously, to the Society.

The President then delivered the following Address from the chair.—.
GENTLEMEN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

You have heard in the report of your Council, that the favour of
the Government, through the cordial interference of the Royal
Society, has conferred upon us, since our last Anniversary, the
Apartments in which we have now the satisfaction of being assem-
bled. Having had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
sentiments of the Council of the Royal Society upon this subject,
I am justified in assuring you, that the most anxious desire has
- been expressed and acted upon by them, to promote the welfare
and advance the purposes of our Institution; and I have the satis-
faction of adding, that the mark of approbation with which the
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have honoured us, in this
instance, is supported by similar proofs of confidence in other de-
partments of the public service,

The best return for these marks of approbation, will be to con-

113

tinue to promote the researches for which we are associated ; and
to render as useful as possible, to those who are engaged in the
study of Geology, the various sources of information afforded by
the collections and papers, which the liberality of your members and
other contributors has entrusted to your charge. The Council
has this day informed you of the measures which it considers eligi-
ble for these purposes; and I need not remind the Fellows, that
the prosperity resulting from the exertions of our predecessors can
be upheld only by the continued activity of those who have leisure
to assist, periodically, in the current business of our institution.

Among the members whom we have lost during the past year,
we have had to regret the death of Mr. William Phillips, who had
been for several years distinguished by his acquirements and pub-
lications on Mineralogy and Geology; and whose name stands
very creditably prominent in the list of persons, fortunately nu-
merous in England, who, though constantly occupied in commerce,
increase their own happiness, and promote useful knowledge, by
the application of their hours of leisure to the pursuit of Natural
Science.

Mr. Phillips was the author of several Papers in our Transactions,
all of them containing proofs of the zeal and effect with which he
pursued his inquiries. It was after the invention of Dr. Wollaston’s
reflective Goniometer, that his assiduity and success in the use of
that beautiful instrument enabled him to produce his most valuable
Crystallographic Memoirs ; and the third edition of his elaborate
work on Mineralogy * contains perhaps the most remarkable results
ever yet produced in Crystallography, from the application of mere
goniometric measurement, without the aid of mathematics. In our
fifth volume Mr. Phillips has compared some of the strata near
Dover with those of the opposite coast of France ; and has proved,
that the cliffs on the two sides of the English Channel, though evi-
dently portions of strata once continuous, must always have been
separated by a considerable space. He was the author likewise of
several detached works, which have materially promoted the study
of Mineralogy and Geology. But the service for which he principally
claims the gratitude of English Geologists, is his having been the
proposer of the Geological “‘ Outlines of England and Wales;” in
which his name is joined with that of the Rev. William Conybeare ;
—a book too well known to require any new commendation, and to
the completion of which we all look forward with increasing interest
and expectation.

You have heard, in the Annual Report, the document by which
Dr. Wollaston acquainted the Society with a donation intended
for the advancement of Geological research. This Paper was
dated on the 8th of December last: the tremulous and uncertain

* « An Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy, &c. 3rd edition, enlarged,
with numerous Wood-cuts of Crystals.”—London, 1823.

114

character of the signature too evidently testified the declining state
of the writer; and in a few days afterwards*, not our Society, nor
England only, but the whole scientific world had to lament his
death.

In this place, and in the presence of so many to whom he was
personally known, I could not trust myself to speak of Dr. Wollas-
ton, so soon after the melancholy event which has deprived us of
hini, in the tone that might be suitable to a public meeting. And yet,
if there ever was a man, in the estimate of whose character the
feelings of private attachment might be allowed to mix themselves
with scientific approbation, it was he: his personal and his intel-
lectual qualities were so consistent ; both flowing obviously from the
same independence of spirit and strict love of truth; and both
exhibiting, on all occasions, such admirable simplicity and good
taste.

The greater number of Dr. Wollaston’s productions belong to
departments of inquiry which do not come within the object of
our present consideration, and are recorded in the Transac-
tions of that distinguished body, of which for many years he was
one of the chief ornaments. His private life and character will
be the subject of a Memoir, by a gentleman who was honoured
with his intimate friendship. Our own Transactions cannot boast
of any of his Papers; but he was well acquainted with the
scope of our inquiries, and for several years before his death,
he always attended to the geological phenomena of the countries
which he visited in his excursions. He became a member of
our Society in 1812; was frequently upon our Council, and for
some time one of our Vice-Presidents; and the interest which
he took in our welfare to the last, is fully testified by his recent
liberal donation, and by the suggestions with which it was accom-
panied.

Indirectly, however, the labours and example of Dr. Wollaston,
as a discoverer and a cultivator of chemical and mineralogical
knowledge, have contributed in a most important degree to the
recent progress of Geology. His application of Chemistry to the
examination of very minute quantities, aided only by instruments
so simple as scarcely to deserve the name of apparatus, by divest-
ing chemical inquiry of much of its practical difficulty, has contri-
buted materially to the progress of the more correct Mineral-
ogy of our time: and the discovery of two new metals, with
great and various additions to our acquaintance with the pro-
perties and uses of those already known, formed but a small portion
of his chemical labours. His Camera Lucida is an instru-
ment of universal application: but to the Geologist it is an ac-
quisition of peculiar value, enabling those who are unskilled in
drawing to preserve the remembrance of what they see, and
giving an accuracy to sketches scarcely attainable by other

* Dr. Wollaston died on the 22nd of December 1828. He was born on
the 6th of August 1766,

115

means. The adaptation of measurement by reflection to Crystal-
lography, by Dr. Wollaston’s Goniometer, has introduced into that
department of science a degree of certainty and precision, which,
without its aid, are wholly unattainable,—and not even to be ap-
proached, but by the most dexterous and practised observers. His
own success also, in the use of this beautiful instrument, was re-
markable; and his Paper on the distinctions of the Carbonates of
Lime, Magnesia, and Iron, is one of the most striking instances
that can be mentioned, of the advantage arising from the union of
crystallography with chemical research. He was in fact a Mine-
ralogist of the first order,—if the power of deciding accurately on
the characters and composition of minerals, by the combination of
physical and chemical inquiry, be considered as the standard of
skill.

Possessing such variety of knowledge, with the most inventive
quickness and sagacity in its application to new purposes, Dr. Wol-
laston was at all times accessible, with unaffected facility, to those
whom he believed to be sincerely occupied in useful inquiry: he
seemed indeed himself to delight in such communications; and his
singular dexterity and neatness in experiment rendered compara-
tively easy to him the multiplied investigations arising from them,
which to others might have been oppressive or impracticable. His
penetration and correct judgement upon subjects apparently the
most remote from his own immediate pursuits, made him during
many of the latter years of his life the universal arbiter on questions
of scientific difficulty ; so that his house became the common centre
of resort to all who cultivated the Physical Sciences in England; and
the instruction derived from such frank and easy communication with
a man of his attainments, has bad an effect on the progress of know-
ledge in this country, and on the conduct of various public un-
dertakings,—the value of which, it would be difficult to estimate, —
and the loss of which it is at present, and long will be, quite impos-
sible to supply.

These, Gentlemen, are some of the grounds upon which the
wemory of Dr. Wollaston claims our gratitude and veneration, as
cultivators of natural science: but to those who have known
him in private life, he has left, what is still more precious, the ex-
ample of his personal character. Few men can be named who more
happily combined the qualities of a genuine English gentleman and
philosopher; or whose whole life better deserves the praise which
the first of our orators has given, as the highest eulogium, to one of
our most distinguished public characters; for it was marked through-
out by a constant wish and endeavour to be “ useful to mankind*.”

In adverting to the progress which Geological research has made
during the past year in this country, I shall follow the descending
order of the strata in our series; and I may refer to the Tabular
View of our Stratification, of which Mr. De la Beche has recently

* Fox’s speech on the death of the Duke of Bedford, 1802.

116

published a second edition*, for one of the most convenient and
succinct views of the present state of our knowledge respecting them.

A complete ac¢ount of the deposits which appear on the coast of
Suffolk, and other parts of the eastern shores of England, especially
of that which has been denominated Crag, is still a desideratum
of importance in the history of our strata. The publications of Mr.
Robberds+ and Mr. R. C. Taylor} have given some information
of considerable value upon this tract: but a general account of it,
combining the local phenomena with those of analogous deposits
in other quarters, is still to be wished for; and from the connexion
of the facts which our eastern shores exhibit, with some of the
great questions touching the true theory of the diluvial accumula-
tions, an acquaintance with them is almost necessary to the removal
of some of the numerous difficulties which still attend that subject.

Mr. Webster has announced a new work upon the Isle of Wight;
in which, under the simple form of a guide to that most interesting
island, he proposes to illustrate fully its Topography and Geology ;
particularly the relations of the strata immediately above the chalk.

The true order of the beds between the chalk and the oolitic
series, which has been the subject of much recent inquiry and dis-
cussion, appears now to be generally recognized ; and considerable
light has been thrown upon that remarkable group, united princi-
pally by zoological relations (for, mineralogically, its members are
sufficiently distinct), which occurs between the lowest of the beds
denominated green-sand, and the oolite of Portland. The suc-
cession, though the beds are not continuous, has been shown to be
uniform throughout England, from Norfolk southwards,—and to be
the same in fact with that long since enounced, though with much
variation of nomenclature, by Mr. William Smith, in his Geological
Maps of the English Counties.

A full and elaborate Catalogue of the Fossils of Sussex has been
contributed by Mr. Mantell; whose labours as a Geologist, amidst
the duties of an arduous profession, have long been so useful to the
public, and so creditable to himself.—This valuable paper will be
published in the next portion of our Transactions. Mr. Martin of
Pulborough in Sussex, another member of the same profession, has
published a detached Memoir, the developement of a Paper read
here during the last session § ; which, besides an account of the strati-
fication in his own neighbourhood, contains much ingenious specu-
lation on the phenomena which seem to have attended the elevation
of the tract beneath the chalk, within the denudation of Sussex,
Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent.

* «A Tabular and Proportional View of the Superior, Supermedial, and
Medial (Tertiary and Secondary) Rocks : 2nd edition, considerably enlarged,”
by H. T. De la Beche, Esq. F.R.S. G.S. &c. London, 1828; Treuttel and Co.

+ “ Geological and Historical Observations on the Eastern Valleys of Nor-
folk,” by J. W. Robberds, Jun, Norwich, 1826.

{ ‘‘ On the Geology of East Norfolk,” &e. Bvo. 1827; by R. C. Taylor,
F.G.S.

Oise A Geological Memoir on a part of Westen Sussex,” &c. by P. I.
Martin: 4to. London, 1828.

117

The accessions to our knowledge respecting the oolitic series,
from the Portland strata down to the new-red-sandstone, have also
been considerable during the past year. Mr. Lonsdale, Iam happy
to say, has presented us with an account of his researches on that
important tract in the centre of England, included between the
chalk near Calne and the vicinity of Bath; the maps relating to
which I had the pleasure of laying before you at the last Anni-
versary. This valuable work, one of the most accurate perhaps yet
produced in this country, may be considered as a more advanced
stage of the inquiries respecting the oolitic tracts, begun so ably
by Mr. Smith, and continued in Mr. Conybeare’s Outlines: and it
carries on the transverse section of England, from the vicinity of
Bristol, which had already been illustrated by Mr. Conybeare and
Dr. Buckland, in their admirable Memoir published in the first part
of our Second Series.

The work upon the Coast of Yorkshire, announced by Mr. Phillips
of the York Institution *, will throw light upon a still lower portion
of our oolites; and elucidate especially that remarkable group of
strata which includes a series of coal-measures in connection with
the lower oolite. It is certainly much to be desired that all our
coasts were thus examined and distinctly represented ; such illus-
tration being valuable, not only in topographical history, but as
affording the best evidence as to the succession of our strata, and
the greatest facility to the study of them, both by foreigners and
our own countrymen.

The complex and important groups which intervene between the
Oolites and the Transition rocks, have been illustrated during the
past year by Professor Sedgwick,—separately in England, and con-
jointly with Mr. Murchison, in the Isle of Arran and the north of
Scotland.

Mr. Sedgwick’s Memoir on the magnesian limestone, and the
lower part of the new red-sandstone, in the north of England, is
unquestionably one of the most valuable contributions we have
hitherto received; not only supplying a desideratum of the greatest
interest in our local Geology, but placing in a just light the difficult
and obscure relations of that extensive series of beds which it de-
scribes. Nothing is now wanting, but the acquisition of good
maps by the extension of the Ordnance Survey, to complete our
geological acquaintance with the large portion of England de-
scribed in this Memoir.

In Mr. Sedgwick’s Paper, the new-red-sandstone is considered as
constituting one great complex formation, between the lias and the
coal-measures, with two calcareous formations subordinate to it;
one (the muschel-kalkstein), in the upper part, which has not yet
been discovered in our country; the other (the magnesian lime-
stone), in the lower part, which the author has made especially the
object of his researches.

* This work has been published since this Paper was put to the press, and
fully justifies the expectations entertained respecting it.

118

But although the Muschel-kalkstein has not yet been detected,
and probably may not exist in any considerable force in Eng-
land, it would be premature to assert that its equivalent may
not still be detected among our strata; and this, with other cir-
cumstances, renders a good monograph of the new-red-sandstone
formation, in the central and southern counties, a desideratum of
importance. The general boundaries of the formation have been
correctly traced; but the internal details remain to be investi-
gated: and besides the necessity of searching in the upper part of
the formation for the equivalent of those beds which are so con-
spicuous on the continent, the relations of the porphyritic masses
of Devonshire and other places (which, it is remarkable, are found
in combination with the saliferous red sandstone, not only in various
parts of Europe, but even in India*) are still very obscure. The
publications of M. Charbaut+, M. Elie de Beaumont{, and Messrs.
Oeynhausen, Dechen, and De la Roche§ will be found to assist
materially in these investigations.

The Magnesian-limestone itself, according to Mr. Sedgwick,
admits of natural subdivision into five portions, which, in a descend-
ing order are:—1. A series of red sandstone and marl, superior to the
dolomites, and subdivided into two portions; the equivalents of the
keuper and. the bunter-sandstein.—2. Limestones, containing magne-
sia and beds of dolomite, unequally diffused, but in much less pro-
portion than in the lower parts of the series. —3. Red marl and gyp-
sum, comparatively of small extent.—4. The great central deposit
of yellow limestone, exhibiting various modifications of dolomite,
frequently concretional, in some cases oolitic; all of which appa-
rently result from internal change of structure, subsequent to the
mechanical deposition of the mass. These last formations (4, 3, and
2) represent the Rauchwacke, Asche, and foliated Stinkstein, the brec-
cias, and gypsum of the Thuringerwald.—5. Variegated marls, with
irregular beds of compact limestone, Zechstezn. This formation is not
co-extensive with the yellow limestone, but its place is constant; and
its subordinate marl-slate is particularly distinguished by its Fossils;
among which are impressions of ferns, and the remains of fishes,
some of them identical with those of the copper-slate of Thuringia.
—6. And lastly, an extensive deposit of coarse siliceous sandstone
(rothe-todte-liegende), of very unequal thickness; the upper beds
of which are sometimes unconformable to the limestones which rest
uponthem. It is satisfactory therefore to find, that the great mass
of strata, from the oolites down to the coal, admits precisely of the
same subdivisions in the north of England, as upon the continent.

With respect to the theory of these magnesian formations, Mr.
Sedgwick ascribes their production to the mechanical destruction

* Geological Transactions, Second Series, vol. i. page 160.

+ ‘‘ Environs de Lons le Saunier.”—Annales des Mines, 1819, v. 579.

} ‘ Observations sur quelques Terrains secondaires du Systéme des
Vosges :” Paris, 1828; also published in the Annales des Mines for 1827.

§ ‘‘ Geognostische Umrisse den Rheinlander, zwischen Basil and
Maintz:” 2 vols. 1825.

119

of rocks of the carboniferous order; stating however two facts, as
yet imperfectly explained ; Ist. The greater abundance of magnesia
in the limestone formation than could have been derived from the
dolomites of the carboniferous order ;—and, 2ndly, The larger pro-
portion of magnesia in some of the beds, than is found in the true
dolomites; an excess which M. Elie de Beaumont has shown to
exist also in the corresponding strata of the Vosges.

The want of conformity between the superior members of our
series and the coal-measures, forms, it is well known, a prominent
feature in the structure of the west of England :—which, besides
its great importance to the coal-miner, has been supposed to mark
an epoch in the order and circumstances of deposition; since a
similar want of conformity exists in the north-west of France and
Belgium,—and from recent observation has been found also on the
flanks of the Vosges mountains*; where the shafts for obtaining
coal are frequently cut through the superior beds, to reach the
unconformable strata beneath. It was a question therefore, of con-
siderable interest, to determine how far this want of conformity
might extend: and Messrs. Sedgwick and Murchison have shown
that in Scotland, especially on the shores of the Isle of Arran,
where a very distinct section is disclosed, the coal-measures are
conformable in position to the incumbent strata; and that a gradual
transition may be observed, in ascending, from the old red-sandstone,
to the carboniferous series, with plants of the same species as of the
English coal-measures ; from which again there is a gradation into
a series of conformable strata, supposed to be identical with the
new red-sandstone of England. Hence it is not improbable that
more extended inquiry will prove the conformable arrangement to be
the more general one ; and that the want of it, within the tracts above
mentioned, is accidental, and comparatively of small extent: and
this may be accounted for, by supposing, either that some local
dislocation may have deranged a portion of the strata which would
otherwise have been conformably disposed ;—or, that an interval
occurred between the deposition of the now discordant members,
of such duration, and attended with such agencies, as to admit of
considerable change of surface in the mass of strata first deposited.

The researches of Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison in
Scotland, contained in papers one of which has been already pub-
lished, throw much light upon the relations of the lower part of
our series to the crystalline masses beneath; and confirm the gene-
ral diffusion in that country of our secondary strata;—though in
detached portions, and generally accompanied by indications of
disturbance, obviously proceeding from the primary masses on
which they at present repose. It would exceed the limits to which
I am here confined, to detail the results of which these memoirs
give an account: the general inferences are,—1. The identity with
the secondary rocks of England, of the strata in the Western-Islands,

* Ann, des Mines, 1827, 1. 431.

120

and throughout a large portion both of the east and west coasts of
Scotland, is established on the evidence of fossils.—2. A formation
of red sandstone has been observed on the shores of the Pentland
Firth, which appears to occupy a space between the coal-measures
and the new red conglomerates.—3. A great deposit of sandstone,
with subordinate beds of dark bituminous limestone, occupying, ap-
parently, the place of the coal-formation, has been designated,—but
not yet perfectly identified with any formation hitherto described.
The great thickness of this deposit and the ancient character of
the rocks subordinate to it, prevent its reference to the German
copper-slate : but the bituminous beds in Caithness contain impres-
sions of fish including two new genera; with other fossils, all resem-
bling those of the inhabitants of fresh water.—4. The principal rela-
tions have been determined, of the conglomerates and sandstones
which occur upon the north-west coasts, and the north-east of the
Highlands, and range along the southern flank of the Grampian
chain: and this great deposit is shown to be identical with the old
red sandstone of England.

The disturbance of some of the newer strata in Caithness, is refer-
red by the authors of these papers to the elevation of the granite be-
neath ; the amount of disturbance being in all cases nearly propor-
tioned to the proximity of that rock: and it is rendered probable
that the crystalline compound was upheaved, not in a fluid state, but
after its consolidation; since, although veins are numerous in other
cases of contact of granite with incumbent rocks, neither veins or
detached portions of the granite are in these instances to be met with
in the shattered secondary strata which are placed upon it. There
are few points more interesting to theory, than the general existence
of such derangements on the confines of the primary and crystal-
lized masses and of the stratified rocks: and this, without any
other phznomena, might have led to a suspicion that the former
were themselves the instruments, by which these dislocations were
effected.

The existence in the N.W. of Scotland, of portions of strata pro-
bably deposited in freshwater, is another very interesting fact, for
which we are indebted to Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison:
and it is particularly remarkable that the masses of limestone of
this description discovered by these observers in the Isle of Skye,
contain several of the same fossils (two species of cyclas, a palu-
dina, and an ostrea) which occur also in the Weald-clay of our
south-eastern counties*.

It is my office here to mention what has been done by our con-
tributors, or by members of this Society, with a view to publica-
tion in our Transactions. It is proper to add, that many of the

* It deserves to be mentioned, that a species of cyclas very like the
medius of the weald-clay (Sowerby, Min. Conch. tab. 527. fig. 2.) and of
Skye, has since been discovered among the specimens brought by Captain
Franklin from the N. coast of America. It was found in a loose mass of
grey limestone on the beach, at the mouth of Babbage river, about 2° 30! W.
of the Mackenzie. (Dr. Richardson, in Appendix to Franklin’s Second Jour-
ney. p. xXvii.—s pec. 355.)

121

relations of the rocks of Scotland were long since investigated
by Dr. MacCulloch; who in addition to his previous works has
recently begun to publish, in the Journal of the Royal Institution,
the result of his observations on the north and north-eastern coasts :
and I myself have seen in the hands of that gentleman, some years
ago, several portions of an elaborate geological map of Scotland *,
of the greatest value. The labours of Professor Jameson likewise
have been unremitting; and you are well acquainted with the various
memoirs illustrating his native country, which he has published in
the Transactions of the Wernerian Society and the other Philoso-
phical Journals of Edinburgh.

From the situation of the capitals of England and France, at
a distance from primary mountains, the study of the crystalline
formations would there naturally occupy less attention than that
of the stratified rocks; and with this circumstance, the extra-
ordinary interest and novelty of recent zoological discoveries have
concurred, to fix upon the newer strata,—not more attention than
they deserve, but a degree of interest which has perhaps in some
cases been too exclusive. The naturalist, however, who is in search
of general laws, should exert himself to keep every part of his sub-
ject in view; and should never cease to remember, that, as in the
study of the newer formations Zoology and Botany are his best
allies, so Mineralogy is indispensable to an acquaintance with the
more ancient rocks,—and Chemistry as well as general Physics, to
the solution of the problems connected with them. Mineralogy
has, from various causes, been of late less vigorously pursued in
England, than a few years ago ; and it is probably to the previous
labour which this subject requires, that we are, in part, to ascribe
the comparatively backward state of our knowledge respecting the
primary portions of this country. But though nothing has within
the last year been published in our Transactions upon these for-
mations, they have not been unattended to; and the Memoirs
already produced, with those which are preparing for your perusal,
will be found to throw great light upon the relations of our transi-
tion and primary rocks.

A memoir by Mr. Phillips, of the York Institution, describes a
tract which is a branch from the great central mass of the slaty
and primary rocks of Cumberland ; and gives in detail the pheno-
mena of a district remarkable for the numerous and striking proofs
which it exhibits of dislocation,—of such amount, that in one in-
stance strata have been brought into immediate apposition, which
in their original situation were separated by a thickness of more
than 500 feet.

The general relations of the mountain district of Cumberland had
been already briefly but correctly described by Otley +, in a tract
to which I have ona former occasion referred. Iam now enabled,
through the kindness of Professor Sedgwick, to state the general

* See Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. (1819), p. 418.
t Lonsdale Magazine, for October, 1820.
c

122

results of his own researches in that district, the detail of which I
trust will soon be laid before you. These not only confirm and cor-
rect our knowledge of the Cumberland mountains, but determine
some of the chief points of analogy which connect them, in structure
and composition, with the primary and transition tracts of Wales
and Cornwall.

In Wales, according to Professor Sedgwick, the old red-sand-
stone seems to pass gradually into the upper members of the fol-
_ lowing series.—

1. Grauwacke, containing in its upper part organic remains,
and graduating into,—

2. The great slate-formation, containing in all its parts indica-
tions of mechanical origin. ;

3. A vast group, differing from the ordinary character of the
Welsh mountains, in containing a very large proportion of fels-
pathose rocks of porphyritic structure. Of this, the mountains of
Snowdonia are probably the lowest portion.

4. In Anglesea, Professor Henslow describes* a still lower group
of slaty rocks, including chlorite and mica-slates, and quartz rock ;
the whole apparently dislocated by—

5. Protruding masses of granite.

In Cornwall and Devon, the well known order is—

a. Grauwacke, with calcareous beds, sometimes containing or-
ganized remains.

6. In two places, a formation of serpentine, which in the Lizard
contains diallage-rock, talc-slate, hornblende, and mica-slates, ap-
pears to occur beneath the grauwacke. Its relations are obscure,
but it is superior in position to the following formation.

c. The great formation of metalliferous-slate (killas); with many
subordinate beds of greenstone, felspathic-slate, &c.

[There is in Cornwall no proper representative of the porphy-
ritic formations of Snowdonia (3.) ]

d, Granitic rocks, projecting veins into the incumbent slate; the
granite itself being traversed by other veins of porphyry, called
“ Elvans.”

In Cumberland, the order is as follows: —

I. The grauwacke system, containing calcareous beds with or-
ganized remains. It is unconformable to the overlying old red-
sandstone.

II. An enormous formation of green-slate, intimately associated
with porphyry, like that of Snowdonia, and of Ben-Nevis in Scot-

and.

III. A formation of clay-slate.

IV. A series of crystalline schistose masses ; forming the centre
of the Skiddaw region, and composed of chiastolite and hornblende-
slates, gneiss, &c., apparently in irregular order.

V. Granite}.

* Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i.

+ The mineralogical axis of all this tract extends from the centre of the
Skiddaw region to the neighbourhood of Egremont. On the north of this

123

No. I, the grauwacke of Cumberland, is unquestionably the equi-
valent of the upper part of (a) the grauwacke-slate of Somerset,
Devon, and Cornwall. No. Il, the green-slate of Cumberland, has
no representative of Cornwall; but seems to be identical with part
of the Snowdonian formation of Wales (No. 2). No. III, the clay
slate: And IV, the crystalline schistose rocks, present analogies with
(c) the metalliferous killas of Cornwall. And on the whole, the
suite of the transition and primary rocks in Cumberland assists in
bringing together the phenomena of Wales and Cornwall; and in
connecting the several groups in the distant parts of England, in a
series of similar and probably contemporaneous formations.

We have received from our foreign members Messrs. Oeynhausen
and Dechen, a Paper on Ben-Nevis, the loftiest summit in Scotland ;
to which I shall have occasion to refer, in connexion with a point
of theory, on which it throws important light. And I mention this
contribution with the greater pleasure, because I know that it is a
peculiar gratification to the Society to receive the Papers of foreign-
ers; and that if, in any instance, our aid, either as a Society or
individually, has contributed to promote the inquiries of travellers
in England, they may be assured that no return can be more grate-
ful to us, than the illustration of our own country by their publica-
tions, or the application of the knowledge which they have acquired
here, to elucidate the corresponding tracts of the Continent.

The labours of the Geological Society of Cornwall are continued :
and a work, of which the first volume has been published, by Mr.
John Taylor, one of the principal miners in this country, promises
considerable additions to a department of knowledge comparatively
new to our scientific literature, but intimately connected with our
pursuits. This work is entitled ‘‘ Records of Mining* ;”’ and it pro-
poses toembrace “reports and statements upon particular mines,
and the produce of metals, in various districts; notices on Geological
facts relating to mining ; discoveries of ores and minerals, and de-
scriptions of existing processes connected with the treatment of ores,
and the operations of smelting, or other modes of reduction; with
investigations of the methods of working now usually employed in

line the formations are repeated, with the exception of No. I., which is pro-
bably buried under the unconformable old red-sandstone and mountain lime-
stone; and on this northern side, notwithstanding its less extensive de-
velopement, there is a group of mountains, almost entirely composed of
diallage-rock (Euphotide) and other minerals, of which we have no trace on
the south. These occupy the base of the green-slate and porphyry series,
(No. 3.) of Wales ; and seem to be in the exact place of (0.) the serpentine
of the Lizard in Cornwall.

There is on the west side of Cumberland, another formation of granite
and syenite, which underlies, traverses, and overlies the clay-slate, No. III.,
and is considered as the great centre of elevation of the region. It never
overlies No. II.; but is probably connected with syenitic dykes, and other
detached masses of crystalline rock, which do not belong to the ordinary
rocks of superposition.

* “Records of Mining, edited by John Taylor, F.R.S., &c.,” 4to. with
plates. London; Murray, 1829.

124

different countries, and of projected improvements; and descriptions
of machinery or implements destined to the service of the mines.”
The editor justly adds, that many facts relating to these subjects,
continually present themselves to observation, all record of which is
lost, for want of a proper depository ; and that not only is a quan-
tity of valuable matter constantly occurring in the reports and state-
ments upon our British mines, but that much more may be expected
to reach us from those foreign countries in which English capital is
now employed.

Mr. ‘Taylor has prefixed to this first series of tracts, a Prospectus
of a School of Mines in Cornwall ; which contain suggestions well
deserving the attention of those engaged in this important depart-
ment of commercial speculation.

I have dwelt the longer upon that portion of our labours which
refers to England, because the structure of this country is the pri-
mary object of our researches; since it is here, at home, that we
can best, and in the first instance, acquire the rudiments of our
subject, and gain that correctness of eye, and of judgment, which
confers the right, as it were, to examine the geology of other dis-
tricts,—and to claim, either from foreigners, or our own countrymen,
that confidence in our accuracy, without which all attempts at com-
parison are vain. But in proportion as this country is known, a
comparison with other regions becomes not only more interesting,
but more necessary; and few, unfortunately, can be found, who,
with sufficient knowledge of our subject, possess also the opportu-
nity of travelling with geological views. In the mean time we
must be grateful for all those contributions from remote countries,
which, if they do not illustrate the relations of rocks, enable us at
least to answer some questions respecting their local diffusion and
comparative composition,—leaving their relations and many of the
phenomena of structure to future inquiry.

In the foreign Geology of Europe,—we have the gratification of
knowing that the examination of France, with a view to a general
map of the strata, is steadily proceeding.

We ourselves have had Papers on the environs of Nice, from
Mr. De la Beche and Dr. Buckland, giving a comparison of the
strata in that neighbourhood, with those of England, and in some
cases establishing their correspondence.

The proofs of the identity of the prevailing rocks in the more
distant parts of the world, are continually multiplied, by the recep-
tion of authentic specimens; for which we have been of late indebted
to the Admiralty, and to British officers, in the Navy and the ser-
vice of the East India Company: and the donors of every such ‘con-
tribution, —even of the smallest specimen, the locality of which ina
distant quarter is correctly ascertained,—will have the satisfaction
of feeling, that they bring us nearer to the ultimate solution of the
interesting problems which are before us.

We have received from Captain Beechey, commander of the late
expedition to Behring’s Straits, and from Lieut. Belcher, a valuable

125

series of specimens, collected in several detached points during the
progress of that voyage: and, the notes taken by Lieut. Belcher
and Mr. Colly having been put into my hands by Captain Beechey,
I shall take an early opportunity of placing them before the Society.
The only subject of regret relating to these Papers, is their brevity;
for the notes, and the sketches connected with them, would ‘do
credit to the most experienced geologists.

A Paper, by Mr. Featherstonehaugh, read at one of our latest
meetings, gives a comparison of the series of strata in the American
United States, with that of England :—and various memoirs of Dr.
Bigsby, some of which have been read before this Society, contain
a copious statement of facts respecting Canada and a large portion
of the adjacent country.

The Memoir of Dr. Richardson, read at one of our meetings,
and published in the Appendix to the account of Capt. Franklin’s
second journey, contains a most valuable series of observations,
made under great disadvantages, during the advance and return of
that memorable expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea; in the
course of which a space of about 5000 miles was for the first time
surveyed and laid down,—the total distance travelled over by the
party in America being not less than 14000 miles. The great simi-
Jarity of the rocks, and of their structure and external features, to
those of Europe ;—the uniformity in composition of vast tracts of the
country ;—and the very large proportion of the surface occupied by
water, especially within a broad calcareous band, that intervenes
between the rocky mountains and another primary tract which has
nearly the same direction, are some of the more obvious general
results that may be collected from the perusal of this important
Memoir, a full abstract of which will be found in our Proceedings,
And the whole is rendered still more interesting to us, by the libe-
rality of the collectors, who have placed in the Museum of the So-
ciety a complete series of the specimens described and referred to
by Dr. Richardson.

I have already mentioned to you the contribution of Captain
King from the southern extremity of America; which demonstrates
the existence there of similar rocks, exhibiting analogous appear-
ances, to those of Europe: and we have great reason to expect,
from the number and activity of the British officers and agents, whom
our numerous mining projects have distributed in South America,
considerable additional light on the structure and phenomena of

that extensive region.

From Africa we are still without any communication, from any
of the Settlements on its extensive coasts.

I am happy to say, there is every day new reason to hope for
the extension of geological inquiry in India; where the liberality of
the Company in carrying on the magnificent Trigonometrical Sur-
vey has already laid the best foundation for such researches. A
copy of the portion of the great map which has been already pub-
lished has been presented to us by the Directors; and there is
every reason to suppose, that they are as much disposed to favour
Geology, as they have shown themselves to be. to advance the pro-

126

gress of astronomy and scientific topography. We owe, under this
head, considerable obligation to the exertions of our own distin-
guished member Mr. Colebrooke, whose activity and varied informa-
tion have enabled him to contribute so much, to several departments
of literature and science in connexion with the Kast.

The Asiatic Society, also, has recently taken up the extension of
geological inquiry with much interest and zeal; and has opened
an intercourse with India upon this subject, through Sir Alexander
Johnstone, the chairman of their committee of foreign correspon-
dence, from whence the best results may be expected. ‘The at-
tention of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta has of late been particu-
larly devoted to this department of natural science ; and we have, in
the different Settlements, several friends and fellows of this Society,
who have shown their desire to promote our views,

From Central India, Captain James Franklin has given us a Me-
moir on the vicinity of Bundelcund, illustrated with an excellent
geological map and sections.

The Papers of Dr. Buckland and Mr. Clift, connected with the
splendid collection of fossil remains from the Burmese territory,
with which our Museum has lately been enriched, have been pub-
lished in the last part of the Transactions: and the Council has.
endeavoured to diffuse the information afforded by this collection,
by causing models of several of the fossils to be prepared, and distri-
buted to some of the principal museums of Natural History. The
Memoir of Dr. Buckland on the specimens from Ava, has shown the
probability that the representatives of no fewer than eight of our
formations * exist in that region; and I shall presently refer to the
interesting zoological results obtained from this splendid acquisition.

The Society has received from the Admiralty, in the course of
the present session, a small collection of specimens, from the site
of the intended settlement in the vicinity of Swan River, on the
west coast of Australia; and Captain Stirling, before his departure
from England, in the capacity of its Governor, was good enough
to place in my hands some brief notes relating to them, which I
shall take an early opportunity of laying before the Society. From
the zeal expressed by that distinguished officer, we may regard this
contribution, as an earnest of what may be expected hereafter from
the colony under his superintendence: and having already received
from the eastern shores of Australia enough to prove the resem-
blance of the rocks to ours, and even to point out the relative posi-
tion and structure of the formations on some points of the coast, we
may with reason expect the solution of some of the great questions
respecting that region, which still are undetermined. It is remark-
able, for example, that no traces have yet been descried, of any ac-
tive volcano along the whole circuit of those shores; although the
latitudes nearer to the Equator, and under nearly the same meri-

* |. Alluvium. 2. Diluvium. 3. Freshwater Marl. 4. London Clay
and Calcaire-grossier. 5. Plastic Clay. 6. Transition limestone. 7. Grau-
wacke. 8. Primitive Rocks ;—with indications also of the New-red-sand-
stone and Magnesian limestone.

127

dians, are the scenes of some of the most tremendous volcanic phee-
nomena on record. The mode in which the waters condensed
upon the vast continent of Australia are disposed of,—whether by
evaporation from inland seas or lakes, or conducted to the ocean
by rivers, whose existence has hitherto escaped detection, is an-
other great question connected in all probability with its geologi-
cal structure. But there is no subject of greater interest to us, at
present, than the fossil organized remains of that country; a
knowledge of which, especially of the remains of animals, will be an
addition of capital importance to our subject, and probably not less
valuable to the Zoologist. The diluvium, therefore, respecting
which we have at present no information whatever, is deserving of
the greatest attention: and since the existing races of Australian
animals are so widely different from those of every other portion
of the earth, the identity, on the one hand, of these animals with
those occurring in a fossil state, would lead to some of the most im-
portant inferences; while on the other, the agreement of the fossil
remains of Australia with the existing races of other regions, now
disjoined from that country, would give new support to some of the
most popular speculations of our day. With a view to these in-
quiries, scarcely anything that can be collected by our fellow la-
bourers in that quarter, will be without interest to their friends in
Europe.

The popularity which the study of ZooLoey continues to ac-
quire in England, opens the brightest hopes in every department
of inquiry connected with that important branch of natural history.
Our Papers during the past year have added to the list of fossil
animals two new species of Mastodon, connecting very beautifully
the structure of the teeth in the animals of that genus previously
known, with that of the Elephant. And Mr. Pentland has given an
account of some fossils from Bengal, presented through the kind-
ness of Mr. Colebrooke ; which inciude the remains of a new An-
thracotherium, and appear to have been situated in a deposit re-
sembling some of the tertiary strata of Europe.

We owe to Mr. Broderip, one of the Secretaries of our Society,
a Paper in the Zoological Journal*, describing the Fossil jaw of a
Didelphis, found at Stonesfield, the geological situation of which
had been the subject of some debate; with a statement of the evi-
dence by which its true place in our series of strata is proved to
be within the oolitic-slate beneath the Oxford-clay, probably very
near the site of the forest-marble.

From Dr. Buckland we have had.a description of the remains of
a new species of Pterodactyle, discovered by Miss Anning in the
lias at Lyme Regis. The head of the only specimen yet found is
wanting; but the remainder of the skeleton warrants the distinction
of it from the two species described by M. Cuvier. The length
of the claws, especially, is a prominent character; from whence
the author has given to this species the name of Macronyx. Mr.
Miller of Bristol, several years ago, suggested that the bones found

* Zoological Journal, vol. iti. p. 408, &c.

128 i

in the Stonesfield-slate ought to be ascribed to this extinct family
of reptiles ; and Dr. Buckland entertains the same opinion respect-
ing certain bones found also in the lias, at Lyme-Regis, and sup-
posed to have been those of birds. The Pterodactyles consequently,
would appear to have been in existence throughout the entire in-
terval from the deposition of the lias to that of the chalk.

The author has connected with his Paper on the Pterodactyle,
some observations on a substance analogous to album-gracum, pro-
duced apparently by the Saurian animals, whose remains are de-
posited in the lias; and on a dark colouring matter possessing the
properties of Sepia and Indian ink, afforded by a fossil which exhibits
a structure like that of the cuttle-fish. He is still engaged in the
inquiries connected with these subjects; and has already obtained
some very curious and unexpected results.

Mr. R: C. Taylor, one of our Fellows, has prepared a valuable
list of the fossils hitherto discovered in the British strata*, drawn
principally from the works and authority of Mr. Sowerby, to whose
indefatigable exertions in extending our acquaintance with the
fossils of England Geology is under most essential obligation. ‘The
List details the genera in each of its divisions alphabetically; giving
for each genus the number of the species most characteristic or
abundant in each formation, with the principal localities where they
occur. It is not susceptible of abridgement: but some of the results
which can be expressed by numbers, have been thrown by the
author into Tables, of which the following is a summary :—

eS lecl es lsesl5e
a |S S le Oe a
a ae Os “28 Sle
f ( Total number of Species known. Se)
Recent. (from Wood’s Index Testaceo- 7/1961 874 58 |2893
a) loziew’s) eee eee peselleistonevere
ce (Total number of Genera ........ 58 | 62] 3 | 12 | 135
ws [Pact } anand
5
{Total number of Species ........ 401 | 583| 51 | 230 |1265
ES ee)
A 634
S Carboniferous Order, of Cony-\| .
Ss E ; beare; (Species) )..22..422! HO tO SS | Neto
S ncient : 3 3
2 Carboniferous beds, to Lias. (Species 33 | 5
‘= | Strata. SATEEN et eee en eli Soe) re he Piva
oe Ancient strata, to Lias inclusive.
OE ire creme orice) (cult), bs:
en 134
= Inferior Oolite to Chalk inclusive. 2
= f Ugo O olite, to Cia ‘S ran 06.|375| 0 |139 | 620
«|More | yi
60 | recent joa above the Chalk (Species) ..|259|516| O | 8 | 408
= ye STEN ae eALERTS ae NO Bl GT
& Strata. From the Lias to the most recent 365
AL beds. Total of Species yey ny Eg ee
147

* Now published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, for March
1829, Vol. Il. p. 26, &c.

129

It appears therefore, that the total number of known existing
species being about 3000, the number of fossil species is about 1300.
And the author states, among other inferences from his Tables, that
the ancient period is characterized by the complex shells, the middle
by bivalves, the upper strata by the simple univalves; while, as we
descend in the series of strata, we recede from the existing forms and
proportions of numbers; 134 complex species out of 237 being
found in the ancient beds, and only 147 out of 1028 in the more
recent. These numbers, it will be observed, are connected with
the system of Linnzus, and will probably be found to differ con-
siderably from an enumeration according to the method of Lamarck:
and the time perhaps is still remote, when any such comparison of
numbers can be expected to come near the truth. The proportion
of the known species to the total number, either of the existing or
the fossil shells, is the result of circumstances in a great measure
accidental,—the industry or success of collectors, and the greater
or less extent to which the contents of the conchiferous strata are
brought to light by human labour, or naturally disclosed: and all
these sources of inequality must for a long time affect the different
strata so unequally, that any genera! inferences now derived from
the enumeration of species must be received with considerable quali-
fication.

The Council has mentioned to you the late addition to the
Museum, of a splendid series of casts of fossil remains, presented
by the Baron Cuvier, and doubly valuable from their connexion
with his own publications. ‘These, in fact, are but continued
proofs of the interest which that illustrious naturalist has always
taken in the progress of this Society ; and few of us have ever visited
the French capital, without partaking, in person, of his hospitality,
and deriving advantage from his aid in our inquiries. When the
state of knowledge which many of us can remember, is contrasted
with what we know at present respecting fossil organized remains,—
now that we have acquired the power of determining from a single
bone, or even a fragment, almost the entire structure and relations of
animals, whose races are no longer in existence ;—and when we re-
collect, that we owe to the same person the most complete history
of fossil remains that has ever yet appeared, in richness of matter, in
arrangement, and in style; and that all this is but a part of what one
man has already performed,—we cannot be surprised at the emi-
nence which he occupies in public opinion. The name of Cuvier
is in fact identified with our subject ; for, unquestionably, to no one
now living is Geology so much indebted as to him: and he enjoys
the enviable good fortune, not only of receiving from every side
the tribute of admiration and gratitude arising from his works, but
of witnessing himself the influence which they have shed, and are
every day producing, on all the kindred departments of science, and
in almost every quarter of the globe.

On the subject of Foss1z PLants, we have heard, during the last
session, a valuable Paper; and there are, at present, before the
Society, several new specimens, which it is intended to figure and

130

describe without delay. The number of such specimens, in detached
private collections throughout this country, we know to be so great,
that when the wish of the Council to assist in describing and pub-
lishing them is generally known, we shall probably never want such
a supply, as will enable us to connect with every future part of our
Transactions some contribution to fossil Botany. Great benefit will
thus be produced, by circulating information at present locked up
and unavailing ; and the specimens lent to the Society for illustra-
tion, will be rendered doubly valuable tothe proprietors themselves.

The Botanical Paper, in the last part of our Transactions, is that
of Dr. Buckland, on the Cycadeoidee ; a new family of fossil plants,
discovered in the isle of Portland, and obtained most probably
from a stratum immediately above the oolitic beds, which contains
also lignite with the silicified trunks of dicotyledonous trees.

On the suggestion of Mr. Brown, these fossils have been con-
sidered as belonging to a family very nearly related to, but perhaps
sufficiently distinct from, the recent Cycadez: and the observations
of this distinguished Botanist, with respect to the stem or caudex of
this family, are illustrated by sections represented in the plates
which accompary Dr. Buckland’s Paper,

The family of Cycadez consists at present of two genera, Zamia
and Cycas. In certain Zamiz, Mr. Brown states, there is one
narrow vascular circle, divisible into radiating plates, and situated
in the midst of the cellular substance of which the stem is in a great
part composed. In Cycas revoluta, a second circle is added ex- .
ternally, at a small distance from the first; and in Cycas circinalis,
(according to the only section of this plant yet published) the circles
are more numerous,—the outermost being still considerably re-
moved from the circumference.

The fossil stems, which are the immediate subject of Dr. Buck-
Jand’s Paper, like the recent Cycadez, are not covered with true
bark, but have a thick case, made up of the basis of decayed leaves,
which externally form rhomboidal compartments, similar to those of
the recent plants. The internal structure in the fossils, so far as
hitherto examined, resembles that of the Cycadez, except in the
more external position and greater breadth of the circle or circles
visible in the section of the stem; a character whereby, Mr. Brown
is of opinion, this fossil family approaches more nearly, than the
Cycadex, to the ordinary structure of dicotyledonous woods ; and
consequently may be considered as supplying, from the fossil world,
a link, which helps, in some degree, to connect the still distant
structure of the Cycadex with that of the nearest existing family,
the Coniferz.

M. Adolphe Brongniart’s publications on the History of Fossil
Vegetables*, though produced in another country, are too im-

* © Prodrome d’une Histoire des Végétaux Fossiles ;” published also as
the article “‘Végétaux Fossiles,” in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles;
Paris, 1828.—** Considerations Generales sur la Nature de la Végétation,”
&c. Ann. des Sciences Naturelles; December, 1828.—‘‘ Histoire des Végé-
taux Fossiles,” &c., publishing in Numbers.

131

portant to our inquiries not to be mentioned here. Some fear,
perhaps, may be entertained, that his data are not yet sufficiently
extensive to form an adequate base for his deductions; but there
can be no question as to many of his inferences, nor respecting the
impulse which the subject will receive from such an accumulation
of facts ashe has brought together. His views contrasting the
climate of the globe at former periods and at the present time,—
and his division of the epochs of geological deposition, as deduced
from the study of fossil plants, in comparison with those which mere
geological inquiry points out,—are most ingenious. Even if re-
garded as no more than the conjectures-of so acute and indefa-
tigable an inquirer, these speculations would be well deserving of
attention; and altogether, his works on Fossil Plants must be con-
sidered as constituting one of the most valuable contributions to
this department of Geology that has ever appeared.

_ The Paper of Messrs. Oeynhausen and I)echen, on the structure
of Ben-Nevis in Scotland ; and that of Messrs. Lyell and Murchison
on the formation of valleys in Central France, give rise to some
general reflections of great interest to theory : and though the tracts,
in these two cases, are altogether different in geological character,
the inferences derived from them, combine remarkably to support
the opinions which at present prevail.

The summit of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland, con-
sists of porphyry ; the flanks are granite, on which again is incum-
bent mica-slate. Messrs. Oeynhausen and Dechen have ascertained
that the porphyry, instead of being an overlying mass, as has been
asserted in similar cases, comes up through the granite; and that,
as veins shooting from the granite are found to penetrate the in-
cumbent mica-slate, so veins of the porphyry shoot into the granite
itself, and thus demonstrate the more recent protrusion of the
former compound, It has long been known, that granite, in the
Isle of Arran and at Newry in Ireland, is traversed by veins of
pitchstone, which itself is only a variety of porphyry: and Mr.
Knox's detection of bitumen in pitchstone of every age, as well in
various other rocks of the trap formation*, coincides with this
evidence, in demonstrating the igneous origin of that entire series
of compounds. The light which the observations of Messrs. Oeyn~
hausen and Dechen throw upon the “ Elvans,” or porphyritic
veins of Cornwall, was alluded to in the conversation which followed
the reading of their Paper here; for these Elvans are in fact great
veins of porphyry: and since it would be inconsistent and unphi-
losophical to assign the production of phenomena of the same cha-
racter to different causes, the probable origin of all veins, either by

injection or sublimation from below, receives from these facts new
and iadependent support.

The spirited publications of Mr. Scrope, especially his plates

* Phil. Trans.; 1822 and 1823.

132

in illustration of the volcanic’ district of Central France, have
renewed the attention of geologists in England to that country,
from whence so many luminous views may be obtained on various
points of theory. By placing the phenomena before the eye, Mr.
Scrope has enabled his readers more easily to appreciate the merit
of M. De Montlosier’s admirable Essay on the Extinct Volcanoes
of Auvergne*; a work published more than thirty years ago, and
containing most correct inductions and forcible reasoning on the
origin of valleys, but almost unknown amongst us, till its doctrines
were brought under our attention in a recent Paper of Messrs. Lyell
and Murchison, which confirms M. De Montlosier’s views by various
new and interesting details. We are enabled, by this various as-
sistance, to enter into the evidence derived from Auvergne, in
support of the opinion which ascribes the origin of valleys, in
many cases, to the gradual but long continued action of the streams
of which they are now the channels:—a theory in fact brought
forward several years before by De Saussure; to whose priority
M. De Montlosier,—when conducted by other and independent
evidence, to views precisely the same,—has very candidly given his
testimony Tf.

I select these names from many of eminence, which might be
mentioned, in connexion with this doctrine, and with the geology
of Central France, because it is to De Saussure and to De Montlosier
that we owe the principle, and to the beautiful drawings of Mr.
Scrope, decidedly the best graphic illustration of that interesting
tract. And I avail myself of this occasion to add, that De Mont-
losier’s work affords a good example of the injury arising from our
being too generally unacquainted with the publications of the con-
tinent. A few years, it is true, have materially changed the cha-
racter of books upon Geology; but there is much in the topographi-
cal description of almost every country, which none of us ought to
neglect. With the recent productions of France we are in general
familiar ; but we know much less than we ought to do, even of the

® <¢ Fissai sur la Theorie des Volcans d'Auvergne :” Riom et Clermont ;
1802.—Anonymous.

+ “Essai, &c. Chap. VI. “ Des Revolutions operées par les eaux fluvia-
tiles.” The volume of De Saussure, réferred to by M. De Montlosier, bears
the date of 1786; the passages are in § 920; vol. i. 4to.

As M. De Montlosier’s work of 1802 is stated to be only a reprint of
the same publication in 1788, (Cuvier's éloge of Desmarest ;—Eloges, II.
p. 362,) it is the more remarkable that Mr. Playfair (whose illustrations of
the Huttonian theory were first published in 1802,) does not appear to have
been acquainted with it; since it cannot be doubted that he would have
availed himself of such evidence, as that adduced by De Montlosier, from a
series of phenomena entirely distinct from those to which he himself
refers, in his sections on the proposition that ‘rivers have hollowed out
their valleys ;” which are composed with admirable force and eloquence. (II-
lustrations, §§ 315—329.) The perfect coincidence, therefore, between two
such writers, without communication, and from facts entirely distinct, is
strongly in favour of the correctness of their views in both cases.

133

modern publications of Germany: and of those of Italy, which in-
clude a great number of tracts on topography and physical geogra-
phy, full of ingenious speculation and valuable detail, there are but
few indeed with which we are acquainted. The description of our
own country is but a step to what Geology is yet to become: and
for the generalization which is wanting to render it worthy of alliance
with the higher departments of science, the study of foreign pro-
ductions is not only expedient as an economy of labour and time,
but is demanded by justice and truth.

Messrs. Lyell and Murchison concur with De Montlosier and
Scrope, in testifying that the valleys in Auvergne and the Vivarrais
have been produced by the streams, in opposition to any more
general or violent agency: and they regard the animal remains
within the volcanic districts, as having been deposited in the bottom
of lakes, filled up during the long course of years; their contents
being again dispersed by the breaking down of their barriers, and
the force of the currents thus set free. While, on the other hand,
there is not upon the surface, even of the most recent lava-currents
in that country, any trace of that more extensive diluvial action,
nor any remnant of those masses of rock transported from great
distances, which have been supposed to be of universal occurrence
over the entire surface of the globe.

It is not here my province to enter into the discussion of these
interesting questions, nor to pronounce an opinion upon them.
It will be sufficient to have intimated, that much still remains to be
done, even in this department of inquiry, the progress of which has
been of late sovery remarkable: and that as the doctrine of Werner,
which ascribed to volcanic power an almost accidental origin, and
an unimportant office, has long since expired; so the more recent
views, which regard a certain class of causes as having ceased from
acting, will probably give place to an opinion that the forces from
whence the present appearances have resulted, are in Geology, as
in Astronomy and general Physics, permanently connected with
the constitution, and structure of the Globe.

Such, Gentlemen, is a brief statement of the preduct of our
labours during the past year, and of some of the objects which
you may perhaps regard as still deserving your attention. If, on
comparing our subject with some other departments of physical
research, we lament that we cannot avail ourselves of such aid as
mathematical science furnishes to the astronomer; if the phanomena
we are occupied in observing be inferior in sublimity to those pre-
sented by the heavenly bodies, and the laws we investigate less
strict than those which govern their motions,—still do our inquiries
claim a very high place as an exercise of intellectual power. The
geologist, like the astronomer, 1s called upon to trace the effects of
forces, not only vast beyond conception in themselves, but ac-
quiring almost infinite augmentation of effect, from the number-
less ages during which they have been unremittingly exerted: and

134

the problem, to explain the condition of the earth’s surface at
any moment of this career, is complicated as much perhaps as
any other in physics, from the nature of the agents; of which change
and irregularity appear to be essential characteristics. The degrada-
tion of the surface by the atmosphere, the erosion of streams and tor-
rents, the encroachments of the sea, the growth and decay of the or-
ganized beings that successively inhabit the globe, with all the che-
mical and mechanical changes going on around us, though con-
stantly in operation, are for ever varying in their energies and
effects. The great phenomena of volcanic agency, which seems as
it were to constitute one of the vital powers of the earth, are from
their very nature transitory and erratic. Viewed, nevertheless, in
relation to the vast periods of time, during which phanomena of the
same kind have been continually recurring, these very accidents and
apparent irregularities acquire a sort of uniformity. They intimate
the repetition of resultsin future, resembling those which seem al-
ready to have occurred repeatedly in the history of the globe; and
that part of the Huttonian theory, where the progress of geological
revolution has been compared to the cycles, in the movements of the
heavenly bodies,—in which, after a long series of periodical devia-
tions, the same order is certain to recur*,—seems to acquire new
probability from every step of our progress, and to be really no
less just, in a philosophic view, than it is captivating to the ima-
gination, You weed no incitement to persevere in such inquiries
as these; your presence here is proof that you feel the attraction
of them :—and if the conduct of your affairs calls off from the more
seductive occupation of research, those who undertake the dis-
charge of your official duties, they are consoled by the hope that
they may have been of service to you, and by the proofs they
continually receive of your confidence and indulgence. Of the value
of these rewards, no one is more sensible than the person who now
addresses you:—I thank you, Gentlemen, most sincerely for the
kindness with which you have assisted me in the discharge of my
duties as President; and, in transferring my office to the able hands
by which it will be directed during the next two years, I bid you,
most respectfully, Farewell.

The Meeting then proceeded to the election of the Officers and

* «© The Geological system of Dr. Hutton resembles, in many respects, that
which appears to preside over the heavenly motions. In both, we perceive
continual vicissitude and change; but confined within certain limits, and
never departing far from a certain mean condition, which is such, that in the
lapse of time the deviations from it on the one side must become just equal
to the deviations from it on the other. In both, a provision is made for
duration of unlimited extent; and the lapse of time has no effect te wear
out or destroy a machine constructed with so much wisdom.’—Playfair’s
Tilustrations:—§ 387, note xx.

135

Council for the ensuing year ; when the following list was delivered
in by the Scrutineers :—viz. —

President.
Rev. Adam Sedgwick, M.A. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor,
Cambridge.
Vice-Presidents.
Rev. William Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. Professor of Mineralogy
and Geology in the University of Oxford.
George Bellas Greenough, Esq. F.R.S. L.S. & HS.
Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. Warden of the London University.
Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P. F.R.S.

Secretaries.
William John Broderip, Esq. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.

Foreign Secretary.
Charles Lyell, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. & LS.

Treasurer.

John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S. & H.S.

Council.

Arthur Aikin, Esq. F.L.S. Secretary to the Society of Arts.

James Ebenezer Bicheno, Esq. F.R.S. Sec. L.S.

John Bostock, M.D, F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.

Decimus Burton, Esq. ,

Capt. George Everest, F.R.S. Superintendant of the Great Tri- —
gonometrical Survey of India.

Michael Faraday, Esq. F.R.S. Cor. Mem. of the Academy of
Sciences at Paris.

William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. & L.S.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. Pres. RS. F.S.A. &c. &c.

John Lindley, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S. Professor of Botany in the
London University.

Rev. John Honywood Randolph, M.A.

Peter Mark Roget, M.D. Sec. R.S. F.L.S.

Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. Sec. Zool. Soc. &c.

Nathaniel Wallich, M.D. F.L.S.

Rev. James Yates.

LWaae
He Pe

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1829. No. 11.

March 6.—S. P. Pratt, Esq., of Lansdown Place West, Bath; and
the Rev. Robert Everest, M.A., of Devereux-Court, Temple, were
elected Fellows of this Society.

An account of a remarkable fossil-plant in the coal-formation of
Yorkshire ; by John Lindley, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S., &c., and pre rsot
of Botany i in the University of London, was read.

This plant was described as a fern, resembling, in most eae, the
Trichomanes reniforme, a recent species found in New Zealand, but
differing in the nature of its venation. It was said to exhibit distinct
and unequivocal traces of the marginal fructification peculiar to the
genus Trichomanes. After comparing it with the fossils comprehended
by M. Adolphe Brongniart in his genus Cyclopteris, and showing
that it was not referable to any known species of that group, the au-
thor concluded by assigning to it a specific character, and the name
of Trichomanes rotundatum.

The reading of a paper ‘‘On the remains of Quadrupeds which
have been discovered in the Marine and Freshwater Formations of the
Peninsula of Italy ;” by J.B. Pentland, Ksq., was begun.

March 20th.—R.W. Blencowe, Esq., M.A., of 10, Gloucester-Place ;
R. Otway Cave, Esq., M.P., of 30, Upper Grosvenor-street ; Captain
Samuel Edward Cook, R.N., of Newton, Northumberland ; Robert
Daubeny, Esq., of Cork-street ; George Lowe, Esq., of Highgate; and
J. P. Fearon, Esq., of 1, Crown-Office-Row, Temple,—were elected
Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, “‘ On the Tertiary and Secondary Rocks forming
the Southern Flank of the Tyrolese Alps, near Bassano ;”’ by Rode-
rick Impey Murchison, Esq., Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c.

The tertiary, or sub-alpine rocks which fringe the southern extre-
mity of the Tyrolese Alps, between the rivers Brenta and Piave, may
be said to divide themselves into two great natural groups of very
different ages.

Ist.—An outer, or younger zone composed of conglomerates with
subordinate beds of yellow sand and blue marl containing shells,
which, from a limited number collected by the author, seem to be
identical with those which in other parts of Italy, at Nice, &c. charac-
terize the newer tertiary formations (Sub-Apennine).

2d.—An inferior system of yellow and green calcareous sandstone,
blue marl, and compact limestone; the higher portions of which
offer a few shells analogous to those of the Bourdeaux basin ; while
the lowest beds are distinguished by a vast variety of organic remains,

138

more than one half of which seem to he identical with the species
found in the Calcaire grossier and London clay.

A nummulite limestone forms the base of the above series, and is
shown to be conformabie to the scaglia, or rock containing ammo-
nites, belemnites, and flints (the equivalent of the chalk), which rising
into the Alps, passes into a dolomitic limestone charged with casts of
fossils of the oolitic series. No rocks of igneous origin interfere, in
this district, with the above order of superposition ; but they are largely
- developed to the west of the Brenta, where they cut through the re-
gular deposits. In illustration of the above, two transverse sections
from S. to N. are then detailed.

Ist.—From Asolo to Possagno, exhibiting the youngest group or
conglomerate rising to the height of from 700 to 800 feet above the
Adriatic, and dipping S.S.E. at angles increasing from 25° to 40°.

The dip and direction are the same in the succeeding strata of marl
and limestone, for the space of five-miles, and near, Possagno they
range conformably to the scaglia; with which, however, the lowest
members of the tertiary series are there not seen in contact, owing to
a denudation in the Val d’Urgana.

2d.—From Bassano to Campese in the Canal di Brenta. This
section, owing to the much higher inclination of the beds, exhibits all
the above members of the tertiary and secondary series in the short
space of two miles. At Sarzon the marls of the Calcaire grossier
inclined at 70° to 80°, are succeeded by a compact nummulite lime-
stone, absolutely vertical ; forming piers on each bank of the Brenta.
This vertical nummulite rock is in positive and conformable contact
with the scaglia, or ammonite rock, and they rise together to peaks
of considerable height. The scaglia passes conformably into a dolo-
mitic limestone, with remains of the oolitic series which forms the
ptincipal mass of this and the higher regions of the neighbouring
Alps.

Hebe the preceding facts, the author infers that some of the last
expansive forces by which the secondary strata of the Tyrolese Alps
have been set on edge, have also raised the tertiary deposits into their
present vertical positions. Such forces, he presumes, found their issue
in the adjoining basaltic and trap-rocks west of the Brenta. He next
points to the above sections, as proofs that unconformability is not
an invariable test of the distinction (if any such there be) between
secondary and tertiary formations ; and in describing the entire ab-
sence of the plastic clay in this district, he further remarks that it
would be in vain to seek here for those various subdivisions of the
tertiary series which exist in certain parts of Europe, and whichsome
geologists would desire to establish as general types of these forma-
tions. ;

April 3.—J. 8. Upton, Esq., M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
Edward Wynn Pendarves, Esq., M.P., of Pendarves, Cornwall, and of
39, Grosvenor-street; the Rev. John Lodge, M.A., Fellow of Mag-
dalen College, Cambridge, and principal Librarian of the University
of Cambridge ; the Rev. John Brown, M.A., Fellow of Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge; Captain John Franklin, R.N., F.R.S., &c. Com-

139

mander of the late Expeditions overland to the N.W. coast of Ame-
rica, of Devonshire-street, Portland Place; and W. A. Cadell, Esq.,
F.R.S. L. & E. of Edinburgh,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

A letter dated March 14, 1829, from Dr. Prout to Professor Buck-
land, was read, stating that since the last meeting he had made an
analysis of the bezoar stones from Lyme Regis and Westbury on
Severn, and found the composition of all of them to be very similar,
viz. : phosphate of lime and carbonate of lime, together with minute
variable proportions of iron, sulphur, and carbonaceous matter. The
relative proportions of the principal ingredients appear to differ some-
what in different specimens, and even in different parts of the same
specimen: hence no formal analysis has been attempted; but the
phosphate of lime may perhaps be estimated to constitute from about
one-half to three-fourths of the whole mass.

Dr. Prout conceives this composition to prove that the basis of
these bezoar stones is bone ; and that Professor Buckland’s opinion
that they are of fecal origin, or of the nature of Album Grecum, offers
a very satisfactory explanation of their occurrence, and accounts at
once for their chemical composition, their external form, and their
mechanical structure.

A paper “ On the Bituminous Schist and Fossil Fish of Seefeld in
the Tyrol,” by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S., F.R.S.,
&c., was read.

The bituminous schist of Seefeld is subordinate to a vast formation
of dolomite, forming a lofty mountain chain which separates the Tyrol
from Bavaria, in which it occupies a thickness of several hundred
feet. This slaty rock is quarried solely for the bitumen it contains,
which is extracted by subjecting the schist, when broken up and placed
in crucibles, to an intense heat during ten or twelve hours. The
only animal remains observed were fossil fish; and amongst these
M. Valenciennes has discovered at least four species, three of which
are distinguished by quadrangular scales without articulating points,
thus resembling the Esox osseus ( Lepisosteus Lacépéde), but differing
essentially from that genus in having a forked tail, as also in the po-
sition and structure of the fins ; whilst another specimen is distinctly
referred by him to the genus Clupea. With these ichthyolites were
found a few vegetables, one of which has some resemblance to a Ly-
copodium.

As the general characters of the fish approach to those of the Kup-
fer Schiefer of Germany, of the magnesian limestone of England, and
of the Caithness schist in Scotland, while on the other hand they
differ entirely from all the species hitherto observed in the lias and
oolitic series, the author, combining this fact with the mineral charac-
ters of the Seefeld rock and those of the metalliferous dolomite to
which it is subordinate, refers the deposit to one of those formations
below the new-red-sandstone so universally abundant in ichthyolites.
He further speculates on the probability of the destruction of so many
fish having materially cooperated in the bituminization of the schist,
because this rock, on distillation, gives off a much larger proportion of
ammonia than has ever been detected in any coal, however bitumi-

140

nous. Lastly, the author dissents entirely from the theory of Von
Buch that the dolomitic mountains of the Alps have derived their
magnesia from augite rocks in fusion, and their peaked forms from
a simultaneous alteration of their structure :

lst. —Because no trap or augite rocks occur in this region.

2d.—Because fossil fish and plants in bituminous schist alternate
with beds of the dolomite, which must therefore have been of contem-
poraneous origin.

3d.—Because the peaked outline of these mountains is sufficiently
explained by the high inclination, vast dislocations, and numberless
contortions, of the strata.

The reading of a paper, “ On the tertiary deposits of the Cantal,
and their relation to the Primary and Volcanic Rocks ;” By C. Lyell,
Esq., For. Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c. ; and Roderick Impey Murchison,
Esq., Sec. G.S., F.R. ‘Ss. , &c., was begun.

May 1 Samuel Cartwright, Esq. of 32 Old Burlington Street,
and John Hall, Esq., of Edinburgh, were elected Fellows of this So-
ciety.

The reading of a paper “‘ On the tertiary deposits of the Cantal, and
their relation to the primary and volcanic rocks,” by Charles Lyell,
Esq., For. Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c., and R. I. Murchison, Esq., Sec.
G.S., F.R.S., &c. begun at the last meeting, was concluded.

The authors have selected this district for description, because, al-
though the adjoining fresh-water formations of the Limagne d’Au-
vergne, and of Puy en Velay, have been largely written upon ; yet this
of the Cantal has scarcely been noticed by any geologists, except in a
cursory manner by Mr. Scrope, and formerly by M. Brongniart in his
general observations on fresh-water deposits. (Annales du Museum,
tom. xv. 1810.)

The fresh-water formations of Aurillac, or the Cantal is not a con-
tinuous portion of the great lacustrine deposits of the Limagne d’Au-
vergne, from which it is distinctly separated, being bounded on the
north, west and south, by gneiss and mica schist, and on the east
chiefly by granite. The vast volcanic eruption of the Plomb du Can-
tal, the highest point of which is 5571 French feet above the sea,
burst out within the area of this ancient and elevated lacustrine de-
posit long after the consolidation of its strata, which have in conse-
quence been fissured in every direction from that great centre, and
covered both by igneous and aqueous dejections ; the limestone and
marls being capped with sloping terraces of breccia and basalt, while the
streams flowing from the central heights have widened the fissures into
deep valleys. Two of the principal of these valleys, which radiate in a
westerly direction from the Plomb, are occupied by the rivers Cer and
Jourdanne, which unite near Aurillac, where the volcanic matter being
about twentv-five miles from its point of eruption, has thinned out to
a few irregular cappings, and consequently the lacustrine strata are
there least obscured.

From an examination of numerous escarpments, the details of which
are given in Stay sections, the authors establish the following de-
scending order

14]

]. Strong beds of white limestone, alternating with marls, and
containing the following fossils :—Limneus longiscatus, and others ;
Planorbis rotundatus, and cornu; Ancylus elegans, &c.

2. White thinly foliated marls and marlstones, with a vast pro-
portion of flinty and resinous silex, both in layers and in nodules, the
latter frequently having the characters of the menilite of the Paris
basin, containing innumerable Bulini, chiefly Bulini conicus and
pygmeus, with Potamides Lamarckii, and a great,quantity of stems
of vegetables with gyrogonites. This middle system is distinguished
by the paper-like lamination of its beds; and from the succession of
matted vegetables and minute organic remains, it offers throughout
many striking analogies to deposits in recent lakes. (Some of the
thicker calcareo-siliceous beds are extensively worked for millstones.)

3. The base of these deposits is a brownish red plastic clay, charged
with white quartz pebbles, &c., the detritus being apparently derived
from the gneiss and mica schist, on which it rests.

The united thickness of the lacustrine formations of the Cantal is |
estimated at from 400 to 500 feet.

Several detached remnants of water deposits are mentioned as oc-
curring between Aurillac and Mauriac; and although the authors
conceive these may possibly have been formed in tarns (or small
lakes), yet from the prodigious convulsions which the whole country
has undergone posterior to the lacustrine deposits, it cannot be de-
termined whether these might not have been bays of the great lake
of the Cantal.

That a vast change in the relative levels of the various rocks of this
region has taken place, is proved by many of the escarpments of the
fresh-water marls being now at much greater heights than the border
primary rocks on which they rest. The mineralogical appearances of
the white limestone and marl are compared with the chalk of England,
like which their surface is occasionally. hollowed out into root-shaped
cavities filled with alluvium ; while some of these fresh-water flints are
found strewed over the adjacent primary rocks, just as chalk flints are
spread over the granite of Peterhead, Banfishire.

The valley of the Cer is then described, In ascending the deep
gorges of this valley to the Plomb du Cantal, or centre of igneous erup-
tion, the lacustrine strata gradually losing the horizontality which
they exhibit at Aurillac, are found first much disturbed, then dislo-
cated, isolated and altered, amidst trachytic breccia and basalt; and
finally above Thiesac are entirely lost under the increasing moun-
tainous accumulations of volcanic matter. Siliceous fragments in-
closing fresh-water shells are found at such very high levels in some
of these ancient trachytic currents, and so much above any remnant
of the fresh-water strata in situ, that the authors conceive they must
have been ejected from below, and borne down from the central
heights of the volcano, mingled with the detritus of volcanic rocks. In
confirmation of what has been previously stated, that the great vol-
canic focus burst out within the area of the lacustrine deposits, it is
stated that limestone and marls occur near Murat at the foot of the

142

Eastern watershed of the highest ranges of the Cantal, where beds
extensively quarried for lime, and containing several species of Lim-
neus, Planorbis, Bulinus terebra, &c. with gyrogonites and plants,
are overlaid by a prodigious accumulation of volcanic products. The
fresh-water strata at this locality (La Vissiere) are unaltered in their
character, but exhibit many faults.

The organic remains found in different parts of the Cantal, prove
that this lacustrine formation, although geographicaliy separated from,
is geologically of the same age with that of the Limagne d’Auvergne,
and corresponds as a whole to the different divisions of the fresh-water
strata of Paris, and those of Hordwell Cliff and the Isle of Wight in
England. It is more difficult to obtain an accurate knowledge of all
the strata in the Cantal, than in the contiguous regions of Mont Dor,
Clermont, &c. For in the last-mentioned districts, the volcanoes had
issue amidst the primary rocks, their lava currents only reaching to
the outskirts of the lacustrine formations ; whereas those of the Cantal
burst out in the very centre of these tertiary deposits, and either
buried them or produced changes of the relative levels of the country,
so as to occasion much abrasion of the original strata by the frequent
shifting of the direction of the waters.

In conclusion, a comparison is instituted between the lower members
of the lacustrine deposits of the Cantal, and those of the Limagne
d’Auvergne and of the Puy en Velay.

A paper by Dr. Buckland was read, stating that he has ascertained
that the bony rings of the suckers of cuttle-fish are frequently mixt
with the scales of various fish, and the bones of fish, and of small Ich-
thyosauri in the bezoar-shaped feces from the lias at Lyme Regis.
These rings and scales have passed undigested through the intestines
of the Ichthyosauri. Dr. Prout has also found that the black varieties
of these bezoars owe their colour to matter of the same nature with the
fossil ink bags in the lias; hence it appears that the Ichthyosauri fed
largely upon the sepiz of ‘those ancient seas.

The author has also ascertained, by the assistance of Mr. Miller
and Dr. Prout, that the small black rounded bodies of various shapes,
and having a polished surface, which occur mixt with bones in the
lowest strata of the lias on the banks of the Severn, near Bristol, are
also of fecal origin :—they appear to be co-extensive with this bone
bed, and occur at many and distant localities. He has also re-
ceived from Mr. Miller similar small black fecal balls from a calca-
reous bed nearly at the bottom of the carboniferous limestone at
Bristol; this bed abounds with teeth of sharks, and bones, and teeth
and spines of other fishes: until they can be referred to their respective
animals, the author proposes the name of Nigrum Greecum for all these
black varieties of fossil feces. They may have been derived from small
reptiles or from fish, and in the case of the lias bone bed, from the
molluscous inhabitants of fossil nautiliand ammonites, and belemnites.
In a collection at Lyme Regis there is a fossil fish fom the lias, which
has a ball of Nigrum Greecum within its body ; for this the author pro-
poses the name of Ichthyo-copros. He also proposes to affix the

143

name of Sauro-copros to the so-called bezoar stones of the lias at
Lyme Regis, which are derived from the Ichthyosauri ; and the name
of Hyaino-copros to the Album Grecum of the fossil hyena.

The form and mechanical structure of the balls of Sauro-copros,
disposed in spirai folds round a central axis, are so similar to that of
the supposed fir-cones or Tuli in the chalk and chalk marl, that the au-
thor has concluded that these so long misnamed luli are also of fecal
origin. On examination he finds many of them to contain the scales
of fish; and Dr. Prout’s analysis proves their substance to be digested
bone. The spiral intestines of the modern shark and ray afford an
analogy that may explain the origin of this spiral structure ; and the
abundance of the teeth of sharks and palates of rays in chalk ren-
ders it possible that the Iuli may have been derived from these
animals. For these the provisional name of Copros iuloides is pro-
posed. In the collection of Colonel Houlton, of Farley Castle, are se-
veral specimens of the Copros iuloides from the quarries of Maes-
tricht.

The author has also recognized two other varieties of these fecal
substances in a collection of fossils brought from the fresh-water for-
mations near Aix in Provence by Messrs. Murchison and Lyell.

__ The author concludes that he has established generally the curious

fact, that, in formations of all ages, from the carboniferous limestone
to the diluvium, the feces of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous ani-
mals have been preserved ; and proposes to include them all under
the generic name of Coprolite.

The examples he produces from the carboniferous limestone, the
lias, the Hastings sandstone, the chalk marl and chalk, the Maestricht
rock, the fresh-water deposits at Aix, and the diluvium, are taken
respectively from the several great periods into which geological for-
mations are divided.

PROCEEDINGS
OF -

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1829. No. 12.

May 15.—Wm. Babington, Esq., of St. John’s Wood, Regent’s
Park ; and Henry Humphry Goodhall, Esq., of the East India House,
were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of a paper, ‘‘ On the Hydrographical Basin of the
Thames, with a view more especially to investigate the causes which
have operated in the formation of the valleys of that river, and its
tributary streams ;” by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, F.G.S., F.R.S.,
&c., &c. was begun.

June 5.—William Lonsdale, Esq., Lieut. 4th Reg. of Infantry, and
late Honorary Curator of the Bath Philosophical Institution, &c., &c.;
the Rev. Thos. Thorp, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
the Right Rev. John Matthias Turner, D.D., Lord Bishop of Calcutta ;
David Douglas, Esq., F.L.S., of Turnham Green ; Thos. Erskine
Perry, Esq., B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Whitehall;
and Charles Earl, Esq.,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of a paper, On the Valley of the Thames, by the Rev.
W. D. Conybeare, F.G.S., F.R.S., &c., &c., (begun at the last meet-
ing,) was concluded.

The author has selected this river, not only as being the principal
one of the island, but further as exhibiting valleys exclusively the result
of denudation, and therefore better suited to illustrate that operation
than valleys of more complicated origin, in the formation of which
the elevation and dislocation of the strata have co-operated.

He first offers some introductory remarks on the opposite theories _
of the fluvialist and diluvialist, the former ascribing such denudations
exclusively to the operation of the streams actually existing, or rather
to the drainage of the atmospherical waters falling on the districts,
which it is supposed have become thus deeply furrowed by the gra-
dual erosion of these waters, continued through a long and indefinite
series of ages; the latter contending that such a cause is totally in-
adequate to the solution of the phenomena, and maintaining that they
afford evidence of having been produced by violent diluvial currents.

He proceeds to distinguish several different geological epochs, at
which it is probable that currents must have taken place calculated
to excavate and modify the existing surface. I. In the ocean, be-
neath which the strata were originally deposited. II. During the
retreat of that ocean. III. At the periods of more violent disturbance,
which are evidenced by the occurrence of fragmentary rocks, the
result of violent agitations in the waters of the then existing ocean
propagated from the shocks attendant on the elevation and dislocation

146

of the strata.—Four such periods are enumerated as having left dis-
tinct traces in the English strata. 1.That which has formed the
pudding-stone of the old-red-sandstone, ascribed to the elevation of the
transition rocks. 2. That which has formed the conglomerates of the
new-red-sandstone, ascribed to the elevation of the carboniferous rocks.
3. That which has formed the gravel beds of the plastic clay. 4. That
which has produced the superficial gravel, spread alike over the most
recent and oldest rocks as a general covering, and which is found to
contain bones of extinct mammalia: this (it is agreed) may be iden-
tified as the product of one era, by the same evidence which is em-
ployed to demonstrate the unity of any other geological formation.
Although diluvialists have usually directed their principal attention
to the effects of the currents of this latest epoch of general disturb-
ance, they by no means exclude the co-operation of any of the causes
above enumerated.

In the body of his paper, the author considers the physical history
of the Thames as divisible into the following sections. I. The col-
lection of its head waters from the drainage of the Cotteswold uplands.:
II. The passage which it has forced across the Oxford chain of hills.
III. That opened in like manner across the Chiltern hills to the
London basin at Reading. IV. There-entry of the river among those
hills by the Henley defile. V. Its course through the plains of London
to the sea.

I. The head-waters of the Thames are collected from the drainage
of the Cotteswold uplands, over a tract about 50 miles in length,
constituting the rivers Isis, Churn, Colne, Lech, Windrush, Evenlode,
and Cherwell; this chain of hills being entirely broken through by
the Colne, Evenlode, and Cherwell, which rise from sources in the
Lias plains beyond its escarpment. The height of most of these
sources is calculated at about 400 feet above the sea.

Each of these valleys is separately described, and the general fea-
tures of denudation presented by the Cotteswold chain are pointed
out ; these, it is asserted, bear traces of the most violent action, and
they are contrasted with the state of repose which has evidently pre-
vailed in the same districts from the period to which our earliest
historical monuments ascend. In the most exposed situations, and
those which appear to have suffered most from the action of the de-
nuding causes, earth works of British and Roman antiquity are fre-
quently found, attesting by their perfect preservation that the form
of the surface has remained unaltered since the time of their con-
struction. The drainage of the atmospherical waters has here produced
no sensible effect for more than fifteen centuries: it is inferred,
therefore, that to assign to this cause the excavation of the adjoining
valleys, 600 or 700 feet deep, is to ascribe to it an agency for which
we have no evidence ; the evidence, indeed, as far as it can be ex-
amined, being. adverse.

The disposition of the water-worn debris drifted against the Cot-
teswold chain and through the breaches opened in it, is also examined;
and much of it is shown to be derived from rocks situated to the north
of the valley of the Warwickshire Avon, and to be completely cut off

147

by that valley from the Cotteswold district. It is contended that pebbles
of this origin can never have been transported by the actual streams,
because the drainage of these streams is, and always must have been,
from the escarpment of the Cotteswolds to the valley of Avon ;
whereas the course of the pebbles is directly opposite, viz. across
the Avon, and thence to that escarpment and through its breaches.
The valley of Shipston on Stour, which is described as a species of
bay in the escarpment of the Cotteswolds, is stated to contain the
most remarkable instance of this disposition.

II. The river collected from these head-waters flows through the plain
of Oxford, which is covered to a great extent by water-worn debris ;
these are diffused over situations inaccessible to the present floods, and
if produced by the actual streams, we must suppose that they have re-
peatedly changed their channel so as to have flowed successively over
every portion of the plain where these debris are now found: the oldest
historical monuments attest, however, the permanence of the actual
channels, and the floods at present bring down no pebbles whatsoever.

On the south of the plain of Oxford the progress of the river is op-
posed by a chain of hills, called by the author the Oxford chain.
This is passed by a defile broken through it. Were that defile closed,
an extensive lake would be formed above Oxford, and the waters
would be turned into the valley of the Ouse; by which they would
empty themselves into the estuary of the Wash.

The author inquires how this configuration of the valleys could
have been produced on the fluvialist’s theory. He argues, that if the
Oxford chain originally (as at present) formed a barrier of superior
elevation to the tract intervening between itself and the Cotteswolds,
that barrier must have turned all the drainage of the Cotteswolds into
the vale of Ouse: under those circumstances the crest of the Oxford
chain could never have been eroded by waters which would have
flowed off in another direction. ‘There is, however, another alterna-
tive ; and the interval between these chains may be supposed to have
formed originally a uniformly inclined plane, from the summits of
the one to those of the other, along which the waters once flowed,
and which they have since furrowed (by perpetually deepening their
channels) into the present valleys. ‘The author calculates the mass
of materials which must on this supposition have been excavated and
washed away, and contends that the drainage of atmospherical waters
along such an inclined plane (which would have a fall of 10 feet per
mile) does not afford an agent adequate to such vast operations.

The Oxford chain has suffered greatly from denudation, being
broken into several detached groups.

Among these, some insulated summits are capped by patches of
gravel, partly derived from transition rocks, partly from the chalk
formation. These prove the extent to which denudation must have
proceeded since they were lodged in their present situation; as they
must have been transported from their native habitats along uni-
formly inclined planes, which have subsequently been excavated.

Ill. Issuing from the defile of the Oxford chain, the river flows.

148

through the plain of Abingdon and Dorchester, being joined by the
Ock and the Thame. This plain, like that of Oxford, is deeply and
extensively covered with water-worn debris. It is also similarly bound-
ed by a lofty chain (like that of the Chilterns) on the south. An enor-
mous breach is opened in this barrier for the passage of the river.
All the same arguments apply in this case which were previously
urged with regard to the passage of the Oxford chain.

The Chilterns, like most other chalky districts, abound with dry
valleys, the rifted and absorbent structure of that rock not permit-
ting the rain waters to collect into streams: these valleys agree in
every other feature with those containing water courses, and have
been obviously excavated by the same denuding causes, which, in
this case, it is self-evident could not have been river waters. The
surface of the chalk has been deeply and violently eroded, and is
deeply covered with its own debris ;—this ‘action appears, in part,
to have taken place during the epoch of the plastic clay formation.

IV. The river having passed this defile, enters for the first time
the London basin, near Reading ; where it receives the Keanet, of
which the course is shortly described. It rises in the chalk marl,
beneath the chalk escarpment, a few miles beyond Marlborough ;
that escarpment being broken through in several places, to give pas-
sage to its head-waters. The author insists, again, on the contrast
between the extensive denudations which must have occurred in this
district and the permanence of its surface, as attested by the pre-
- servation of the numerous Druidical and other British monuments
scattered over these downs.

A little below Reading, the Thames (first having received another
small tributary, the Loddon) quits for a time the London basin, to
re-enter, by a sudden bend, another deep defile among the chalk
hills, ranging by Henley and Marlow to Maidenhead, when it finally
enters the plains of London. It is difficult to account for this de-
flection of the river, as a straighter course appears open to it by
White Waltham to Bray. This line was surveyed for a canal by
Mr. Brindley, and appears tobe level to White Waltham, and thence
to fall 47 feet to Mankey island, near Bray; so that a dam of a few
feet across the river below Sunning .at the mouth of the Loddon,
would turn the waters into this channel. The author conceives the
most natural mode of explaining this deflection of the river, is by
the supposition that a higher range of tertiary strata once extended
from the ridges of Bagshot-heath in this direction ; forming a bar to
the progress of the stream in this line.

V. The plains of London are covered with enormous accumulations
of water-worn debris, chiefly of chalk-flints, and often abounding in
fossil remains of elephants, hippopotami, &c.: the gravel is not
confined to the low grounds, but caps the highest summits of the
district; e.g. Highgate on the north, and Shooter’s Hill on the south
ef the river. To explain this distribution of this gravel by the ope-
ration of the actual rivers, the author observes that it is necessary,
first, to suppose that an uniform plane originally existed from the

149

summit of Highgate to the Hertfordshire chalk downs, and from the
top of Shooter’s Hill to those of Kent; on the surface of which the
rivers once flowed. 2ndly, That these rivers have subsequently washed
away all that immense mass of materials which would be requisite
thus to reconstruct the surface ; and 3rdly, That having worn down
that surface into nearly its present form, the rivers perpetually shifted
their channels so as to distribute the gravel equally over the whole
plain of London, yet remained long enough in each channel to
lodge there deposits of this gravel 20 or 30 feet thick.

A paper was also read entitled, ‘‘ A few facts and observations as to
the power which running water exerts in removing heavy bodies,” by
Matthew Culley, Esq., F.G.S., &c., in a letter to Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq., Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c.

The heavy rains which fell during three days of August, 1827,
swelled to an unusual height the small rivulet called the College,
which flows at a moderate declivity from the eastern watershed of
the Cheviot hills, and caused that stream not only to transport
enormous accumulations of several thousand tons weight of gravel
and sand to the plain of the Till, but also to carry away a bridge then
in progress of building, some of the arch-stones of which, weighing
from 4 to 2 of a ton each, were propelled two miles down the rivulet.

On the same occasion, the current tore away from the abutment ot
a mill-dam, a large block of greenstone-porphyry, weighing nearly
two tons, and transported the same to the distance of a quarter of a
mile. Instances are related as occurring repeatedly, in which from one
to three thousand tons of yravel are in like manner removed to
great distances in one day; and the author asserts, that, whenever
400 or 500 cart-loads of this gravel are taken away for the repair of
roads, one moderate flood replaces the amount of loss with the same
quantity of rounded debris.

Parallel cases of the power of water are stated to occur in the
Tweed, near Coldstream.

June 19.—A. B. De Capel Brooke, Esq., of Lower Brooke Street ;
James Morrison, Esq., of Portland Place ; and Daniel Sharpe, Esq.,
of New Ormond Street,—-were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper “On the occurrence of agates in the dolomitic strata of
the new-red-sandstone formation in the Mendip Hills,” by the Rev.
W. Buckland, D.D., V.P.G.S., F.RS., &c., &c., was read. These
agates are ploughed out of the surface of the fields at Sandford, near
Banwell, and are nearly allied to the potatoe-stones, which abound in
the new-red-sandstone formation that surrounds the Mendip Hills.
Their prevailing colours are various shades of gray; their internal
structure resembles that of the bird’s-eye agate, presenting alternate
bands of chalcedony, jasper, and hornstone, disposed in irregular and
concentric curves : some specimens from Worle and Clevedon are of
the nature of fine jasper agates, and of a bright red colour.

_ A shallow pit, from which the agates are extracted at Sandford,
presents the following section.

1. iar: clay, mixed with magnesia and carbonate of i 6 inches

150

crumbles readily toa soft powder, and is filled with
specks of manganese, and contains veins of small
nodules of chalcedonyf0)- 0.22. ge5. eens © 2 J]
3. Yellow clay falling to powder, in water, like Fuller’s j
f

2. Yellow dolomite, used as firestone in limekilns ; it
6 inches.

earth, and containing much carbonate of lime and
magnesia. In this clay the agates are dispersed
irregularly like nodules of flint in chalk ........
4. Yellow clay and earthy dolomite, to the bottom of
LUCA EU ARAL USE Na aE A a ch AS ih

The author adduces a parallel example of beds and nodules of jas-
per and jasper-agate in the mountains of dolomite, near Palermo,
in a formation of the same age with the new-red-sandstone of the
Mendip Hills. He also gives examples of agates formed in cavities
of chert of the green-sand formation, near Lyme Regis, and in
cavities of silicified wood and silicified corals and shells. The most
beautiful specimens of the two former are from the tertiary strata of
Antigua. Shells converted into chalcedony, and containing agates in
their cavities, occur near Exeter, in the whet-stone-pits of the green-
sand formation, at Black Down Hill; and shells, entirely converted
to red jasper, in sand of the same formation, at Little Haldon Hill.

A paper was next read “‘ On thetertiary fresh-water formations of Aix
in Provence, including the coal-field of Fuveau,’”’ by Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq., Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c., and Charles Lyell, Esq.,
For. Sec. G.S., F.R.S., &c.; with a description of fossil insects con-
tained therein, by John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S.

The oldest and fundamental rock of this district is a highly in-
clined and contorted secondary limestone, containing Belemnites,
Gryphites and Terebratula; on which is unconformably deposited a
vast fresh-water formation, the relations of which are shown in a
section from N.E. to S.W.—The escarpment of white mar] and lime-
stone, N.E. of the town of Aix, is first described in descending
series. The upper beds consisting of white calcareous marls and
marlstone, calcareo-siliceous millstone and resinous flint, contain
the Potamides Lamarckii, Bulinus terebra and B. pygmeus, with a
new species of Cyclas named C. gibbosa, and the subjacent strata
run out into a terrace, beneath which gypsum is extensively worked.
Of these beds (minutely detailed), some are peculiarly character-
ized by their abundance of fossil fish; and others by a profusion
of plants, amongst which, Mr. Lindley has recognised Flabellaria
Lamanonis of M. Ad. Brongniart, and the leaves of Laurus dulcis ?
Podocarpus macrophylla? and Buxus Balearica?—the terminal
pinna of a leguminous plant, referrible to Loteze or Phaseolez of De
Candolle, the branch of a Thuya nearly related to T. articulata,
and what appears to be the fruit of some unknown plant, &c.,
&c. In this upper system of gypsum the fossil insects occur
exclusively in a finely laminated bed of about 2 inches thick ;
and still lower are two other ranges of gypsum, the upper one of
which alone is worked ; and the marls associated therewith, con-
tain neatly as great a quantity of fossil fish as those of the upper

6 inches.

\ 12 inches,

151

zone. Beneath these are beds of white and pink-coloured marl-
stone and marl, inclined at 25° to 30°, and distinguished by Potamides
Lamarckii, and a new species of Cyclas, named C.Aque Sextie, and
these pass downwards into a red-sandstone (Molasse) and a coarse
conglomerate (Nagelfleu), the town of Aix being situated at the base
of the whole of the above series.

In continuing the sectional line to the S.W., all the district be-
tween Aix and Fuveau is made up of parallel ridges of fresh-water
rocks ; the most northerly containing red marl and fibrous gypsum, with
Limnee and Planorbes (P. rotundatus): the intermediate range is
of mere earthy limestone, containing Limnee and Gyrogonites, with
micaceous sandstone and shale; and lastly, the coal-field of Fuveau
is described as composed of gray, blue, and black compact lime-
stone and shale, with stony bituminous coal of good quality; the
united thickness of the different seams of which amounts to about
D feet. The fossils characterizing the carboniferous strata are 2 new
species of Cyclas, named C. cuneata and C. concinna, a Melania,
named M. scalaris; Planorbis cornu, and a large species of Unio.
Casts of Gyrogonites were observed even in the coal itself, and the
charcoal seemed in some instances to be made up of a plant resem-
bling Endogenites bacillare of Brongniart.

The authors remark that these lower members of this great tertiary
deposit differ in character from any other fresh-water group examin-
ed by them in Central France, and have so much the aspect of the
most ancient secondary rocks, that the presence alone of fluviatile
and lacustrine shells, with Gyrogonites, compelled them to recognise
the comparitively recent date of the whole group.

This notice was accompanied by observations on the fossil insects,
mentioned in the preceding memoir, by John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S.
These insects are all of European forms, and are most of them re-
ferrible to existing genera. The greater portions belong to the orders
Diptera and Hemiptera; the Coleoptera are next in number, there
are only a few Hymenoptera, and but one Lepidopterous insect.
“ As a larger collection,” says Mr. Curtis, “might greatly change
the proportion of the different orders, no positive inference, as to
climate, should be drawn from the present assemblage ; but there
is nothing in the character of the insects to warrant the supposi-
tion of a higher temperature than that of the South of France.” The
great portion of these remains were very probably brought together
from different localities by floods, mountain-torrents, or rivers ; yet
there is no insect among them that might not be found in a moist
wood. The antenne, tarsi, and other parts whereby the characters
would be best distinguished, are often wanting; yet enough cha-
racters frequently remain even then to distinguish the genus. The
sculpture, and even some degree of colouring, are preserved in several
specimens. The wings of some beetles are extended beyond the
elytra, showing that when they perished, they were flying or attempt-
ing to escape by flight.

A collection of fossil vegetables, from the Northumberland and Dur-
ham coal-field, was exhibited at this meeting, and presented to the

152

Society by William Hutton, Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, F.GS.;
with a catalogue describing the plants, according to the systems of
M. Ad. Brongniart and Mr. Artis. The collection consisted of spe-
cimens of Calamites, Sagenaria, Filicites, Myriophyllites, Asterio-
phyllites and Sphenophyllites.

At the close of this Meeting, which terminated the session, the
Society adjourned til Friday evening the 6th of November.

PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

PROCEEDINGS
3 or

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1829. No. 13.

_Nov. 6th, 1829.—The Society assembled this evening for the Ses-
sion,

George Biddell Airy, Esq. M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, and Professor of Astronomy in that University; John Macs
pherson Grant, Esq. of Ballindalloch, N. B. and attached to His Ma-
jJesty’s Legation at Turin ; John Heywood Hawkins, Esq. of Bignor
Park, Sussex; Philip Duncan, Esq., Fellow of New College, Ox-
ford; and Wilham Cavendish, Esq., M.P. M.A. of Trinity College,
Cambridge, and Belgrave-square London, were elected Fellows of
this Society.

A Paper was read, “ On the Tertiary Deposits of the Vale of Go-
sau in the Salzburg Alps; by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S.
F.R.S. &c., and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.
&e.”

The authors present this as the first of a series of memoirs in which
they hope to throw some light on the structure of the tertiary forma-
tions in Salzburg and Bavaria, and their varied relations to the
secondary rocks of the Austrian Alps.

These deposits, the highest members of which descend into the
flat regions near the banks of the Danube, become, in their lower
groups, more elevated and more highly inclined ; and, as they ap-
proach their southern or Alpine barrier, are sometimes vertical :
whilst in the valley of Gosau and far within that barrier, formations
with the same organic remains are found at much higher elevations,
inclosed in Alpine limestone, on which they rest unconformably, and
in a nearly horizontal position. This deposit of Gosau the authors
conceive to have been formed in one of the arms of an ancient sea
which, like the present salt-water lochs of Scotland, must have pe-
netrated deeply into the then existing valleys of the Alps ; whilst its
actual position incontestably proves that it must have been prodi-
giously upheaved at some time posterior to the epoch’of its formation.

In ascending the drainage of the Traun to the district under
review, patches of these tertiary formations are described as occurring
in various small transverse valleys between Gmunden and Ischel ;
but these are comparatively at low elevations, and all traces of them
are lost in the higher regions between I[schel and the Lake of Hall-
stadt, which is about 1700 feet above the level of the sea. The
valley of Gosau is described as situated more than five miles to the
west of that lake and about 900 feet above its level. The formations
which the authors consider ‘i'ertiary, occupy the flanks of this valley,
and are chiefly exhibited in two hilly ranges, the Horn on the west,

154

and the Ressenberg on the east. The beds of these hills are nearly
horizontal, have an estimated thickness of not less than 2600 feet,
and are shut in on all sides by Alpine limestone, forming on the
south a great serrated barrier, the highest pinnacles ef which are
more than 10,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The following abstract of detailed sections derived from the Horn
and the Ressenberg, exhibits the strata in descending order.

Ist. Red and green slaty micaceous sandstone, several hundred feet
thick (cap of the Horn).

2nd. Green, micaceous, gritty sandstone extensively quarried as
whetstone, succeeded by yellowish, sandy marls (Ressenberg).

3rd. A vast, shelly series consisting of blue marls alternating with
strong beds of compact limestone and calcareous grit, the upper
beds of which are marked by obscure traces of vegetables ; and the
middle and inferior strata, by a prodigious quantity of well pre-
served organic remains, out of which the authors collected upwards
of eighty species of bivalve and univalve shells, and fifteen species
of corals. (Localities :—beds of torrents descending into Gosau-
Thal.)

4th. The above shelly series graduates downwards into beds ofa
more conglomerate form which pass into a red sandstone and marl
containing gypsum ; anda coarse conglomerate, forming the base
of the whole system, rests upon, and abuts against, the Alpine or
saliferous limestone. (Locality :—Russbach.)

Amongst the shells occurring in the group No. 3, are

Bivalves :—Crassatella 2 species, Corbula 1, Pectunculus 3, Car-
dium 3, Plicatula 2, Gryphea 2, Trigonia 2, Pecten 1, Solen 1, Ana-
tina 1, Lucina 1, Astarte 1, Venus 2, Cypricardia 1, Isocardia 1,
Ostrea 2, Hippurites 2 *,; &c. &c.

Univalves :—Melania 2, Melanopsis ? 1, Ampullaria ], Neretina 1,
Natica 3, Trochus 1, Turbo 1, Turritella 2, Cerithium 6, Nerita 2,
Turbinella 1, Fusus 2, Rostellaria 1, Buccinum 3, Mitra 2, Volva-
ria 2, Conus? 1, &c. &c.

Corals :—Turbinolia 1, Caryophyllia 3, Fungia 2, Cyclolites ? 2,
Astrea 5, Madrepora 2.

The above organic remains have been examined by M. Deshayes
and Mr. J. Sowerby, neither of whom detected a_ single species
identical with any known fossil of the secondary rocks, whilst they
consider the greater number of the genera to be eminently charac-
teristic of the tertiary period.-—The authors have further remarked
a strong resemblance between these fossils and certain unpublished
species of the Vicentino, and Mr. Sowerby has identified a few species
with well-known tertiary shells. It is, therefore, concluded both from
negative and positive zoological evidence, as well as from the uncon-
formable position of the beds, that the whole deposit of Gosau must
be considered tertiary, or, in other words, younger than the chalk.
At the same time, the great proportion of new species contained
therein, and the absence of those identifications with recent shells

* The genus Hippurites is placed among the bivalves on the authority of
M. Deshayes.

155

which mark the fossils of the younger tertiary groups, prove that it
must be ranked with the most ancient deposits of that series.

In the basins which have been best examined, there is an entire
break between the secondary and tertiary groups. But the great
mechanical agents which in these localities have elevated and ground
down the secondary rocks, before the commencement of the tertiary,
may not have acted universally. There is therefore reason to expect
in distant localities new groups of rocks by which this break may be
filled up; and by help of which it will perhaps be found that the
newest secondary rocks and the oldest tertiary, graduate finally into
each other.

Nov. 20.—J. R. Gowen, Esq. of Highclere, near Newbury, and
William Holbech, Esq. of Farnborough, Warwickshire, were elected
Fellows of this Society.

The reading of a paper, “ Onthe Tertiary Formations which range
along the Flanks of the Salzburg and Bavarian Alps,’ being in con-
tinuation of the memoir “ On the Valley of Gosau,”’ by the Rev. Adam
Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S. &c., and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq.
Sec. G.S. F RLS. &c. was begun. an

Dec, 4.— Nicholas Dennys, Esq. of Cambridge Terrace, Regent's
Park ; John Willimott, Esq. of Jermyn-street, St. James’s ; William
Higgins, Esq. of Coggeshall, Essex; and Edward Spencer, Esq., of
Highgate, were elected Fellows of this Society.

His Imperial Highness the Arch-duke John of Austria; Professor
Hausmann, of Gottingen; M. Hoffmann, of Berlin; M. Voltz, of
Strasbourg ; M. Dufrenoy, of Paris; and Dr. Ami Bovué, were elected
Foreign Members of the Society.

The reading of the paper by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S.
F.R.S,. &c., and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.,
&c. begun at the last meeting, was concluded.

The authors, having in a former communication described the great
relations of the tertiary formations on the north flank of the Alps to
the older part of the chain, proceed in this paper to confirm their
conclusions by a series of detailed transverse sections, commencing
with the hills near the foot of the Traunsee, and ending with the
lofty hills of molasse and conglomerate near the Lake of Bregenz.

1. Section at the foot of the Traunsee.—The tertiary formations here
commence on the north side of the Traunstein ; and the lower beds
are described as being chiefly argillaceous, of a great thickness, and
in a highly inclined position. They contain some of the Gosau fos-
sils, and in their prolongation form the base of a hill 1800 feet high,
composed of alternating beds of sandstone and of sandy marl. This
whole system is surmounted by great alternating masses of conglo-
merate, sandstone, and marl, forming a succession of parallel ridges
in the country north of Gmunden; and still further towards the north,
and in a higher part of theseries, are beds of lignite.

2. Section of Salzburg.—Great parallel ridges of conglomerate
and sandstone extend at the foot of the higher Alps, from the denu-
dation of the Traun to that of the Salza. The conglomerates rest-
ing immediately on the older limestone, re-appear on the left bank of

156

the river, and form a mural precipice on the S.W. side of the city of
Salzburg. They are described in detail, and are shown to have ori-
ginated in the mechanical degradation of the neighbouring chain ; and
having a high inclination which carries them under the micaceous
sandstones of the northern plains, are, on that account, referred to
the lower part of the tertiary system.

3. Section from Untersberg to the plains N.E. of Reichenhall.—The
authors here give a short account of the great secondary system of
Alpine limestone; and the Untersberg beds, which contain innumer-
able Hippurites, are shown to belong to the highest part of that series.
Over the Untersberg beds, the section exhibits the following suc-
cession.

a. A great deposit of marl and marlstone, generally of a gray, but
in some places of a red colour; containing a few fossils resembling
those of the chalk formation.

b. Sandy, micaceous marls alternating with conglomerates and mi-
caceous, calc-grit, with Nummulites. Subordinate to this system are
red and variegated marls, with gypsum.

c. A system of beds composed of blue, micaceous slate-clay and
greenish, micaceous sandstone.

d. A great succession of alternating masses of blueish, micaceous

“marl, slate-clay, sandstone, and conglomerate. Some of these upper
marls contain beds of gypsum and fossils, resembling the suite of
Gosau. The whole of the preceding series is succeeded towards the
north by the tertiary, slaty, green sandstone of the plains.

As all the deposits above described are conformable to each other,
there is a difficulty in drawing the precise line of demarcation be-
tween the secondary and tertiary formations: the authors (though
not without some hesitation) place the nummulite-rock, which is
associated with the lower gypseous marls, at the base of the tertiary
group. :

4, Section from the Stauffenberg, through the Kachelstein and the
Kressenberg, towards the plains of Bavaria.—lIn this section the Stauf-
fenberg and the Kachelstein belong to the outer zone of secondary
Alpine limestone, which in this region is enormously dislocated, so
that the subordinate beds are not only contorted and pitched up at
high angles, but generally plunge in towards the axis of the chain. The
Kressenberg rises to the height of 500 or 600 feet on the north side of
the Kachelstein, and forms a gradual slope towards the northern
plains. Its subordinate beds dip at high angles of eievation towards
the south, those which are nearest the secondary ridges being inclined
at 80°. his position gives the system of the Kressenberg the ap-
pearance of dipping under the secondary rocks, an appearance which
the authors consider entirely deceptive, and for which they account by
the intervention ofa great fault. They consider the beds of the Kres-
senberg hills as tertiary ; because, though inclined in the same general
direction with the secondary mountains, they are not conformable to
them ; because they contain no Ammonites, Belemnites, or other se-
condary fossils ; and, lastly, because they contain very many organic
remains which characterise tertiary formations. The authors here

LOT

refer to the list of fossils derived by Count Munster from this locality,
and they entirely coincide with the opinions which he has published
respecting them. This tertiary system is almost entirely composed of
sand and sandstone which, here and there, contain many particles of
green earth, in some places resembling tertiary molasse, and in
others not to be distinguished from secondary, green sand. Subordi-
nate to this system are eleven beds of granular hydrate of iron (vary-
ing from five to seven feet in thickness), which are extensively
worked. :

After the details of the preceding section, the great derangements
of the neighbouring Alpine chain are briefly noticed. It is shown that
there are two anticlinical lines ; one of which ranges through the mi-
neralogical centre of the chain ; while the other, passing longitudi-
nally through the great calcareous zone appears to carry a part of the
saliferous series under the older formations.

5. Tertiary deposits in the Valley of the Inn.—These were proba-
bly once of considerable extent, occupying a basin about twenty
miles in length, but not more than three or four miles in its greatest
breadth. They are now chiefly seen near Hiring, where a bed of
coal thirty-four feet in thickness is extensively worked by means of
long horizontal levels, which traverse a great succession of strata.
These beds are described in great detail, and are principally com-
posed of fetid marls in various states of induration. The coal and
overlying beds contain many land and fluviatile shells, and have at
first sight the appearance of a great lacustrine formation. Some of
the beds above the coal, contain innumerable impressions of well-
preserved dicotyledonous and other plants, many of which are in
the course of examination by M. Adolphe Brongniart. There are,
however, several marine shells in the strata, which show that the
sea ascended up this part of the valley of the Inn during the period
of the Haring deposit. From the general character of these marine
shells, some of which have been identified with those of the London
clay, the authors are disposed to refer the whole deposit to an early
part of the tertiary period.

6. Sections of the tertiary formations of Bavaria.—The authors
first remark, that the line of demarcation between the secondary
and tertiary groups, is generally well defined; but they also derive
from this region several proofs that the tertiary seas ascended up
the old valleys of the Alps a long way to the south of the average
direction of this line. In proof of this they refer to some deposits
in the valley of the Isar. They then describe in detail the sections
between Fiissen and Schéngau, in which an enormous succession of
beds is laid bare on the banks of the Lech.

They afterwards describe the section of Nesselwang, in which the
lowest strata of the tertiary series are of great thickness, and are
raised against the side of the Alps in a vertical position, They —
remark that the tertiary system has here a coarser structure than in
most parts of the range; that beds of conglomerate abound in the
lower part of it; and that the beds of molasse and marl are en-
tirely subordinate to them. Lastly, the authors remark no less

158

than three or four distinct zones of coal or lignite, separated from
each other by sedimentary deposits of enormous thickness; as some
of these zones occur in the lower, and some in the higher parts of
the tertiary group, they infer that the existence of lignite is, of itself,
no general test of the age of a tertiary deposit.

7. Section through the hills at the east end of the Lake of Con-
stance.—After making some remarks upon the great elevation of the
tertiary formations in the south-western extremity of Bavaria, the
authors proceed to describe the transverse section exhibited by the
hills above Bregenz. They commence with a description of the
nummulite-rocks of Haslach, which are associated with, and form a
prolongation of, the secondary system of the Stauffen and the Salz-
burg chain. They also refer the nummulite-rocks and marl-slate
above Oberdorf to the same system, and compare them with the
nummulite-ironstone of Sonthofen. In consequence of the de-
rangement of the strata, and the accumulations of transported
materials, the first commencement of the tertiary beds is obscure;
but they rise into hills of the elevation of about 2500 feet above
the Lake of Constance, and mark the prolongation of the secon-
dary series, on the northern extremity of a ridge called Rexberg,
ten or twelve miles 8S. E. of Bregenz. The lower part of the
tertiary system, is composed of green, micaceous sandstone, to
which certain beds of conglomerate are subordinate, and it is de-
scribed as perfectly identical with the great deposit of adjoining mo-
lasse which forms the base of the tertiary formations of Switzerland
This sandstone occupies the successive ridges which extend from the
neighbourhood of Oberdorf to Bregenz. And, as in the greater
part of this long range the beds are highly inclined and have an
undeviating dip towards the north, their united thickness must be
enormously great.—The authors afterwards describe, with many
details, the great complex deposit of conglomerates alternating
with greenish sandstone and variously coloured marls which consti-
tute the upper tertiary group, and cumpose the whole mass of the
mountain ridge extending northwards from Bregenz. ‘This whole
section is considered of importance, partly from the great scale upon
which the formation is developed, and still more from its forming a
connecting link between the tertiary deposits or molasse of Swit-
zerland and those which are exhibited in the several sections de-
scribed in this paper. -

Finally, the authors give a short summary of the conclusions
which seem to follow from the facts stated inthe memoir.

1. The tertiary formations of Austria and Bavaria appear to
have been formed in an ancient mediterranean sea, the limits of
which may be in a considerable measure ascertained; and the
great mechanical deposits above described seem to have origi-
nated in the gradual degradation of the Alpine chain, partly by the
action of the sea on the flanks, and partly by the erosion of the
torrents descending from the mountains, and carrying great masses
of transported materials below the level of the waters.

2. In some instances the tertiary beds are unconformable to the

159

Alpine limestone; in other instances they are conformable. And
there are beds which, both from their fossils and from their struc-
ture, seem to exhibit a connecting link between the secondary and
tertiary formations.

3. The system above described contains three or four distinct
zones of coal or lignite, with many thousand feet of conglomerate,
sandstone and marl between each ; beginning in the lower, and end-
ing in the upper parts of the series.

4. These younger deposits have the same general relations to the
older chain, as the subalpine tertiary formations of the north of Italy ;
from which it seems to follow that the northern and western basins
of the Danube, and the tertiary basin of the subalpine and sub-
apennine regions, must have been left dry at the same period. The
conclusion is further confirmed by the suite of fossils in the adjoin-
ing molasse of Switzerland.

5. All the transverse sections prove the recent longitudinal eleva-
tion of the neighbouring chain. The tertiary beds form an inclined
plane, down which the Alpine waters stream into the Danube in
nearly undeviating lines, greatly contrasted with the sinuous chan-
nels through which the waters escape into the plains from the older
rocks.

6. The authors endeavour to confirm the preceding conclusion by
the facts exhibited in the drainage of the south of Bavaria. They
state that the whole system of drainage, is in a state of continual
change and of progress, and that the rivers have not yet worked
for themselves any thing like permanent channels.

7. The authors lastly account for someof the greater denudations,
by debacles which must have taken place during the elevation of the
Alps, and by the bursting of a succession of lakes since that period.
In confirmation of which, they state that there is not a single valley
among the newer formations of southern Bavaria, in which may
not be seen many parallel terraces (like the parallel roads of Scot-
land) indicating the residence of nearly stagnant water at several
successive levels.

A paper “ On ‘the discovery of the bones of the Iguanodon, and
other large reptiles, in the Isle of Wight and Isle of Purbeck; by
the Rev. William Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c. &c.,” was
then read.

Hitherto the Iguanodon has been found only within the limits of
the Weald of Sussex, where it was first discovered by Mr. Mantell,
in the iron sandstone formation of Tilgate Forest. Dr. Buckland
has recently ascertained the existence of this animal in two other
localities of the same formation: one near Sandown Fort on the
south coast of the Isle of Wight ; the other in Swanwich Bay, at
the eastern extremity of the Isle of Purbeck. In all these places
its matrix is the same, ferruginous sandstone, to which the name of
Wealden or Hastings sandstone, has been applied by recent ob-
servers in geology, being intermediate between the lowest beds of
the green sand formation and the upper beds of the Purbeck lime-
‘tone, and its fossil shells exhibiting such an admixture of marine

160

remains with those of freshwater, as seems to indicate the former
existence of a great estuary in the district wherein they have been
depesited.

From the size of the bones of the Iguanodon, described by Mr.
Manteli and Mr, Murchison*, it has been ascertained that this her-
bivorous reptile was of extraordinary magnitude; but a single bone
of its foot has been lately found near Sandown Fort, which shows
that its proportions probably exceeded those of the most gigantic
quadruped yet discovered. The bone alluded to seems to be the
external metacarpal bone of the right foot; it is twice as large as
the corresponding bone of a large elephant ; its length is six inches,
its breadth at the upper extremity five inches, and its weight six
pounds. A gigantic pelvis was also found in the same iron-sand at
Sandown Fort. Among the bones discovered in the Isle of Purbeck
by the Rev. J. C. Bartlett, the most remarkable are large verte-
bree, and toe bones of the Iguanodon, in size and form resembling
those engraved by Mr. Mantell from Tilgate Forest; there are also
various bones of other species of reptiles; a fragment of a femur,
resembling that of the Megalosaurus; bones of large and small
Crocodiles, and of more than one species of Plesiosaurus. All
these animals have been found by Mr. Mantell, similarly associated
in the Hastings sandstone of Tilgate Forest. Dr. Fitton has ascer-
tained the shells in this iron-sand at Swanwich and Sandown Fort to
be identical with those of the same formation in the Weaid+; and
the addition of so many reptiles to the list of their common organic
remains, affords still further evidence of the identity of thestrata
in which they occur.

* See Mantell, Tilgate Forest ; and Geol. Trans. vol. ii. 2nd Series.
+ See Annals cf Philosophy, Noy. 1824,

PROCEEDINGS.

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
1829-1830. No. 14. ~

Dec. 18:—Benjamin Blake, Esq. Captain in the Bengal Army ;
Matthias Attwood, Esq., M.P., of Gracechurch-street, London, and
Muswell-hill, Middlesex ; James Hall, Esq. of Southampton-street,
Russell-square ; and Thomas Clement Sneyd Kynnersley, Esq. of
Essex-court, Temple,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

M. J. J. D’Omalius D’Halloy, &c. &c. Governor of the Province of
Namur, in the kingdom of the Netherlands, was elected a Foreign
Member of this Society.

A paper was read entitled “‘ Observations on part of the Low
Countries and the north of France, principally near Maestricht
and Aix-la-Chapelle;” by William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.G.S.&c.—
The general structure of the country on the confines of the Nether-
lands and France has been described, several years ago, by M.
D’Omalius D’Halloy; and various memoirs, since published by
other persons, confirm his statements. The basis of the whole
tract consists of the coal-measures, with subjacent shale, grit,
mountain-limestone, reddish sandstone and conglomerate, and
- finally transition-slate. Above this series of highly inclined beds,
other strata, unconformable and nearly horizontal, repose; which,
in the Boullonois, include the upper part of the oolitic groups ;
but, in advancing eastward, descend no lower than the green-sands.
The country therefore is analogous to the vicinity of Bristol and
Bath ; but the overlying formations there go down to the lower
oolite, lias, and new red sandstone.

The object of the author’s inquiries was, to determine what beds
are found, in the tract which he examined, above the coal ; and how
far they agree with their equivalents in England. He describes in
succession the several strata: the list including, in a descending
order,—1. Beds above the chalk ;—to which are referred,—2. The
stone and calcareous sands of Maestricht.—3. White chalk, passing
into the Green-sand formation,—which comprehends,—4. Fire-
stone, with—5, Green and ferruginous sands.—6. Obscure traces
of clays beneath the sands. The whole being unconformable and
superior to—7. The coal-measures, &c. &c.—The paper is accom-
panied by lists of the fossils, examined and named by Mr. Sowerby ;
and by a sketch of a general map, with sections on a larger scale.

1. Beds above the chalk.—The Crag, of Suffolk, &c. is stated, on
the authority of Mr. Warburton, to have been observed on the
French coast between Calais and Cape Blanc-Nez; near Antwerp ;
in the neighbourhood of Tongres; and at other places in the Nether-
lands. The fossils also of Klein-Spawen between, ‘Tongres and
Maestricht, include, along with several shells of the calcaire-grossier,
some of those found in our crag.

The sands which immediately precede the chalk, along the road

162

from London to Dover, precisely resemble those in the same situa-
tion, on the line from Calais through St. Omer, Cassel, and Lille,
&c.: the prominent hill of Cassel, however, is not topped with clay,
but seems to consist entirely of'sand, including very numerous fossils,
contained principally in loose concretional beds of stone. These
fossils, many of which are the same withthose of similar sands near
Brussels, agree, in general, with those of the London-clay ; and
thence it would appear, that the separation of that stratum from the
sands immediately incumbent on the chalk is not weli founded.
Beds of the sands here referred to occur, in the same geological
place, in Kent; near St. Omer; at Cassel; at Mount-Panisel, and
Ciply, south of Mons ; at Brussels; between Charleroi and Fleurus ;
and at Kleyn-Spauwen, between Tongres and Maestricht.

2. Maestricht stratum.—Between the deposition of the sands
last mentioned and of the chalk, a considerable interval must have
elapsed ; during which various beds may have been deposited,
of which no trace, or but obscure remains exist, at present, in En-
gland. The-well-known stratum of St. Peter’s-Mount near Maes-
tricht is one of these: it is throughout superior to the white chalk,
into which it passes gradually below, but the top bears marks of
devastation, and there is no passage from it to the sands above. The
siliceous masses which if. includes are much more rare than those of
the chalk, of greater bulk, and not composed of black flint, but of a
stone approaching to chert, and, in some cases, to calcedony :-—and
of about fifty species of its fossils in the author’s collection, about
forty are not found in Mr. Mantell’s catalogue of the chalk fossils
of Sussex*. The author therefore, with Mr. Honyt, and Mr.
Conybeare {, regards this bed as differing from, though intimately
connected with the chalk.

A very fine section of the Maestricht bed is visible on the sides
of the valleys of the Meuse and of the Jaar ; and in the heights op-
posite to Visé the bed, gradually rising from Maestricht, disap-
pears, and is succeeded by white chalk with flints. The section
of this stratum, and all the accompanying circumstances, at Ciply,
south of Mons, accord remarkably with those of Maestricht ; and
from M. Desnoyer’s statements, a bed of the same description seems
to exist also in the Cotentin.

3. Chalk.—The thickness of this stratum in the Netherlands is
much less than on the coasts of the Channel ; especially of the part
containing flints, which is succeeded, in descending, by chalk with-
out flints, passing into marl, and thence into fire-stone and green-
sand. The white chalk is well seen at Wonck and Heur le Romain
opposite to Vis¢; and, on the north of Aix-la-Chapelle, a remarkable
group, which the author refers to the lower part of the chalk, con-
sists of hard beds of grey and cream-coloured limestone, alternating
with calcareous sand, This stratum, which abounds in fossils, many
of them belonging to the lower chalk of England, has been found
at a considerable depth at Cawenberg on the north-west of Maes-

* Geol. Trans. 2d Series, III. 201.
+ Geol, Trans. II, 310. t Outlines, p. 63.

163

tricht ; it is prominent in the well-known quarries of Cunroot, on
the east of Fauquemont, and caps the heights on the north-west of
Aix-la-Chapelle, from Schneeberg to the west of Laurensberg; a
small outlying portion remaining also on the top of the Louisberg,
near Aix. A stratum like this ismentioned by Mr. Forschammer as
occurring in a similar place below the chalk of Denmark, on the
shores of the Baltic; and seems also to exist in the Cotentin.

4, Green-sand formation.—The marly chalk is succeeded by the
equivalent of our upper green-sand, or fire-stone (the Planer-kalk of
Germany), in some places identical with that of Surrey, Kent, and
Wilts; and like that stone isemployed exclusively in constructing the
interior of furnaces and buildings under water ; extensive quarries for
these purposes being worked at K6nigsberg opposite to Vaels, on the
confines of the Prussian and Dutch territories. In this country how-
ever, there is not, beneath the fire-stone, (or at least does not distinct-
ly appear,) a stratum of clay, like our gault; but the chalk, becom-
ing gradually charged with green particles, passes, in general with-
out an intermediate valley, into green and ferruginous sands, obvious-
ly analogous to the lower green (or Shanklin) sands of England.

5. These sands are well exhibited in the hills on the south-west of
Aix-la-Chapelle, and, extending beyond the chalk, occupy a large
portion of the surface above the coal and mountain-limestone
country. Distinct sections of the stratum are seen on the sides
of Louisberg close to Aix, and along the road from that city to
Liege,—the scenery of which resembles that of the Woburnsand-hills;
and on the descent towards the Calamine Works, near Moresnet,
beds are found in the sand, analogous to the fuller’s earth of Woburn
and of Nutfield in Surrey. The fossils which abound in this forma-
tion include (along with many species common to them and the su-
perior beds, and hitherto not found in England) some species almost
characteristic of our lower green-sand ; among which may be men-
tioned the Trigonia aliformis, and Rostellaria Parkinsoni, The
sands, at the Louisberg, include a thin bed of lignite; and nearthe ~
bottom of the formation at Gemenich, and thence along the foot of
the hills to Eynatten, a remarkable stratum of grit from 6 to 10
feet in thickness, of great firmness and uniformity, occurs,—resem-
bling in its characters the grey-wether stone of England, &c. and
possibly the equivalent of some of those beds of conglomerate which
occur in our green-sand, (the Bargate stone of Surrey, &c.) though
differing from them in external character. The ferruginous sands of
Grafenberg and other hills on the east of Dusseldorf, belong also to
this formation, containing the same fossils as at Aix-la-Chapelle, and
occupying a similar unconformable position above beds of lime-
stone; a striking section of which is visible on the banks of the
Dussel, at Neanders-Hohle. ‘The sands extending from thence te
the north and eastward into Germany, are there well known under
the denomination of Quader-sandstein.

6. {n some places, the more ancient strata come in beneath the
green-sands without any intervention; in others, there are indica-
tions of intermediate beds of clay, but too indistinct to admit of as-
certaining their relations,

164

7.. The coal-formation and other subjacent beds are not consi-
dered in the present paper; the author referring for an account of
them to the works of local geology already published or in progress ;
and to the paper on the Environs of Bristol, by Messrs. Buckland
and Conybeare, (Geol. Trans. 2nd series, vol. i.) for a description of
the analogous portions of England, which may perhaps remove
some of the difficulties connected with the corresponding formations
in the Low Countries.

The chief points of difference then, between the formations above
referred to and their equivalents in England, are—1. The apparent
identity of the fossils in the sands above the chalk, with those which
appear in the clay of London.—2. The Maestricht stratum, dis-
tinctly superior to the chalk, and differing from that bed in its
fossils and other characters, is without any equivalent yet ascer-
tained in this country; but some facts are mentioned, which show
that the former existence of such a stratum above our chalk is not
improbable, and that further traces of it may still be discovered upon
sufficient search.—3. The hard beds (of Cunroot, &c.) form a remark-
able feature of the lower chalk in the country above described.—
4. The absence or indistinctness of the gault, is one of the principal
circumstances distinguishing the green-sand formation from ours;
and the want of a valley, like that which commonly exists in this
country along the foot of our chalk-hills, is an important difference
of external feature.—5. The entire absence of the formations which,
in the south east of England,succeed the green-sand (the Weald clay,
Hastings sands, and Purbeck strata), deserves also to be mentioned ;
for, of these beds, though so fully developed on our coast, none have
yet been distinctly recognised upon the Continent, and traces only
detected in the interior of England and in the lower Boulonnois.

In conclusion, the author remarks upon the great diversity of the
upper and unconformable formations which, in different places, are
in immediate contact with the older and inclined strata beneath. In
some cases (as near Bristol) the red marl, lias, and lower oolite ;-in
others (lower Boullonois) the upper oolite; in others still, the green-
sands, the gault, and even the chalk itself,—are in contact with the
coal strata. It may be difficult to explain the cause of this variation,
and to account for the absence of the beds which are wanting; for
the upper formations bear no obvious marks of disturbance, and are
generally horizontal or very little inclined.

Jan. 1, 1830.—The Rev. Henry Coddington, of Trinity College,
Cambridge, was elected a Fellow.

A paper was read, “ On the Geology of the shores of the Gulf of
La Spezia;” by Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.G,S. F.R.S. &e.

The chief objects of this memoir are to show,

Ist. That the marbles of Porto Venere, although possessing some
of the characters of transition rocks, may be the equivalents of part
of the oolitic series.

2nd. That the diallage rock and serpentine of Southern Liguria have
been protruded through the former at a period later than their formation.

Previous to his description of the geological structure of the di-

165

strict, the author gives a short sketch of its physical outline and super-
ficial covering. The Alpi Appuani, or mountains of Massa and Car-
rara, form a distinct group, being separated from the main range
of the Apennines, by a considerable depression, and from the hills of
La Spezia by a plain through which the Magra flows. The plain is
covered by gravel rising to some height above the Mediterranean. Of
this gravel the banks of the Frigido afford a good section. Near Ponzo,
between La Spezia and Borghetto, a torrent cuts through a hill com-
posed of large rounded boulders and gravel, the coherence of which is
trifling. These boulders could not have been produced by any causes
at present existing in the district. The boulders are carried down the
bed of the torrent but a short distance beyond the places where they
occur as component parts of the hills. In the bed of the Vara, into
which this torrent flows, there is gravel of the usual size, which may
have been formed, and afterwards cut through, by the river.

Stratified Rocks.—1. a. Lignite, clay, sandstone and conglome-
rate, are described as being seen im vertical strata at Caniparola,
near Sarzana, the shaly beds containing Fucoides intricatus (Ad.
Brongn.), and the conglomerate being made up of compact limestone,
macigno sandstone, and jasper, cemented by clay.” These tertiary
beds are supposed’ to have been thrown into their present vertical
position by the forces which elevated the adjoining Alpi Appuani.

]. b. Breccia, with a porous limestone cement, is one of the
youngest rocks in the gulf of La Spezia, where it occurs in promon-
tories, and caps some of the cliffs :—from its resemblance to the
rauchwacke of the zechstein, it has been erroneously referred to that
formation.

1. c. Siliceous sandstone is connected with the breccia above men-
tioned, with which it is associated in contorted beds at St. Terenzo.
The author does not pronounce positively upon the relative ages of
the rocks of this group, although he asserts that they are all younger
than the macigno.

2. Macigno.—Two sandstones of somewhat the same mineralogi-
cal structure, but of very different age, are comprehended under this
name by the Italians ; but the author here restricts the term to that
which is highest in the order. The macigno is a brown and gray sand-
stone, both calcareous and siliceous, generally micaceous, with black
specks, and is occasionally mixed with shale. Jt occurs near the
Bagni di Lucca overlying gray compact limestone, which ranges from
thence into the district under consideration, and has similar relations
near Massa and Carrara, details and diagrams of which are given; it
is also much developed north of La Spezia, and on the right. bank of
the Magra. In the absence of organic remains, the author has not
been enabled to decide upon the equivalent of this rock.

3. Gray compact limestone or Porto Venere marble.—At La Spezia
this group consists of, 1. Dark gray, black and yellow limestones, in-
terstratified with schists and argillaceous slates ; 2. Dolomite ; 3. Dark
gray compact limestone in thin beds; 4. Ditto with brown shale,
and containing Orthoceras, Ammonites, Belemnites, and round balls of
iron pyrites; 5 and 6, Shale, with compact thin-bedded limestone,

166

resembling that of the Jura, The islands of Tino and Palmaria are
composed of this system, whence it rises into the high land of La
Castellana, and extends to Pignone, forming the mountains of Co-
regna, Santa Croce, Parodi, and Bergamo. The dolomite occupying
the centre of this range presents the appearance either of an included
bed, or of a great dyke which throws off the strataon each side. The
fossils of Coregna collected by the author (first noticed by Guidoni)
are,

Orthoceras :—A species resembling O. elongatum of the lias, and
also O. Steinhaueri of the coal measures.

Belemnites (many alveoli of).

Ammonites :—15 species, one of which is the A, erugatus of the
Yorkshire lias (Phillips's Geol. of Yorkshire); and another resembles
A. Bucklandi ; whilst two are fossils of the coal-measures, viz. A. Les-
teri and A. biformis. The remainder are undescribed, but have been
drawn by Mr. J. Sowerby to illustrate this memoir. From the nature
of these organic remains, and principally from the presence of be-
lemnites, the author, whilst admitting the conflicting nature of the
evidence, similar to that observed in parts of the Alps described by
M. Elie de Beaumont, inclines to the belief that this range of lime-
stone, &c. is equivalent to the lias or some member of the oolitic series.

4, Brown shale and variegated beds are seen beneath the gray
limestone; and again, below thevariegated strata, there is a consider-
able developement of brown sandstone and gray schist, which consti-
tutes a high range extending from La Castellana tobeyond Vernazza,
wherein a large Fucus is found. This gray schist at Monte Rosso seems
to have been penetrated by diallage and serpentine rocks.

Saccharine limestone, &c. of Capo Corvo.—The coast section of
Capo Corvo exhibits thick and thin beds of gray limestone alternat-
ing with schists ; athick-bedded fine conglomerate which passes into
chlorite and micaceous schists ; and saccharine limestone of various
colours with mica schist; the whole in highly inclined and contorted
positions. Similar rocks occur between the mouth of the Magra and
Ameglia, where they are covered by the gray limestone, and contain
a subordinate conglomerate very much resembling that of the Valor-
sine. The author is disposed to refer this group to the same age as the _
older conglomerates which occur between the high Alps and their cal-'
careous zones on the side of Italy.

Carrara Marbles.—These seem to form part of the system of gneiss
and mica schist of the adjoining Alpi Appuani, being distinctly stra-
tified and underlying the gray limestone, resembling that of Porto
Venere. i

Gneiss and mica schist are well expesed in the valley of the Fri-
gido near Massa. ;

Unstratified Rocks: Diallage Rock and Serpentine-—The author ob-
served no traces of stratification in these rocks throughout Southern
Liguria, and he coincides with the views of those who consider them
to have had an igneous origin. In the Valley of Cravignola serpen-
tine and diallage rock traverse gray limestone and schist, and in one
part are in contact with jasper rock, which, as is noticed by M. Bron-

167

gniart, rests upon contorted limestone and schist. Between Monte
Rosso and Vernazza the schists are much disturbed, and near
Capo Mesco, and again at Levanto, diallage rock and serpentine
passing into each other are protruded from beneath highly inclined
beds of sandstone, in which are also many faults. These serpentine
rocks seem to be prolongations of the great developement of the
same system in Southern Liguria ; and, to illustrate more fully their
nature, the author gives a section of their relations in a contiguous
district at Monte Ferrato, where, as has already been noticed by M.
Brongniart, gray compact limestone and slaty shale and jasper are
covered by serpentine and diallage rocks, which, in one place, seem to
traverse and cut through the strata.

In conclusion, the author observes, that if the Porto Venere mar-
bles be considered equivalent to any part of the oolite formation, they
afford a striking example of the little value of mineralogical structure
as a character taken by itself, and show the extreme caution that
should be used in assigning names to rocks from hand specimens,
brought home by distant expeditions, without the accompaniment of
organic remains. He considers that the diallage rock and serpentine of
Southern Liguria, have been intruded among these rocks subsequent
to the epoch of the oolite formation; and regards the diallage rock
and serpentine as of igneous origin, concurring in opinion with those
geologists who attribute to these rocks incommon with granite and
trap, and the forces that ejected them, the contortion and fracture
of the stratified rocks, and their consequent elevation into ridges and
mountains.

Jan. 15.—William Parker, Esq. of Albany-street, Regent’s Park ;
and the Rev. H. P. Hamilton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, were
elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled “‘ On the Fossil Fox of Giningen, with
an account of the Lacustrine Deposit in which it was found,” by
R. I. Murchison, Esq. See. G.S, F.R.S. &c.

The author visiting CEningen in 1828, acquired among other
organic remains a perfect skeleton of a carnivorous quadruped,
imbedded in a layer of slaty limestone, and the specific character
of which has since been ascertained through the scientific labours of
Mr. Mantell.

A short account is given of the works of the various authors
who have described the fossils of CEningen, from the time of
Scheuchzer to that of Karg. Cuvier, however, is mentioned as the
first who gave true specific characters to the vertebrated animals of
this formation, and who ascertained that all the mammalia hitherto
discovered in it were “ Rodentia.”

The author differing in opinion from an eminent French geolo-
gist, who has described this deposit as subordinate to the molasse,
proceeds to show that the formation is exclusively lacustrine; and
in proof of this, he offers, 1st, a description of the deposit, and its
relations to the surrounding country; and 2ndly, a sketch of the
organicremains.

168

CEningen is situated about midway between Constance and
Schafhausen, on the right bank of the Rhine, where that river tra-
verses the tertiary marine formation of molasse. This formation is
here covered by patches of marl and limestone, which extend
over the space of two or three miles, and are now well exposed in
several quarries, the lowest of which is two hundred, and the highest
six hundred feet above the Rhine, and in all of them are found or-
ganic remains, exclusively freshwater and terrestrial. ‘The lower,
or Wangen quarries, consist of light-coloured; sandy marlstones, di-
vided from each other by thin layers of brown marl, and white slaty
limestone, in which leaves of dicotyledonous plants, fishes, &e. are
not unfrequent. The upper quarries offer a section nearly thirty
feet deep, and are worked for the extraction of building-stone and
limestone. A detail of the beds is given, which shows a passage
downwards, from brown clay into cream-coloured, indurated marl,
and afterwards into a fissile, fetid, marlstone, containing flattened
shells of Planorbes, small Lymnei, &c.,and Cypris : to these succeed
light-coloured, fetid, calcareous, building-stone ; beneath which is
a finely laminated bed containing insects, Cypris, shells of Anodon,
and many plants : then follow two thin bands of fetid limestone, in
the uppermost of which a large tortoise has been found, and in the
lower was discovered the carnivorous quadruped. Both these
animals were in positions which show that their remains had not
been disturbed since they first sank down into the silt of the lake.
The succeeding strata consist of slaty marl, several bands of slaty
marlstone, limestone, and strong-bedded building-stone, with a
repetition of finely laminated layers of marl, including plants and
fishes, after which the incoherent sandstone of the molasse is
reached, and forms the base of the quarry.

A description of the fossil quadruped is then given by Mr. Man-
tell, who has ascertained its specific character, by first clearing away
the surrounding matrix, and afterwards comparing the skeleton with
those of many varieties of the fox. He has no hesitation in referring
the animal to the genus Vulpes; but a difficulty occurs in positively
assigning to it a specific character, owing to the compressed state
of the head, which prevents the true form of the frontal bone and
post-orbital apophyses from being determined. After noticing this
and some slight variations of structure, which he is of opinion are
insufficient to establish a variety, much less a species, he concludes

‘that the animal bears a closer analogy to Vulpes communis than to
any other species with which it has been compared.

The author proceeds to remark upon the existence beneath the
lumbar vertebre of the fossil feces of the quadruped, which on
being analysed by Dr. Prout, afforded the same proportion of phos-
phate of lime as the Coprolites described by Dr. Buckland. In this
case, however, the whole of the adjoining rock is impregnated,
though in a less degree, with phosphate of lime; thus affording a
strong presumption that the bituminization of the marlstone is due
to the decomposition of the vast quantity of animal matter contained
in it. All the other quadrupeds occurring at Giningen have proved

169

to be Rodentia: amongst which, the Anoema (Hningensis has lately
been figured by Mr. Konig ; anda Lagomys was this year found by
Professor Sedgwick and the author in a second visit to the quarries.

A synopsis follows of many of the birds, fishes, reptiles, insects,
&c. In theinsects there is a strong accordance in generic characters
to those now inhabiting the district. Mr. Curtis recognizes Formi-
cide and Hymenoptere. Mr. Samouelle has noticed larva of Libel-
lulz similar to our common English species Libellula depressa, also
the genera Anthrax, Cimex, Coccinella, Cerambyx, Blatta,and Nepa,
some of which are known to feed upon such plants as we here find
them associated with in their fossil state, and others are well known
inhabitants of stagnant pools.

Of the numerous plants, the few the author collected have been
examined by Mr. Lindley, who considers one to be undistinguish-
able from the recent Fraxinus rotundifolia, others strongly to re-
semble Acer opulifolium and A. pseudoplatanus; and a specimen
of the leaf of an extinct poplar, remarkable for its form, has been
named by him Populus cordifolia.

In conclusion the author infers,

Ist, That the deposit of CEningen is of purely lacustrine origin,
and that its formation must have occupied a protracted pericd.

2ndly, That the tertiary marine formation of the molasse, was
deeply excavated before the lacustrine accumulation commenced.

3rdly, That, from the intermixture of species undistinguishable
from those now existing, with others which are decidedly extinct,
this deposit must be considered one of those instructive examples
which exhibit a gradual passage from an ancient state of nature to
that which now prevails.

4thly, That, as it differs in most of its organic remains from all the
fresh-water formations hitherto described, either near to, or remote
from it, it must have been an independent deposit; and judging
from its fossils and superposition to the molasse, it must have been
of recent origin. ;

5thly, That recent as its origin may have been, the lacustrine
basin has since been re-excavated to a great depth through hori-
zontal strata of limestone, the highest of which are still seen six
hundred feet above the present bed of the Rhine.

6thly, That although the deposit must have been formed long
before the Rhine occupied its present level, the organic remains
indicate, that even in those days there were insects, fishes, and plants
almost identical with our own ; and that among the quadrupeds there
existed one, undistinguishable from the common fox now inhabiting
our latitudes.

Feb. 5.—James Calder, Esq. of Calcutta, and Edward Johnstone,
Esq., of Trinity College, Cambridge, were elected Fellows of this
Society. —

A letter addressed to the Secretary, R. I. Murchison, Esq. F.R.S.
<¢ On the animal remains found in the Transition Limestone of Ply-
mouth,” by the Rev. Richard Hennah, F.G.S. was read.

170

This is the last of a series of communications by the author on
the same subject; and in this he endeavours to classify all the organic
remains found by him in the Plymouth limestone. In this arrange-
ment there are enumerated several genera of Polyparia, including
Spongia?, Stylina, Caryophyilia, Turbinolia, &c.; several species
of Crinoidea, and genera of Conchifera and Mollusca.

After a detailed description of many species in each of the above
classes, the author concludes, that as the number of Zoophytes
bears a very large proportion to that of the Bivalves and Uni-
valves, the Plymouth limestone must be considered to. be one of
the earliest deposits. But he states that great obscurity still in-
volves the relative distribution of these animals in their order of
superposition.

A paper was afterwards read, “On the gradual Excavation of
the Valleys in which the Meuse, the Moselle, and some other Rivers
flow ;’ by G. Poulett Scrope, Esq., F.G.S. F.R.S.

The paper commences by a remark on the value which would
attach to a test by which any one valley could be ascertained to be
the result either of a rapid and violent, or of a slow and gradual ex-
cavatory process; since the forces of aqueous erosion are of a
general nature, and while in activity in one river channel, were
probably not idle in others. Such atest has been pointed out by
the author in central France, where lava-currents which have flowed
into valleys at intervals of time, appear now at different heights
above the actual river-bed, marking the successive steps of the pro-
gress of excavation.

The author finds another equally valuable test in the extreme
sinuosities of some valleys. Any sudden, violent, and transient rush
of water of a diluvial character, could only produce straight trough-
shaped channels in the direction of the current, but could never
wear out a series of tortuous flexures, through which some rivers
now twist about, and often flow for a time in an exactly opposite
direction to the general straight line of descent, which a deluge or
debacle would naturally have taken. Curvatures of this extreme
kind are frequent in the channels of rivers flowing lazily through
flat alluvial plains; and the author shows the mode in which the
curves are gradually deepened and extended, till the extreme of
aberration is corrected at once, and the direct line of descent re-
stored, by the river cutting through the isthmus, which separates
two neighbouring curves.

But examples must be infinitely rarer of whole valleys charac-
terized by extreme sinuosity ; because, in the author’s opinion, the
frequent shiftings of the channels of streams tend to obliterate their
windings, and reduce the sum of the several successive excavations
or valley to a more or less straight form. Still there are occasional
instances where the bias of the river, or direction of its lateral force
of excavation, has remained so constant as to give to the valley it-
self the utmost degree of sinuosity.

The author quotes the valley of the Moselle between Berncastle
and Roarn, excavated to a depth of from 600 to 800 feet through

171

an elevated platform of transition rocks. The windings are often
so extreme, that the river returns after a course of seventeen miles
in one instance, and nearly as much in two others, to within a di-
stance of a few hundred yards of the spot it passed before ; wearing
away on either side the base of the ridge-shaped isthmus that sepa-
rates the curves, and inclosing a peninsula of elevated land five or
six hundred feet high ; but sloping towards the bottom of the curves,
where it is strewed with boulders, left there, the author presumes,
by the river as it gradually deepened its channel and extended its
lateral curvature.

The valley of the Meuse near Givet, offers, through a great di-
stance, a number of similar windings, and the same thing is seen at
intervals in many of the other rivers of that country. Parts of the
Seine below Paris, and the valley of the Wye between Hereford
and Chepstow, are examples nearer home.

Valleys which like these twist about in the same regular curves
as the channel of a brook meandering through a meadow, can, ac-
cording to the author, only be accounted for by the slow and long-
continued erosion of the streams that still flow in them, increased
at intervals by wintry floods. To attribute them toa transient and
tremendous rush of water in the main direction of the valley, is in
his opinion impossible. He contends that whilst these valleys were
slowly excavated, other rivers could not have been idle during the
same protracted period ; but will have produced likewise an amount
of excavation proportioned to their volume and velocity, and the
nature of the rocks they flowed over. In the examples quoted,
the rocks are mostly hard transition strata, yet the valleys are wide
and deep. Where softer strata, as sands, clays, and marls, were
the materials worked upon, the valleys excavated may be expected,
as they are found to be, far wider in proportion to the volume of -
water flowing through them. ‘The comparative softness of the ma-
terials also, by accelerating the lateral erosion of the stream, will
have multiplied the shiftings of its channel, and reduced their sum
with greater certainty to one average direction. Hence the deeply
sinuous valleys are only found penetrating the more solid rock
formations. The author thinks that a certain subdued velocity in
the stream is also necessary to produce this result; and, therefore,
in mountainous districts, where the torrents and rivers are most
rapid, their course is nearly straight; thus confirming the author’s
opinion, that extreme curvature of channel can only be produced
by a slow and comparatively tranquil process of excavation.

PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

ee
aad wenite

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1830.

No. 15.

AT THE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
19th February 1830.

| *
A Report from the Council was read, of which the following is an
abstract :—

The experience of a year enables the Council to state with confi-
dence, that the late change of apartments has been attended with
most beneficial results, both in the increased facilities of exposing to
view the collections of the Society, and in affording more ample,
though yet scarcely sufficient, accommodation to the rapidly in-
creasing number of Fellows.

The Council beg to call the attention of the Society to the follow-
ing statement, which points out many deficiencies in the collection ;
‘and they trust that all the Fellows will interest themselves warmly
in contributing such specimens of organic remains, as will fill up the
numerous blanks which still exist in the English series.

Report upon the Museums and Library.

I. Enexuisu Coutuection. The whole of this collection, the ar-
rangement of which had been commenced and considerably advanced
by the labours of Mr. Greenough, has been placed by the Curator,
Mr. Lonsdale, in the order of superposition, in conformity with the
directions of the Council ; and the arrangement of about one third
of it may be considered complete ; duplicates having been rejected,
and the organic remains having been labelled and fixed upon descrip-
tive tablets, so as to obviate the necessity of a perpetual reference to
a special catalogue in each drawer. The Curator has at the same
time made some progress in a general catalogue, which when com-
pleted will be laid upon the table of the Museum. On examining
the drawers in a descending order, the Committee beg to submit the
following observations to the Council.

174

Alluvium. Of this part of the collection there is only one drawer,
containing no specimens of any interest. It may, therefore, be con-
sidered as very deficient.

Diluvium. All superficial transported materials not connected
with the existing drainage of the country, are arranged in this divi-
sion. The vertebrated animals, as in all other parts of the series,
have been classed according to the system of Cuvier, and the inver-
tebrated according to that of Lamarck; and many of the specimens
have been specifically determined by the Curator.

Cavern Remains. ‘There is a good series from Kent’s-hole ; but the
collection from Kirkdale is defective ; and from Banwell and other
localities there is not a single specimen.

Bovey Coal. This deposit is badly illustrated.

Crag. Of the organic remains there are many fine specimens ;
but the collection is defective in the rock itself, and several species
of corals and shells are wanting.

Fresh Water Formations. These are tolerably complete; and the
inferior tertiary formations are equally well illustrated.

Chalk. A good series, but many species of the organic remains
are wanting.

Green Sand Series. It is comparatively perfect; but it requires
many additional fossils, particularly from the lower green sand.

Weald and Hastings Formations. Of these deposits there are some
good specimens ; but on the whole the suite is incomplete.

Purbeck and Portland Beds. ‘There is a want of organic remains,
especially of the silicified woods and vegetables.

Kimmeridge Clay. Specimens of the coal and even of the charac-
teristic fossils are very deficient.

Coral Rag Series. The calcareous grit of this division is poor in
organic remains.

Oxford Clay. There are only a few imperfect specimens of rocks
and fossils ; this portion of the oolitic series being worse illustrated
than any other in the Museum.

Lower Oolitic System. Of the succeeding members of the oolitic
series and the lias, the most deficient in fossils are the great and in-
ferior oolites : in other respects this series is rich.

We must here, however, remark, that there is yet an almost entire
want of the plants and fossils of the oolite coal-field of Yorkshire.

New Red Sandstone and Magnesian Limestone. There is a fine
collection of rock specimens ; but the rarer organic remains, such as
the fishes of the marl-slate, are wanting.

Coal Measures. The suite from the north of England is rich,
whilst that from the south-western coal-field is singularly poor. The
former owes a considerable portion of its value to the recent dona-
tions of fossil plants by Mr. Hutton.

Mountain Limestone. The rock specimens are numerous, but the
organic remains are few in number.

The Curator has not advanced further with his arrangement of the
inferior formations, and therefore the Committee cannot report upon
the value of the suites of transition and primal rocks, of which there
is, however, a very large number.

175

I]. Tue Scorcu Coiiection was arranged last year by a Com-
mittee, in the order of superposition, and remains in the same state
in which they left it. The collection comprises a very fine series of
all the formations of that country hitherto described. i

III. ‘Tue Intsn CoxiEcrion has never been placed in stratigra-
phical order, but is distributed by counties. As a general collection
it is defective, although some counties are well illustrated.

IV. Tue Foreren Couuecrion, which is valuable, and has been
considerably increased of late years, has been put into a preliminary
geographical order.

V. Sivece Minerats. The Curator has bestowed much labour
in completing the classification of this division of the Museum, ac-
cording to the system given in the last edition of Phillips’s Minera-
logy.
Vi. Recent Suetis. The valuable cabinet bequeathed by Capt.
Apsley, together with many other recent shells, formerly possessed
by the Society, having been partly arranged by Mr. Broderip, has
been since classed and named by the Curator, according to the sy-
stem of Lamarck, and can therefore now be consulted with advantage.

VII. Lisrary. A new arrangement of the books has been made,
anda rough catalogue compiled, of which a perfect copy is in pro-

ress, There is a very great deficiency in many works of reference,
which it would be important for the Curator and all students in the
Museum to consult ; and among these the Committee wish particu-
larly to point out
Adolphe Brongniart. Végétaux Fossiles,
Lamouroux. Exposition Méthodique.
Goldfuss. Petrefacta.

In conclusion, the Committee beg leave to express their entire sa-
tisfaction with the great progress which the Curator has already
made, and the talent which he has displayed in the arrangement of
the various collections of the Society; and they feel convinced that
nothing short of an entire devotion of his time and abilities to the
objects of the Society, could have enabled him to accomplish so much
in so short a period.

The Wollaston Fund has been increased by the sum of £84 Is. la.
stock, being the remaining part of a subscription entered into some
years ago to defray the expenses attending certain geological inqui-
ries in Great Britain and Ireland.

The Council have not thought it expedient to make, as yet, any
distribution of the dividends arising from this fund, but have appro-
priated the first year’s income to the acquisition of a die for a medal,
which is to bear on it the head of Dr. Wollaston; and they hope that
the Society will approve of this endeavour to perpetuate in the minds
of Geologists the memory of their illustrious benefactor. The first
annual distribution, therefore, of the Wollaston Medal, as well as of
a certain sum of money, will be awarded at the next Anniversary
according to the provision of the bequest

176

Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the close
of the years 1828—1829.

Fellows. 31st Dec. 1828. 31st Dec. 1829.
Having compounded .......... CoH 3 alm alain! § aati 56
Chinn alee aE Soe eow eam erna Wey/oc0 db Go's doles 164
INOM-TeSIGENtS) Pavers crctye) se sie =e Pa WS ae Pee ees 4 05)

419 463

Honorary, Members.) y.eree in OMicnereiareteien hey 51

Foreign) Members: .).)5/0) 5 .6)0. 0 VAN Sea SA Gia cl 55

Personages of Royal Blood ...... 7 hes EE ee eee 3

Mota OAc mleloets is 6. 572
——————S——

The following Persons were elected Fellows and Foreign Members be-
tween the last Anniversary and the close of the year 1829.

March 6th.—S. P. Pratt, Esq. of Lansdown Place West, Bath; and
the Rev. Robert Everest, M.A. of Devereux Court, Temple.

March 20th.—Robert Wm. Blencowe, Esq. M.A. of Gloucester Place ;
Robert Otway Cave, Esq. M.P. of Upper Grosvenor Street ; Samuel
Edward Cooke, Esq. Capt. R.N. of Newton, Northumberland ;
Robert Daubeny, Esq. of Burlington Gardens, Cork Street ; George
Lowe, Esq. of Highgate ; and Peter Fearon, Esq. of the Temple.

April 3rd.—Samuel Upton, Esq. M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
Edward Wynn Pendarves, Esq. M.P. of Pendarves, Cornwall, and
Grosvenor Street; the Rev. John Lodge, M.A. Fellow of Magdalen
College, and Principal Librarian of the University of Cambridge ;
the Rev. John Brown, M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
Sir John Franklin, Capt. R.N. of Devonshire Street, Portland Place ;
and William A. Cadell, Esq. of Edinburgh.

May Ist.--Samuel Cartwright, Esq. of Old Burlington Street ; and
John Hall, Esq. of Edinburgh.

May 15th.—William Babington, Esq. of St. John’s Wood, Regent's
Park ; and Henry Humphrey Goodhall, Esq. of the East India House.

June 5th.—William Lonsdale, Esq. of Somerset House ; the Rev.
Thos. Thorpe, M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; the
Right Rev. John Matthias Turner, D.D. Lord Bishop of Calcutta ;
David Douglas, Esq. of Turnham Green; Thomas Erskine Perry,
Ksq. of Trinity College, Cambridge ; and Thomas Earle, Esq. of
Park Square, Regent’s Park.

June 19th.—James Morrison, Esq. Portland Place ; and Daniel Sharpe,
Esq. of New Ormond Street.

Nov. 6th.—George Biddell Airy, Esq. Trinity College, Cambridge,
and Professor of Astronomy in that University ; John Macpherson
Grant, Esq. of Ballindalloch, N.B.; John Heywood Hawkins, Esq.
of Bignor Park, Sussex ; Philip Duncan, Esq. Fellow of New College,
Oxford ; and William Cavendish, Esq.M.P. of Belgrave Square.

Noy. 20th—James Robert Gowen, Esq. of Highclere, near New-
bury ; and William Holbech, Esq. of Farnborough, Warwickshire.

177

Dec. 4th.—Nicholas Dennys, Esq. of Cambridge Terrace, Regent's
Park ; John Willimott, Esq. of Jermyn Street, St. James's; William
Higgins, Esq. of Coggeshall, Essex ; and Edward Spencer, Esq.
of Highgate.

Dec. 16th—Benjamin Blake, Esq. Captain of the Bengal Army ;
Matthias Atwood, Esq. M.P. of Gracechurch Street, and Muswell
Hill, Middlesex ; James Hall, Esq. of Southampton Row, London.

Foreign Members.

Dec. 4th.—His Imperial Highness, John, Archduke of Austria; Pro-
fessor Hausmann of Gottingen; Professor Hoffmann of Berlin;
Professor Voltz of Strasbourg ; M. Dufrénoy of Paris ; and
Dr. Boué.

Dec. 16th.—M. D’Omalius D’Halloy, Governor of the Province of
Namur in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Names of the Fellows deceased, within the past year, are as.
follow :—

Compounderse sf, Sj tivcwene so ow (None.)

: Thomas William Carr, Esq.
Residents wowace oh ae cere John Fleming, M.D. :
Non-resident.......... CRS Eh Bin Rev. J. Holme.

M. Sebastian Leman.
Le Chevalier Nix Louis Vau-

©eoe2e29e2 e788 ©8888 Oo OO

Foreign quelin.
eM Or alice, cee ada eteg ose Senor Juan Antonio de Mon-
L teiro.
ELON Orany nyc. cee Seer rer ania: (None.)

Omitted among the Non-residents of 1828, Joseph Carne, Esq.

The Museum has received many donations since the last Anniver-
sary, of which the following are the more valuable :-—

British and Irish Specimens.

Wavellite from Cork ; presented by Thomas Meade, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens illustrative of the neighbourhood of Devizes, Wiltshire ;
presented by J. C. Anstie, Esq. F.G.S.

A Slate containing Coprolites from the Lias ; and a cast of a toe of
the Iguanodon, found in Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight ; presented
by the Rev. Wm. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. F.R.S.

A collection of Fossil Plants from the Northumberland and Durham
Coal-field ; presented by William Hutton, Esq. F.G.S.

A series of specimens from a well sunk near Northolt, in the London
and Plastic Clays ; presented by the Rev. J. H. Randolph, F.G.S.

Specimens of artificial Oxide of Tin, of Tungstate of Lime, and a
Mineral from Cornwall ; presented by T. Mitchell, Esq. through:

Davies Gilbert, Esq. Pres. B.S. F.G.S.

178

Two specimens of Sulphate of Strontian on Lias, from Cotham near
Bristol ; presented by J. S. Miller, Esq.

A very fine specimen of Pentacrinites Briareus ; one fine portion and
four others of the Tusks of the Mammoth, a Dapedium politum,
and other Fossils from Lyme Regis; presented by,H. T. De la
Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

A specimen of Galena from Alston Moor in Cumberland ; presented
by the Rev. William Branwhite Clarke, F.G.S.

Marsupites from the Chalk at Brighton, and a cast of Hamites gigas
with other Fossils from Sandgate ; presented by Henry Humphrey
Goodhall, Esq. F.G.S.

A collection of Fossil fishes from Banfishire ; presented by Rod. Impey
Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

A fine specimen of Cycadeoidea, a polished Septarium, and several
fossil and recent shells, from Weymouth; presented by Miss
Benett.

Jaw-bone of a Horse ; jaw-bone of a Stag, and other bones found in
digging the foundation of Staines Bridge; presented by A. B.
Lambert, Esq. F.G.S. V.P.L.S.

Specimens from the Suffolk Crag; presented by Richard Cowling
Taylor, Esq. F.G.S.

Foreign Specimens.

A cast of the Head of the Mosasaurus from Maestricht ; presented
by Baron G. Cuvier, For. Mem. G:S.

Specimens of tertiary and secondary rocks, with their accompanying
Fossils, from the neighbourhood of Bassano ; and a collection of
Fossil fishes from Seefield in the Tyrol; presented by Roderick
Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Specimens of the Freshwater and Volcanic Formations of the Cantal
in France; presented by Charles Lyell, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.
and Rod. Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Rocks from Chamonix and its environs ; presented by J. Auldjo, Esq.
F.G.S.

Rocks and organic remains from the Vosges, and the neighbourhood
of Strasbourg ; presented by Professor Voltz, For. Mem. G.S.

Fossil wood from the Rio Nigro; presented by George Loddiges, Esq.

Volcanic productions from New South Wales: presented by the
Right Hon. Lord F. Leveson Gower, F.G.S.

A specimen of Meteoric iron from Atacama in Peru; presented by
Woodbine Parish, Esq. His Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires, and Con-
sul General at Buenos Ayres.

Two collections of Fossil shells from Sicily; presented by the Mar-
quis of Northampton, F.G.S.

Rock specimens from Egypt ; presented by Lord Prudhoe.

A collection of specimens from the country between Calcutta and
Cuttack ; presented by the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

Two series of specimens, one to illustrate the neighbourhood of Nice,
and the other the shores of the Gulf of La Spezia ; presented by
H. T. De la Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

179

A collection of Fossils from the Atlantic Frontier of the United States ;
presented by Dr. Morton.

Cast of the Pterodactylus longirostris from Eichstadt, and a cast of
some of the bones of a Pterodactylus from the same place ; pre-
sented by Professor Soemmering.

A collection of bones of the Ursus speleus, from the Cave of Gailen-
reuth in Franconia; presented by Viscount Cole, F.G.S. and Sir
Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart. F.G.S.

A collection of specimens from the Mining District of Guanaxuato ;
presented by J. Dickson, Esq.

Crystals of Muriate of Soda on Lava from Vesuvius ; presented by
Mrs. Somerville.

The Lisrary has been increased by the donation of 85 volumes
and pamphlets,

The Supplement to the Second Volume, and the First Part of the
Third Volume of the Society’s Transactions, have been published
since the last Anniversary.

List.of Papers read since the last Annual Meeting, Feb. 20, 1829.

March 6.—An account of a remarkable Fossil Plant in the Coal For-
mation. of Yorkshire; by John Lindley, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S, Pro-
fessor of Botany in the University of London.

— On the Remains of Quadrupeds which have been disco-
vered in the Marine and Fresh-water Formations of the Peninsula
of Italy; (Part First) by J. B. Pentland, Esq.

March 20.—On the Tertiary and Secondary Rocks forming the
Southern Flank of the Tyrolese Alps, near Bassano ; by Roderick
Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

April 3.—A Letter from Dr. Prout to. Professor Buckland on the
Analysis of Coprolites from Lyme Regis and Westbury-on-Severn.

On the Bituminous Schist and Fossil Fishes of Seefeld in
the Tyrol ; by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

April 3, and May 1.—On the Tertiary Deposits of the Cantal, and
their relations to the Primary and Volcanic Rocks; by Charles
Lyell, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S., and Roderick Impey Murchison,
Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

May 15, and June 5.—On the Hydrographical Basin of the Thames,
with a view more especially to investigate the causes which have
operated in the formation of the valleys of that river and its tribu-
tary streams ; by the Rev. Wm. Conybeare, F.G.S. F.R.S. Instit.
Reg. Soc. Paris. Corresp.

June 5.—A few facts and observations on the power which running
water exerts in removing heavy bodies ; by Matthew Culley, Esq.
F.G.S., in a letter to Roteuer Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S.
F.R.S. &c.

June 19.—On the occurrence of Agates in the Dolomitic strata of
the new red sandstone formation in the Mendip Hills; by the Rev.
Wm. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G:S., F.R.S.

180

June 19.—On the Tertiary Freshwater Formation of Aix in Provence,
including the Coal-field of Fuveau; by Roderick Impey Murchi-
son, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S., and Charles Lyell, Esq. For. Sec. G.S.

Nov. 6.—On the Tertiary Deposits of the Valley of Gosau in the
Salzburg Alps; by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S.,
and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Nov. 20, and Dec. 4.—On the Tertiary Formations which range
along the flanks of the Salzburg and Bavarian Alps, being in con-
tinuation of the Memoir on the Valley of Gosau ; by the Rev. Adam
Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S., and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq.
Sec. G:S. F.R.S.

Dec. 4.—On the discovery of bones of the I[guanodon and other
large Reptiles in the Isle of Wight and Isle of Purbeck ; by the
Rev. Wm. Buckland, D.D. V.P.G.S. F.R.S.

Dec. 18.—Observations on part of the Low Countries and the North
of France, principally near Maestricht and Aix-la-Chapelle ; by
Wm. Fitton, M.D. F.G.S. F.R.S.

Jan. 1, 1830.—On the Geology of the shores of the Gulf of La Spezia ;
by H. T. De la Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

Jan. 15.—On the Fossil Fox of Giningen, with a description of the
lacustrine deposit in which it was found ; by Roderick Impey Mur-
chison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Feb. 5.—A Catalogue raisonné of Fossils from the Transition Lime-
stone of Plymouth ; by the Rev. Richard Hennah, F.G.S.

On the Formation of the Valleys in which the Meuse, the

Moselle, and some other rivers flow; by Poulett Scrope, Esq.

F.G.S. F.R.S.

The following List contains the Names of all the Persons, from
whom Donations to the Library and Museum have been received,

during the past year.
Anstie, J. O. Esq. F.G.S.
Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

Broderip, W. J. Esq. Sec. G.S.
F.R.S. F.L.S.

Astronomical Society of London.
Auldjo, John, Esq. F.G.S.

Barnard, — Esq.

Beaumont, Elie de, For. Mem.
G.S.

Benett, Miss.

Berlin Royal Academy of Sci-
ences.

Bertrand De Doue, Mons. J. M.
For. Mem. G.S.

Bostock, John, Esq. M.D. F.R.S.
F.G.S.

Bouillet, M. Jacq. B. Mem. de
la Société pour I’Industrie Nat.

Bristol Institution.

Brongniart, M. Adolphe.

Brongniart, M. Alexandre, For.
Mem. G.S. -

Brookes, Joshua, Esq.

Buch, M. Leopold de, For. Mem.
G.S

Bucklandy Rev. Walliam, 1/0:
V.P.GS. F.RS. &c.

Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Clarke, James, M.D.

Clark, Rev. W. Branwhite,
F.GS.

Cole, Right Honourable Viscount.
F.G.S.

Cuvier, Baron, For. Mem. G.S.

18]

De la Beche, H. T. Esq. F.G.S.

F.R.S. F.L.S.
Dechen, HenreichVon, For. Mem.

Desnoyers, M. Jules.
Dickson, J. Esq.

Editors of the Edinburgh Journal
of Natural and Geographical
Science.

Egerton, Sir Philip de Malpas
Grey, Bart. F.G.S.

Everest, Rev. Robert, F.G.S.

Gilbert, Davies, Esq. Pres. R.S.
F.G.S.

Goodhall, Henry Humphrey, Esq.
F.G.S.

Gower, Right Hon. Lord Francis
Leveson, M.P. F.G.S.

Hausmann, Professor, For. Mem.
G.S

Horticultural Society of London.
Hullmandel, Mr.
Hutton, William, Esq. F.G.S.

Klipstein, Mons. A.

Lacordaire, Mons.

Lambert, A. B. Esq. F.R.S,
V.P.L.S. F.G.S., &e.

Lariviére, M. Engelspach.

Leonhard, M. Carl Von, For.Mem.
G.S.

Loddiges, George, Esq.

Loudon, J. C. Esq. F.G.S. F.L.S.

Lyell, Charles, Esq. For. Sec.
GS. F.R.S. F.L.S.

Martin, P. J. Esq.

Meade, Thomas, Esq. F.G.S.

Miller, J. S. Esq. A.L.S.

Morton, S. G. M.D.

Moulins, M. Charles, des.

Murchison, R. Impey, Esq. Sec.
G.S. F.R.S. F.L.S.

Necker, M. Louis Albert, For.
Mem. G.S.

Northampton, Most Hon. Marq.
of, F.G.S.

Oeynhausen, M. Karl Von, For.
Mem. G.S.

Oriental Translation Fund Com-
mittee.

Parish, Woodbine, Esq. His Ma-
jesty’s Chargé d’Affaires, and
Consul General at Buenos
Ayres.

Phillips, Richard, Esq. F.G.S.
F.R.S. F.L.S.

Phillips, John, Esq. F.G.S.

Pierola, Senor N. de.

Prevost, M. Constant, For. Mem.
GS.

Randolph, Rev. J. Honywood,
F.G.S.

Raspail, Mons.

Rivero, Mons. de.

Royal Academy of Sciences,
Paris.

Royal Asiatic Society of London.

Royal Institution of Great Bri-
tain.

Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Society of London,

Serres, M. Marcel de, Prof. Min.
et Geol. a la Faculté des Sci-
ences de Montpelier.

Silliman, Professor, M.D. For.
Mem. G.S.

Society of Arts.

Soemmering, Professor.

Somerville, Mrs.

South, J. Esq. F.R.S. V.P.A.S.
Taylor, Richard, Esq. F.G.S.
F.L.S

Taylor, Richard Cowling, Esq.
F.G.S.

Voltz, Professor, For. Mem. G.S.

Yates, Rev. James, M.A. F.G.S.
Yorkshire Philosophical Society.
Young, Rey. George, M.A.

182

Sums actually Recevved and Expended,

Receipts.
Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1829: So Ss 2 onde aieaSe
Beanery cere n > cucevehossfecoiiie sug) ee recarene 607 4 9
Clenkint dastatenaneisdesiots se ere ee 26 12 0
@ollectOre ce ec seeks « cee eee 31 10 0
665 6
Arrears ; 5 SE ena
of Admission Fees .......-.secceo. 60 18 0
of Annual Contributions .......-... 22 0 O
of Subscriptions towards the Outfit 32 6 6
of Somerset House .........--
115 4

To Credit of General Fund from Repairing Fund.... 133 6

Ordinary Income: Soa SEs
Annual Contributions ............-- 406 17 6
Admission Fees : Steels

Residents .........- 132) 6.0
Non-Residents .....- 157 10 O
———————s 289% G0

—————. 696 13

@ompositions, Cishte | c-secr fe cieleie she ete rotate 248 17
SPranSACtONS SQA cj cuss .ie «10 che abe nie eloped olatel: 160 12
Proceedingssald: \)..0.....¢2+ +6 + ecs<: deco ec 1 18
Wollaston Fundiyysya.l-. scene sect cieleisteeieletels 27 17

coo

£2049 15 6

Se eee
eS Se

183

during the year ending 31st December 1829.

PAYMENTS. ETA On Ok
Outfit of Apartments in Somerset House, ey 683 4-14
upon General Fund......... Ae Ue ES ae z
General Expenditure : B50) G6" Gp 285 Oo Gl
House repairs, (1829) ...... De re ae
Taxes and _ Parochial
CHATGES .crceccecccscesecs i Ae 1
Tnsurance ......c..ceceeseeseos 6 0 O
Furniture .......c.sccceeseveos GO 6: 9)
House expenses .......0s006 157 2 11%
284 3 0
Salaries and Wages: ke S. a.
@unator pe ceteciceisciieclslselelaines 184 12 O
Collector’s poundage ...... 26 0 O
Porter and Servant .......+. 85 0 O
295 12 0
Scientific Expenditure : 255, 65) Wo
Books,. Casts, Cases, &c.... 127 17 8
Stationery and Miscella- ' 60 6 4
neous Printing ........-
: 188 4 0
Miscellaneous :
Tea and Waiters for raet 26 17 10
AVES Gocqoosatocoosdooacocaue If Say a srn ny ;
Cost of Publications: £55 8a Gb
Transactioms....cccoscessersee 95 11 O
Proceedings ...++.000 Sesenee Aon Ox,
99 16 OF
——_———__ 894 12 108
Contributions refunded .......... SOREL! aR 9 9 0
Balances in hand; 31st Dec. 1829. Soy Oy!
Banker ....0sscccescsssveerens « sooo 419 4 6
ACCOUNtANt ....0.00.000 0600 seonn |) 8} GO

462 9 6

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186

The Meeting then proceeded to the election of the Officers and
Council for the ensuing year; when the following list was delivered
in by the Scrutineers :—viz.

OFFICERS.’

ia)

———

PRESIDENT.
Rev. Adam Sedgwick, M.A. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.
William John Broderip, Esq. B.A. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.
Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. M.A. Pres. R.S. Hon. M.R.S.E. F.S.A.
L.S. & H.S.
Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. L.& E. Warden ofthe Univ. of London.
Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P. M.A. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.

SECRETARIES.
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.
Edward Turner, M.D. F.R.S. L. & E. Professor of Chemistry in
the University of London.

FOREIGN SECRETARY.
Charles Lyell, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. & L.S.

TREASURER.
John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S. & H.S.

COUNCIL.

Arthur Aikin, Esq. F.L.S. Sec.to , John Lindley, Esq. F.R.S. L.S.
the Society of Arts. & H.S. Professor of Botany in

Rev. William Buckland, D.D. the University of London.
F.R.S. & L.S. Professor of | Rev.J.HonywoodRandolph,M.A-
Mineralogy and Geology in| Peter Mark Roget, M.D. Sec.
the University of Oxford. | RS. F.L.S. M.R.LA.

Francis Chantrey, Esq. D.C.L.| Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S. S.A.

R.A. F.R.S. S.A. & HLS. | & LS. M.R.AS.
Sir Alexander Crichton, K.S.W.| James Vetch, Esq. Capt. R.E.
M.D. F.R.S. & LS. | M.W.S.
Henry Thomas Dela Beche,Esq, | Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Esq.
F.R.S. & LS. |; MCACWSccseZisembc lt S.15-A.
Sir John Franklin, Capt. R.N. L.S. H.S. & M.R.I.A.
D.C.L. F.R.S. | Rev. W. Whewell, M.A. F.R.S
George Bellas Greenough, Esq. Professor of Mineralogy in
F.R.S. L.S. & H.S. M.R.A.S. the University of Cambridge.

186 *
The Report having been read, it was resolved,—

Ist. That this Report be received.

Qndly. That the thanks of this Society be given to the Rev. W.
Buckland, D.D., and George Bellas Greenough, Esq., retiring from
the Office of Vice-Presidents.

3rdly. That the thanks of this Society be given to William John
Broderip, Esq., retiring from the Office of Secretary.

4thly. That the thanks of this Society be given to James Ebenezer
Bicheno, Esq., John Bostock, M.I)., Decimus Burton, Esq., Captain
George Everest, Michael Faraday, Esq., William Henry Fitton, M.D.,
Nathaniel Wallich, M.D. and the Rev. James Yates, retiring from
the Council.

187

At the Meeting of the Society in the evening, the following Ad-
dress was delivered by the President from the Chair :

GENTLEMEN,

You have heard the report of the Council on the general state of
our Society, containing an account of its property and of its debts,
of the several sums received and expended during the last year,
and a careful estimate of all our resources for the current year.
You have also heard a separate report, from a select Committee,
respecting the various collections of our Museum, and the progress
which has been made in their arrangement.

I cannot allow this opportunity to pass away without expressing
my hearty concurrence in the sentiments recorded by the Com-
mittee, and my admiration of the talents exhibited by our Curator,
in a task of no common difficulty and of almost incredible labour.
At the same time, I should ill express my own feelings and those
of the Society, did I not on this occasion also acknowledge the
great obligations we owe to several members of our Council, and
especially to Mr. Greenough, who during many years has fully
given to us the benefit of his labour and talents, both in directing us
to those sources from which our collection might be supplied, and
in arranging systematically the various specimens accumulated from
time to time in our cabinets.

One result has been obtained from the excellent stratigraphical
arrangements of Mr. Lonsdale, which I had not myself anticipated ;
they not only place in an instructive point of view the excellencies,
but also the defects of our collection ; and it appears from the report
of the Committee, that some of the suites of specimens intended to
illustrate the secondary formations of England are eminently defec-
tive. It will be the endeavour of the Council by the exchange of
duplicates, and by all other means within their reach, to fill up
these chasms in the Museum: and in effecting this object they
look forward to the friendly cooperation of provincial bodies, asso-
ciated for purposes like our own, and, above all, to the zeal and
generosity of our own Members.

You will perceive, Gentlemen, from the report of the Council,
that in the general estimate of the receipts and expenditure of the
current year, there is a balance of about ninety pounds against the
Society. Even such a deficit as this would produce feelings of
‘deep regret, were it an indication of any general falling off in our
resources; but the fact admits of ready explanation without any
such disheartening conclusion. Our annual income is decidedly on
the increase ; but our general funds have not yet entirely reco-
vered from the drain upon them which took place when we came
into the occupation of these apartments. And during this year, be-
sides paying up heavy arrears, we have incurred an expense of more
than six hundred pounds in the publication of our Memoirs. There
is, however, now laid up in the cabinets of the Museum. a literary
stock amounting in value to not less than twelve hundred pounds ;
which, though but in a small degree available against the present

188

claims upon the Society, must in the end be productive of a consi-
derable return.

Of the merits of the several memoirs in our last publication I
am not called upon to speak ; but I may direct the attention of the
Gentlemen present to the number and beauty of its embellish-
ments: and I am happy to record the expression of my thanks to
Mr. Broderip, for the care with which he has superintended every
part of it during its passage through the press. That Gentleman
now retires from the laborious duties of the office of Secretary,
which, for four years, he has filled so greatly to our advantage :
but I am well assured, that we may still look with confidence for a
not less efficient, though perhaps less laborious, application of his
talents and experience in the promotion of our best interests.

During the past year about fifty additional Fellows have been en-
rolled on the lists of the Society ; and among them I rejoice to ob-
serve the names of some persons eminently distinguished in this
country by their knowledge in the exact sciences ; and of others to
whom we shall hereafter look, not merely for general support, but
for active cooperation in the field. We have also added seven to
the number of our Foreign Members: and I need not tell the Gen-
tlemen present, that our body is honoured by the addition of these
persons to its list *: for they stand without exception in the fore-
most rank of those who, by a combination of great labour and
great talents, have pushed beyond their former limits those
branches of natural knowledge, for the advancement of which we
are incorporated. At the head of this number [ rejoice to see the
name of an illustrious Personage who, amid the distracting duties
attached to his exalted rank and commanding station, has found
time for the successful cultivation of science, which he adorns by
his high intellectual attainments, and urges on by the force of his
example.

After placing before you these subjects of congratulation, it is
my painful duty to record the loss of an old Member of this So-
ciety, who took a deep interest in its wellbeing and progress. By
the death of Mr. Holme we have lost a man of rare simplicity of
manners, who in a life of retirement pursued science for its own
sake, without any alloy of selfish feeling, or any view to his emolu-
ment or fame. He was an admirable botanist; and after many
years of application had acquired no ordinary skill in some difficult
parts of mineral analysis. In one of the Papers in our last publi-
cation I have had repeated occasions of acknowledging my obliga-
tions to him.

France has lately been deprived, by the death of M. Vauquelin,
of a man who for more than half a century devoted the efforts of

* His Imperial Highness John Archduke of Austria; Dr. Ami Boué ;
Prof. Hausmann of Gottingen ; Prof. Hoffmann of Berlin; Prof. Voltz of
Strasbourg; M. Dufrénoy, Professor at the Ecole des Mines, Paris; and
M. D’Omalius D’Halloy, Governor of the Province of Namur in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands.

189

his powerful mind te the promotion of physical truth ; and we have
to lament the loss of a name which has long decorated the list of
our Foreign Members. A proper homage has been already paid,
by the President of the Royal Society, to the memory of this illus-
trious person; whose labours, however great the light they shed on
our department of natural history, were still more nearly connected
with exact science.

Several of the Papers read at our meetings, between the last
Anniversary and our separation for the summer, have through
different channels already come before the public. It would have
been well, that at least a part of them should have appeared in our
Transactions. But our funds have not always admitted of a suffi-
ciently rapid publication to meet the wishes of those authors who
have most original matter to communicate. This is a subject of
regret, and well deserves the consideration of the Council for the
coming year. The Transactions of the Society form unquestion-
ably the most honourable official record of our labours. It is
through them that we are represented in the great republic of
science; and without them, beyond our own immediate circle, we
possess neither voice nor animation.

The progress of our body in geological inquiry since the former
Anniversary, will be best understood by glancing over the various
memoirs which have been the subject of discussion at our meetings.
It will be useless to do this in the exact order in which they came
before us; I shall therefore follow that order in which the subjects
themselves appear to be naturally connected with each other. _

Our attention has been several times called to the theory of the
excavation of valleys, and to the effects produced by river currents
in modifying the form of the solid parts of the earth. The subject
was introduced during the former year by a memoir of Messrs.
Lyell and Murchison, on certain portions of the volcanic regions
of Central France; in which they show (in accordance with the
views of Montlosier, Scrope, and some other authors) that the ex-
isting rivers have, by a long continued erosion, eaten out deep
gorges, not only through currents of basaltic lava which have
flowed through the existing valleys, but also through solid rocks
of subjacent gneiss. They further prove, on evidence which to
me seems not short of demonstration, that no great denuding wave
or mass of water lifted by supernatural force above its ordinary
level, could have assisted in forming such denudations: for the
country is still studded with domes of incoherent matter, the rem-
nants of fermer craters; from which may be traced, continuously,
streams of lava, intersected in the courses of the rivers by these
deep gorges—the gages and tests of the erosive power of running
water during times comparatively recent.

The elaborate Paper of Mr. Conybeare on the valley of the.
Thames is still fresh in our recollection. He proves that the ero-
sive power of the river has, within the records of history, produced
no effect on the general features of the country through which it

190

flows, and that the propelling force of its waters is not now, and
never could have been, adequate to the transport of the boulders
which lie scattered on the sides and summits of the chains of hills
through which it has found a passage: that much of the waterworn
gravel, drifted through the breaches opened in the sinuous line of
its channel, is composed of rocks not found within the limits of its
basin; and that the form of the country is often the very reverse
of that which would have been produced by mere fluviatile erosion,
however long continued. Similar facts are supplied by nearly all
the greater valleys of England; and on the whole they point to
one conclusion, that fluviatile erosion, as a mere solitary agent,
has produced but small effects in modifying the prominent features
of cur island: at the same time they leave untouched all the facts
of an opposite kind, supported by direct evidence, whether de-
rived from the volcanic districts of Central France, or from any
other physical region on the surface of the earth.

The power of mountain torrents in transporting heavy masses of
stone is strikingly illustrated in a short paper by Mr. Culley. He
states that a small rivulet, descending from the Cheviot Hills along
a moderate declivity, carried down, during a single flood, many
thousand tons of gravel into the plains below; and that several
blocks, from one-half to three-quarters of a ton weight each, were
propelled two miles in the direction of the stream. Facts, similar
in kind, but on a scale incomparably greater, must be in the recol-
lection of every one who has seen the Alpine torrents descending
into the plains of the north of Italy.

When mountain chains abut in the sea, the laws of degradation:
are not suspended... At each successive flood, fragments of rock
are drifted-in: the direction of the descending torrents, and rolled
beneath the waters. This kind of action is indeed casual and in-.
terrupted ; but it.is aided by another action which is liable to no
intermission—the beating of the surf and the grinding of the tidal
currents on all the projecting parts of a steep and rocky shore.
Under such conditions, I doubt not that there are now forming at
the bottom of the sea, and at depths perhaps inaccessible, alter-
nating masses of silt, and sand, and gravel, which, if ever lifted
above the waters, may rival in magnitude some of the conglomerates
of our older formations.

Our last Paper, on the excavating power of rivers, was from the
pen of Mr. Scrope. He contends that diluvial torrents would only
form trough-shaped channels prolonged in the direction of the
principal rush of water ; but would never produce curves in which
the excavating force worked in a direction opposed to that of the
general current. He describes part of the course of the Moselle
and of the Meuse, where the rivers wind through hard transition
rocks, in long sinuous channels, varying in depth from 500 to 1000
feet. In one of the great flexures of the Moselle, the river, after
passing over no less than 17 miles, returns to within 500 yards of
the point from which it started. These phznomena are regarded
by the Author as sure indications of slow fluviatile erosion, For he

191

considers the idea of a great debacle, or diluvial current, winding
its way back in lazy flexures towards the point from which it
started, as absolutely unintelligible.

If I might give my own opinion on this debated question, I
should say, that the existing river drainage of every physical region,
is a complex result, depending upon many conditions—the time
when the region first became dry land—its external form at the
time of its first elevation above the sea—and all the successive
disturbing forces which have since acted upon its surface. But
none of these elements are constant: no wonder, then, that results
derived from distant parts of the earth should be so greatly in con-
flict with each other. In the formation of valleys there is therefore
little wisdom in attributing every thing to the action of one modi-
fying cause. We know by direct geological evidence, that nearly
all the solid portions of the earth were once under the sea, and
were lifted to their present elevation, not at one time, but during
many distinct periods. We know that elevating forces have not
only acted in different places at different times, but with such va-
riations of intensity, that the same formation is in one country ho-
rizontal, in another vertical ; in one country occupies the plains, in
another is found only at the tops of the highest mountains. Now
every great irregular elevation of the land (independently of all
other results) must have produced, not merely a rush of the re-
tiring waters of the sea, but a destruction of equilibrium among the
waters of inland drainage. Effects like these must have been fol-
lowed by changes in the channels of rivers, by the bursting of
lakes, by great debacles, and in short by all the great phenomena
of denudation. In. comparing distant parts of the earth, we may
therefore affirm that the periods of denudation do not belong to
one, but to many successive epochs; and by parity of reasoning
we may conclude that the great masses of incoherent matter which
lie scattered over so many parts of the surface of the earth, belong
also to successive epochs, and partake of the same complexity of
formation.

The excavation of valleys seems therefore to be a complex re-
sult, depending upon all the forces, which, acting on the surface of
the earth since it rose above the waters, have fashioned it into its
present form. We have old oceanic valleys which were formed at
the bottom of the sea in times anterior to the elevation of our con-
tinents. Such is the great valley of the Caledonian canal, which
existed nearly in its present form at a period anterior to the con-
glomerates of the old red sandstone. We have longitudinal valleys
formed along the line of junction of two contiguous formations,
simply by the elevation of their beds. To this class belong some
of the great longitudinal valleys of the Alps. We have other val-
leys of more complex origin ; where the beds through which the
waters now pass have been bent and fractured with an inverted
dip at the period of their elevation. Such is the valley of Kings-
clere, described in a former volume by Dr. Buckland. We have
valleys of disruption, marking the direction of cracks and fissures

192

produced by great upheaving forces. Such are some of the great
transverse valleys of the Alps. Of valleys of denudation our island
offers a countless number. Some are of simple origin: for example,
the dry combes and valleys of the chalk, which appear to have
been swept out by one flood of retiring waters during some period of
elevation. Others are of complex origin, and are referrible to many
periods, and to several independent causes. Lastly, we have valleys
of simple erosion: such are some of the deep gorges and river chan-<
nels in the high regions of Auvergne, excavated solely by the long
continued attrition of the rivers which still flow through them.

I should not have dwelt so long upon this subject, had it not occu-
pied a large portion of our attention during the past year; and J
may be pardoned for entering a record of my own views on a ques-
tion of no small complexity, and on which there is still much con-
trariety of opinion.

During the past year we have been presented with several memoirs
describing formations superior to the chalk: which I shall also notice
in the order of the subjects, without any regard to the time when they
came before us.—In a Paper by Dr. Fitton on the structure of a por-
tion of the low countries in the north of France, among other inter-
esting details, is a description of three of this great class of for-
mations. He points out deposits in the neighbourhood of Calais,
Antwerp, and Tongres, which resemble the Crag of Suffolk. He com-
pares the sands of St. Omer, Cassel, and Lille, with the sands which
overlie the chalk in the London basin: and he states that the arena-
ceous beds of the hill of Cassel (like similar beds at Brussels) con-
tain large suites of fossils, generally agreeing with those of the Lon-
don clay. Lastly, he describes in detail the structure of St. Peter’s
Mount near Maestricht, and shows that the inferior beds form a gra-
dual passage into the white chalk on which they rest; while the upper
beds bear marks of degradation and mechanical interruption, and
offer no indication of a passage into the superior sands. And he
adds that, out of more than fifty species of organic remains collected
by himself from this deposit, not more than ten are found in our best
catalogues of chalk fossils.

I may here remark, that the suite of fossils in the Cassel sands
throws no difficulty in the way of their comparison with the lower ter-
tiary sands and plastic clay of England. The terms London clay and
Plastic clay may be preserved as convenient mineralogical designa-
tions. They mark, however, nothing more than the subdivisions of
one great deposit between the lower and the higher members of
which there is no line of zoological separation. In the London and
Paris basins, there is a great chasm between the secondary and ter-
tiary systems to be filled up by the future labours of Geologists. The
Maestricht beds are so nearly related to the formation on which they
rest, that they may be regarded as the last term of that new series of
deposits which we hope hereafter to find interpolated between the
calcaire grossier and the chalk.

A Paper by Mr. Murchison makes us acquainted with the structure

193

of the tertiary formations on the southern flank of the Alps between
the Brenta and the Piave. ‘They are divided into two great natural
groups exhibited in two zones :—an outer zone containing shells which
seem to be nearly identical with the well known fossils of the newer
tertiary Sub- Apennine formations;—an inner and inferior zone con-
taining in its higher portions a few shells resembling those of a part
of the Bourdeaux basin, while its lower beds are distinguished by
innumerable organic remains, more than half-of which seem to be
specifically identical with those of the calcaire grossier or London
clay. These lower beds on the banks of the Brenta are inclined at
70° or 80°, and are based upon a nummulite rock, which is abso-
lutely vertical and conformable to the scaglia (containing ammonites
and belemnites), and together with it rises into peaks of considerable
height on the extreme border of the chain: and there is no conglo-
merate or other mechanical degradation of the older rocks, to mark
the junction of the secondary and tertiary systems. Some notion
may be formed of the enormous thickness of these deposits from the
statement, that a transverse section (from Asolo to Possagno) through
beds of only a part of this series, inclined at various angles from 25°
to 40° and exhibiting no invertions of dip, is not less than five miles
in length. One important consequence seems to follow inevitably
from these details: the last epoch of elevation of the neighbouring
mountains must have commmenced during a period posterior to the
tertiary formations described in this memoir.

In three Papers, recently presented by Mr. Murchison and myself
to this Society, we have endeavoured to establish a series of similar
conclusions, by induction from the phenomena observed on the flanks
of the Salzburg and Bavarian Alps. I will not give you any analy-
sis of details, so lately the subject of discussion in this room. I may,
however, briefly recall your attention to the results which we con-
sider best established and of most importance. We have shown
that several transverse sections from the central axis of the Alps to
the basin of the Upper Danube would present a succession of phe-
nomena in very near accordance with those of other transverse
sections from the same axis to the tertiary formations at the other
base of the chain in the north of Italy. On both sides of this chain,
after passing over the great secondary calcareous zones, we meet
with the lower tertiary strata,—always highly inclined, sometimes
vertical, and occasionally conformable to the beds of the older sys-
tem. We contend that this remarkable symmetry confirms the hy-
pothesis of a recent elevation of the Eastern Alps ; and makes it pro-
bable, independently of arguments derived from organic remains, that
the tertiary deposits of the Sub-Apennine regions and of the basin
of the Upper Danube belong to one period of formation.

Thick masses of strata full of organic remains, and often occurring
at low levels near the northern foot of the chain, are sometimes also
found (e. g. in the valley of Gosau) in unconformable positions,
caught up among the serrated peaks of the Alps, four or five thousand
feet above the level of the sea. Such a disjunction of corresponding
strata (and I may observe that the argument bears not upon their

194

exact age), is inexplicable on any hypothesis which rejects the theory
of elevation, We have concluded, chiefly on zoological evidence,
that the unconformable beds of Gosau are more recent than the chalk.
We believe that they contain neither ammonites nor belemnites, nor
any other known species of secondary fossils ; and on the whole we
regard them as a term of that unknown series,of formations which
may hereafter close up the chasm between the lowest beds of the Paris
basin and the chalk.

We have pointed out the limits of the old chain of the Salzburg
and Bavarian Alps, and traced the direction of its valleys anterior
to the tertiary epoch: and we have described a great deposit of lig-
nite far up the valley of the Inn, containing freshwater and marine
shells, which seem to connect it with the period of the London clay.
We have further shown, that there are within the basin of the Upper
Danube two or three higher zones of lignite separated from each
other by sedimentary deposits of enormous thickness.

The tertiary system of Bavaria is shown to pass into, and to be
identical with, the molasse and nagelflue of Switzerland. The higher
part of this series must therefore (on the system of M. Studer) be of
the same age with some of the formations of the Sub-Apennines. We
have proved that enormous masses of sandstone and conglomerate
many thousand feet in thickness, stretching from the base of the
Alps to the plains of the Danube, are chiefly derived from the degra-
dation of the neighbouring chain—that many of these masses cannot
be distinguished from the newest detritus which lies scattered on the
surface of the earth—that in their prolongation into Switzerland
they sometimes contain bones of mammalia—that they are regularly
stratified, and alternate with beds containing marine shells—and that
they cannot have been caused by any transient inundation.

Finally, we point out the probable effect of debacles which took
place when the basin was deserted by the sea. We show that the ex-
cavations produced by the retiring waters have been augmented by
the bursting of successive lakes, of which we found traces in all the
upland valleys of Bavaria ; and that these excavations have been since
carried on by the erosive power of the streams which roll down from
the sides of the Alps to the plains of the Danube.

The greatest number of tertiary formations hitherto described. ap-
pear to have been produced either in estuaries or, mediterranean
seas ; the depth of which, however considerable, was probably much
Jess than that of the wider oceans wherein some of our secondary
rocks have had their origin. These circumstances tend to explain
the frequent alternations of marine and freshwater beds in the tertiary
seas ; and they satisfactorily account for the appearance of land shells,
lignite, and other terrestrial remains, drifted, at many different pe-
riods, into the regular marine deposits of the tertiary groups. By
the help of these alternations are certain species of marine and fresh-
water shells demonstratively shown to have been contemporaneous.
And when this conclusion is once established, it may be applied to
determine the age of those lacustrine formations which have never
communicated with the sea.

195

In this way it has been shown that the enormous lacustrine depo-
sits of Aix in Provence, of the Cantal, of the Limagne d’Auvergne, and
of other districts in the south of France, belong to the period of the
great tertiary system of the Paris basin. I have no time even to allude
to the important works connected with these subjects, which we owe
to the naturalists of France: and the two Memoirs of Messrs. Lyell
and Murchison, ‘‘ On the tertiary deposit of the Cantal,’ and “ On
the freshwater formations of Aix in Provence,” have been already
published*. I am not, therefore, called upon to give any regular
analysis of their contents. I may, however, be permitted to recall
your attention to the enormous thickness of a regular succession of
deposits described by these gentlemen in a section extending from the
hills above Aix to the coal works of Fuveau. We have at the base of
the section a great system of alternating beds of limestone and shale
containing many seams of coal, some of which are worked by perpen-
dicular shafts 500 feet in depth. Over this succession of beds, come
vast groups of strata forming ranges of hills composed of limestone,
shale, and sandstone. These are surmounted by thick deposits of red
marl and fibrous gypsum, and by vast masses of conglomerate. Fi-
nally, over the conglomerate comes a series of beds conforming to
the more ordinary tertiary type ; remarkable for the regularity of
their deposition, and for the beautiful preservation of the shells, the
fishes, and even the insects contained in them. Such are the minera-
logical characters of the lower members of this great series, that they
have been referred (even by expert naturalists who had not sufficiently
examined the organic remains) to the old coal formation and the new
red sandstone ; but from top to bottom their fossils are exclusively
tertiary and lacustrine. At the same time we attempt in vain, by
joining in imagination the prominent elevations of the older rocks in
the neighbouring regions, to restore the former barriers once con-
taining that great body of water within which these deposits had their
origin. |

The Paper on the Cantal brought before us a series of facts no
less striking and impressive. In this high region are the escarp-
ments of an old lacustrine formation, nearly 500 feet in thickness,
full of freshwater shells, many specifically identical with fossils of
the basins of Paris and of the Isle of Wight: but here, as in
the former case, there are no barriers to mark the limits of the
lake within which this deposit was once confined. ‘The same region
also bears the impress of another succession of phenomena; for
within the area of this‘ancient lake, and after the solidification of
the beds of marl formed in its waters, burst forth one of those great
trachytic eruptions which mark all the neighbouring parts of France.
So that we now find beds of basalt, trachytic breccia, and other old
volcanic rocks, overtopping, on the side of one valley, by more than
800 feet, the highest lacustrine rocks through which they have
breached a passage to the surface of the earth: and in the neigh-

* See Edinburgh New Phil. Journal, Oct. 1829; and Annales des
Sciences Naturelles, tom. xviii. p. 172.

196

bouring region the same old volcanic rocks have risen to several
times that elevation.

When we examine the upper rock marl of the Isle of Wight, we
see a deposit separated from us and the things about us, only by a
few feet of transported gravel. The outline of the country might
have been remodified and the gravel formed by some transient
inundation. We have therefore no measure of the time which may
have elapsed since the first existence of the phenomena before us.
If, however, we examine the shells in the rock marl, we find that
few, if any, belong to species existing in our lakes or rivers. We
cannot believe that there is so great a violation of continuity in
the forms of animated nature, except in subordination to nature's
laws ; and we feel almost forced to seek for a solution of our dif-
ficulties amidst the ideal revolutions of former ages.

But how differently is the history of the same great period told off
among the volcanic mountains of the Cantal and Auvergne! Great
lacustrine formations, of the same age with the rock-marl of the Isle
of Wight, are there proved by their organic contents to have been
formed and solidified at a time anterior to the trachytic eruptions
which upheaved and desolated the whole surface of the country.
How long these great eruptive forces were in action it is useless to
conjecture ; but they were followed by ages of repose, during which
the surface of the land was reformed, and deep valleys were exca-
vated by the erosive power of water. A new period of volcanic
agency succeeded, marked by domes of cinders and scoriz remain-
ing to this day almost unchanged, and by streams of lava which
may be traced from them into the existing valleys. And even these
last operations, however recent in the order of geological events,
were anterior to the records of history; so that we can still only
approximate to their date, by a careful comparison of the effects
since produced upon these streams of lava by the destructive power
of the elements. _ -

A description by Mr. Murchison of the lacustrine strata and
fossils of Giningen is the last communication, connected with ter-
tiary formations, I am called upon to notice. He shows that
this deposit consists of horizontal beds of a considerable aggregate
thickness, laid bare in quarries on the side and near the summit
of a ridge of hills the base of which is washed by the waters of
the Rhine—that they do not alternate with the molasse but repose
upon it unconformably—and that from top to bottom they are of
freshwater origin, He enumerates in detail a great variety of fos-
sils (such as insects, plants, shells, fishes, tortoises, and mammalia, )
discovered at different times in these quarries ; and he adds a de-
scription (from the pen of Mr. Mantell) of a fossil fox not to be
distinguished from the Vulpes communis, found in the middle beds
of this system. From all these geological details, as well as from
the position of the strata, he concludes that they belong to a very
recent tertiary period. At the same time, the waters of the Rhine
descend from the lake of Constance at a level no less than 600
feet below that of the old lake in which the Giningen beds origi-

197

nated; and there is not in the present outline of the country any
indication of the surface over which they once extended.

Such, Gentlemen, have been the prominent subjects of discussion
during our meetings of the past year. Before I proceed to other
questions, let me express my thanks to Mr. Vernon, for the zeal
with which he has investigated, and the fidelity with which he has
described, a deep excavation at North Cliffin Yorkshire. Under
the ancient gravel of the district are found regular deposits of
river silt, containing bones of the mammoth, the horse, the urus,
the rhinoceros, the wolf, the ox, and deer; mingled with thirteen
species of land or lacustrine shells, absolutely identical with those
now living in the neighbouring district. Phanomena like these
have a tenfold interest, when regarded as the extreme link of a
great chain, binding the present order of things to that of older
periods in which the existing forms of animated nature seem one
after another to disappear.

Twenty years are not yet passed away since MM. Cuvier and
Brongniart first published their researches on the geological struc-
ture of the Paris basin. The innumerable details exhibited in their
various essays ; the beautiful conclusions drawn from unexpected
facts ; the happy combination of mineralogical and zoological evi-
dence; the proofs of successive revolutions, till then unheard of
in the physical history of the earth—all these things together,
not merely threw new light on a subject before involved in compa-
rative darkness, but gave new powers and new means of induction
to those who should in after times attempt any similar investiga-
tions.

Mankind are, however, dazzled and astonished by great disco-
veries, as well as guided and instructed: and for some years after
the publication of these admirable works, the naturalists of various
countries, whose attention had been so loudly called to the deposits
above the chalk, saw in them only a repetition of what was already
described, and of which the true type was in every case to be sought
among the formations of the Paris basin. Investigations conducted
in this spirit sometimes ended in disappointment. But this was not
_the spirit recommended in the incomparable Essay of Cuvier *; for

after exhibiting the true method of geological induction, and de-
scribing the intense and almost tormenting interest with which he
had followed out his cwn investigations, he points to the long series
of deposits in the Sub-Apennine hills, and states his conviction that
in them lies concealed the true secret of the last operations of the
ocean.

Since that discourse was written, much has been done; but much
more still remains to be done. [t has been my pleasing task to place
before you the labours of some of our own body in illustrating the
recent geological periods in the history of the earth: by such de-
tails alone. can we expect to comprehend the more intricate phzno-
mena of still older periods, and to connect them with the great phy-
sical laws by which all matter is governed.

* See Discours Préliminaire, p. 112, Ist edition.

198

Considered in the most general point of view, without any re-
gard to the lacustrine beds which are perhaps local or acciden-
tal, the tertiary groups of the Paris basin may be described as a
great complex system of deposits belonging to one protracted zoo-
logical period ; characterized by extinct genera of mammalia, and
by innumerable marine shells; but affording very few species by
which we can connect them either with the chalk, or with the for-
mations of our neighbouring seas. ‘Their position is therefore en-
tirely insulated ; and by what new links they may be connected with
the physical events which went before them and followed after them,
can only be determined by a long series of observations. I have
already pointed out the source from which some of the older links
may hereafter probably be supplied. Of the same paleotherian
age, and in the same insulated position, are the tertiary deposits of
Hampshire, and some of the great lignite formations in the north
of Germany. ;

The next group of the tertiary system is ill defined, and still but
imperfectly understood. Some members of it are seen on the banks
of the Loire, and have formed the subject of alate important me-
moir by M. Desnoyers; and the same portion of the series is repre-
sented on the eastern coasts of England, by the beds of Crag over-
lying the London clay. It contains, like the former division, the
bones of many mammalia, some of extinct, and some probably of
living species ; but the remains of the extinct animals do not be-
long to the paleotheria of the older period, but to the mammoth,
the rhinoceros, and other animals, of which the bones are found so
constantly in the superficial gravel. To the fossil shells of this di-
vision the same observations may be applied: many belong to spe-
cies which are unknown, and perhaps extinct; others cannot be dis-
tinguished from the living shells of the neighbouring seas.

A third division of the system may comprehend all the higher
Sub-Apennine deposits; distinguished by the bones of mammalia in
still greater abundance, and by the number and beauty of the fossil
shells, many of which are of living species. It is of enormous
thickness in some of the low regions at the base of the Apennines ;
and it probably extends over a considerable portion of the basin of
the Danube, and over the plains beyond the eastern termination of
the Alps. I have, however, no time, nor do I possess information,
to give any detailed account of its distribution.

During the periods in which the two last tertiary groups were
elaborated in the sea, there must have been deposited on the land,
in caverns, in fissures, and in beds of superficial gravel, many bones
of the same species of animals by which those groups are charac-
terized : and during the same periods may have originated in inland
lakes some of the deposits of which we now only see the traces
in masses of Jacustrine marl found in various countries resting
unconformably upon the older strata.

It is impossible with our present knowledge, to form even a con-
jecture respecting the subdivisions into which the whole tertiary
series may finally be separated. I am only anxious, in the mere out-

199

line I am now attempting, to describe the successive groups above
the chalk in terms the most general, and in divisions the most com-
prehensive; especially, as they appear in connexion with our labours
of the past year.

I must, however, notice one more group in the succession of
marine deposits, before I can complete the ascending series and
reach the limits of history ; the name tertiary cannot perhaps with
propriety be applied to it, as the animal remains contained in it
are almost exclusively of the species now living in the nearest seas.
To this class we may refer certain shelly deposits in the West India
Islands—on the shores of the Red Sea—and on various parts of
the shores of Italy, Sicily, and Spain. Their position, as might be
expected, is generally low. But near the focus of volcanic action
they rise to more considerable elevations: in proof of which { need
only state, that beds of shells are found on the mountains of Sicily
three thousand feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and of
the same species with those now living in its waters *,

Such are the steps by which we ascend through the divisions of
the tertiary period. I need not, however, inform you that we can
seldom determine their relations by the mere evidence of super-
position. Most frequently they appear in detached masses, the age
of which can only be known by their fossils. This kind of evidence
is, however, sometimes brought before us in a manner at once the
most complicated and the most conclusive. It is to the labours
of MM. Deshayes, Basterot, and other expert naturalists, who are
devoting their talents and time to the completion of great works on
the organic forms of the several tertiary groups, that we must
look for information, which in the end may give us the means of a
safer and wider induction.

With the exception of an interesting notice by Dr. Buckland of
the occurrence of agates in the dolomitic strata of the Mendip
Hills, not a single memoir has been read before us during last year,
on the mineralogical structure of any part of the British Isles. I do
not mention this without regret; for while any part of the struc-
ture of this country is unexplored, we have left unfinished that
task, to perform which was the first great object of our association.
The work of Mr. Phillips on the strata and organic remains of the
Yorkshire coast offers, however, a splendid contrast to this portion
of our year’s productions. The clearness of the descriptions, the
accuracy of the sections, the figures of more than 400 fossils faith-
fully arranged according to their grouping in the formations be-
tween the new red sandstone and the chalk, combine to make it
one of the most valuable and instructive Essays in our language.

Much, Gentlemen, remains to be done, before the structure of the
various formations of the British Isles can safely be appealed to

* This important fact was communicated by Mr. Lyell, and is described
by him in a work now in the press. :

200

as one of those complete middle terms of comparison, by help of
which the disjointed fragments of a former world may in imagina-
tion be reunited. Respecting the perplexing phenomena of the Crag
beds on the coast of Suffolk, we are greatly deficient in information.
The accounts of all our tertiary strata, however excellent at the
time they were written, must be entirely remodelled. Even the his-
tory of the oolitic series (the boast of English geology, and the
type to which foreign naturalists are attempting to conform some
of their own secondary rocks) is defective. We know, in admirable
detail, the formations near Bath. On the coast of Yorkshire Mr.
Phillips has left us nothing to desire. But a promised Memoir on
the beautiful phenomena near Weymouth, after many years of ex-
pectation, is still unwritten: and a detailed transverse section through
the wide oolitic beds of Northamptonshire is among our most im-
portant desiderata.

Something is left to be done in illustrating the upper part of the
new red sandstone. It is here that the poverty of our secondary
rocks offers a striking contrast to the riches of the coeval rocks
on the flanks of the Vosges and on the banks of the Neckar; and
this very poverty makes every scrap of information, whether derived
from mineralogical or organic characters, of importance in assisting
us to complete this broken part of our secondary series.

Even the history of our coal formations is not yet perfect. The
association of the coal and mountain limestone of Northumberland
has not been well explained. The great corresponding deposits
of Cumberland are undescribed: nor does it appear in our pub-
lished works, that coal is found alternating in the North of England
with all parts of the mountain limestone group; and that beds of
coal are worked in several places, resting upon transition slate, and
surmounted by the whole limestone series. More than half of
Ireland is a blank on our geological maps ; and on many of the
transition districts of England our information is lamentably de-
fective.

The study of our older deposits is indeed difficult and toilsome,
and unenlivened with the frequent occurrence of organic bodies.
But no country, hitherto described, shows a more splendid series of
phznomena to illustrate the intrusive agency of crystalline rocks ;
and to exhibit the great successive internal movements by which
our continents have been elevated, and brought under those laws
of degradation which have fashioned them into their present forms.
In these investigations there is still a rich spoil ready for any one
who will have the courage to stretch out his hands to grasp it. A
part of it I have myself gathered among the mountains of Cumber-
land, with no small labour; which I shall count for gain, if I may
be permitted, hereafter, to lay it up in the storehouse of this Society.

Leaving, however, the subject of British geology, I must call
your attention to those Papers which, during our sessions of the
past year, have described the general phenomena of secondary
rocks.—On the secondary formations of the Netherlands we have
heard some interesting remarks in a recent Paper by Dr. Fitton,

201

above quoted. He describes the structure and distribution of the
chalk, the firestone, and the green and ferruginous sands ; shows
their discordant position over the coal-measures ; and indicates the
characters, both in which they differ and agree with the corres-
ponding members of the English series.

In a Paper on the geology of the shores of the Gulf of La Spezia,
beautifully illustrated by sections and drawings, Mr. De la Beche
describes a long series of stratified and unstratified rocks. Among
the former may be enumerated, beds of clay, sandstone, and con-
glomerate, supposed to be tertiary ; beds of macigno; the marble
of Porto Venere; the crystalline limestone of Capo Corvo, &c.
among the latter, diallage rock, serpentine, mica schist, &c. He
endeavours to show, from the structure of the district and the fos-
sils of the neighbouring rocks, that the marble of Porto Venere may
belong to the age of the oolitic series ; and that the diallage rocks
and serpentine are a prolongation of the system of southern Ligu-
ria, and have been protruded by igneous action among the depo-
sitory rocks, after the period of the oolites.

Among the contributions to our knowledge of the structure of
foreign secondary deposits, -I must lastly notice the communica-
tion of Mr. Murchison on the bituminous schist and fossil fish of
Seefeld. This singular rock rises to a great elevation among the
bare calcareous peaks of the Tyrolian Alps, and contains such a
quantity of bituminous matter, probably derived from the animals
imbedded in it, that some of its strata are broken up and exposed
to a process of distillation, by which a great quantity of what may
be called mineral fish oil is extracted for economical use. Among
the fossil fish M. Valenciennes of Paris discovered at least four
species; one a clupea, and three distinguished by quadrangular
scales, without articulating points, and resembling the Esox osseus ;
but differing from that genus, both in the form of the tail and the
position of the fins.

There is a large family of fish, made up of many genera and
species, and distributed from the old red sandstone to the magne-
sian limestone, belonging to the order Malacopterygit abdomi-
nales, and particularly distinguished, like the Esox osseus, by a
pointed tail, the lower side of which alone is supplied with rays. It
is obvious from this description that the Seefeld fish are not com-
prehended in that family: and as they are not identified with the
fossils of any known formation, we must consider their place as
still undetermined. This is at least a safe conclusion; for minera-
logical indications in the calcareous regions of the Alps are of very
small value in determining the question.

During the past year, we have received from Dr. Buckland several
additional notices, drawn up with his well known sagacity and sin-
gular felicity of illustration, on the characters and distribution of
various specimens of coprolites. The results of his inquiries are
published in the last Part of our Transactions ; and on that account
I am precluded from any further remarks upon them. They belong,
indeed, to important discoveries of the former year, and have al-

202

ready been noticed in the Anniversary address of my predecessor
in this chair.

From the same pen we have also a description of the bones of
the Iguanodon and other large reptiles, discovered at Sandown
Bay in the Isle of Wight and near Swanwich in the Isle of Purbeck.
In both localities the formation is the same with that of the sand-
stone of Tilgate Forest, in which Mr. Mantell first discovered the
remains of the Iguanodon, an herbivorous reptile of extraordinary
stature. Dr. Buckland describes an external metacarpal bone (six
inches in length, five inches in its greatest breadth, and six pounds
in weight) of the right foot of some reptile, supposed, from the
stratum in which it is found in Sandown Bay and from the bones
with which it is associated, to be an Iguanodon. It is in linear
dimensions twice as large as the corresponding bone of a large
elephant: and we must consider the small proportion which the legs
of a reptile bear to the length of its body, in order to form any
notion of the gigantic proportions of this quadruped.

Finally, I have to notice a communication from Mr. Hennah,
containing a systematic and descriptive catalogue of the fossils of
the transition limestone of Plymouth, read at our last meeting.

Such, Gentlemen, have been the memoirs presented to us since
our former Anniversary. I have brought them before you in that
order in which they seem to cast light upon each other; and I
have indulged in no comments but such as sprang immediately
from the subjects themselves.

I rejoice in the number and activity of our provincial institutions ;
and still more, that the same spirit which has of late years induced
so many Englishmen to combine for the furtherance of natural
knowledge, is extending to our colonies in America and Asia.
From the labours of so many ingenious men, united for the same
end, and with opportunities for observation so widely different, the
happiest results may be anticipated.

I should wish to say something on the general structure of the
Alps; and to describe the speculations of one of our Foreign Mem-
bers and best fellow-labourers on the different epochs of eleva-
tion. These are inviting topics, to which, on a future occasion, I
may perhaps return: but had I even time for their discussion, it
would not be well for me, at present, to trust myself in so wide a
field.

Of the various works poured out during the past year from the
German and French press, on subjects connected with geology,
it is impossible for me to offer an analysis or even an enumeration.
Most of them are the productions not only of great talent, but of
great good sense; not only of great labour, but of labour happily
directed. And it is no small matter of pride to this Society, that
its researches have been highly valued by the naturalists of the
Continent. They have not given their praises to us grudgingly ;
but have sometimes scattered them with a lavish hand ; and have,
I fear, awarded to us higher honours than we ourselves can be

203

conscious of deserving. I think I could point out more than one
Essay, in which, during the past year, the geologists of the Con-
tinent have injured their descriptions of secondary formations, and
impeded their own inductive powers, by fixing their eyes too stea-
dily on the types of the English series.

I congratulate you on the completion of the geological map of
Germany by an illustrious naturalist, who for many years has de-
voted, and continues still to devote, the best efforts of his life to the
promotion of our science. He has not affixed his name to this
great work, and he perhaps still regards some parts of it but as an
approximation. ‘The elaborate and accurate maps of north-western
Germany by Professor Hoffmann, and of the Odenwald and the
neighbouring districts by Dr. Klipstein, belong aiso to the produc-
tions of the past year *. Professor Hoffmann’s map is to us of pe-
culiar interest ; not merely from the extent and intricacy of the
country it delineates; but also from the number of secondary for-
mations which it represents, in perfect conformity with the subdi-
visions adopted in our own geological maps. Works of this kind
are of inestimable value: they are the embodied results of observa-
tions without number, directed to one object ; and, when well per-
formed, may be regarded as the last generalizations from facts ex-
hibited in their clearest and simplest form. But more than this,—
they guide us to the fountain-head of information, and lead us to
still more general conclusions, by giving us at every step of our
way the means of comparison with the structure of other regions +.

To some admirable works on natural history, now in progress,
which bear more or less directly on our subject, I have no time
to allude. But I may point, with peculiar satisfaction, to the ad-
vancement of the work of M. Adolphe Brongniart on fossil plants,
and to the appearance of a new number of the work of Goldfuss
on organic remains. By the continued labours of these excellent
naturalists, we are supplied with new terms of geological compari-
son, and new means of legitimate induction. I am happy also to
announce the approaching publication of a general index to the
volumes of Mr. Sowerby’s ‘“‘ Mineral Conchology,’ in which the
errors incidental to such a work will be corrected, and all the fos-
sils arranged according to their position in the successive groups
of the British strata. Such an Index has long been wanted; and
its execution will be an advantage above all price to the student of
secondary geology.

* Dr. Klipstein has also executed a geological map (not, I believe, yet
published) of the districts north of the Main; onthe same scale, and of
the same extent, with the Odenwald map.

+ The geological maps of Germany are sold by Simon Schropp and Co.
of Berlin. I take this oppertunity of observing, that the difficulty of pro-
curing copies of works like these has long been a matter of complaint.
Of the excellent geological map, by MM. Oeynhausen, von Dechen, and
De la Roche, though published in 1525, not a single copy has, I believe,
yet found its way into the shops of any of our geographers. I only pro-
cured it myself at Berlin.

204

Each succeeding year places in a stronger point of view the
importance of organic remains, when we attempt to trace the va-
rious periods and revolutions in the history of the globe. Crystal-
line rocks are found associated with the strata of almost every
age; and the constant laws of combination which have produced
a certain mineral form in rocks of one era, may produce it again
in another. Nearly all the modifications of structure in rocks called
primary are also found in secondary formations: and among tertiary
deposits we sometimes find millstone-grit, red marl with fibrous
gypsum, red conglomerates, compact, subcrystalline, and oolitic
limestone; in short, all the distinguishing characters of secondary
formations. The great barriers, which the fancy or ingenuity of
geologists has at different times set up between the mineral pro-
ductions of successive periods, have been thrown down, one after
the other. I do not deny the importance of mineralogical charac-
ters ; I only mean to assert that, taken by themselves, they are no
certain indications of the age of any deposit whatsoever.

In reasoning from organic remains, by the succession of large
groups alone can we establish any safe induction. Positive rules
founded on the presence of particular genera or species are of com-
paratively small value. But the mind becomes wearied and bewil-
dered by the endless succession of individual forms, and delights to
take refuge in some generalization: and generalizations would be
excellent things if we could be persuaded to part with them as easily
as we form them. They might then be used like the shifting hypo-
theses in certain operations of exact science, by help of which we
gradually approximate nearer and nearer to the truth.

In England, and many other parts of the north of Europe, num-
mulites are found only in tertiary rocks, and orthoceratites only in
those of the transition periods ; but in the secondary limestone of
the Alps we find, abundantly, both orthoceratites and nummulites.
Ammonites and belemnites have not yet been found among the
strata called tertiary. But should the chasm between the secon-
dary and tertiary systems ever be filled up, it may be as difficult
to draw any line between them, as it now is to draw the line be-
tween the transition and secondary series. Belemnites descend no
lower than the lias. Ammonites descend among the transition rocks;
and it has been remarked, that in all the deposits under the lias,
the concamerations of this genus are of a simpler figure (being
marked at their junction with the outer shell only by lines undula-
ting or in zig-zag,) than those of the corresponding fossils in the
higher formations. As far as regards the English carboniferous and
transition series, this rule is true. But the only ammonite I ever
found in the magnesian limestone had those suture-like markings
which distinguish this genus in the upper secondary beds. The
producta is not found above the magnesian limestone (zechstein) :
it occurs abundantly in the lower part of that formation, and it
also abounds among the fossils of the transition periods. Cer-
tain plants are eminently characteristic of our coal formations; but
in England they also occur in the sandstone beds which alternate

205

with the mountain limestone. Near Magdeburg they are found in
grauwacké; and M. Elie de Beaumont has, on the south flank of the
Alps, found the same vegetable forms in beds of the age of our lias.
Positive and negative rules like these, when kept in subordination
to new facts, are of the greatest value; for they record in a few
words the result of many observations.

When we examine a series of formations which are in contact,
we constantly find them passing into each other: and when we
place the groups of fossils derived from the successive terms of
the series in the order of superposition, their passage is still more
striking. Ido not. mean by this to vindicate the transmutation of
species ; because that doctrine is opposed by all the facts of any
value in determining such a question. Neither do I assume any
positive law of continuity such as may be predicated of a formula
in exact science. I only wish to state a fact of general observation.
We sometimes, however, find that this order in the works of na-
ture is interrupted; a leaf seems to be torn out from the volume
of her history. At the same time all the connecting links, which
bind the successive mineral masses to each other, are broken; and
their separation is marked by contortions and disruptions, by
heaps of conglomerate, and by all the other proofs of violent internal
commotions, But these internal commotions have not been uni-
versal: and when we get beyond their operation, we recover the
lost page in the history of the world, as it is told in the succession
of animal forms, and every thing is again reduced to harmony and
order. I do not intend to deny that there may have been certain
great epochs of elevation, of such wide-spreading violence as to
affect every living thing on the face of the earth. This is a mere
question of fact, and to be resolved solely by observation. I only
wish to vindicate a principle which we know from experience to

-be of very extensive application, and to which I have before alluded
in this address. I may therefore again be permitted to enforce it by
a specific illustration.

In many parts of the west of England, the lias is separated from
the coal measures only by a few hundred feet of red sandstone
2nd conglomerate not containing the vestige of an organic fossil.
It might be supposed (and such a supposition would not be new)
—that the red sandstone and conglomerate were formed during some
short period of confusion produced by the dislocation of the older
rocks—that after a time the sea again became tranquil—and that
the fossils of the lias were called into being, upon the ruins of an
older world, by a new fiat of creative power. Nor should I object
much to such a hypothesis, if it were only regarded as a mere ex-
planation of local phenomena. But the fossils of the coal measures
bear no resemblance to the fossils of the lias. There is, therefore,
such a break of continuity, that we are forced in imagination to
supply many new groups of organic forms before we can bring the
order of succession into accordance with the known analogies of na-
ture. If we continue our investigations to the north of England,
we see the coal measures less disturbed and the dolomitic conglo-

206

merates less developed. We find, at the same time, new divisions
of the dolomites ; some of which abound in organic remains, having
a resemblance to the fossils of the carboniferous strata, and being
in a few instances specifically the same with them. We also find
among them many new species of organized beings. Still the
sequence is incomplete ; the fossils of the dolomitic beds make but
little approach to the fossils of the lias: and no part of the British
Isles has hitherto supplied us with the intervening terms of the series.
But if we extend our inquiries to the secondary formations of Ger-
many and France (particularly in the regions of the Vosges, or on
the banks of the Neckar), we meet with a solution of our difficulties.
In the place of our barren deposits, between the magnesian lime-
stone and the lias, we have three great formations, each charac-
terized by its suite of fossils; and among them we find a series of
zoophytes, and shells, and great reptiles, gradually leading us to
the organic types of the lias and the oolites. In proof of what I am
stating, I need only refer you to that part of our collection, which
we owe to the liberality of M. Voltz, whose labours have thrown
so great a light upon this interesting chapter of the physical history
of the earth.

In this way, by successive but secure inductions, we resolve our
first difficulty; and are no longer startled at the change of organic
types, in the west of England, between the coal measures and the
lias. For between the times of their deposition, there were com-
pleted at least five great geological periods; each distinguished
by its own group of animals, and each, therefore, probably con-
tinued during a long succession of ages. I must, however, for-
nee : the subject is boundless ; but our time allows not of further

etails.

It is, I think, a matter of regret that there have not appeared, from
time to time, in our language, works placing clearly before the world
the progress of geology, the laws of its induction, and the subjects of
its speculations. Such works, however, demand more than common
powers,—a grasp of details only acquired by practical experience;
and habits of mind fitted for the exhibition of them, in their most
simple and general form. But above all, they require a moral ele-
vation, and a dignified forbearance, to free the mind from those at-
tractive visions of ancient cosmogony, and thoseseductions of fanciful
hypotheses, by which the history of geology has so often been de-
graded.

It is indeed true that an essay representing our science as it now
is, must in a few years be left at a distance by the progress of new
discoveries. At the same time, tono works in the history of physics
do we revert with more pleasure and instruction, than to those
which record the progress of discovery, and the early approxima-
tions to general truth. Their lessons of wisdom remain; and we
look back to them with veneration, as to ancient monuments, which,
however rude, or ill suited to the fashion of our day, still bear the
stamp of the genius that produced them.

207

But, Gentlemen, if our science has not been adorned in this country
so much as we might have wished by its monuments of wisdom, it has
been disfigured by its monuments of folly. There have issued from
the English press, within a few years, such dreams of cosmogony as
I believe find no parallel in the recent literature of continental Europe.
It would be in vain to point out to such authors the nature of our
data, or the method of our inductions; for they have a safer and a
readier road to their own conclusions. It would be in vain to tell
them—that the records of mankind offer no single instance of any
great physical truth anticipated by mere guesses and conjectures—
that philosophic wisdom consists in comprehending the last generali-
zations derived from facts each of which is only known by experiment
and observation ; and in advancing, by such means, to those general
laws by which all things are bound together. They seem not to
know that inventive power in physics, unlike inventive power in works
of art or of imagination, finds no employment in ideal creations,
and only means the faculty by which the mind clearly apprehends the
relations and analogies of things already known ; and is thereby direct-
ed and urged on to the discovery of new facts, by the help of new
comparisons—that the history of all ages (and I might add, the writ-
ten law of our being, where itis declared that by the sweat of our brow
shall we gather up our harvest) has proved this way of slow and
toilsome induction to be the only path which leads to physical truth.

Laws for the government of intellectual beings, and laws by which
material things are held together, have not one common element to
connect them. And to seek for an exposition of the phenomena of the
natural world among the records of the moral destinies of mankind,
would be as unwise, as to look for rules of moral government among
the laws of chemical combination. From the unnatural union of
things so utterly incongruous, there has from time to time sprung up
in this country a deformed progeny of heretical and fantastical con-
clusions, by which sober philosophy has been put to open shame, and
sometimes even the charities of life have been exposed to violation.

No opinion can be heretical but that which is not true. Conflict-
ing falsehoods we can comprehend ; but traths can never war against
each other. I affirm, therefore, that we have nothing to fear from
the results of our inquiries, provided they be followed in the labo-
rious but secure road of honest induction. In this way we may rest
assured that we shall never arrive at conclusions opposed to any
truth, either physical or moral, from whatsoever source that truth
may be derived: nay rather (as in all truth there is a common es-
sence), that new discoveries will ever lend support and illustration
to things which are already known, by giving us a larger insight into
the universal harmonies of nature.

Had the authors to whom I have alluded, contented themselves
with pointing out the errors of our logic, and the fallacies of our in-
duction, they might, perhaps, have done us some service. For it
cannot be denied that we have sometimes lost ourselves amidst the
strange forms of nature which have started up before us, during our
wanderings among the monuments of an older world: and in the

208

records of our labours, a critical eye may perhaps sometimes discover
that the modesty of our facts is but ill assorted with the boldness of
our conclusions.

T should have been well content to have ended with these general
censures. But during the past year there has been sent forth, by
one of our own body, ‘‘ a New System of Geology, in which the great
revolutions of the earth and of animated nature are reconciled at once
to modern science and to sacred history :”’ and to this title I will
venture to add,—in which the worst violations of philosophic rule, by
the daring union of things incongruous, have been adopted by the
author from others, and at the same time decorated by new fan-
tasies of his own. I shall not stop to combat the bold and unautho-
rized hypothesis, that all the successive formations of the old schistose
rocks were called into being simultaneously by a fiat of creative
power anterior to the existence of creatures possessing life: nor
shall I urge, that among these primitive creations of the author,
are mountain masses of rock formed by mechanical degradation from
rocks which preceded them, and beds of organic remains,—placed
there, if we may believe his system, in mere mockery of our senses;—
neither shall I detain you by dwelling upon the errors and contra-
dictions which are scattered through the early pages of his volume.
On this part of the <‘ New System” all criticism is uncalled for here ;
for it soars far above us and our lowly contemplations. Its charac-
ter is written, and its very physiognomy appears in that dignified
and oracular censure which he himself has quoted from the works
of Bacon: “Tanto magis hec vanitas inhibenda venit et coercenda,
quia ex divinorum et humanorum male-sana admixtione, non so-
lum educitur philosophia phantastica, sed etiam religio heeretica.”
** This vanity merits castigation and reproof the more, as from the
mischievous admixture of divine and human things, there is com-
pounded at once a fantastical philosophy and an heretical reli-
gion.”

All these things, Gentlemen, I shall pass over : but the author has
‘stood forward as the popular expositor of the present state of secon-
dary geology ; of that very portion of our science, which has for
so many years employed the best efforts of our Society. This part
of the work appears not to contain one original fact, or the result
of one original investigation : and of this we do not complain. We
have, however, a right to look to it for information which shall not
repeat exploded errors ; but shall make a near approach to the level
of recent observations. But is this the case in the work before us ?
Unquestionably not. All the old errors in the arrangement of the
English strata, between the chalk and the oolites, are unaccountably
repeated ; — errors which have been corrected since 1824, in our
Transactions, in English and Scotch philosophical journals, and in
various independent works of natural history ; and have excited, du-
ring the last five or six years, more discussions in this room than
have arisen out of any other part of secondary geology. Other anti-
quated errors, of like kind, have found a place of refuge in the pages
of this <‘ New System.”

209

But let us pass over what may be, perhaps, only regarded as errors
of omission, and see how the author has employed the materials
before him. The best part of his narrative is made up of successive
extracts, often taken word for word, yet without the marks of quota-
tion, from various well-known works on geology. Many of these
extracts, although in themselves admirable, appear in the book be-
fore us but as disjointed fragments, in the arrangement of which
the author has but ill performed the humble duties of a compiler.
For in the chapter on secondary formations, we find enormous faults
and dislocations, of which there is neither any written record, nor
any archetype in the book of Nature. Thus we find the lias some-
times below the oolites, sometimes between the oolites and the
green-sand*. In one page the cornbrash and forest marble have
shifted places; in another the whole lower oolitic system is abso-
lutely inverted +. Again, at p. 247, we are told that the several beds
are given “as usual, in the ascending order ;” yet in this very page
the inferior members of the lower oolites are copied, word for word,
from another book, and are in the descending order. On the next
leaf, the same error is repeated in a still worse form: and within
four pages of this last bouleversement we find the Oxford clay, the
cornbrash, and the forest marble, twice shuffled under the great
oolite {. The goodly pile, Gentlemen, which many of you have
helped to rear, after years of labour, has been pulled down and re-
constructed: but with such unskilful hands that its inscriptions are
turned upside down ; its sculptured figures have their heads to the
ground, and their heels to the heavens; and the whole fabric, amid
the fantastic ornaments by which it is degraded, has lost all the beauty
and the harmony of its old proportions.

So much has been written in illustration of the zoological history
of our several formations, that the labour of a compiler is now made
comparatively easy. Yet in the distribution of organic remains,
given in the “‘ New System,” there is such a complication of errors
as nearly baffles all attempts at description. In one place we are
told, that the lower secondary rocks are characterized by the sim-
plest forms of the animal kingdom. In another, we find fish enu-
merated among the fossils of the transition (or submedial) strata §.
In one place our magnesian limestone is properly identified with
the first flotz limestone of Werner. In another, our mountain lime-
stone is placed on the same parallel; and, by a double blunder, is
described ‘‘as the lowest sepulchre of vertebral animals ||.”

In one page orthoceratites are brought near the order of corals.
In another, a coral is figured as an encrinite. Ina third, the Steeple
Ashton caryophyllia (the characteristic fossil of the middle oolite),
is figured as a fossil of the inferior system. In a fourth, a caryo-

* “New System of Geology.” Compare pp. 133, 153 with pp. 137, 197.
+ “‘ New System,” pp. 187, 195.
{ Ibid. p. 253.
Compare Introduction, p. xlix. and p. 143.
| “ New System,” pp. 175, 177, 187.

210

phyllia of the mountain limestone is figured among the organic

remains of the cornbrash. And lastly, the celebrated lily encrinite

(a characteristic fossil of the muschel-kalk, a formation unknown
in England) is introduced and figured among the fossils of the lower

oolitic system *.

Errors like these are above every thing calculated to mislead men
who are unpractised in geology ; and they do not terminate here.
But I have no right to detain you with a longer enumeration J.
I have stated enough to prove, that in the conduct of this work, the
author has shown neither the information nor the industry which
might justify him in becoming an interpreter of the labours of others,
or the framer of a system of his own.

* See pp. 149, 176, 251, 256, 257.

+ For the purpose of illustrating the organic remains “ of the successive
mineral strata,” there are at the end of the “‘New System” five plates
representing groups of fossils, with their generic and specific names. Had
the figures been well selected, they might have been of great use: as it is,
they can only be the means of disseminating error.

Plate I. professes to represent the “shells of the mountain limestone.”
Of its thirteen figures three or four are well chosen ; none of the rest ought
to have appeared. One of them is wrong named ; and a recent nerita, with
all its fresh markings, has unaccountably found its place among these old
fossils.

Plate II. ‘Shells of the Lias.”’ In this plate, of twelve species, we are
astonished to find a transition orthoceratite, the productus scoticus of the
mountain limestone, and a scaphite of the green-sand, placed, side by side,
with the gryphza incurva, plagiostoma gigas, and some other true lias fossils !

Plate III. “Shells of the under Oolite.” Thirteen species; and a more
uncharacteristic assemblage was, perhaps, never before brought together.
A tertiary mya and anummulite have here found their way, for the first
time, among the shells of the under oolite. Two or three of the other species
ought to have appeared, if at all, in the next plate.

Plate IV. “Shells of the Cornbrash and upper Oolites.” Here the con-
fusion is still greater; for of twelve species, seven are positively misplaced,
the others are ill selected, and one of them is wrong named. The mineral
conchologist is confounded at the sight of the well known turrilites and
hamites of the green-sand group, of the turritellze and superb rostellaria ma-
croptera of the London clay, jostled in among the fossils of the oolites.
Had the author drawn out by lot, from all the fossils in Mr. Sowerby’s
work, the species which were to decorate this plate, chance might have
given him a more illustrative series.

Plate V. “ Shells of the Chalk and Superior Strata.” Among the nineteen
figures of this plate, no attempt is made to separate the shells of the chalk
from those of the overlying tertiary deposits; although the two groups have
not perhaps one speciesincommon. In Plate I. two freshwater shells were
introduced which were not characteristic; here freshwater shells are cha-
racteristic, but are omitted altogether; and the pecten quinquecostatus
is the characteristic fossil of the green-sand.

One who was even moderately acquainted with the characteristic forms
of organic remains, could never have been led into such a complication of
errors: and they are the more discreditable, as the greater part of them
might have been avoided by the mere exercise of the humblest duty of a
compiler.

211

Are we then for ever to wander among the mere perplexities of
details, and never to hope for any system by which we may com-
bine them? You must have seen, Gentlemen, that I am not the ad-
vocate of any such steril sentiment. It is indeed true that in the
very Classification of our facts and of our phenomena, there are
difficulties connected with all parts of natural history, which, for
ages yet to come, may continue to require for their solution a com-
bination of the greatest industry with the greatest skill. But these
difficulties do honour to our science: and the same great rule by
which the father of physical astronomy was guided, applies, at
every step, to us and to our conclusions. ‘ Effectuum naturalium -
ejusdem generis eedem sunt cause,” was the grand rule of his in-
duction. In the same way, we see the effects produced by the ac-
tion of material things upon each other : and we know that the laws
by which these material things are governed, are liable neither to
change nor intermission. ‘There is, therefore, one safe rule in all
our inquiries, whether they be simple cr complicated. Effects si-
milar in kind to those which are produced now, must in all former
times have been produced by some corresponding power of nature.

As the historians of the natural world, we can describe the order
of the events which are past ; and we can trace a succession of re-
volutions through which we go back, till we arrive at periods where
the characters of nature’s work are all obliterated, and there our
descriptions end. Like things we can compare with like; and this
comparison teaches us the analogies of the forms which we exa-
mine: but we define not the length of time during which they were
elaborated ; and still less do we dare to speculate about the physical
revolutions of the ages which are to come.

The very commencement of the task of speculative geology re-
quires a wide and philosophic knowledge of the physical world as it
now is, and of all the great phzenomena exhibited by the fragments
of its former history. A mind so prepared has already within its
grasp the means of a large induction : and our science, though hardly
yet come out of its cradle, has supplied materials of thought for in-
tellects the most robust, and results to satisfy imaginations the most
ardent. Let us, therefore, go on as we have begun; giving up our
best efforts to the search of new facts and of new phenomena, and
using them like men who have no higher passion than the love of
truth.

The greatest problems of astronomy are simple in their conditions.
A few physical points moving in free space, with given velocities, in
given directions, and acting upon each other in subordination to a
given law,—these constitute the chief data for the mathematical analysis
of the system of the heavens. And the results are of a corresponding
simplicity. The phenomenaofthe heavens are demonstratively proved
to recur in a fixed order, after the lapse of fixed periods of time; and
the apparent aberrations from the general law are also proved to be but
modifications of that law, and to return into themselves after the com-
pletion of definite secular periods. But where are the secular periods
of geology, and where are its cycles of phenomena recurring, again

212

and again, in a certain order? I must confess that I cannot discover
even the traces of them; and I think we do injustice to our subject,
in bringing it too nearly into comparison with the exacter sciences.

The earth has been brought into its present form by countless
causes of which we know nothing—by corpuscular and chemical ac-
tion, varied by changes of temperature, of pressure, and of all other
external conditions—by the violence of volcanic forces, called into
being by unknown powers of nature, and at unknown intervals of
time—by all the combined effects of mechanical degradation—and by
all the endless modifications of matter, resulting from beings possess-
ing the organs of life. These conditions are infinitely too complex
and ill defined to come within the grasp of any exact analysis.

I believe therefore that our subject will never be so far abstracted from
the materials which weigh it down, as to rise to the rank of an exact
science. But this, at least, I will dare to predict ; that so long as we
are of one mind and animated by our present spirit, year after year,
we shall find new fields for investigation, and new grounds for ra-
tional induction. That which is exact in science must be circum-
scribed and defined : but of our labours we have no power to foresee
the limits ; and there is an intense and poetic interest in the very un-
certainty and boundlessness of our speculations.

It is no small advantage that our studies are so large and so va-
rious, that they not only carry us into all the kingdoms of nature,
but have a direct bearing on the business of life. Of their econo-
mical importance, I have, however, now no time to speak; and I
would rather conclude by reminding you of their importance in all
questions of physical geography, to which they are as essential as
anatomy to the sculptor, or the knowledge of ancient tongues to
the decipherer of ancient monuments—of the light they have shed
on every branch of natural history—and of the problems they have
suggested to the investigations of exact science. Our field is in-
deed so large, and our physical problems of such complexity, that we
find at every step, how much we stand in need of the support of
our fellow-labourers ; and this feeling has produced a strong social
sympathy, not merely among us, but among the geologists of all the
nations of Europe. It is to this principle that I am willing to attri-
bute a part of the great excitement which has hitherto carried us on,
and of those youthful and lusty efforts, which are the best indications
both of our physical and of our moral health.

And now, Gentlemen, after having detained you so long, allow
me to express my gratitude for the kind assistance which I have re-
ceived from you in discharging all the duties of my office during
the past year. Should your lives and mine be spared till another
Anniversary, I hope to have the delightful task of recounting to you
the still more extended labours of our body, and of rejoicing with you
at the gathering in of a still richer harvest.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1829-1830. No. 16.

March 5.—Richard Smith, Esq. of Connaught Square ; Sir Thomas
Maryon Wilson, Bart. of Charlton House, Kent ; Aristides Franklin
Mornay, Esq. of Ashburton House, Putney ; Rey. Counop Thirl-
wall, M.A. of Trinity College Cambridge ; Rev. John Philip Hig-
man, M.A. of Trinity College Cambridge, and William Parry
Richards, Esq. of Queen Street ‘Bloomsbury, were! elected Fellows
of this Society.

- A paper was read, entitled “ On the Fertiary deposits ef Lower
Styria ;” by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S. &c. and
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G'S. F.R.S. Xe.

The region described in this memoir is a great depression on the
north-eastern watershed of the Alps, in which has been, accumu-
lated a very fine series of tertiary deposits, terminating eastward in
the plains of Hungary. This great trough or bay of Lower Styria,
which is intersected by the river Mur, is bounded on the west by the
Schwanberg Alp; on the north by the calcareous chain of Gratz and
the primary mountains of Pettau, Vorau, and Hartberg ; on the south
and south-west by the Matzel and Bacher-Gebirge.

Two principal sections are offered, explanatory of the views of the
authors.—The first from the Schwanberg Alp to Radkersburg, in a
direction nearly east and west, develops in an ascending succession
all the tertiary deposits :—The second, from south to north, is con-
fined to the youngest zone of those deposits; and exhibits its relations
to the volcanic rocks of Hungary.

I. Section in an ascending order of the tertiary formations between
Eibeswald on the west and ‘Radkersburg on the east.

a. The lowest members of these deposits consist near Eibeswald, of
micaceous sandstones, grits, and conglomerates, made up of the de-
tritus of the primary slaty rocks on which they rest at high angles of
inclination, and rise into the lofty mountain of the Radlberg.

b. Shale and sandstone with coal. There are various beds of lignite
near Eibeswald, one of which is deposited on the grits of the Radl-
berg. At Scheineck, where the coal is extensively worked for use, it
contains bones of anthracotheria, and in the shale are found gyro-
gonites (Chara tuberculata of the Isle of Wight), many flattened
stems of arundinaceous plants, Cypris, shells of Paludine, scales of
fish, &c. From the organic remains and position of the strata it is
presumed by the authors that this coal is of about the same age as
that of Cadibuona in Piedmont.

214

c. Blue marly shale, sand, &c. The carboniferous strata are sur-
mounted by dark-coloured marls inclosing well preserved shells,
many of which are identical with species found in the London clay
and Calcaire grossier, amongst which are Lutraria oblata, Lucina
mutabilis and L. renulata, Venus vetula, Cerithium thiara, Bulla
cylindrica, &c.

d. Conglomerate, with micaceo-calcareous sand and millstone con-
glomerate. This group is of very great development, and occupies
all the hilly region of the Sausal.

e. Coralline limestone and marl. The preceding group is seen, both
at Ehrenhausen and Wildon on the Mur, to pass under a hard, mottled,
coralline limestone of a yellowish white colour, which at the latter
place forms a cap several hundred feet thick in beds nearly hori-
zontal. The fossils seem to be of the age of the English Crag
and middle Sub-apennine formations, and include many corals of the
genera Astrea and Flustra, Crustacea, Balanus crassus, Conus Al-
drovandi, Pecten infumatus, Pholas, Fistulana, &c. The authors com-
pare this coralline limestone with the tertiary marble of Possagno
near Bassano, and they also observe that it far exceeds in magnitude
the secondary coral rag of England.

f. White and blue marl, calcareous grit, white marlstone, and con-
cretionary white limestone. The Mur in its easterly course from
Ehrenhausen, exposes all the members of this and the following group,
although some of them are still better seen in transverse sections to
the south. At Santa Egida, concretionary white limestone, alternating
with marls, contains Pecten pleuronectes, Ostrea bellovicina, Sca-
laria, Cyprea, &c. and in the Zirknitz-thal, Echinanthus marginatus
with gigantic oysters and pectens. At St. Kunegund and Morgruben
the white marls graduate into a compact building-stone undistin-
guishable from the clunch or lowest chalk of Cambridgeshire. Near
Mureck on the right bank of the Mur, the upper portion of this group
is remarkable by containing a very white concretionary limestone,
made up of small tubular and concentric layers, several varieties of
which, occurring in other parts of this tertiary series, very much re-
semble concretions in the magnesian limestone of England.

g. Calcareous sands and pebble beds, calcareous grits and oolitic
imestone. These form the superior and youngest stratified deposits
of the country. At Radkersburg, where the section terminates and
the hills sink into the plains of Hungary, the sands, marls, and grits
are charged with shells, some of which are identical with existing*
species, the whole group being similar to those of the highest mem-
bers of the basin of Vienna. Other beds pass into concretionary masses
of an oolitic limestone, similar to that which is described in the next
section.

The second section from Radkersburg on the south to Riegersberg
on the north, exhibits the structure of the youngest zone of the
tertiary deposits of Styria, and its relations to certain volcanic rocks. -

Several lofty and serrated ridges of volcanic rocks range from Hain-

* Mactra carinata and Cerithium yulgatum.

215

feldt on the Raab towards Radkersburg, and a section made along
their western face offers the following phenomena,

At Straden, shelly sands and pebble beds are capped by irregularly
columnar basaltic lava with olivine, &c.

The hill of Poppendorf exhibits in great detail the structure of this
younger tertiary zone. Marls, sands, and conglomerates, occupy its
lower and middle parts, together with many beds of calcareous, shelly
grits, indurated marlstone, limestone, &c. the whole being very mi-
caceous, and the organic remains identical with those of Radkersburg.
These are overlaid by micaceo-calcareous sand, containing concre-
tionary masses of a perfect oolite which is quarried as a building stone,
and which differs from the great oolite of Bath only by its concretionary
structure and the tertiary shells associated with it.

The fine-grained oolite passes upwards into other concretionary
beds something like English cornbrash, and the whole is surmounted
by micaceous sands and marls. In an adjoining hill near Gnaess,
these beds inclosing shells alternate with volcanic peperino made
up of basaltic lava, scoria, vitreous felspar, olivine, pyroxene, the
detritus of tertiary rocks and shells, &c.; and on the summit the
peperino in a more compact state is quarried as a building-stone.
The conical hills of Gleichenberg, overlying the shelly sands, are
entirely of volcanic origin, and were probably the centre of igneous
eruption in these parts. Here the predominating rock is a coarse
trachyte used for millstones (felspathic porphyry, probably analogous
to the Porphyre molaire of Beudant), and with it are associated ba-
saltic lavas, scoria, and fine peperino, which near Hainfeldt repose
upon the sands. Considerably to the north of the Raab the volcanic
conglomerate on which the castle stands is also recumbent upon the
shelly sands and pebble beds.

From these and several other examples in the neighbourhood, the
authors infer, that no tests can be established by which the relative
ages of these various igneous rocks can be fixed, since the same ter-
tiary strata are in one place covered by basaltic lava, in a second by
trachyte, in a third by volcanic conglomerate, whilst in a fourth they
alternate with peperino.

In conclusion they remark :—

That the lowest tertiary strata near Eibeswald must from their
high inclination have been considerably elevated after their de-
position.

That the various groups described, unquestionably represent,—
Ist, the Paleotherian and Calcaire grossier period :—2ndly, The Crag
and middle Sub-Apennine formations :—3rdly, Newer deposits identi-
cal with those of the adjoining bay of Vienna, which is shown to have
been connected with the bay of Gratz by the intervention of the great
tertiary sea which once occupied all the plains of Hungary.

That the volcanic forces in this region were first called into action
during the most recent of these periods, and were probably continued
in activity through the long succession of ages in which the sea was
spread over these countries.

Lastly, That the volcanic rocks stand out in such prominent masses,
as to offer emphatic proofs of the enormous degradation and waste

216

of the surface of the country, since the formation of some of the
newest regular strata known in geology.

March 19th.—Henry Rowland Brandreth, Esq. of the Royal
Engineers, Woolwich ; Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart. of Middle Hill,
Worcestershire ; and Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen, Esq. of Lin-
coln’s Inn,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

Extracts were read from a paper entitled ‘‘ Reference to a Geo-
logical Map and Section of Pembrokeshire, ” by Alfred Thomas,
Esq., Mineral Surveyor, Haverfordwest.

The author accompanies the map and section with geological
and economical remarks. ‘The map comprehends all that north-
ern part of Pembrokeshire not described by Mr. De la Beche, and
the section is drawn from St. Gowan’s Head on the south to Car-
digan on the north. ‘The alternations of the different formations
in the county are detailed in a series of descriptive sections: the
chief masses are coal measures, including culm and coal grits,
mountain limestone, old red sandstone and conglomerate, trans-
ition limestone, grauwacke, grauwacke slate. All these,in the cen-
tral and southern parts of the county, are traversed by, or alternate
with trap rocks which are of various kinds, some being syenitic,
others hornblendic and amygdaloidal, whilst near Fishguard they
are columnar and basaltic. The beds of the stratified deposits are
frequently contorted, and their nature altered in contact with the
intrusive rocks. The transition limestone contains trilobites.

The first of two letters addressed to R. I. Murchison, Esq., Sec.
G.S. F.R.S, &c. “ On the Lacustrine Basins of Baza and Alhama in
the province of Granada, and similar deposits in other parts of
Spain,” by Col. Charles Silvertop, F.G.S., was then read.

The Sierra Nevada, rising to the height of 11,000 and 12,000 feet
above the sea, is the culminating point of a number of subordinate
mountain groups which form a lofty chain stretching from Anda-
lusia on the W.S.W. to Murcia on the E.N.E. and bisecting in its
range the kingdom of Granada.

This chain is composed of a central axis of gneiss and mica schist,
with successively overlying zones on each flank of transition and
secondary rocks, which on the south and along the shores of the
Mediterranean are here and there covered with patches of tertiary
marine deposits containing Sub-Apennine shells; whilst on the
northern flank of the chain, or towards the interior of Spain, the
secondary rocks are succeeded by formations of lacustrine origin,
which in the kingdom of Granada occupy two large and separate
basins, one near Baza, the other near Alhama. ‘These great and
elevated depressions in the secondary rocks, though at little dis-
tances from the Mediterranean, are so cut off from that sea by the
Sierra Nevada, that their drainage is effected in a north-westerly
direction into the Guadalquivir, and thence into the more distant
Atlantic. The author describes in detail the basin of Baza, which,
traversed by an insignificant stream called the Rio Baza, is sur-
rounded upon three ofits sides by a secondary nummulite-limestone ;
the precise age of which he does not pretend to determine, although

217

he states that it very much resembles certain varieties of the younger
Alpine limestone.

Unconformably deposited on this and other older rocks, within
a district the average diameter of which is about thirty-five
miles, there are spread out formations of considerable thick-
ness, the organic remains of which are exclusively lacustrine
and tertiary. These in the immediate neighbourhood of Baza are
divided into two principal groups; the lowest, consisting of marls
with laminated gypsum, sulphur and brine springs, is zoologically
distinguished by the presence of Cypris; the uppermost is a com-
pact, cream-coloured limestone, charged with many small Paludinz
of a species identical with one which is found in the lacustrine for-
mations of Central France. The united thickness of these fresh-
water groups in the neighbourhood of Baza cannot be estimated at
less than 300 and 400 feet; they are generally horizontal, but the
face of the country everywhere exhibits striking proofs of immense
degradation, the gypsiferous marls being denuded throughout the
greater part of the centre of the basin, and but rarely exhibiting
caps of the compact paludina-limestone. On the southern,
eastern, and south-western flanks of the basin, particularly near
Gaudix, there are vast accumulations of pebble beds, conglomerate,
- &c., the exact relations of which to the marls and limestone the
author could not satisfactorily determine, owing to the obscurity of
the sections ; although he is of opinion that there are conglomerates
which in some places pass under the marls, whilst in others they
are decidedly overlying.

The reading of the letter on the Basin of Alhama was deferred
until another evening.

April 2nd.—William Hallows Miller, Esq., M.A., of St. John’s
College, Cambridge ; Lloyd Baker, jun., Esq., of Hardwick, Glou-
cestershire ; William Granville Eliot, Esq., Lieut.-Col. of the
Royal Artillery, Hastings; Rev. Henry Engleheart, of Caius Col-
lege Cambridge, and Seal, Kent; Josias Lambert, Esq., of Liver-
pool Street, London; and Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Thames Ditton,
Middlesex,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of a paper on the Geology of Weymouth, and the
adjacent parts of the coast of Dorsetshire, by the Rev. William
Buckland, D.D., F.G.S., F.R.S. &c., and Henry Thomas De la
Beche, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S. &c., was begun.

April 16th.—John Rennie, Esq., of 15, Whitehall Place; George
Rennie, Esq., of 21, Whitehall Place; Alfred Thomas, Esq., of
Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire ; Charles Mundy, jun., Esq., of
Burton Hall, Loughborough; and Alexander Turnbull Christie,
M.D., of the East India Medical Service,—were elected Fellows of
this Society.

The reading of a paper on the Geology of Weymouth, and the
adjacent parts of the coast of Dorsetshire, by the Rev. Dr. Buck-
land, and Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq., begun at the last
Meeting, was concluded.

218

The authors take up the history of the geology of the coast of
Dorset at the point where Mr. Webster terminates, viz. at the
chalky promontory of White Nore, about eight miles E.N.E. of
Weymouth, and continue their account of the coast thence
westwards to the lias at Charmouth. The Memoir is accom-
panied by a map and many sections both of the cliffs and of the
adjacent inland district, including the space intermediate between
the escarpment of the chalk downs of Dorsetshire andthe sea. The
authors divide this district into two compartments, viz. the Vale of
Weymouth and the Vale of Bredy.

The structure of the Vale of Bredy is comparatively simple, being
chiefly composed of chalk, greensand, Kimmeridge clay, Oxford
oolite, forest marble, and inferior oolite, dipping for the most part
to the E. and N.E. and divided by thick beds of clay.

The Valley of Weymouth is more complicated, comprehending
tertiary strata, chalk, greensand, Purbeck and Portland beds, Kim-
meridge sand and clay, Oxford oolite, Oxford clay, cornbrash and
forest marble. To the forest marble belong the lowest strata that
form the axis of this district. Nearly all these strata are highly
inclined, and dip respectively in two opposite directions from an
anticlinal line which runs through a saddle of forest marble from E.
to W.

The uppermost of these strata on the N. side constitute the chalk
escarpment of the ridgeway, capped with patches of plastic clay ;
whilst on the S, no strata appear above the sea more recent than
those which form the Isle of Portland.

Between the ridgeway-chalk-escarpment and the Isle of Portland,
the strata are disposed in a succession of long and narrow belts
of clay and stone, the clay constituting valleys, and the stone
rising into ridges between the valleys ; all these belts are terminated
eastward by the bay of Weymouth, and westward by the Chesil
Bank.

The formations composing this district are described in the fol-
lowing order.

1. Plastic clay and sands, with blocks of puddingstone, and beds
of angular flints forming a breccia in place, occur on the surface of
the chalk.

2. Chalk presenting no remarkable peculiarities.

3. Greensand formation exhibiting no distinct traces of gault.
The Wealden formation terminates a little W. of Lulworth Cove.

4, Purbeck beds appearing in two long insulated patches at Os-
mington and Upway.

5. Portland stone occurring not only throughout the island of that
name, but forming a high and narrow ridge parallel and immedi-
ately subjacent to the escarpment of the chalk along nearly the
whole north frontier of the Vale of Weymouth.

6. Between the Purbeck and Portland formations there is a very
remarkable bed of black earth called the ‘“ Dirt Bed,” already de-
scribed by Mr. Webster as being mixed with slightly rolled pebbles
of Portland stone*, and containing, in a silicified state, long pros-

* Geol. Trans., Second Series, vol. il. p. 42.

219

trate trunks of coniferous trees and stems of Cycadeoider. These
trunks lie, partly sunk into the black earth, like fallen trees on the
surface of a peat bog, and partly covered by the incumbent lime-
stone. Many stumps of trees also remain erect, with their roots
attached to the black soil in which they grew, and their upper part
in the limestone; and show that the surface of the subjacent Port-
land stone was for some time dry land, and covered with a forest,
and probably in a climate such as admits the growth of the modern
Zamia and Cycas. This forest has been submerged ; first beneath
the fresh waters of a lake or estuary, in which were deposited the
Purbeck beds and sands and clays of the Wealden formation,
(amounting together to nearly 1000 feet ), and subsequently beneath
the salt water of an ocean of sufficient depth to accumulate all the
great marine formations of greensand and chalk.

7. Below the Portland stone, and dividing it from the Kimmeridge
clay, the authors establish a deposit, hitherto unnoticed, of sand and
sandstone 80 feet thick, which they call the Kimmeridge sandstone ;
it is full of grains of green earth, and scarcely distinguishable, ex-
cept by its fossils, from the greensands immediately below the
chalk: they also have ascertained that the pseudo-volcano still burn-
ing on the north of Weymouth is in the bituminous beds of the
Kimmeridge clay, and that there has been at some unknown former
period a similar combustion of the same clay on the shore near
Portland ferry.

8. The Oxford oolite is very fully developed near Weymouth, as
it is near Scarborough, passing into beds of sand, sandstone, and
clay at its upper and lower extremities ; containing Ostrea deltoi-
dea in the upper, and Gryphea dilatata in the lower beds; and
gradually passing into Kimmeridge clay above, and into Oxford clay
below: its thickness exceeds 150 feet. The history and character of
this oolite formation at Weymouth have been fully described in all
their details, and accompanied by a valuable list of its fossils, in a
paper on the strata of the Yorkshire coast, by Professor Sedgwick ;
Ann, Phil., May 1826.

9. The Oxford clay is about 300 feet thick, and contains large
septaria, which are cut into beautiful tables, under the name of
Turtle Marble. This clay abounds throughout with shells of Gry-
pheea dilatata.

10. The cornbrash and forest marble form the axis of the Valley
of Weymouth, and occupy much of the Valley of Bredy. The forest
marble formation abounds in beds of clay, and is often composed
of clay without the marble. The Bradford Encrinite (Apiocrinites
rotundus) is found in several parts of it, e.g. at Abbotsbury, at
Bothenhampton, and in the cliff west of Bridport Harbour.

11. There is no Bath oolite stone in Dorsetshire, but the inferior
oolite occupies a large extent near Bridport, affording coarse lime-
stone like that of Dundry in its upper, and micaceous sand with
beds and concretions of calcareous sandstone in its lower part. Its
total thickness is about 300 feet. Near its middle region are masses
of breccia, containing slightly rolled fragments of the lower strata,

220
and having the entire circumference of these fragments drilled all
over by some small lithodomous shells ; these fragments attest the
consolidation of the lower strata before the deposition of the
central beds, and mark an interval in the formation sufficient for
the fragments to have been rounded and perforated.

12. The lowest strata, within the district described, are the upper
marl beds of the lias formation on the east of Charmouth; these
are loaded with belemnites, and may represent the Calcaire a
Belemnite of the French geologists; as the lower stony beds of
lias at Lyme are equivalent to their Calcatre 2 Gryphite. Onvthe
shore east of Charmouth the marl beds present an almost continu-
ous pavement of belemnites, and also contain saurians. i

13. The elevation which has raised all the component formations
of the Valley of Weymouth towards an anticlinal axis, has been ac-
companied by extensive faults, the most remarkable of which are
parallel to the anticlinal axis, and appear to have been contempo-
raneous with the general elevation of the district. One of these
faults is continuous nearly 15 miles along the escarpment of the
chalk of the ridgeway, on the north of Weymouth, and at various
places brings up strata of oolite, Portland stone, and Purbeck
stone into contact with chalk and greensand; many sections are
given illustrating the effects of these faults, not one of which ap-
pears to be anterior to the deposition of the most recent strata in
the district.

14. Subsequently to, or perhaps contemporaneously with the
elevation of the strata and production of the faults, the surface has
been ravaged by a tremendous inundation which has swept away
all the ruins and rubbish of the elevated masses, and has exca-
vated valleys of many hundred feet in depth on the surface of
the strata that remain. Outlying summits, composed of residuary
portions of strata which are continuous along the escarpments on
the north and east of the Vale of Bredy, indicate the original con-
tinuity of these strata over large portions of that district, from
which they have been removed.

15. Small deposits of diluvium are scattered over many of the
hills as well as the valleys, but there are no very thick and con-
nected accumulations of gravel; the force of the water that could
produce such enormous excavations must have been far too great
to allow the excavated materials to subside so near the rocks from
which they were torn, and must have drifted them far away into
the continuation of these valleys, in the bottom of the English
Channel.

The authors conclude that they have sufficient evidence to es-
tablish the following succession of changes, in the state of that
small portion of England which occupies the coast of Dorsetshire
and Hants.

Ist. There is a continuous succession of marine deposits from the
lias upwards through the oolites, terminating in the deposition of
the Portland stone:—during the period of all these formations the
district must have been the bottom of an ancient sea.

221

Qndly. Some part of the bottom of this sea appears for a certain
time to have become dry land, and whilst in that state, to have
been covered with a forest of large coniferous trees and cycadeoi-
deous plants which indicate a warm climate. We have a measure
of the duration of this forest in the black earth which is accu-
mulated to the thickness of more than a foot from the wreck of
its vegetation: the regular and uniform preservation of this thin
bed of black earth over a distance of many miles, shows that the
change to the next state of things was not accompanied by any vio-
lent denudation or rush of waters, since the trees that lie prostrate
on this black earth would have been swept away by any such vio-
lent catastrophe. Dr. Buckland has found this same black earth
on the surface of the Portland stone near Thame in Oxfordshire.
It has also been found by Dr. Fitton in the Boulonnois.

3rdly. The dry land on which this‘forest grew, in Dorsetshire, be-
came converted to something like an estuary, in which the lowest
deposits contain freshwater shells, succeeded by a thick bed of
oyster shells; and above the oyster bed, by strata containing an ad-
mixture of freshwater shells with shells that are marine. This fresh-
water formation, including both the Purbeck and the Wealden strata,
extends with certain interruptions from Upway on the N. of Wey-
mouth to the E. extremity of Purbeck, and reappears in the Isle of
Wight and the Weald of Sussex and Kent ; but of the boundaries
of the estuary or estuaries in which these freshwater strata were
deposited we have no indications beyond those afforded by the area
of the strata themselves. Its breadth probably extended about 30
miles from Purbeck to Tisbury on the west of Salisbury, across
the intermediate portion of Dorset and Wilts, which is now covered
up with chalk. i

4thly. We have a return of the sea over the estuary, and in this
sea an accumulation of the successive and thick marine deposits
which constitute the greensand and chalk formations.

5thly. Although no freshwater formations occur in the tertiary
strata above the chalk on the coast of Dorset, we have on the
adjacent coast of Hants and the Isle of Wight, a re-appearance of
freshwater deposits above the chalk, mixed and alternating with
others that are marine.

6thly. All these deposits appear to have been succeeded by —
powerful convulsions, producing elevation and depression of the
strata, intersecting them with tremendous faults, and followed by an
inundation competent to excavate deep valleys of denudation, and
to overspread the country with diluvial gravel.

7thly. This inundation has been succeeded by a state of tran-
quillity, which has continued to the present hour.

A paper entitled “Description of a New Species of Ichthyosau-
rus,’ by Daniel Sharpe, Esq., F.G.S., was then read.

This specimen of Ichthyosaurus was found in a quarry of lias lime-
stone about four miles from Stratford-upon-Avon. The whole length
of the animal must probably have been about seven feet ; the parts

222

of it which remain exhibit the upper portion of the head from
the nostrils backwards, in a very crushed state, a continuous series
of 52 vertebra, from the atlas to the commencement of the tail,
with nearly all the spinous processes; one scapula, and nearly the
whole of one fore paddle. The teeth (by which the four species
formerly described have been chiefly distinguished) are entirely
wanting in this individual; the author, however, considers it to be a
new species, from the following peculiari ities of character.

1. The length of each vertebra is uniformly three-fifths of its
breadth, a proportion not found to exist in any hitherto described
species.

2. The paddle is of great size, and including the humerus must
have been equal to one-fifth of the length of the whole animal.
In the ulna or radius (it is difficult to say which) there is a notch
on the outer edge, and all the other bones of the paddle are very
nearly circular or oval; thus differing essentially from the angular-
shaped phalanges of I. communis, tenuirostris, and intermedius.

On account of the large size of its paddle, the author names this
species “‘ Ichthyosaurus grandipes.”

Printed by Richard Taylor,
Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.

186 *
The Report having been read, it was resolyed,—

Ist. That this Report be received.

2ndly. That the thanks of this Society be given to the Rev. W.
Buckland, D.D., and George Bellas Greenough, Esq., retiring fram
the Office of Vice-Presidents.

3rdly That the thanks of this Society be given to William John
Broderip, Esq., retiring from the Office of Secretary.

4thly. That the thanks of this Society be given to James Ebenezer
Bicheno, Esq., John Bostock, M. D., Decimus Burton, Esq., Captain
George Everest, Michael Faraday, Esq., William Henry Fitton, M.D.
and the Rev. James Yates, retiring from the Council.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

~ 1830. No. 17.

May 7.—Thomas England, Esq. B.A. of Pembroke College, Cam-
bridge; Howard Elphinstone, Esq. M.A. of oe, College, Cam-
bridge ; and Robert Edmond Grant, M.D. F.R.S. Ed. Professor of
Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in the University of London,—
were elected Fellows of this Society.

A Paper was read, entitled “‘ Sketches explanatory of Geological
Maps of the Archduchy of Austriaand of the South of Bavaria ;” by
Ami Boué, M.D. For. Mem. G.S. &c.

The accompanying maps of the Archduchy of Austria and of Ba-
varia were nade during repeated visits to those countries, and partly
with the assistance of M. Partsch of Vienna.

The author premises that in consequence of his last visit, in 1829,
he has changed some classifications, and rectified certain errors which
appear in his former works.

I. Structure of the Archduchy of Austric.—Dr. Boué describes the
principal part of Austria as consisting of the primary chain of South-
ern Bohemia on the north, and of the great secondary calcareous
Alpine chain on the south, which are separated from each other by
the tertiary and alluvial valley of the Danube. He divides this last
region into three parts :—

1. ‘The molasse and alluvial basin of Upper Austria, extending from
Bavaria to near Blindenmarkt and St. Leonhard.

2. The basin of St. Polten, containing shelly sand, sandstone, marl,
alluvial marl, and gravel.

3. The basin of Vienna, which is now united with that of St. Polten
by a narrow gorge of the Danube.

The direction of the primary chain of Bohemia is from south-west
to north-east; gneiss being the predominant rock, with some sub-
ordinate masses of granular limestone and diorite. Granite occurs in
the western, and sienite, leptinite, and serpentine in the eastern part
of this range. The central ridges of the Alps are primary, and these
are succeeded, in an ascending order, by talco-quartzose rocks, distin-
guished by masses of compact limestone with iron ore. Between the
preceding rocks and the escarpments of the Alpine limestone, are an-
cient longitudinal valleys, which certain rivers occupy in their early
course, and afterwards quitting abruptly, run at right angles
through newer and transverse rents in the secondary formations. At
the base of the Alpine limestone, and subordinate to it, are red sand-
stone and shale, with gypsum, but without porphyry. This group
ean be traced from Mont Blanc to Hungary, and it again appears.

224

in the Tatra, or northern Carpathians. The Alpine limestone is cha-
racterized generally by organic remains common to the superior se-
condary formations, such as Belemnites, Ammonites, Nautili, Echini,
and many zoophytes; but accurate subdivisions of it are made with
great difficulty.

One of the most important of these subdivisions is marked by the
presence of salt and gypsum, which are found in shale, associated
with gray sandstone and limestone, containing Belemnites, Ammonites
and Fuci; and in some places, as at Hallein, with orthoceratite and
madreporic limestone.

Dolomite prevails in the upper part of the Alpine limestone, and is
usually connected with peculiar anomalies of stratification and incli-
nation, which according to the author offer evidence of the rupture and
friction of the displaced masses ; the whole having, he conceives, been
elevated aud depressed by the action of subterranean gaseous forces.

Another member of the Alpine limestone is characterized by lead
and iron ores.

The Alpine limestone passes into a superior sandstone (designated
as ‘* Vienna sandstone’), with alternations of marl and schistose, litho-
graphic limestone and whetstones. ‘This part of the series contains
coal at Greater Ipsitz, &c. with Cycadee ; and in other places this group
is capped by ruiniform, compact limestone, with Ammonites, Belem-
nites, and Fucoides. (St. Veit, Sontagsberg, Elixhausen, &c.)

Serpentine and greenstone traverse secondary sandstone at Ipsitz,
and both sandstone and Alpine limestone at Willendorff.

The author then proceeds to identify certain rocks having a similar
mineralogical character, whether in the northern Carpathians, where
they rest upon the “Vienna sandstone”, or at Griinbach near Vienna,
where they are stated to contain Belemnites and Ananchytes ovata,
with the formations of Gosau-thal, which Messrs. Sedgwick and Mur-
chison, he states, have erroneously described as tertiary. He does not
admit that this deposit of Gosau can be considered as intermediary
between the secondary and tertiary formations, but he assigns to it
the place of the lowest secondary green-sand.

The tertiary character of many of the remains is not considered by
him to prove the age of this deposit, for he states that some fossils in
the oldest secondary rocks at Halle, Bleiberg, and Maibel in Carinthia,
have also a tertiary appearance.

The true green-sand of the Alps is then described ; and the author
identifies the iron ores of Sonthofen with those of the Kressenberg,
which Count Munster, as well as Messrs. Sedgwick and Murchison,
has considered tertiary*.

Chalk is stated not to exist in the German Alps, though the lower
green-sand of Gosau contains beds like the Planer Kalk or upper green-
sand. ‘The tertiary deposits of Austria are stated to belong entirely

* In this part of the paper Dr. Boué has been led into an error in conse-
quence of misunderstanding a passage in the abstract of a communication
by Messrs. Sedgwick and Murchison, published in the Phil. Mag. and Annals
for January 1830, p. 53. The deposit of Sonthofen was never considered’
tertiary : but on the contrary, was distinctly stated by them to be secondary.

225

to the superior division of that great class cf rocks, and the author.
asserts that they in no case enter into the Alpine regions, except on
the eastern side, viz. in the drainage of the Mur, the Scive, and the
Drave, where they occupy ancient longitudinal valleys.

Haring, described by Messrs. Sedgwick and Murchison as an an-
cient estuary, or area of the great tertiary sea of Bavaria, is consi-
dered by the author to be a continental, local, freshwater formation.

The lowest tertiary formations of Austria are, he says, characterized
by blue, shelly marl, and marly, shelly molasse (Schlier), which he
assimilates to sub-apennine marl.

In lower Austria this blue marl is succeeded by sands, marls, lig-
nite, and shells, both marine and fluviatile, and these again by gravel
and conglomerate, and lastly by nummulite and coralline limestone,
alternating with sands and conglomerates, which separate the true
tertiary basins of Vienna and Hungary from the deposits of the allu-
vial period.

The oldest alluvial gravel follows many Alpine valleys in the form
of terraces, and the same is extended with beds of marl far into the

actual valleys of the Danube and the March, and also into the plains
of Hungary, where bones of extinct quadrupeds and terrestrial shells
are found in it.

[t is in the mar] of this old alluvium near Krems that the human
skulls have been found, which have been described by Count Breunner.
The author remarks on the peculiar form of these skulls, and their
resemblance to those of the Caribs and Chilians, &c.; also that he has
himself found human skulls in alluvial marl of the same age at Lahr
in the valley of the Rhine.

Il. Structure of the south of Bavaria.—The south of Bavaria is
chiefly occupied by an extensive tertiary basin, from 1600 to 2000
feet above the-level of the sea, which is bounded by the primary range
of Bohemia and the German Jura on the north, and by the Alpine chain
on the south; whilst it communicates with the tertiary deposits of
Vienna and Hungary by the valley of the Danube, and with the
molasse of Switzerland on the west.

The German Jura offers no fissures or transverse valleys by which
this basin of Bavaria could have communicated with the Neckar and
the Maine; and at the period of the tertiary deposits this great de-
pression must have been equally shut out from all communication
with the Mediterranean, by the intervention of the Alpine chain, which
the author, differing from M. Von Buch, has in former memoirs de-
monstrated to have been elevated at various periods ; an idea which
has subsequently been adopted and enlarged upon by M. Elie de
Beaumont.

The German Jura contains also the subdivisions of the oolitic series,
from lias up to Stonesfield slate and cornbrash, viz.—l. Lias with-
out the white beds. 2. Lias marl. 3. Lias sandstone. 4. Inferior
oolite, with iron ores. 5. Great oolite, mostly compact. 6. Dolo-
mitic limestone. 7. Calcareous slate of Solenhofen, with tortoises,
fishes, crustacea, Sepie, Ammonites, Belemnites, Lepadites, insects,
and vegetables.

296

Upon this system of Jura limestone there are small patches of iron
and green-sand at Ratisbon and elsewhere. In this deposit, asso-
ciated with argillaceous marl, are found the pisiform iron ores, or
Bohnerz of the Germans; concretionary masses of siliceo-calcareous
millstone, with many univalve shells and corals (Natheim); and
beautifully zoned, chalcedonic nodules, or kugel jaspis, with Echini
and microscopic shells (near Basel).

The author agrees with Mr. Schiibler that it is essential to distin-
guish this deposit of Bohnerz from those alluvial accumulations with
iron ore made up of the detritus of older rocks, and in which are
found the bones of many extinct quadrupeds. (Kandern, Haiberg near
Tuttlingen, &c.)

The Alpine chain south of the tertiary basin of Bavaria is consti-
tuted of materials nearly the same as in its range through Austria ;
viz. 1. A base of red-sandstone and conglomerate. 2. Lower lime-
stone with fishes (Seefeld). 3. Gray sandstone and shale with salt
and gypsum. 4. Gray dolomite and oolite. 5. Sandstone of Vienna,
which though thin and obscure at Salzburg and Sonthofen, expands
into a vast formation in its westward range into the Voralberg.
6. Green-sand, filling cavities in the Vienna sandstone, from which
it is separated by conglomerates made up partly of Alpine limestone,
but chiefly of primary rocks, which are not found in situ nearer than
the Black Forest. The author conceives this conglomerate to be of
the same age as those at the base of the Gosau formations, and in
the Allgau; and he further identifies with it the Nagelflith of Switz-
erland, which, although hitherto considered tertiary, he places in the
lower green-sand ; and as proofs of this he cites the existence of a
similar conglomerate or Nagelflith on the summit of the Veisons near
Geneva, and also near Saanen, where it overlies and is united with
what he considers to be the equivalent of the Vienna sandstone.

The green-sand of the Allgau consists of marls and calcareous sands
of various colours containing plants, with here and there subordinate
masses of true green-sand, having some characteristic fossil shells of
that formation, and iron ore.

For the details of the tertiary rocks of Bavaria the author refers to
his last work ( Geognostisches Gemiilde von Deutschland). In speaking
of the vast alluvial accumulations which encumber this basin, he re-
marks that the debris are all primary near the primary chain of
Bohemia, and secondary on the flanks of the Alps or Jura. Erratic
boulders of large size are spread out in lines, and extend to some
distance in front of the mouth of the valley of the Rhine ; whilst lesser
detritus only is found at the debouchure of the Inn. According to the
author, the elevatory forces whichso greatly affected the western Alps,
must have operated less powerfully upon the eastern prolongation of
these mountains.

Alluvial marl, as in Austria, covers the sides of the Danube in its
course through Bavaria ; and all the lower regions of the latter country
offer innumerable proofs of various changes during the alluvial period
in the successive drainage of lakes, and in the alteration of the course
of rivers.

227

May 21.—Grenville Lonsdale, Esq. Ensign in the Third Foot, was
elected a Fellow of this Society.

A Paper was read, entitled ‘‘A Sketch of the Structure of the
Austrian Alps; by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S.
Woodwardian Professor in the University of Cambridge, &c., and
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c. &c.

The authors, after briefly noticing some of the memoirs which have
been written in explanation of the geological structure of the Alps,
proceed to exhibit the results‘of their own observations, made in the
summer of 1829, during several traverses among the eastern parts of
the chain. They state that the structure of the eastern Alps, when
considered only in a general point of view, is of great simplicity; the
chain being composed of an axis of primary and transition rocks,
chiefly of a slaty texture; flanked and surmounted by two great se-
condary calcareous zones, which are in their turn surmounted by
tertiary deposits, descending on one side into the plains of Italy, and
on the other side into the elevated plains of the Upper Danube. They
then notice the extraordinary derangements in the position of some
of the great mineral masses of the Alps; and afterwards describe in
considerable detail a section from the plains of the Friuli to the valley
of the Traun near Salzburg over the metalliferous hills of Bleiberg,
and over the crests of the Katsberg and Tauern Alp. They also de-.
scribe a second section parallel to the former, from the primary moun-
tains of Gastein, through the saliferous deposits of Hallein and the
hippurite-limestone of Untersberg to the tertiary piains of Bavaria.

The formations appearing in the lines of these two sections are the
following, in ascending order :—

1. Primary rocks forming the central axis—The range of the pri-
mary peaks, eastwards from the confines of the Tyrol, is described.
It is remarked that as the chain decreases in elevation in its range
eastward, the prevailing character of granitoid gneiss gives way to
that of mica schist; it is then stated that in both the sections these
rocks pass into the next superior system through the intervention of
chloritic schist with subordinate beds of crystalline, white limestone.

2. Crystalline rocks containing calcareous beds, with traces of organic
remains and graduating into other rocks conforming to the ordinary tran=
sition type-—This series contains many beds not to be distinguished
from the former class ; but it appears to be characterized by a greater
quantity of limestone, many parts of which are perfectly crystalline.
At the southern base of the Tauern the authors discovered mica-slate
with garnets, and chlorite-slate containing thin layers of white dolomite,
alternating with thicker beds of a dark blue colour, containing many
encrinital stems. The whole system is described as passing into a
series of calcareous peaks, some of which rise to the height of nearly
9000 feet above the level of the sea. ‘The whole series is considered
to terminate with a system of beds, composed of variously coloured
shales, passing into grauwacke-slate, alternating with greenish-gray
and reddish fine-grained grauwacke-sandstone, subordinate to which
are beds of highly calcareous slate and limestone, and masses of
spatry iron ore. The authors give some details respecting the chief

228

localities of the sparry iron ore, and they place the principal deposits
of the mineral on the confines of the secondary system.

In confirmation of their views they describe sections on the south
side of the central axis, especially in the neighbourhood of Bleiberg,
where they state that the secondary system is immediately underlaid
by grauwacke-slate, containing calcareous beds with many organic
remains, chiefly composed of encrinital stems and shells of the following
genera, viz. Producta, Terebratula and Pecten. Two or three of these
shells have been identified with species characterizing the English
mountain limestone. They therefore conclude from the evidence of
organic remains, as well as from mineralogical characters, that in this
part of the eastern Alps there is a zone of true transition rocks, inter-
posed between the primary and the secondary series.

3. Red and variegated sandstone, gypseous marls, and conglomerates ;
sometimes with subordinate beds and masses of fetid limestone, rauch-
wacke, &c. &c.—It is stated that this formation is found nearly through
the whole extent of the Austrian Alps, overlying the transition series,
and forming the base of the precipices of older Alpine limestone. A
detailed section, south ef Werfen, exposes beds of red conglomerate,
sandstone, and red gypseous marls, not to be distinguished minera-
logically from the new red sandstone of England. Other sections in
the valley of Bleiberg in Carinthia, and on the north side of the
Erzberg, exhibit similar deposits of red sandstone and gypseous marls,
separating the grauwacke, with the organic remains abovementioned,
from the Alpine limestone ; they are accompanied by great dislocations,
and the appearance of masses of dark-coloured augitic trap and of trap
breccia. Subordinate to the red sandstone series between Haring, Soll
and Schwatz, are many masses of limestone of very varied structure.
Some of them are compact, some white and crystalline, some yellow
and earthy, and some cavernous. The greatest number of them are
magnesian, and some of them bituminous and fetid. These masses of
limestone were formerly considered as transition. As, however, these
different varieties of limestone appear to be subordinate to the red
sandstone, they are placed by the authors in the secondary system,
and are compared with the beds of magnesian limestone, which in so
many parts of Europe are subordinate to the great group of the new
red sandstone.

The rocks above described are immediately surmounted by the
Alpine limestone, under which term are included the two great se-
condary calcareous zones of the Alps overlying the red sandstone
groups. This enormous deposit is subdivided into older Alpine lime-
stone, limestone with subordinate saliferous marls, &c., and younger
Alpine limestone.

4. Older Alpine limestone-—Near Bleiberg the red standstone
group is surmounted by a thinly bedded fetid limestone, which forms
the base of, and appears to pass into the lower portion of the older
Alpine limestone. A detailed section of the beds forming the base of
the northern calcareous zone near Werfen, brings the two zones un-
der comparison. It is shown that the thin-bedded bituminous lime-
stone is sometimes so much expanded (e. g. at Seefeld) as to occupy

’

229

a considerable portion of the formation. In the Bleiberg country
specimens of Grypheea incurva have been found in the calcareous sy-
stem overlying the red sandstone; and the beautifully iridescent Am-
monites have, by some geologists, been identified with the fossils of
the lias. On the whole, the authors are led to conclude, that in the
Bleiberg sections grauwacke with transition fossils, new red sand-
stone, and lias, are exhibited in regular succession.

On the north side of the axis the evidence is by no means so clear.
The lower Alpine limestone is said on that side to contain a few Am-
monites and Belemnites ; and from the analogy of the Bleiberg sec-
tion the authors conciude that its inferior portion is probably of the
age of the lias. From its enormous development it is supposed to
ascend into the oolitic series ; but they possess no means of defining
its superior limits.

5. Limestone with subordinate saliferous marls, &c. &c.—For a de-
tailed account of this subdivision the authors refer to the published
works of M. de Lill. It is obviously superimposed on the older
Alpine limestone, and must not therefore be confounded with the in-
ferior gypseous marls ; it is not continuous, but appears in the form
of enormous lenticular masses of gypseous and saliferous marls, and
of sandstone often brecciated, &c, &c. These are associated with, and
encased in, great masses and contorted beds of Alpine limestone.
The several deposits, commencing at Halle and ranging through
Berchtolsgaden, Hallein, Ischel, Hallstadt, and Aussee, though not
strictly continuous, are supposed to be nearly on the same parallel.
Several detailed sections are given in confirmation of the ideas of the
authors, who in this part of the series appear to be in perfect agree-
ment with the statements in the most recent works of Dr. Boué.
There are great difficulties in ascertaining the upper and lower limits
of this group, and also in determining its exact epoch. It contains
some Orthoceratites, especially in the beds of limestone below the
saliferous marls ; but the greatest number of the fossils, Ammonites,
Belemnites, Pentacrinites, with various bivalves and univalves, &c. &c.,
appear on the whole to conform to the types of the oolitic series,—
a conclusion which is in accerdance with the position of the deposit
among the secondary formations of the Alps.

6. Younger Alpine limestone.—Under this designation are included
all the secondary formations of the Alps, which are superior to the
system containing the saliferous marls. The authors do not pretend
to define correctly the lower limits of this great subdivision, but they
place it somewhere in the upper portion of the oolitic series. The
highest beds forming the outskirts both of the Italian and German
Alps, they identify with the green-sand and the chalk. In the neigh-
bourhood of Trieste, and on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, this
upper system consists of micaceous shale and sandstone, with very
rare traces of fossils, alternating with beds of Alpine limestone full
of Nummulites.

‘The authors then describe the upper Alpine limestone in Austrian
and Bavarian Alps. They point out its extraordinary contortions ;
the masses of dolomite into which it sometimes passes ; its subordi-

230

nate deposits of gypsum and rauchwacke ; and its great masses of
compact and subcrystalline limestone, sometimes containing innume-
rable Hippurites, &c. &c. They show that the higher part of the
series is often made up of inclined and contorted beds of compact
limestone, indurated shale, calcareous sandstone, &c. &c. containing
Ammonites and Belemnites ; that the system here and there passes
into a true green-sand with the characteristic fossils of that forma-
tion ; that a granular iron ore is worked in this part of the series at
Sonthofen not distinguishable from some of the ferruginous green-
sands of Kent; that iron ore occurs in the same system south of
Bregenz, associated with a nummulite-limestone and thick beds of
shale. Finally, they state, that they found no great masses of
conglomerate subordinate to this group. It is, however, here
and there succeeded and surmounted by enormous masses of alter-
nating sandstone and conglomerate; which (as they graduate into
beds containing tertiary fossils) are considered as the true base of
the tertiary system.

7. Tertiary deposits. —The authors having described these deposits
of the Austrian Alps in former papers, only return to the subject for
the purpose of noticing some remarks which have appeared in the
recent publications of Dr. Boué.

1. Dr. Boué is mistaken in supposing that they confounded the
iron sand of Sonthofen with rocks of the tertiary age. It was
described by them as containing Ammonites and Belemnites, and
as alternating with beds of the newer Alpine limestone * ; and
they are surprised that Dr. B. persists without any grounds in at-
tributing to them a contrary opinion.

2. Dr. Boué states that the tertiary formation of Haring is en-
tirely of freshwater origin. The authors prove that it contains se-
veral species of marine shells ; from which they conclude (contrary
to the opinion of Dr. B.) that the marine tertiary formations of the
Alps do sometimes ascend far up the transverse, secondary valleys.

3. Dr. Boué maintains that the tertiary formations on the flanks
of the Austrian Alps commence with the superior division of that
great class of rocks. The authors on the other hand have shown
by other transverse sections and suites of fossils, that some of the
inferior groups of the tertiary deposits in the Gratz basin are of the
age of the London clay. So far they consider that there is a differ-
ence between themselves and Dr. Boué on questions of fact.

4. They also differ from that author on questions of opinion.—
The overlying deposits of Gosau, and in some of the lateral valleys of
the Traun. were considered from their fossils as of an age newer than
the chalk. He, on the contrary, identifies them with the dower green-
sand. But the Gosau beds are unconformable to, and do not
appear to form any part of the system of newer Alpine limestone or
green-sand, &c.; and they appear to be identical with certain de-
posits on the outskirts of the Alps, which are associated with the
tertiary series. They are not interlaced with the secondary system,

* See Annals, Jan. 1830, p. 53.

231

and do not contain Ammonites and Belemnites; in which respects
they cannot be compared with the deposits of Sonthofen, &c. Out
of more than 100 species of fossils collected from Gosau, there are
from 30 to 40 species of bivalves, and of those capable of being iden-
tified, about equal numbers are referrible to the youngest secondary
and the oldest tertiary formations.

The univalves are much more numerous than the bivalves, espe-
cially in the quantity of each species, a fact never observed in any de-
posit of secondary age. Amongst upwards of 50 species of univalves
which the authors collected, three only are found in the chalk and
green-sand, whilst 7 species are identical with known tertiary fossils ;
and several of the genera, such as Volvaria, Pleurotoma, and Voluta,
they conceive have never been seen in any secondary formation.

In confirmation of their views, the authors refer to the catalogue
of the Kressenberg fossils published by Count Minster, with whose
opinions they coincide. They also refer to the lists of fossils found
in the beds over the chalk near Maestricht, and they conclude that
the deposit of Gosau, like that at Maestricht, forms one of the
terms of a new series, younger than the chalk, and to be interpo-
lated between that formation and the calcaire grossier.

The abstracts of the papers on the Tertiary Formations of Austria
and Bavaria, published in the Phil. Mag. and Annals of Philosophy,
for January 1830, were necessarily incomplete, and in some respects
erroneous, owing to the detention at Paris of nearly all the fossils
collected by the authors. This memoir contains the opinions of the
authors, after a careful revision of all the facts, on which their con-
clusions are founded.

June 4.—Rev. Richard Dawes, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Down-
ing College, Cambridge; Rev. Charles Currie, M.A. Fellow of Pem-
broke College, Cambridge; Rev. Thomas Musgrave, M.A. Fellow
of Trinity College, Cambridge ; William Devonshire Saull, Esq. of
Aldersgate Street, London; and Francis Ellis, Esq. of the Royal
Crescent, Bath,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled “On the Geological Relations of the
South of Ireland, by Thomas Weaver, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. M.R.I.A.,

This Memoir gives an outline of the mineral constitution of a
large tract in the south of Ireland, comprising the counties of Cork,
Kerry, and Clare, with part of those of Galway, Tipperary, and
Waterford; and thus connecting this portion of the island with the
eastern part of it, formerly described by the author.

This hilly and diversified region is chiefly composed of ridges,
having generally a direction from east to west, and attaining their
greatest elevation in the mountains of Kerry, where Gurrane Tual,
one of Magillycuddy’s Reeks, near Killarney (the highest land in
Treland), is 3410 feet above the sea.

The rocks in this elevated country are chiefly of the transition
class: they decline gradually towards the north, and finaliy pass
under the old red sandstone and carboniferous limestone of the
midland counties.

232

{. Transition Series.

In Kerry there is a persistent series of transition rocks, having a
general direction from east to west, and dipping to the north and
south with vertical beds in the axes of the ridges : the strata as they
dipainish in inclination on each side, form a succession of troughs.
The principal rock-masses are composed of grauwacke, slate, and
limestone ; but the general series is distinguished, by the author,
into simple and compound rocks; the simple being clay-slate,
quartz-rock, hornstone, lydian-stone, and limestone. The com-
pound sandstone and conglomerates with bases of clay-slate, quartz,
and sandstone ; grauwacke, and grauwacke-slate ; sandstone and
sandstone-slate ; greenstone ; and hornstone-porphyry. Roofing-
slate, though comparatively rare, is found of an excellent quality in
the island of Valentia.

Organic remains occur more frequently in the limestone of this
series than in the slate and grauwacke. In Kenmare these remains
consist of a few bivalves, and some crinoidal remains; and these also
are most numerous in the Muckruss and Killarney limestones. At
the foot of the Slieve-meesh range this limestone includes Asa-
phus caudatus, Calymene macrophthalma, and perhaps a third crus-
taceous animal, with Orthoceratites, Ellipsolites ovatus, an Am-
monite, Euomphalites, Turbinites, Neritites, Melanites, and seve-
ral species of Terebratula, Spirifer, and Producta. Other bivalves
in this locality are referrible to species figured by Schlotheim, as
from transition rocks on the Continent.

Near Smerwick harbour, similar organic remains are abundant in
slate, and fine-grained grauwacke, together with Hysterolites, and
many genera of polyparia; the whole resembling both in mineral
and zoological characters the rocks of Tortworth in Gloucestershire,
formerly described by the author, as well as those of the Taunus in
Nassau, more recently described by Sir Alexander Crichton. Again,
the same fossils are found in the limestone of Cork, associated
with impressions of vertebre of fishes; and analogous remains are to
be met with also in a portion of the slate of that neighbourhood.

Transition coal.—All the coal of the province of Munster, except
that of the county of Clare, is referrible to one of the earliest periods
at which that mineral has been produced; the true coal overlying
the mountain limestone being found in that county alone. At
Knockasartnet, near Killarney, and on the north of Tralee, thin an-
thracitic beds, inclined at various angles from 70 degrees to verticality,
are included in grauwacke and slate. In the county of Cork this old
coal is more extensively developed, particularly near Kanturk, ex-
tending from the north of the Blackwater to the Allow. The gorges
of the latter river, and various other neighbouring defiles, expose
clay-slate, grauwacke, shale, and sandstone, in nearly vertical beds,
directed from west to east. This transition tract extends to the
river Shannon on the north-west. As the systems range from west
to east, in a series of parallel, acutely angled troughs, the beds have
great diversity of inclination, dipping rapidly either to north or south,
and bending to horizontality between the ridges. This coal or

233

anthracite is raised in sufficient quantities for the purpose of burning
the limestone of the adjoining districts; and the most considerable
collieries, those of Dromagh, have yielded 25,000 tons per annum,
at from 10s. to 15s. per ton.

The coal, and accompanying pyritiferous strata are abundantly
charged with the remains or impressions of plants, belonging chiefly
to Equiseta and Calamites, with some indications of Fucoides. Beds
of transition coal occur also in the county of Limerick, on the left
bank of the Shannon, north of Abbeyfeale, and ut Longhill ; and are
seen, though in very small quantity, on the right bank of the river at
Labbasheada. Several other places where coal strata occur, are
mentioned by the author.

The transition rocks of Kerry and Limerick are prolonged into
Cork and Waterford, preserving with certain modifications an ana-
logous character and composition. ‘The carbonifereus limestone re-
posing upon this tract, on the north, is usually unconformable to it,
but is conformable to the old red sandstone, wherever that rock in-
tervenes. In this system of strata, organic remains, such as poly-
paria, bivalves, Trilobites, &c. occur near the Bonmahon river; the
horizontal planes which they occupy crossing the vertical cleavage of
the slaty grauwacke nearly at right angles. The series rests upon,
and passes into clay-slate, and is capped by old red sandstone and
strata of the carboniferous order. Metalliferous veins with indications
of copper and lead are seen in the cliffs of the transition series, east
and west of the Bonmahon river.

Il. Metalliferous relations in Kerry and Cork.

The author having succeeded in restoring the copper mines at
Ross Island, on the Lake of Killarney, and in effectually draining off
the water, was enabled to prove that the ore did not constitute a me-
talliferous bed, or any real vein, but was contemporaneous with
the rock in which it is irregularly distributed in the form of ribs,
branches, strings, &c., analogous to those of calcareous spar, in
limestone. The rocks at Ross Island consist of blue limestone, and
beneath it of siliceous limestone, but the ore is confined exclusively
to the former; and various trials have proved the non-existence of
any vein communicating with the metalliferous deposit. Copper ore
is similarly distributed at Crow Island :—but at the Muckruss mines
the ore was obtained chiefly from a metalliferous bed. The author
has ascertained exactly the extent of the limestone bearing lead in
Kenmare, where most of the unsuccessful trials in search of ore have
shown that the mineral deposits are discontinuous, and nearly parallel
to the range and dip of the beds ; and in Castlemaine mine, where
lead ore was formerly worked in a mass of calcareous spar and
quartz, it thinned out into an unproductive pipe. Near Tralee and
Ardfort, and on the left bank of the Shannon, lead ore has been un-
profitably worked in limestone, sandstone and slate.

In the county of Cork, the copper mines are those of Allihies,
Audley, and Ballydehol; and those producing lead are situated at
Doneen and Rinabelly: The mine at Allihies is one of the richest
mines in Ireland ; it was discovered only in 1812, and has already

234

yielded more than 2000 tons of copper ore per annum. ‘The ore occurs
inalarge quartz-vein, which generally intersects the slaty rocks of the
country from north to south, but in some places runs parallel to the
stratification. It is remarked that all this portion of the county of
Cork indicates a very general diffusion of cupreous particles, so much
so, that in the year 1812 there existed a cupriferous peat-bog on the
east side of Glandore harbour, forty or fifty tons of the dried peat
producing when burnt, one ton of ashes, containing from ten to fifteen
per cent of copper. ‘The lead mines of Doneen and Rinabelly are in
slate.

In concluding a long series of observations on the mines of the
tracts described in this paper, the author remarks that the diffusion
of metallic substances throughout the mass of rocks is far from being
an uncommon occurrence—the metalliferous matter appearing in
isolated particles, and in strings, veins or filaments, more or less con-
nected with each other, but not continuous or persistent, and there-
fore of contemporaneous origin with the rock itself.

III. Carboniferous series of Clare.

The clay-slate formation in this county is bordered by a belt of old
red sandstone, to which succeed, in ascending order and conformable
position, the mountain limestone and coal measures, both of which
occupy flat and undulating hills, and the strata usually dip from the east
of north to the west of south; but seldom at a greater angle than 5°.
The best sections are seen in the cliffs of the west coast, where shale,
sandstone and sandy-flag-stone overlie limestone. Coal, however,
is there of very rare occurrence, and when disclosed is of very indif-
ferent quality ; and the author infers, that the lower part of the series
in the county of Clare is comparatively poor in this mineral : he, how-
ever, suggests that the best chances of discovering valuable seams
must lie in the elevated regions of Mount Cullun ; where if coal be
found, the beds being nearly horizontal, it might be worked with ad-
vantage.

The Memoir concludes with some observations on the distribution
of diluvial matter in the South of Ireland.

1. Boulders, gravel and sand, derived from the transition series are
lodged along the borders and sides of the mountains in Kerry.

2. In a small district of Limerick and Tipperary, situated between
the Gaultees and Slieve-na-muck, the rolled debris consist not only
of portions of the contiguous rocks, but contain also porphyry, which
is not to be found in situ near the vicinity of Pallis Hill.

3. In the peninsula of Renville, near Galway, the surface of the
carboniferous limestone is strewed over with numerous boulders of
red and gray granite, syenite, greenstone, and sandstone, which must
apparently have been conveyed from the opposite side of the bay of
Galway.

June 18.—Robert Dawson, Esq. of the Royal Engineers, and em-
ployed on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, was elected a Fellow of
this Society.

A letter on the Basin of Alhama, in the Province of Granada, in

235

Spain, being the second of two letters addressed to Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq., Sec. G.S., F.R.S. &c., by Col. Charles Silvertop,
F.G.S., was then read*.

The basin of Alhama is situated about 50 miles to the south-west of
the basin of Baza, which was described in the former letter. It occupies
a large circular area, bounded on the south and east chiefly by the
primitive chain of the Sierra Nevada, and on the north-west and
south-west by ridges of nummulite-limestone. The greater diameter
of the basin, namely, between the village of Huerta de Santillana on
the north, and the ridge near Alhama on the south, is about 36 miles ;
and the smaller diameter, between the village of Escujar on the east,
and the town of Loja on the west, is about 30 miles. The principal
river traversing the basin is the Genil, which takes its rise in the
Sierra Nevada to the east of Granada; and having received all the
minor streams which water the basin, it passes through a chasm in
the nummulite-limestone near Loja, and afterwards unites with the
Guadalquiver.

The whole area of the basin, with the exception of an insulated
group of transition limestone rocks near Granada, is occupied by con-
glomerates, marl, gypsum, and limestones containing freshwater
shells. The conglomerates ‘predominate to the north and east of
Granada, and form a high tract of waving hilly ground between that
city and the eastern part of the Sierra Nevada ; and the other depo-
sits prevail through the southern portion of the basin. The valley
through which the Genil flows is the lowest part of the district, and
is composed near Granada of a disintegrated conglomerate.

The author gives a detailed account of the geological appearances
presented along the line of road from Granada to Alhama. The lower
strata consist of beds of gypsum alternating with strata of marl and
marly, micaceous sandstone. The gypsum isin general of the ordinary,
fibrous variety ; but near the village of Escuzar, alabaster of a beau-
tiful whiteness is quarried. In the bed of arivulet passing by La Mala
a brine-spring issues, which yields from 18,000 to 24,000 fanegas of
salt yearly ; the fanega being equal to 25lbs Spanish. The strata of
marl and gypsum are covered with a compact limestone, containing
casts of Paludine ; and on this limestone rest irregular masses com-
posed almost entirely of comminuted shells of the genera Limnea and
Planorbis. The fossils found in these limestones have been examined
by Mr. J. Sowerby, who has supplied the following list :—

Planorbis rotundatus,foundinthe Paludina pusilla, of Deshayes.

Isle of Wight. Paludina Desmarestii.
Planorbis rotundatus vel planu- _ Paludina pyramidalis.
latus. Ancylus.
Planorbis, new species. Cyptis.
Bulimus pusillus, of Broard. Limnea.

The structure of the country around Alhama is explained by three
sections in the immediate vicinity of that village. One of these, ob-
served by following the horse-road from Alhama towards Loja, presents

* For the first letter, see Phil. Mag. and Ann. of Phil., vol. vii. p. 453.

236

in an ascending order the following succession of horizontal strata,
and may be taken as the type of the others.

1. The nummulite limestone, which constitutes the boundary of part
of the basin.

2. A coralline limestone, which in some parts alternates with a
calcareous sandstone and a fine-grained conglomerate ; the sandstone
abounds with a Pecten, which resembles the Pecten reconditus of the
London clay.

3. The rock composed of alternate strata of gypsum and marl.

4. The freshwater limestone with Paludina, above described, which
forms a table land, extending in the direction of Lojaas far as the eye
can reach.

Under the freshwater limestone, near the village of Arenas, is a
large deposit of brown coal of unknown depth. ‘The remains of Pla-
norbis are abundant in the upper layers of it.

In conclusion, the author states that he had observed a compact
limestone containing Limneza and Planorbis, near Partaloba, in the
province of Granada ; Montesa, in the province of Valencia and La
Gineta ; and Ocaia, in the province of La Mancha ;—that he had like-
wise ascertained the existence of an extensive lacustrine basin near
the town of Terruel in the province of Arragon, composed of a coarse
limestone containing Limnza pyramidalis (a fossil of the Isle of
Wight), resting upon gypsurn and marl.

At the close of this Meeting, which terminated the Session, the So-
ciety adjourned till Wednesday Evening, the 3rd of November.

Printed by Richard Taylor,
Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.

PROCEEDINGS .
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1830-1831. No. 18.

Noy. 3.—In consequence of the Resolutions passed at the general
meeting held on the 18th of last June, changing the evenings of
ordinary meeting from the first and third Fridays in each month,
from November to June, inclusive, to the alternate Wednesdays,
the Society assembled on this evening for the session.

The Rev. Thomas Boyles Murray, M.A. of Hart-street, Crutched
Friars ; James Edward Winterbottom, Esq. M.A. of Southampton-
buildings ; William Taylor, Esq. of Canonbury-square; Charles
Shaw Lefevre, Esq. of Whitehall-place; Rev. Dr. Arnold, head-
master of Rugby School; Henry Ellis, Esq. of Welbeck-street ; the
Right Hon. the Earl of Selkirk; and Dr. Bayne of Trinity College
Cambridge ;—were elected Fellows of this Society.

_ The reading of a paper entitled ‘“‘ Remarks on the Formation of
Alluvial Deposits,” by the Rev. James Yates, M.A.F.G.S., F.L.S.,
was begun.

Nov. 17.-—The Rev. William Kirby, M.A.; Prideaux John Selby,
Esq. of Twizell-house, near Belford, Northumberland ; and James
Dickson, Esq. of Kidbrooke, Blackheath; were elected Fellows of
this Society.

The reading of the paper on the Formation of Alluvial Depo-
sits, by the Rev. James Yates, begun at the last meeting, was con-
cluded.

After adverting to the importance of this branch of Geology to-
wards the successful study of all the more ancient sedimentary depo-
sits, and to the explanation of the methods by which bare rocks are
converted into productive soils, the author proposes to describe
some of the processes which regulate the production of alluvium,
and the principal forms which it assumes.

I.—He considers first those processes of disintegration, not de-
pendent upon the action of running water, by which materials
are supplied for the formation of alluvium. ‘These are of two
kinds,

1.— Earthquakes and landslips, by which large masses are detached
suddenly from the mountains, and fall occasionally with so great
an impetus as to extend across valleys.

2.—Other processes, such as frost and oxidation, which are far
more important in their effects. The agents of this class always di-
vide rocks according to their natural structure of separation, so
that every fragment of the debris is bounded by the plane of its
cleavage. The fragments as they fall produce two principal forms ;

238

(a) the lengthened talus, which in general covers the base of all
calcareous, and conglomerate or sedimentary rocks ; and (6) the
acute cone, which is discharged from the ravines of highly inclined
schistose rocks, having a cleavage which meets the planes of stra-
tification at an acute angle.

II.—The materials thus furnished are distributed by streams,
which round off their angles by continual friction, so as to convert
them into pebbles, sand, and mud. The hard and heavy fragments
driven along by streams, also wear down the rocks in place, the
latter being acted upon according to their degrees of softness and
their proneness to disintegration. .

When the detritus thus produced is discharged from a lateral
into a principal ravine, or valley, the divergence of the stream gives
it the form of a cone; but as the force of running water carries
loose materials much further than they would fall by their own
weight, the form thus produced is not an acute but an obtuse cone.
In the Alps some of these obtuse cones attain 500 feet in height,
and three miles in diameter, bearing upon their surfaces forests
and villages.

The quantity of solid materials descending over the apex of an
obtuse cone, is sometimes sO great as to stop up the valley. The
waters of the principal stream then accumulate above the obstruc-
tion, and after the subsidence of the lateral stream, tear away the
base of the encroaching cone. This form the author designates
as the obtuse cone clipt at the base.

Narrow valleys and plains are frequently divided by transverse
ledges of gravel. The formation of these is attributed to the opera-
tion of rivers, which it is supposed had first accumulated their de-
tritus in dams, and that these dams, having been successively broken.
down after the subsidence of floods, were re-produced upon a rise
of the streams.

Numerous causes are assigned which vary the depth of streams.
These are, rains; the melting of Alpine snows and glaciers; the
breaking up of ice in rivers; and the bursting of lakes.

I1J.—Whenever detritus is conveyed by running into standing
water, a separation takes place between those finer particles which
are held in suspension, and those which it only rolls along the
bottom.

As the debris of horizontally stratified rocks forms a length-
ened talus at their base, so the loose and heavy materials washed
down the side of a mountain, and conveyed into a lake, as soon as
they reach its margin fall in a steep slope of the same description.
Layer after layer is thus deposited, the result of which is, that a
terrace is gradually formed, dipping under the surface of the lake
with a gentle slope, and then abruptly terminating in a steep de-
clivity.

The author next endeavours to show, that what. is commonly
called a Delta is more strictly speaking the Sector of a Circle.

After describing numerous examples of forms of alluvial matter, in
artificial reservoirs and in lakes, the author alludes to the probable

239

existence of similar deposits upon a vast scale in the deep and still
waters of the ocean; and considering the English, St. George’s and
Bristol Channels, to be of the nature of estuaries, he observes, that
the are of the Sector is found encircling the south-western extremity
of Ireland on the one hand, and the north-western angle of France on
the other, and coinciding with a line along which the water deepens
suddenly from one hundred to morethantwo hundred French fathoms.

It is then shown that lakes are filled up, not by depositions in
their deep, central water, but by the gradual advance of all their
lateral terraces and cones.

IV.—When two streams meet, they neutralize each other’s mo:
tion, and a deposition takes place at the point of quiescence.

Peculiar appearances ensue, when streams meet at different levels.
Tf a lateral stream brings down a disproportionate quantity of de-
tritus, its bed is raised, but is abruptly terminated by the action
of the principal stream. Hence the valleys of mountainous re-
gions exhibit not only level terraces formed in lakes, but others the
edge of which have a steep declivity.

Finally, the author presumes that the forms which alluvium puts
on in rivers, are produced also in seas, and in the ocean, by the
Opposition and union of currents flowing either at the same or at
different levels.

A short Memoir was then read, entitled «Remarks on the Ex-
istence of Anoplotherium and Palzotherium in the Lower Fresh-
water Formation at Binstead, near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight,” by
S. P. Pratt, Esq. F.G.S. F.L.S.

The author lately discovered, in the lower and marly beds of the
quarries of Binstead, in the Isle of Wight, and which belong to the
lower fresh-water formation, a toothof an Anoplotherium, and two
teeth of the genus Palzotherium, animals characteristic of strata of
the same age in the Paris basin.

These remains were accompanied, not only by several other frag-
ments of the bones of Pachydermata (chiefly in a rolled and in-
jured state), but also by the jaw of a new species of Ruminantia,
apparently closely allied to the genus Moschus. From the oc-
currence of the latter fossil, the author infers that a race of ani-
mals existed at this geological epoch, whose habits required that
the surface of the earth should have heen in a very different state
from that which it has been supposed to have presented, in con-
sequence of the frequent discovery of the remains of animals who
lived almost entirely in marshes.

Dec. 1.—The Rev. Daniel Pettiward, M.A. of Trinity College,
Cambridge ; and John William Bowden, Esq. M.A. of Grosvenor-
place, London, were elected Fellows of this Society.

- A paper was read, entitled ‘An Explanatory Sketch of a
Geological Map of Moravia, and the West of Hungary,” by Dr. A.
Boué, For. Mem. G.S. &c.

The author in presenting this Map to the Geological Society,
states that it has been made with the assistance of Messrs. Teubner,
Rittler, and Von Lill von Lilienbach ; and that with the latter

240

gentleman, in particular, he has recently worked out many detuils,
which it is hoped may rectify certain errors in the great Geological
Map of Germany, published by Schropp of Berlin.

Moravia has been in part described by André, Von Albin Hein-
rich, Von Lill, Von Oeynhausen, and Beudant; but the two lasé¢-
mentioned writers, it is stated, have not visited the country.

This region is made up of the union of three principal chains
of hills, the Eastern or BOhmerwaldgebirge, the Sudeten or Silesian
mountains, and the Western Carpathians, the contact of the two
first of which is hidden by a red sandstone of the coal-measures, and
green-chalk-marl.

The hilly region called the Gesenke, consists of granwacké, and
extends across Moravia to near the Bohemian range. The Gesenke
is separated from the Carpathians by the tertiary and alluvial val-
leys of the Upper Oder.

The more ancient and longitudinal valleys, in Moravia, have a

general direction from W.S.W.to E.N.E.; and are, with some few
exceptions, cut through transversely by the present streams.
_ In the part of Hungary and Gallicia indicated on this Map, the
rivers on the contrary flow for the most part in longitudinal valleys,
parallel to the Carpathians, as the Nitra, Gran, Vistula, and the
Waag, although the latter for a certain space runs through a trans-
versal rent in primary rocks.

In the Western groups are numerous Scotch and Scandina-
vian minerals. Many of the oldest stratified rocks are crossed
_ by large, dyke-like, elliptic bodies, running from south-west to
north-east. The respective characters of the primary Sudeten
and Tatra mountains are then described. The grauwacké dis-
tricts are stated to differ little from those of the Hartz and the
South of Scotland; and the caverns which abound in the blueish gray
limestone, subordinate to this formation, may, the author conceives,
have been produced by the acidulous waters which are still so
abundant in the country, as at Gefatter Loch, &c. This old lime-
stone formation abounds in Madrepores, Caryophyllia, Encrinites,
and Orthoceratites.

The author is of opinion, that the sienite was erupted during the
period between the formation of the grauwacké, and the primary
chain of Bohemia. This sienite has very various characters, being
sometimes porphyritic, at other times associated with talcose and
quartzose rocks, &c.

Above the sienite lies a coarse, red conglomerate, which is con-
nected in Bohemia with a great deposit of red sandstone with
coal. Here the author corrects an error in Schropp’s Map, where
the district is coloured as new red sandstone; instead of which, he
considers it to be of the age of the Scotch red coal-grits.

The other coal deposit of the basin of the Oder is in aluminous
and bituminous slate, with gray sandstone, and many vegetable im-
pressions, but without red sandstone,

The Zechstein is wholly absent in these parts, and the true red
marl is very scarce. :

241

The Muschelkalk, however, occupies some space in Upper Silesia
and Poland, and contains most of its characteristic fossils.

The Jurassic and Alpine limestones extend over a large portion
of the Map; and the dolomite, the upper beds of which abound
with Madrepores, Encrinites, Diceras, and Terebratule, is overlaid
by the Carpathian or Vienna sandstone (Andrychow, &c.).

The Carpathian sandstone fills a cavity between a range of true
Alpine limestone on one side, and Jura limestone on the other, and
is easily divisible into three parts.

1. The lewest division is marly and calcareous, containing Fu-
coides intricatus and F. furcatus, and haz been mistaken on Schropp’s
Map for transition limestone. It is cut through by dykes of ser-
pentine and greenstone.

2%. The middle group is more quartzose.

3. The highest is characterized by reddish marls, several beds
of ruiniform, compact limestone, some Fucoides, Encrinites, Lepa-
dites, Tellinites, resembling those of Solenhofen ; Posidonia, Tere-
bratulz, Ammonites, and Belemnites. This triple system of the
Carpathians is overlaid by a group of sandstone which the author
considers to be the “‘green-sand;” this is composed of conglome-
rate, nummulite limestone, and green, calcareous beds with Gry-
phea columba, Ostrea vesicularis, &c., also with superior beds re-
sembling the Planer Kalk of the Germans. The greensand of Mo-
ravia has all the characters of that of North-western Europe, pass-
ing upwards into a superior, marly greensand, with fossils, and form-
ing long, continuous plateaux. For details the author here refers
to previous publications of his own, and to sections with which his
Map is accompanied.

Chalk does not exist in the Carpathians, nor could the author
recognise it at Cracow, the limestone of which he refers to the
Upper Jurassic, although he states that chalk is found in the plains
of Poland, Eastern Gallicia, Podolia, Volhynia, and Southern
Russia.

The tertiary deposits of the countries described, though be-
longing to two distinct basins, have everywhere the same cha-
racters. The low grounds of Gallicia are supposed to have
formed a part of the great basin of Northern Europe, which must
have connected the Baltic with the Black Sea, and perhaps with
the seas and lakes of Asia. The tertiary beds of Moravia, on the
contrary, he considers to have been deposited in an arm of that
sea, which must have occupied the great depressions of Hungary
and Austria, communicating with the Mediterranean through Ba-
varia and Switzerland, inasmuch as these deposits, whether on
the North or on the South of the Carpathians, have a common
character. The various tertiary groups are identified with those
of the sub-Apennines ; the blue marls, and yellow, sandy marls,
besides the characteristic shells, contain salt, sulphur, gypsum,
&c.; and in some parts there are fresh-water shelis, including the
Mytilus of the Danube. In respect to the place of the salt of
Wieliczka, the author, differing from MM. von Lill and Keferstein

242

who had placed it in the Carpathian sandstone, considers it to be
of tertiary age, because it is associated with sub-Apennine shells,
and is connected with upper marine sandstone, and limestone.

Above the blue saliferous marls is a vast extent of molasse with
Pectens, Ostrex, and many fossil vegetables. The beds of this de-
posit are highly inclined along the foot of the Carpathians. At
Nicholschitz and Krepitz in Moravia, and at Zazlusin and Dobro-
mil in Gallicia, it is represented by marly, siliceous deposits, with
semiopal, and fishes, as well as Hymenopterous, Dipterous, and
Coleopterous insects.

The sandy banks, with Ostrez and Cerithia, which abound in
Moravia, Hungary and Gallicia, are referred to an age interme-
diate between the blue saliferous marl and the molasse just de-
scribed, and are considered to be older than the conglomerates
and coral limestone of Austria.

The older alluvium of these districts, and particularly that of the
valley of the Oder, besides boulders and gravel, contains existing
species of fresh-water shells mixed in beds of marl with bones of ex-
tinct animals and fossils.

Of basaltic rocks, the cone of Randenberg is scoriaceous, and has
been protruded through grauwacké. Near Barrow a felspathose
rock has pierced the Carpathic sandstone, converting it into jaspi-
deous rocks resembling those of the Giant’s Causeway, and the
Isle of Skye, &c.

The author refers te M. Beudant for full particulars of the tra-
chyte, but begs to distinguish certain trachytic conglomerates, as
being of aqueous origin, from the trachytie or igneous breccia.

An original manuscript Map of all the districts described in the
previous Memoir of Dr. Boué, was presented by M. von Lill von
Lilienbach, who amongst other novelties has discovered two cones
of trachyte near the mercury mines, in the Carpathian sandstone
of Krosciensko.

Dec. 15.—The Rev. William Turner, M.A. of Christ Church Oxe
ford, and Trinity College Cambridge; Anthony Todd Thomson,
M D., F.L.S., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the
University of London ; and George Townshend Fox, Esq., F.L.S.,
and F.Z.S. ;—were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was first read, entitled “ An Explanatory Sketch of a Geo-
logical Map of Transylvania,” by Dr. Ami Boué, For. Mem. G.S.

The author premises that thissketch, having been written before his
specimens were unpacked, is necessarily incomplete, both from that
cause and from various impediments which obstructed his observa-
tions.

Transylvania is described as being chiefly occupied by a high tertiary
basin, surrounded by four chains of mountains, viz.: 1. On the south
by the primary range of Wallachia or Taganrasch. 2. On the west
by another primary range, usually omitted by geographers; and
connected with a high calcareous chain near Kronstedt, and a ridge
of Carpathian sandstone near the pass Oytosch. 3. By the trachytic
hills separating the low tertiary and saliferous districts from the great

243

valley of the Secklerland. 4. By a large group of conical porphyritic
hills, with metalliferous summits, ranging by Korosch Banya, Zala-
thria, Vorospatak, &c. Many of these hills are stated to average
from 3000 to 4000 feet in height, and the highest peaks to exceed
6000 feet. The author, describing the course of the rivers, remarks
that the hydrographical features are inaccurately given in all maps,
and that most of the streams cut through the above chains by
gorges of very recent fracture. The primary rocks, he says, consist
of gneiss and slate; that in the latter, serpentine, granular lime-
stone, and metalliferous veins are found wherever sienite comes into
contact with the slate. The Carpathian sandstone with Fucoids
(Vienna sandstone) is mentioned as occurring in the N.E. and S.E.
of Transylvania ;—that it surrounds the auriferous porphyries of
Nagy and Banya, and that at Laposbanya the marls and slaty sand-
stones of this formation are much altered by dykes of sienitic por-
phyry, presenting examples of jaspideous rocks like those of Portrush,
Skye, &c.

The author is disposed to think that there are evidences of two or
even more periods of igneous eruption, and that the scoriaceous tra-
chytic porphyries cut through and frequently overflowed the me-
talliferous porphyries. These porphyry districts are cited as offering
repeated and decisive proofs of the igneous origin of metalliferous
veins; all the walls of which are altered and discoloured :—large
masses of the rock are traversed by millions of auriferous rents,—
and that gold is found in the sandstone as well as in the porphyry.

The remaining secondary formations are stated to consist of a
kind of recent Jurassic, compact limestone, associated with conglome-
rate, covered, here and there, by patches of sandstone and marl
containing some of the fossils of Gosau. Near Sass Vorosch, Kis
Numtschel, Kis Aranyos, &c., deposits of about the same age are
said to have been observed by M. Partsch, and that they have been
further described in the Buskowine by that gentleman, and by Messrs.
Von Lill and Rudolph. The tertiary deposits, like those of Hungary,
are considered to be entirely of the upper class, and they are shown
to consist of clay, marl, and molasse, with salt, gypsum, lignite, &c.
The molasse, the author says, is generally covered by shelly sands and
gravel, but occasionally by a sandy, coarse limestone ; and that near
Illyefalva & Arapatak, these sands contain many freshwater mixed with
some marine shells. Near the Rothethurm pass, and west and north of
Klaurenburg, he shows there are thick deposits of nummulitic and coral
limestone, equivalent to the highest tertiary limestone of Austria and
Hungary. Fichtel is quoted as the earliest and best geological writer
upon Transylvania, particularly as to the localities of shelly deposits
and salt springs ; and it is stated that from his work alone M. Beudant
was enabled to compile a map of this country.

For an account of the eastern chain of trachytes the author refers
to what he has already written in Dr. Daubeny’s work on Volcanos:
—he inclines to the supposition that the scoriaceous trachytic porphy-
ries were erupted during the cretaceous or perhaps even during the old
tertiary period ; and he dissents from M. Beudant as to the possibility

244

of drawing any distinct line of demarcation between the trachyte and
porphyry in those places where these rocks are contiguous, although
when at great distances from each other he allows the dissimilarity
of their respective characters. A stratified, pumiceous and trachytic
conglomerate, it is stated, frequently overlies the salt in Transylvania,
and contains impressions of dicotyledonous plants, leaves, and fishes.
The extinct craters of St. Annalake and the solfatarra still burning in
the trachyte of Budoskegy, and the many acidulated and mineral
springs, are considered by the author clearly to indicate the recent age
of some of the volcanic phenomena in this country, to the principal en-
trance of which, the Romans assigned the name of ‘‘ Vulcan’s Pass.”

A paper was then read, “On the Astronomical Causes which
may influence Geolegical Phenomena; ” by J. F.W. Herschel, Esq.
F.R.S, F.G.S., &c., &c.

The author states his object in this paper to be, an inquiry into
the possible geological influence of slow periodical changes in the
orbits of the earth and moon, such as have been demonstrated by
geometers to take place in consequence of planetary and solar per-
turbation. Such influence he regards as extending only to the pro-
duction of changes in the amount of the tides and their consequent
erosive action on our continents, and of periodical fluctuations in
the quantity of solar heat received by the earth, every such fluc-
tuation being of course accompanied with a corresponding altera-
tion of climates; and therefore, if sufficiently extensive and con-
tinued, giving room for a variation in the animal and vegetable
productions of the same region at different and widely remote
epochs.

The subject of the tides is first considered. Since any approach
of the moon to the earth produces an increase of the lunar tide in
the triplicate ratio of such approach, it follows that any diminution
of the moon’s mean distance must produce an increase in the ave-
rage tide during the whole period that such approach subsists.
The mean distance of the moon is actually on the decrease, and has
been so for ages past, producing the astronomical phenomenon
of her secular acceleration. "The mean amount of the tides, there-
fore, has long been, and will long continue to be, on the increase
from this cause, but the effect of it is shown to be confined to such
moderate limits as to be of no geological importance.

_ The author next considers the possible effect of an increase in

the excentricity of the lunar orbit, which would affect not the ave-
rage but the extreme rise and fall of the tides. Such an increase,
however, he regards as necessarily limited, so as to be incapable of
producing such an enormous increase of tides as would account for
any of the greater diluvial phenomena, though possibly cases of
great local devastation in estuaries and confined channels would
arise, and the outlines of the continents, in particular parts of their
coasts, might be materially modified by such increased occasional
action. No change in the earth’s orbit within the limits of possibility
would produce any material change in the solar tides.

He next considers the effect of planetary perturbation on the

245

earth’s orbit, and, dismissing the variation of the obliquity of
the ecliptic, which is known to be confined within very narrow
limits, he regards the excentricity as the only element whose
variation can possibly have any effect of the kind in view;
and that by affecting, first, the mean, and secondly, the extreme
quantities of solar heat received by the earth in its annual revolu-
tion, and at the different seasons of the year. First, with respect
to the mean quantity, he announces as a consequence of geome-
trical reasoning, the following theorem :—That the mean annual
amount of heat and light recevved from the sun by the earth, is inversely
proportional to the minor axis of the ellipse rt describes at different
epochs. And since the orbit of the earth is actually, and has
been for ages, beyond the records of history, becoming less ellip-
tic, and the minor axis consequently increasing, it follows that
the mean temperature of its surface zs on the decrease. The
orbit being now very nearly a circle, this decrease cannot go much
further ; but should it ever have been very elliptic, the mean tem-
perature must have been sensibly greater than at present. The au-
thor regards the limits within which the earth’s excentricity is con-
fined, as (although calculable) not actually known; and he denies
in particular that the theorem demonstrated by Laplace, in the
57th article of the Second Book of the Mécanique Céleste, equation
(«), which is usually cited as proving the narrowness of such limits,
affords any ground for that conclusion in the case of the earth’s
orbit, however it may do so for those of the great preponderant
planets.

Under this uncertainty he considers himself authorized to assume,
that excentricities actually existeng in the orbits, both of superior
and inferior planets, may not be impossib/e in that of the earth ; and
admitting this, he calculates the mean and extreme amounts of solar
radiation in an orbit so circumstanced. ‘The mean amount he finds
to exceed the present by about three per cent, a quantity apparently
small ; but he adduces considerations tending to show, that on cer-
tain suppositions not impossible or improbable in themselves, this
per-centage on the whole quantity of solar heat may have influ-
enced our climates to as great an extent as geological indications
appear to require.

Considering next the extreme effects of such a state of things, and
adopting a view taken by Mr. Lyell in his Geology, he shows that
by reason of the precession of the equinoxes combined with the mo-
tion of the apogee of the earth’s orbit, the two hemispheres would
alternately be placed in climates of a very opposite nature, the one
approaching to a perpetual spring, the other to the extreme vicis-
situdes of a burning summer and a rigorous winter ; and that, du-
ring periods sufficiently long to impress a corresponding character
of the vegetable and perhaps the animal productions of each.

las o's

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1831. No. 19.

Jan. 5, 1831.—A paper was read entitled, ‘‘ On the general struc-
ture of the Lake Mountains of the North of England, and on the
great dislocations by which they have been separated from the
neighbouring chains ;’ by Prof. Sedgwick, M.A. Pres. G.S. F.R.S.

The country, of which the author hopes to give a detailed descrip-
tion in a series of communications, is bounded to the west and the
south by the waters of the Irish Sea and Morecambe Bay. Towards
the north it descends into the plain of the new red sandstone within
the basin of the Eden; and on the east side it presses against, and
partly encroaches on, the central carboniferous chain of the north,
Within these limits are found two distinct classes of rocks, all the cen-
tral region being composed of crystalline unstratified rocks, irregu-
larly associated with great formations of schist, which are subdivided
(agreeably to the system first published by Mr. Otley of Keswick, )
into three well defined groups; while on the outskirts of these older
formations is a broken zone of carboniferous limestone, and exten-
sive deposits of superior [secondary] strata. The author avoids all
mineralogical details ; and after noticing the effects produced by the
several formations on the external features of the country, describes
at great length the range of a band of transition limestone (from
Millam in Cumberland, to the neighbourhood of Wasdale Head in
Westmoreland) nearly across the whole physical region under con-

‘sideration ; and states that it is finally cut off by a protruding boss
of granite, which he regards as newer than the limestone. Upon this
description he founds the following conclusions.

lst. Great cracks and fissures were formed at a very ancient pe-
riod, diverging from the central regions, and intersecting the line
of bearing of the strata. All the great valleys in the range described,
are scooped out in the prolongation of these breaks, which were
in all cases accompanied with internal movements ; the present po-
sition of the systems of strata on the opposite sides of a transverse
valley sometimes indicating a relative lateral movement of more
than a mile in extent. These singular changes of position are re-
ferred partly to a true lateral shift, and partly to subsidence.
Reasoning from analogy, the author concludes that all the great
diverging valleys of the Lake Mountains took their origin in fissures
probably formed during the pericd of the protrusion of the central
syenite and granite.

'2ndly. He observes that the upper and lower systems of the slate

248

rocks are often violently contorted; while the central system, though
cracked and fissured as above described, hardly ever exhibits the in-
dications of any flexures. This is explained by the presence of enor-
mous unbending masses of compact felspar, porphyry, &c., which
are so intimately associated with the middle division of the slate that
the formations cannot be separated. The appearance is explained by
referring the felspathic rocks to some modification of sub-marine
volcanic action; by supposing that igneous and aqueous causes acted
together, and that the operations were many times repeated.

3rdly. The mean line of bearing of the different systems is shown
to be nearly N.E. by E., and S.W. by W. This makes them, one
after the other, to abut against the carboniferous zone; from which
it follows that they must also be unconformable to it. The author
confirms this inference by referring to detailed sections ; and, from
the whole of the evidence, he concludes, that the central Lake Moun-
tains were placed in their present position,—not by a long-con-
tinued, but by a sudden movement of elevation, before or during the
period of the old red sandstone.

Lastly, He enters into some details, from which he endeavours
to show, that if lines be drawn in the principal bearing of the fol-
lowing chains (viz. the southern chain of Scotland from St. Abbs
Head to the Mull of Galloway ; the grauwacké chain of the Isle
of Man, the slate ranges of the Isle of Anglesea; the principal grau-
wacké chains of Wales, and the Cornish chain), they will be nearly
parallel to each other, and to the line of bearing of the Lake Moun-
tains, as above indicated, The elevation of all these chains is referred
to the same period ; and the parallelism is not regarded as acci-
dental ; but as a confirmation of one of the great principles upon
which are founded some of the most beautiful generalizations of the
Essays recently published by M. Elie de Beaumont.

The author next describes the system of faults by which the Lake
Mountains were broken off from the central carboniferous chain.
After some speculations on the original extent of the carboniferous
deposits, which were spread out from the Scotch border to the
central plains of England, and perhaps continuous with the similar
deposits cn the Bristol Channel, he points out some peculiarities of
the western coal-fields.

Istly. The axes of the several contemporaneous basins are not
parallel.

Qndly. The causes which produced this arrangement appear to
have partially affected the then neighbouring grauwacké regions.
Thus the transition slate of North Devon does not range parallel
to the mean bearing of the grauwacké chain, but to that of the Welsh
coal-field.

3rdly. These coal-fields are contrasted with the carboniferous
chain of the north, extending from the latitude of Derby to the
mouth of the Tweed: and it is inferred, from the nature of the
beds resting on the edges of the dislocated strata, that the eleva-
tions of the south-western and northern systems were not perfectly
contemporaneous. |

249

Athly. The coal-fields of the. Bristol Channel have no well-
defined line of bearing, and have produced but small effects on the
range of the superior secondary formations, which from the south
Coast to the latitude of Derby are nearly parallel to the mean range
of the grauwacké chains above indicated. On the contrary, the great
carboniferous chain north of Derby has produced a direct influence
on the bearings of the newer formations.

He then briefly describes the structure of the great carboniferous
chain of the North of England. The forces of elevation appear on
the whole to have acted (though not without considerable devia-
tions) on a line bearing nearly north and south. The position of
the High Peak limestone, and the great north and south faults on
its western side, are first noticed; and the axis of elevation is con-
tinued by help of an anticlinal line through the region of millstone
grit, separating the Yorkshire and Lancashire coal-fields. The re-
appearance of the carboniferous limestone, its high elevation, and pro-
longation to the Scotch border, and the faults which range near its
western escarpment are then noticed; and the great Craven fault (de-
scribed in detail by Mr. Phillips) is traced still further towards the
north from the hills of Barbondale to the foot of Stammoor. The na-
ture of the dislocations is illustrated by sections; and it is shown
that the prolongation of the Craven fault from Mollerstang to Stain-
moor foot has thrown down the carboniferous system with an in-
verted dip into the valley of the Eden, and produced a dislocation
precisely similar in kind to that near Ingleton, described in detail
by Mr. Phillips, and indicated in oneof Mr. Conybeare’s sections.—
It is further shown that these dislocated mountain masses, becom-
ing more expanded and less inclined, are prolonged without any
further break of continuity into the northern zone of the Lake Moun-
tains. A great fault which ranges at the foot of the Cross Fell Chain,
and meets the Craven fault at the foot of Stainmoor at an obtuse
angle, is then described; and it is shown that when it strikes the
carboniferous chain above Brough, an effect is produced precisely
similar to that which accompanies the prolongation of the Craven
fault. By the intersection of these faults, the very complex rela-
tions of the mountain masses, in the last ramifications of the Eden,
and the insulated position of the Lake Mountains are at once ex-

lained.

Lastly. The author speculates on the origin of the phenomena
described, and points to the different crystalline rocks appearing near
the carboniferous chain. He proves that the great breaks took
place immediately before the oldest deposits of the new red sand-
stone, and endeavours to show that they were produced by a vio-
lent and transitory, and not by a long-continued action.

Jan. 19.—Robert Trotter, Esq. of Borde Hill, Cuckfield, Sussex;
and Thomas Hodgson Holdswerth, Esy. of Gray’s Inn Square, were
elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of a paper, entitled ‘“‘ Supplementary Observations
on the Structure of the Austrian and Bavarian Alps,” by Roderick
Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. was begun.

250

Feb. 2.—Robert Francis Seale, Esq. Secretary to the Governor
of St. Helena, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

The reading of the paper, by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq.
Sec. G.S. F.R.S., begun at the last Meeting, was concluded.

This memoir contains the results of observations made by the au-
thor during last summer, with the view of extending the researches
of Professor Sedgwick and himself *: the present remarks being
limited to the consideration of that portion of the Alps, on the
northern side of the axis, which is included between the lake of
Constance on the west, and Vienna on the east, followed by a short
description of the valley of the Danube.

1. Primary Rocks.—He notices that Mr. Partsch and himself
discovered that traces of the primary axis of the Alps reappear in
the Leitha-gebirge, and are there overlaid on each side by tertiary
deposits.

%. Transition Rocks with Iron Ores are briefly alluded to, merely
for the purpose of marking their place in the series.

3. Rauchwacke or Magnesian Limestone.—The author shows that
the formation is much developed near the eastern termination of
the Austrian Alps, (St. Johann, Kirchbiichel, Sobenstein, &c.)
that it there dips under red sandstone and Alpine limestone, and
is quite similar to rocks occupying the same position in the Tyrol
(Schwatz, Soll, &c.).

4. New Red Sandstone with Salt and Gypsum.—In former sections,
(published by Professor Sedgwick and the author,) this formation
is only designated in one line of valleys, i.e. along the great es-
carpment of the Alpine limestone ; recent observations have, how-
ever, convinced the author, that it is reproduced in other longitu-
dinal depressions, further removed from the axis of the chain. In
the valley of Abtenau, for instance, he ascertained that the red
sandstone containing thick masses of gypsum and several salt-
springs, dips conformably on one side under black shale and lime-
stone, of the age of the lias, and on the other is overlaid uncon-
formably by the shelly deposits of Gosau. He also cites Berchtes-
gaden, with its salt-mines, as another case of a valley in which
the new red-sandstone is denuded, and he shows that the strata
there dip beneath the whole of the oolitic series of the Kneifel-
berg and Untersberg. :

5. Lower Alpine Limestone, or Lias and Inferior Oolite.—It is
stated that the dark-coloured limestone and shale which surmount
the red sandstone at Abtenau, range northwards with various con-
tortions, and are well exposed in the gorge of the Mertelbach be-
low Crispel; where, accompanied by M. Von Lill, the author col-
lected several fossils, viz.: Ammonites, two species, (one very near
to 4. Conybeart,) Pecten, three species, small Gryphza, Mya,

* One of Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison’s papers on the Austrian
Alps, here alluded to, will be found in the Philosophical Magazine and An-
nals, vol. viii. p. 81. See also the Proceedings of the Geological Scciety,
pp. 153, 227.

251

Perna, two species, Ostrea, Corallines, &c. In mineral characters
these beds, it is said, closely resemble some of those of Whitby,
from which, together with the complexion of the fossils, and their
place in the series, the author refers the group to the lias. An
overlying red, encrinite limestone, contains at least five or six species
of Ammonites and some Belemnites; amongst the former is the
A. multicostatus. This red limestone crops out on both sides of
the valley of the Salza near Hallein, and reappears in various places
in the Salzburg Alps (Aussee, Ebensee, &c.).

6. Salt Deposits.—The place assigned to most of the salt-mines of
the Austrian Alps in the memoir of last year, has been confirmed ;
and additional sections are given at Halstadt and Aussee to prove
that the salt masses in these places are fairly encased in Alpine lime-
stone. In other localities, however, as above indicated, this mine-
ral is shown to occur in the same formations as in England.

7. Upper Alpine Limestone, or Upper Oolite.—In this group the
author comprehends semi-crystalline, brecciated, scaly, compact
and dolomitic limestones. The Hippurite limestone, though with
some doubt, is considered to mark the superior limit of the series,
the author having been led to this conclusion from the relations
seen on thenorth flank of the Untersberg, at Windischgarsten,Gosau
and the Wand, in all of which places there are passages from the
Alpine limestone into the Hippurite rock.

8. Sandstone, Calcareous Grit and Shales, Slaty Limestone, &c.—
The Gres de Vienne is placed by the author as the lowest member
of this group; although in the eastern termination of the Alps he
agrees with M. Boué, that its separation from the Alpine limestone
cannot well be effected. All along the chain, however, from the Enns
to the lake of Constance, he thinks that the grits and shales with
fucoids constitute a natural group distinguished in external charac-
ters from the Alpine limestone, and that they there form the lowest
term of the green sand. He then describes several transverse, pa-
rallel sections across that zone. The first of these is in the valley of
the Allgau or Sonthofen, in the upper end of which, near Miesel-
stein, the grits and fucoid shales are broken through by gneiss,
which appears to have been heaved up in a solid form posterior to
the deposition of the former; whilst in an adjoining gorge dikes
of igneous rocks seem to have made unavailing efforts to pierce
through the overlying mountain of the Schwarzenberg. The dis-
locations and. inversions of dip in the parallel ridges of the Allgau
are described in detailed sections. At the mouth of the valley, the
Grinten, a narrow serrated mountain, ranging E.N.E. and W.N.W.,
is composed of many of the same rocks described last year at Nes-
selwang, but owing to a complete reversal of dip the lowest beds
or inferior green sand are thrown into juxtaposition with a ridge
of conglomerate of tertiary age, which dips to the north beneath
the molasse of the plain. The lowest beds are nearly vertical, and
consist of brown chert; these are succeeded by green, calcareous
sandstone and grit highly inclined, containing Inoceramus concentri-

252

cus, Mya plicata, Plicatula pectinoides, asmall Gryphea, Ammonites
and Belemnites,—fossils characteristic of the middle and lower
green sand. The overlying strata are a cream-coloured limestone
with Ammonites, passing up into a slaty, red, marly, limestone un-
distinguishable from Scaglia. The formations seen in the Grinten,
therefore, are a part of the lower, all the upper green sand, and
probably a portion of the chalk.

9. Lower Nummulitic Limestone and Shale, &c. (Sonthofen Iron
Ores).—The strata containing the iron ores at Sonthofen surmount
the preceding series in the gorge of the Starzlach. The author
considers them, from the character of their fossils, particularly Spa-
tangi, certain species of Nummulites, Belemnites, Terebratulz,
and Trigoniz, to be more connected with the cretaceous than with
the superior formations. To show the essential difference be-
tween the age of these iron ores of Sonthofen and those of the
Kressenberg, a detailed section is described from south to north on
the banks of the Traun, where a vast thickness of lower, nummu-
litic, calcareous grit, with shales, marls, and cretaceous beds (as ex
hibited in vertical strata opposite the town of Arzt), are shown to
be of the same age as those of Sonthofen, and are clearly proved
to be overlaid by the nummulitic iron ores of the Kressenberg.

10. Upper Nummulitic Iron Ores.—It is to the shelly iron ores at
Kressenberg, and not to those of Sonthofen, that Professor Sedg-
wick and the author assigned the place of transition-tertiary beds,—
a place, the correctness of which, it is contended, is now established
as clearly by the evidences of superposition, given in this memoir,
as it formerly was by Count Munster, from the vast predominance
of tertiary fossils.

The natural section on the Traun is then completed, by showing
that the dransztion-tertiary beds are conformably overlaid by inclined
strata of pebbly sandstone and marls, in the higher part of which,
near Traunstein, there are a number of shells unquestionably of
tertiary age. All these inclined strata are capped by a thick range
of horizontal coarse conglomerate. Sections made on the flanks of
the Untersberg confirm the observations of the previous year, and
show the Hippurite limestone dipping under the green sand and
shale,—the green sand and cretaceous beds surmounted by a vast
thickness of nummulitic, green grit; and this again overlaid by blue
marls with shells of the age of Gosau and Kressenberg *.

Other localities are noticed, where detached remnants of both
the lower and upper nummulitic groups were visited by the author,
(St. Pancratz, Mattsee, &c.), and the Gryphite abounding in these
beds is stated to be not the Gryph@a columba, but a new spe-
cies. Through the labours of Mr. Lonsdale, eight species at least of

* This section as given last year (Phil. Mag. vol. viii. pl. 2. fig. 1.) ne-
cessarily terminated in ascending order with the river Saal, because the
Hel on its northern bank consists of secondary grit and shale (green sand),
which being thrown off from the Stauffen, a promontory of Alpine lime-
stone, abuts unconformably against the tertiary strata described.

253

Nummulites have been distinguished, some of which characterize the
lower or secondary strata at Sonthofen, Arzt, and Mattsee, others
together with a-coral (Nummulina complanata) prevail in the transz-
tion-tertiary groups of Kressenberg, Schweiger Mill, &c. Having
thus, both by superposition and by fossils, shown the existence on
the flanks of the chain ofa deposit with a predominance of tertiary
and very few secondary shells, as distinguished from a lower group
in which secondary fossils prevail, the author proceeds to point out
accumulations of the same age, at various heights, within the great
secondary chain of the Alps.

In the valley of Gosau several new facts are enumerated. The
edges of the shelly deposit are seen to rest on red sandstone, on
Alpine and Hippurite limestone, and on green sand. Besides the
underlying conglomerate *, the shelly system is considered to be
clearly divisible into two parts, of which the inferior contains many
secondary as well as tertiary fossils, with Tornatella (Turbinei-
lus, Sow.), Nerinea, rolled Hippurites, &c. ; whilst the superior blue
marls abound with myriads of shells of a tertiary aspect, and many
corals, of species figured by Goldfuss, from the tertiary formations
at Castel Arquato, Bassano, &c.

As all the conchologists who have seen the unmixed shells of
these upper blue marls have declared that they belong to formations
newer than the chalk, the author conceives this case, therefore, to
be now established beyond dispute, both by stratigraphical and
zoological evidence: and he further is of opinion that the slaty
overlying psammites of the Horn and the Ressenberg clearly repre-
sent the molasse.

A case of more extraordinary elevation than that of Gosau was
this year discovered by the author, in the Alpine pasturage of
Zlam above Aussee and Grundelsee, where blue marls with
Cerithea, sharks’ teeth, &c., overlie calcareous grits‘and conglome-
rate, with Tornatella and Nerinea, and are carried up in a cleft of
Alpine limestone to at least 6000 feet above the sea. Several lo-
calities mentioned by Dr. Boué are then alluded to: Windisch-
garsten is a valley similar to Gosau, of which, according to the au-
thor, it exhibits only the lower shelly. beds, and amongst the conti-
guous rocks on which these repose, are grits, fucoid shales, Hippu-
rite limestone, younger Alpine limestone, &c.

Formations of the transition-tertiary age are then described on
three sides of the Wand, a mountain of Alpine limestone at the
eastern extremity of the Alps, where the author made various sec-
tions assisted by Mr. Partsch of Vienna. At Piesting Meyersdorf,
Dreystetten and Griinbach, they found that the shelly, blue marls
invariably occupied the same place in the series as at Gosau. At
Grinbach, the ascending order, as seen in vertical strata, is Alpine
and Hippurite limestones, green grit and shale, coal beds with
freshwater shells, nummulitic grit, marls with Gosau shells and
corals. In none of these sections could Mr. Partsch or the author

* See former Memoir, Proceedings of Geological Society, p. 154. -

254

detect the trace of Belemnites, said to have been found here by
Dr. Boué.

Il. The memoir neat describes the valley of the Danube.

It is stated that the phenomena on the flank of the Bohemian
chain, even where it approaches very near to the Alps, are entirely
different from any that have been previously described.

In a section from Vilshofen, on the Danube, to Schaerding, true
chalk with flints and characteristic fossils is seen, at Ortenburg, rest-
ing horizontally on black granite. The surface of this chalk is cor-
roded, and the fissures are filled and covered by sands with oysters,
and these again by blue marl, all wearing the aspect of the lower
tertiaries in England. These beds in the Inn-kreis, at Pielach near
Molk, &c. &c. stretch horizontally round promontories of gneiss and
granite, and offer a remarkable contrast to the vertzcality and dislo-
cations of the strata of the same age in the opposite and principal
chain of the Alps.

These discrepancies of arrangement, when coupled with the dif-
ferences in the direction of the two chains, are cited as corroborating
some of the views of M. Elie de Beaumont: for the Bohemian
mountains trending from N.W. to S.E. are seen not to have been
moved from a very ancient period ; whilst the principal chain of the
Alps running from W.S.W. to E.N.E.is found to have undergone
one of its last convulsions posterior to some of the most recent ac-
cumulations.

The tertiary deposits in the valley of the Danube and basin of
Vienna are cursorily enumerated. At Pielach and other places near
Molk, the lower blue marl or Tegel alternates with, and is sur-
mounted by, yellow sand ; and the lowest beds of this system are
presumed to be the equivalents of the London clay and lower Sub-
apennines.

The middle and higher tertiary deposits are alone well seen in the
basin of Vienna, and this the author attributes to the gradual declen-
sion in the height of the Alps in their range to the east, by which the
older tertiaries, which rest on their edges, are not brought to day in
that neighbourhood. These lower beds have, however, been reach-
ed by borings near Vienna, where 300 feet of the inferior blue
Tegel have been traversed, even to the white sands. The lower
blue marl is covered by yellow sand containing many species of
shells, and this again passes up into upper blue marl.

It is from these upper sands and marls, although of not half the
thickness of the lower, that nearly all the known shells of the basin
of Vienna have hitherto been collected; and hence the author infers
that it is impossible to decide upon the comparative age of all the
formations in this basin until the species of the different deposits be
separately ascertained,—a work which he hopes to see accomplished
by M. Partsch.

The blue marls and sands are proved to be overlaid by a pebbly,
calcareous conglomerate, which graduates upwards into the Leztha-
Kalk or great, white, coralline building-stone of Vienna, containing
bones of Tapir, Mastodon, &c. (Loretto, Margarethen, Eisenstadt,

255

Wollersdorf); and this rock is identified, by the author, with the»
coral limestone of Lower Styria, formerly described by Prof. Sedg-
wick, and himself,

It is stated that freshwater limestone, with Lymneza, Helix, and
Planorbis, is seen in patches (Eich Kogel, &c.), but that where this
formation is absent, the Leztha- Kalk is usually succeeded by thick
accumulations of gravel and sand, with concretions, and bones of
Tapir, Mastodon, Anthracotherium, &c.; these gravel beds being of
the same age with the superior deposits of Lower Styria, through
which it has been asserted in a former memoir, that basaltic and
trachytic eruptions have penetrated*.

Lastly. The superficial covering of the low countries of Austria,
called Léss, is mentioned as being of great thickness and extent,
containing bones of extinct species of elephants, mixed up with ter-
restrial shells of existing species, which character, combined with its
loamy structure, is considered to indicate a tranquil period of deposit.

Recapitulating the principal points illustrated in this memoir, the
author recurs to that essential part of it, in which, following up the
idea of Prof. Sedgwick and himself, he endeavours to prove the
large development and persistence in the eastern Alps of certain
shelly deposits, of an age intermediate between the chalk and the
tertiary formations ; and he concludes by expressing an opinion, that
with more extended examination, geologists may arrive at the con-
clusion, that the disturbing forces which in the West of Europe
have destroyed the formations succeeding to the chalk, were local
phenomena, which operated through a limited portion only of the
earth’s surface. é

‘Feb. 16.—John Evans, Esq. of Hertford-street, May Fair; John
McDonnell, Esq. of Upper Gloucester-place ; James C. Somerville,
Jun. M.D. of Princes-street; and John Badams, Esq. of Birming-
ham, were elected Fellows of this Society.

A letter was first read from Peter Cunningham, Esq. dated New-
castle on Hunter’s River, New South. Wales, Oct. 16, 1829; and
communicated by John Barrdw, Esq. F.R.S. &c.

This letter is written with a view to give some insight into the
former state of the interior of New South Wales, and the writer
accompanies it with a few organic remains ; amongst others,
with the second cervical vertebra of a large animal, found on the
surface. He states, that a great ridge separates the eastern and
western waters, running from N.N.E. to S.S.W. and that in Liver-
pool Plains the oldest rock appeared to be a hard, blue granite
with red sandstone on its flanks. Granite has also been seen at the
Wallanbai rivulet, at Carrington, and at Waybong, —distances of
35, 55, and 100 miles from the sea. In the Liverpool range,
it is said, there is a slaty, blue rock resembling grauwacké, and
that this is succeeded, about 26 miles up the Patterson, by a
coarse, red sandstone, and that again by a blue limestone. Another
limestone is described as having an oolitic structure with corals on its

* Proceedings of Geological Society, p. 213.

256 ©

surface. Most of the alluvial tracts in this part of the colony (Liver-
pool Plains, &c.) are spoken of as consisting of rich, black, loose mould,
formed by depositions from the hills, which on the slopes arrays itself
into ridges, and in the plains into alternate hillocks and cavities.

Much red sandstone with salt springs is stated to exist in the inte-
rior, as well as on the coast of the colony, and the red, loose, sandy
soil is said to be generally covered with the ‘iron tree’, and with
long, weak spikes of flaccid grass. It is to the want of an admixture
of clay, or any retentive stratum, with the sands, that the author attri-
butes the great deficiency of water in the colony, boring having been
found quite useless throughout the absorbent sandstone country, al-
though in the immediate flanks of the primary ridges water gushes
out freely, and chalybeate and saline springs occur at short distances
from each other.

The coal of the colony appears to be a lignite, and is associated
with grey marlstone containing impressions of leaves of dicotyledonous
plants. The secondary rocks contain casts of Terebratule and other
shells; but the author does not attempt to make out precisely the
order of superposition, or the equivalents of the strata.

A memoir was then read ‘‘ On the Geology of the Island of Juan
Fernandez, in the Pacific Ocean, by Alex. Caldcleugh, Esq. F.G.S.’’

After a sketch of the past history and present state of this island,
celebrated as the place of exile of Alexander Selkirk, the author pro-
ceeds to state that it is about twelve miles in length and four in
breadth, possessing three ports, and consisting of very high land, the
culminating point of which rises to about 3005 feet above the sea.

The author could discover no trace of a volcano said to exist here
by former visitors ; all the rocks, according to him, consist of basaltic
greenstone and trap of various mineralogical structure, both amorphous
and vesicular, together with trappean concretions, no other contained
minerals being observable except olivine and chaux carbonatée metas-
tatique. tis further mentioned that the basalt in parts is almost
columnar, and in others has a peaked and serrated outline, the mass
being, here and there, traversed by dykes.

Owing to the peculiar character of this basalt, and especially from
the great quantity of olivine, the author compares its age with that of
the basalt of Bohemia, the Rhine, the Vivarrais, and Beaulieu in
Provence. F

After the ordinary business of the evening had been concluded, a
Special General Meeting was held, when it was unanimously resolved,
that the Session should terminate, for the future, on the first evening
of Meeting in June.

PROCEEDINGS
Or

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1831. No. 20.

AT THE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
18th February 1831,

The following Report from the Council was read :—

The Council, in making their Annual Report, feel great pleasure in
being able to present a series of Returns, by which the continued
prosperity of the Society, and its increasing interest in public opinion,
are clearly proved.

The Council beg, in the first place, to call the attention of the So-
ciety to the Report of a Select Committee, appointed to examine the
state of the Museums and Library ; by which it will be seen that many
important additions were made during the past year.

It is with great satisfaction that the Council call attention to the
Treasurer’s Reports. On referring to these documents it will be seen
that the estimated Receipts for the ensuing year exceed the estimated
Expenditure, including the cost of the publication of a new Part of
the Society’s Transactions.

By the returns connected with the numerical strength of the So-
ciety, the Council have the satisfaction of showing, that the loss by
deaths and resignations during the past year amounted to only Six.
while the accession of new Fellows amounted to Fifty-one; making
an actual increase on the Books of the Society of Forty-five.

The Council, ever anxious to promote the circulation of the Society’s
Transactions, have directed much of their attention since the last anni-
versary to this important subject ; and they have made arrangements
with Messrs. Treuttel and Wurtz, by which they hope that the hi-
therto accumulating stock will be speedily reduced, and the know-
ledge of the Transactions themselves be widely diffused both at home
and abroad.

Finally, the Council are anxious to concur in the sentiments ex-
pressed in the concluding sentence of the Report on the state of the
Museum, and to record their testimony of the great talents and self-
devotion manifested by Mr. Lonsdale ever since his first connection
with the Society.

Report upon the Museums and Library.

I. Enettsu Couiecrion. The additions to this part of the collec-
tion consist of bones of Elephas Primigenius, of Rhinoceros and other
A

258

bones usually found in the gravel, presented by Mr. Hobson ; and of
bones of Palzotherium, Anoplotherium, and of a new species of Deer
from Binstead. in the Isle of Wight, presented by S. P. Pratt, Esq.
The valuable collection from the green-sand and Wealden formation
illustrative of all the beds between the chalk and the Portland stone,
presented by Dr. Fitton, will render complete a most interesting por-
tion of the series.

II. Tue.Foreien Conttection. This has been greatly enriched.
In addition to the elephant’s tusks from the frozen mud in the cliffs
of Eschscholtz Bay, brought home by Captain Beechey, R.N. and
presented by the Lords of the Admiralty, Captain Belcher, R.N. has
given the specimens obtained by him during the late expedition
under the command of Captain Beechey, and illustrative of the geo-
logical memoir in the Appendix to the Voyage published by the last-
mentioned officer, drawn up by Dr. Buckland from the notes of Cap-
tain Belcher and Mr. Colley. ‘To the Philadelphia Museum Company
the collection is indebted for some fine bones of Mastodon angus-
tidens? brought home by Captain Basil Hall, R.N.:—to Woodbine
Parish, Esq. for bones of a Mastodon from Buenos Ayres :—to Pro-
fessor Von Dechen for a collection of Rocks from the Siebengebirge :
—and to Dr. Fitton for a very important collection illustrative of his
Memoir on part of the Low Countries and the north of France, prin-
cipally near Maestricht and Aix la Chapelle.

In the arrangement of this collection great progress has been made
since the last Report. The specimens, illustrative of all the European
countries north of the Rhine—a portion of those illustrative of Asia,
(viz. those of all China and of a part of India)—and the whole African,
American and Australian collections are completely arranged and
partly labelled.

Ill, Siwere Minerats. Some additions have been made to this
part of the collection, which has been entirely re-arranged, and the
Curator has prepared an alphabetical catalogue of the specimens.

IV. Lisrary. The number of Books and Maps is considerably
increased ; but the Committee regret to observe the deficiency of
works of reference, especially of the more modern publications illus-
trative of Fossil Zoology and Botany. The geological map of Styria
laid down under the immediate superintendence of the Archduke John
of Austria is so well executed, that the Committee cannot forbear
calling the attention of the Society to this useful present from His
Imperial Highness.

The Committee, in conclusion, feel it their duty to express their
entire approbation of the results of the great zeal and talent mani-
fested by the Curator since the last Report; and they beg to state
their conviction, that to the willing devotion of his time and ability
the Society owes no small part of the advancing prosperity of the
department submitted to his care.

W. J. BRODERIP.
Geological Society, EDWARD TURNER.
Feb. 2, 1831. H. T. De ta BECHE.

259

Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the close
of the years 1829—30.

Fellows. 31st Dec. 1829. 31st Dec. 1830.
Having compounded.......... DOW se Me BI: 59
Contmibuting sae 5. eve ail GAS ae ee 177
Nonresidents... 4):./..) seis): oir DAN Se Get oh sk 272

463 508

Honoranys! .ajdic'l ieisisis ) ode Dill. 2h satiate 50

Foreign Members .: $j) as seer De SH ees 56

Personages of Royal Blood ...... i gah Ppa cd 3

Total 572 617

The following Persons were elected Fellows and Foreign Member
during the year 1830.

January Ist.—Rev. Henry Coddington, of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge.

January 15th.—William Parker, Esq. Albany Street, Regent’s Park ;
and the Rev. Henry Parr Hamilton of Trinity College, Cambridge.

February 5th.—James Calder, Esq. of Caicutta; and Edward John-
stone, Ksq. of Trinity College, Cambridge.

March 5th—Richard Smith, Esq. of Connaught Square ; Sir Tho-
mas Maryon Wilson, Bart. of Charlton House, Kent; Aristides
Franklin Mornay, Esq. of Ashburton House, Putney; the Rev.
Counop Thirlwall of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Rev J.
Philip Higman of Trinity College, Cambridge ; and William Parry
Richards, Esq. of Queen Street, Bloomsbury.

March 19th.—Henry Rowland Brandreth, Esq. of the Royal Engi-
neers, Woolwich ; Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart, of Middle Hill, Wor-
cestershire; and Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen, Hsq. of Lincoln’s
Inn, London.

April 2nd.—William Hallows Miller, Esq. of St. John’s College,
Cambridge ; Lloyd Baker, jun. Esq. of Hardwicke, Gloucester-
shire; William Grenville Eliot, Esq. of Hastings ; the Rev. Henry
Engleheart of Caius College, Cambridge ; Josias Lambert, Esq. of
Liverpool Street, London ; and Thomas Morgan, Esq. of ‘Thames
Ditton, Middlesex.

April 16th.—John Rennie, Esq. and George Rennie, Esq. of White-
hall Place; Alfred Thomas, Esq. of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire ;
Charles Mundy, jun. Esq. of Burton Hall, Loughborough; and
Alexander Turnbull Christie, M.D

May 7th.—Thomas England, Esq. of Pembroke College, Cambridge ;
Howard Elphinstone, Esq. of Pembroke College, Cambridge ; and
Robert Edmond Grant, M.D. of the London University.

May 21.—Granville Lonsdale, Esq. of the Third Regt. of Foot.

June 4th.—Rev. Richard Dawes, Fellow of Downing College, Cam-
bridge ; the Rev. Charles Currie, of Pembroke College, Cam-

260

bridge; the Rev. Thomas Musgrave, Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge ; William Devonshire Saull, Esq. of Aldersgate Street,
London ; and Francis Ellis, Esq. of the Royal Crescent, Bath.

June 1Sth.—Robert Dawson, Esq. of the Royal Engineers.

November 3rd.—The Rev. Thomas Boyles Murray of Hart Street,
Crutched Friars; James Edward Winterbottom,Esq.of Southampton
Buildings ; William Taylor, Esq. of Canonbury Square; Charles
Shaw Lefevre, Esq. of Whitehall Place ; the Rev. Thomas Arnold,
D.D. Head Master of Rugby School; Henry Ellis, Esq. of Wel-
beck Street ; the Right Honourable the Earl of Selkirk ; and Wil-
liam Joseph Bayne, M.D. of Trinity College, Cambridge.

November 17th.—The Rev. William Kirby of Barham, Norfolk ; John
Prideaux Selby, Esq. of Twizell House, near Belford, Northumber-
land ; and James Dickson, Esq. of Kidbrooke, Blackheath.

December Ist.—The Rev. Daniel Pettiward, of One-House, near
Stowmarket ; and John William Bowden, Esq. of Trinity College,
Oxford.

December 15th.—The Rev. Willam Turner of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, and Christ Church, Oxford ; Anthony Todd Thompson,
M.D. of the London University ; and George Townsend Fox, Esq.
of Westhoe, Durham.

Foreign Member, elected in 1830, Count Munster, of Bayreuth.

The Names of the Fellows deceased, within the past year, are as
follow :— 3

Compounders ......... (None.)
Residents prs ne. Henry Hakewill, Esq.

aod : Thomas James Bosvile, Esq.
NGS SN iy ot { Richard Chenevix, Esq-
IMOVKENEAT G6 g8.510 Oaae OMe (None.)

Honorary, a apres: ree Dr. James Miller.

The Museum has received many donations since the last Anniver-
sary, among which are included the following :—

British and Irish Specimens.

Portions of four basaltic columns from the Giant’s Causeway ; pre-.
sented by Henry Habberley Price, Esq. F.G.S.

Fossils from the Green-sand, Lias, and Carboniferous Limestone ;
presented by Henry Humphrey Goodhall, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from the Coal Basin of South Wales ; presented by Josias
Lambert, Esq. F.G.S.

Two specimens of Rostellaria macroptera; presented by the Rev.
John Ward, F.G.S.

A collection of Fossils from the Mountain Limestone of Devonshire ;
presented by Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Fossils from the Lias and Oolitic Coal Measures of Yorkshire ; pre-
sented by Nicholas Dennys, Esq. F.G.S.

261

Specimens of the fossil plant from Wideopen ; presented by William
Hutton, Esq. F.G.S,

Horns of Deer from the neighbourhood of the London Docks ; pre-
sented by H. R. Palmer, Esq.

Specimens from a brick-field and the gravel near Colchester ; pre-
sented by J. Brown, Esq.

A collection of Fossils from the neighbourhood of Farley Hungerford ;
presented by the Rev. Benjamin Richardson, Hon. Mem. G.S.

fe aon the Isle of Wight ; presented by John Willimott, Esq.

Remains of the Paleotherium, Anoplotherium, and a new variety of
Deer and Turtle, from Binstead in the Isle of Wight; presented
by Samuel Peace Pratt, Esq. F.G.S. F.L.S.

Several new Fossils from the Crag; presented by Samuel Wood-
ward, Esq.

Remains of the Elephant, Rhinoceros, Horse, and Ox, from Kings-
land; presented by William Hobson, Esq. F.G.S.

Vegetable remains from the South-Staffordshire Coal Field, and a
collection of Geological specimens ; presented by the Rev. James
Yates, F.G.S. F.L.S.

Hee ae Milton, Yorkshire ; presented by Edward Spencer, Esq.

GS.

Dapedium politum, and other Fossils, from Lyme Regis ; presented
by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Specimens of Lignite from Bovey Tracey, and Minerals from Haytor
Mine ; presented by Thomas Hodgson Holdsworth, Esq. F.G.S.

Foreign Specimens.

Tusks of an Elephant from the frozen mud in the Cliffs of Eschscholtz
Bay, brought home by Capt. Beechey, R.N.; presented by the Lords
of the Admiralty.

A collection of specimens from Australia ; presented by the Venerable
Archdeacon Scott, F.G.S.

A series of Geological specimens collected by Captain Belcher
during the expedition to Behring’s Straits, under the command of
Captain Beechey, R.N.; presented by Captain Belcher, R.N. F.G.S.

Native Platina, and native alloy of Iridium and Osmium ; presented
by Thomas Johnson, Esq. F.G:S. Saal

A collection of bones of the Mastodon ; and specimens of rocks and
simple minerals from North America; presented by the Philadel-
phia Museum Company, and brought to England by Captain Basil
Hall, R.N. F.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Geological specimens from the South of Spain; presented by Colonel
Charles Silvertop, F.G.S.
Two species of recent Tree Ferns from Jamaica; presented by Henry

Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

A collection of rocks from the Siebengebirge ; presented by Professor
Von Dechen of Berlin, For. Mem. G.S.

Geological Specimens from Nova-Scotia and New Brunswick ; pre-
sented by Dr. Ridgway.

262

Collections of Rocks and Fossils from Maestricht, Aix-la-Chapelle,
&c.; presented by William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

Remains of the Mastodon found at Salta, -in Buenos Ayres ; pre-
sented by Woodbine Parish, Esq. His Majesty's Chargé d’ Affaires,
and Consul General at Buenos Ayres.

Geological specimens from the Isle of Ascension ; presented by Lieut.
Fayrer, R.N.

A collection of rocks from the neighbourhood of Guanaxuato ; pre-
sented by Edward Hurry, Esq.

Specimens from the Island of Ascension ;
Lyell, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Specimens from the Isthmus of Darien ; presented by John Augustus
Lloyd, Esq. F.R.S.

Specimens. of silicate of copper, sulphate of barytes containing native
silver, limestone, and fossils from Coquimbo, in Chili ; and a series
of geological specimens from the Bay of Conception; presented
Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq. F.G.S.

A collection of Rocks and Fossils, from Hunter’s River, New South
Wales, collected by Peter Cunningham, Esq., and presented by
John Barrow, Esq. F.R.S.

Specimens from the Valleys of the Araja and Terek, in the Caucasus ;
presented by Lieut. Col. Monteith.

presented by Charles

The Lrsrary has been increased by the donation of 70 volumes
and pamphlets.

The Second Part of the Third Volume of the New Series of the
Transactions has been put to press, and it is hoped that it will be
published early in the ensuing summer.

The following List contains the Names of all the Persons and
Societies from whom Donations to the Library and Museum have
been received during the past year.

Ainsworth, William, Esq. Broderip, William John, Esq.
American Philosophical Society, V.P.GS. F.R.S.
Philadelphia. Brown, John, Esq.
Asiatic Society of Calcutta.
Royal Asiatic Society of Great | Caldcleugh, Alexander, Esq.

Britain.

Baddeley, F. H. Esq. Lieutenant
Roy. Eng.

Barrow, John, Esq. F.R.S.

Beaumont, M. Elie de, For. Mem.
G.S.

Belcher, Edward, Esq. Capt. R.N.
F.G.S.

Boué, Dr. Ami, For. Mem. G.S.

Brookes, Joshua, Esq. F.RS.

F.GS.
Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Caumont, M. de.
Cheek, Henry, H. Esq.
Chevalier, Mons.
Clarke, James, M.D.

Dechen, Henreich von, For.Mem.
G.S.

De la Beche, Henry Thomas,
Bsq. F.G.S, F.R.S.

Dennys, Nicholas, Esq. F.G:S.
Dufrénoy, Mons. For. Mem. G.S.

East India Company, the Hon.
the Board of Directors.

Egerton, Sir Philip de Malpas
Grey, Bart. M.P.F.G.S.F.R.S.

Esmark,Professor, For.Mem.G.S.

Fayrer, Lieut. R.N.

Fischer, Gotthelf, For. Mem.G.S.

Fitton, William Henry, M.D.
F.G.S. F.R.S.

Frazer's Magazine, Editor of.

Geological Society of France.

Godman, John, M.D.

Goodhall, Henry Humphrey, Esq.
F.G.S.

Hall, Capt. Basil, R.N. F.G.S.
F.R.S.

Hansteen, Professor.

Hardwicke, Major General.

Hays, Isaac, M.D.

Heathfield, Richard, jun. Esq.
F.G.S.

His Imperial Highness The Arch-
duke John of Austria, For. Fel-
low G.S.

Heeninghaus, F. W.

Hoff, Karl Ernest Adolf von.

Hogg, |. Esq. F.L.S.

Hobson, William, Esq. F.G.S. .

Holdsworth, Thomas Hodgson,
Esq. F.G.S.

Henry, Edward, Esq.

Hurry, Edward, Esq.

Hutton, William, Esq. F.G.S.

Johnson, Thomas, Esq. F.G.S.
Joubert, Mons.

Kleinschrod, Mons.
Klipstein, Dr. A.

Lambert, Josias, Esq. F'.G.S.
Lea, Isaac, Esq.

Leeds Philosophical Society.
Lilienbach, Mons. Lill von.
Lindley, John, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S.

263

Linnean Society.

Literary and Historical Society of
Quebec.

Lloyd, John Augustus, Esq.
F.R.S.

London Institution.

Loudon, John, Esq. F.G.S.

Lyell, Charles, Esq. For. Sec.
G.S. F.R.S.

Medico-Botanical Society.

Monteith, Lieut. Col.

Murchison, Mrs.

Murchison, Roderick Impey, Esq.
Sec. GS. F.R.S.

Palmer, H. R. Esq.

Parish, Woodbine, Esq. His
Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires at
Buenos Ayres.

Plymouth Institution.

Pratt, Samuel Peace, Esq. F.G.S.
F.L.S.

Price, Henry Habberley, Esq.
F.G.S.

Richardson, Rev. Benjamin, Hon.
M.G.S.

Ridgway, Dr. F.L.S.

Robnet, Mons.

Royal Astronomical Society.

Royal Academy of Sciences, Paris.

Royal College of Surgeons.

Royal Institution.

Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Geological Society of Corn-
wall.

Rozet, Mons.

Savi, Professor.
Scott, the Venerable Archdeacon,
F.G.S.

Sedgwick, Rev. Professor, Pres.
G.S. F.R.S.
Silliman, Professor, M. D. For.

Mem. G.S
Silvertop, Col. Charles, F.G.S.
Society of Arts.
Spencer, Edward, Esq. F.G.S.
Stanley, Rev. Edward.
Sturtz, Mons.

264

Taylor, Richard, Esq. F.G.S. Sec. | Woodward, Samuel, Es .
L.S. Witham, Henry, Esq. Hon.Mem.
Taylor, Richard Cowling, Esq. GS.
F.G.S. White, Henry Campbell, Esq.
Thomas, Alfred, Esq. F.G.S. F.G.S

Thorpe, Thomas, Esq. Willimott, John, Esq. F.G.S.

Turner, Edward, M.D. F.G.S. | Winch, Nathaniel J., Esq. Hon.
F.R.S.L. & E. Mem. G.S.

Voltz, M. For. Mem. G:S. Yates, Rev. James, F.G.S. F.L.S.

Yorkshire Philosophical Society.
Warburton, Henry, Esq. M.P.
F.G.S. F.R.S. Zimmerman, Dr.
Ward, Rev. John, F.G.S. Zoological Society.

List of Pavers read since the last Annual Meeting, Feb. 19, 1830.

March 5.—On the Tertiary Deposits of Lower Styria; by the Rev.
Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S., Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge, &c., and Roderick Impey Murchison,Esq.
Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c.

March 19.—Reference to a Geological Map and Section of Pembroke-
shire ; by Alfred Thomas, Esq. F.G.S.

The first of two Letters addressed to Roderick Impey Mur-

chison, Esq. Sec. G.S. on the Lacustrine Basins of Baza and Alhama,

in the Province of Grenada, and similar deposits in other parts of
Spain ; by Col. Charles Silvertop, F.G.S.

April 2 and 16.—On the Geology of Weymouth and the neighbouring
coasts of Dorsetshire ; by the Rev. William Buckland, D.D. F.G.S.
F.R.S. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of
Oxford, &c. and Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

April 16.—Description of a new species of Ichthyosaurus ; by Daniel
Sharpe, Esq. F.G.S.

May 7.—Sketches explanatory of a Geological Map of the Arch-
duchy of Austria and of the South of Bavaria; by Dr. Ami Boué, For.
Mem. G.S. &c.

May 21.—Sketch of the Structure of the Austrian Alps ; by the Rev.
Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R S., Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge, &c., and Roderick Impey Murchison,
Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c.

June 4.—On the Geological Relations of the South of Ireland; by
Thomas Weaver, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. M.R.I.A. &c.

June 18.—The second of two Letters addressed to Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. on the Lacustrine Basins of Baza and
Alhama, and similar deposits in other parts of Spain; by Col.
Charles Silvertop, F.G.S.

November 3 and 17.—Remarks on the Formation of Alluvial Depo-
sits; by the Rev. James Yates, F.G.S. F.L.S. &c.

December 1.—An explanatory sketch of a Geological Map of Mo-

265

ravia and the West of Hungary; by Dr. Ami Boué For. Mem.
G.S. &c.

December 15.—An explanatory sketch of a Geological Map of Tran-
sylvania; by Dr. Ami Boué, For. Mem. G.S. &c.

—— — On the Astronomical Causes which may influence
Geological Phenomena; by John Frederick William Herschel, Esq.
F.G.S. F.R.S. &c.

January 5, 1831.—On the general structure of the Lake Mountains
of the North of England, and on the great dislocations by which
they have been separated from the neighbouring Chains; by the
Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Pres. G.S. F.R.S., Woodwardian Professor
in the University of Cambridge.

Jan. 19 and Feb 2.—Supplementary Observations on the Structure
of the Austrian and Bavarian Alps; by Roderick Impey Murchi-
son, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S.

Feb. 16.—On the Geology of the Island of Juan Fernandez in the
Pacific ; by Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq. F.G.S.

—— A Letter from Peter Cunningham, Esq., to John Barrow,
Esq., F.R.S., on the Geology of Hunter’s River, New South Wales ;
and communicated by Mr. Barrow.

266

Sums actually Recetved and Expended,

RECEIPTS.

Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1830: og sc 4) de euerises a.
Bankers MeO Boe Gs. aa ee 419 4 6
Mccountamty 32 ees 4 ese te oe bento 43 5 0O

462 9 6

Arrears : Ages Weck olathe
Admission Fees .........ccceccers 92 8 0
AnnualiContribationss.. ss oes ee 79 11 6
iMGonhies Nl ws Ge EAS oda adie 64 Wi i)

eae a

Ordinary Income : . ee Psd:

Annual Contributions ...... fir eee 468 ll 6
Admission Fees : eo6 Ge ak
Residents .......... 119 14 0
Non-Residents ...... 252 00
—___——. 3/1 14 0
840 5 6
Compositions, three)... otis er eee 92°10 0
ALTrAanSaCtiOnS.. cscs awe ee cere eee eee 41s 5 0
Proceedin 2S yaa tear nee ae tere Masten ste enone 8) oe
Wollaston Fund........... aiale aie ganas She RTO RO: e204:

£2035 12 10

267

during the year 1830.

PayMEN'’S.

Bills outstanding from last year : #85 Ga Gh
General Expenditure ...........ssessesee. panpodeos 23 4 O
Salaries and! Wages ..........scccacasecocesernsernse 79 4 6
Stationery and Miscellaneous Printing ....... op ROOM SiG
MeavandgWaiters) <..ccccccescersscssecdsenenss 9009000 a eG
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Wepairswote Ouse sescessecceecsseoeceesaececsececs IGS, ey 7
Publications, Transactions ..........+cssssessoeees 519 8 8

——, Proceedings............scsesesecsesces 37 O 6
Scientific Expenditure ............. 99994090000050000 Cf 8 2

General Expenditure : 28, Sh Gh ese OS Gh
Repairs of House.......0+00+ soon WG} B®
Maxes! Parochial s.-ccccsccceceecee 29 10 6

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Salaries and Wages : ke 5S. de

' Curator sens cimonacensucacdesaseeseees 200 0 O
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270

The Report having been read, it was Resolved :—

1. That this Report be received.

2. That the thanks of the Society be given to the Rev. Professor
Sedgwick, retiring from the office of President.

3. That the thanks of the Society be given to Leonard Horner,
Ksq., and Henry Warburton, Esq., retiring from the office of Vice
Presidents.

4. That the thanks of the Society be given to Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq., retiring from the office of Secretary.

5. That the thanks of the Society be given to Arthur Aikin, Esq.,
Francis Chantrey, Esq., Sir Alexander Crichton, K.S.W. M.D., Cap-
tain Sir John Franklin, R.N., John Lindiey, Esq., Dr. Roget, and
Charles Stokes, Esq., retiring from the Council.

The President, the Rev. Professor Sepewicx, then proceeded to deliver
the followimg Address, on announcing the first award of the Wol-
laston Prize :—

Berore you proceed to elect the Officers and Council for the com-
ing year, it remains for me to announce from the Chair the adjudi-
cation of the Wollaston Prize. The affecting circumstances under
which it was founded, so short a time before the death of one of the
most illustrious men who have adorned our lists, the earnest wishes he
expressed, almost with his dying breath, for the honour and well-being
of this Society, and the peculiar public interest attached to a first
award, have thrown a more than usual responsibility upon the Coun-
cil. We were deeply conscious of this responsibility ; we have not
come to our decision lightly ; and in what we have done we look for
your entire approbation.

I am anxious, in the first place, to recall to your recollection the
powers committed to the Council, and the spirit of the instructions
by which they were directed in their award ; and I have no means of
doing this so effectually as by quoting a portion of the communication,
in which Dr. Wollaston first informed us of his intention of establish-
ing the ‘‘ Donation Fund.” After stating that he had invested one
thousand pounds in the three per cent. reduced bank annuities, in
the joint names of himself and the Geological Society, he directed
that after his decease ‘the Society should apply the dividends in pro-
moting researches concerning the mineral structure of the earth, or
in rewarding those by whom such researches might hereafter be made ;
or in such manner as should appear to the Council of the said Society
for the time being, conducive to the interests of the Society in parti-
cular, or the science of geology in general,” &c. And he afterwards
enjoined the Society ‘‘ not to hoard the dividends parsimoniously, but
to expend them liberally, and, as far as might be, annually, in further-
ing the objects of the trust.”

Such, Gentlemen, was the letter of our instructions: and as we
were enjoined to expend the proceeds of the Donation Fund, as far
as might be, annually, I will read an extract from the Report of the

271

Council at the preceding Anniversary, in explanation of our motives
for withholding, on that occasion, the distribution of the dividends.

“The Council have not thought it expedient to make as yet any
distribution of the dividends arising from this fund, but have appro-
priated the first year’s income to the acquisition of a die for a medal
which is to bear the head of Dr. Wollaston: and they hope that the
Society will approve of this endeavour to perpetuate in the minds of
geologists the memory of their illustrious benefactor. The first an-
nual distribution, therefore, of the Wollaston Medal, as well as a cer-
tain sum of money, will be awarded at the next anniversary according
to the provision of the bequest.”—(Feb. 19th, 1830.)

Mr. Chantrey kindly undertook to carry the resolution of the
Council into effect; and under his directions Mr. Wyon of the Royal
Mint was employed to execute a die, which we hope before long to
see finished. We met, therefore, in the early part of this year to act
upon the letter of our instructions, and we recorded our award in
the following Resolutions.

Extract from the Minute-book of the Council, Jan. 11, 1831.

Resolved unanimously—|. “That a Medal of fine gold, bearing the
impress of the Head of Dr. Wollaston, and not exceeding the value
of ten guineas, be procured with the least possible delay.”

2. “That the first Wollaston Medal be given to Mr. William
Smith, in consideration of his being a great original discoverer in
English Geology; and especially for his having been the first, in this
country, to discover and to teach the identification of strata, and to
determine their succession by means of their imbedded fossils.”’

The first gold medal struck from the die now in progress will
therefore be sent to Mr. Smith ; and we have added to it a purse of
twenty guineas, from the dividends of the ‘‘ Donation Fund,” which
it is now my duty publicly to present to him in the name of the Geo-
logical Society. His great and original works are known to you all;
and I might well refer to them for our justification, and without any
further preface place the prize in his hand, offering him my hearty
congratulations. But since his arrival in London, within the last few
heurs, he has given me a short account of his early discoveries, and
has shown me a series of documents of no ordinary interest to this
Society, and important to the correct history of European geology.
I should ill perform my present task were I to withhold this infor-
mation from you; I proceed therefore to communicate it with what
brevity and simplicity [ can.

Mr. William Smith was born at Churchill in Oxfordshire—a place
abounding in fossils, the playthings of his childhood, and the objects
of collection in his early youth. This is one of many instances where
things, in themselves inconsiderable, act powerfully on peculiar minds,
so as to influence the whole tenour of after-life. During his boyhood
his habits of observation became confirmed by lessons in practical sur-
veying : he remarked the alternations of argillaceous and stony strata,
and thence became acquainted with the origin of springs and the

272

true principles of draining; and fortunately many practical works of
this kind were carried on under his immediate inspection.

In 1787 (when eighteen years of age) he was employed in survey-
ing and inclosing extensive tracts of common-land: this gave him a
further insight into the minutest modifications of structure in his native
country ; and within the two next years his surveys extended beyond
the oolite hills into the plain of the new red sandstone. The regular
stratification of the lias and the peculiarities of the red ground, at
that time new to him, made a lasting impression on his mind. Carry-
ing with him his acquired habits of accurate observation, he continued
his surveys (during 1790) to the coast of Hampshire, and to the
country round Salisbury and Bath ; and he became gradually familiar
with the outline of the chalk downs, and the external characters of
large agricultural districts. In 1791, while employed in making ex-
tensive surveys in a part of Somersetshire, he remarked the identity
of the red marl and lias of that county with the corresponding for-
mations of Gloucestershire, and recognized their discordant position
on the coal measures. During the same year he made several detailed
sections of the coal strata; collected fossil plants which he found cha-
racteristic of particular beds in his sections ; and remarked that none
of the many fossils of the lias were found either in the coal strata or
the red marl: and at this time he also began to make practical obser-
vations and inquiries with a view of ascertaining the range and extent
of the successive deposits, and the reality of a general line of dip to-
wards the east, of which he had already seen so many local instances.

I think these facts of great importance, as they contain the germ
of all Mr. Smith’s future discoveries. And we must bear in mind—that
his attention was distracted by the duties of a laborious profession—
that he had barely reached the age of manhood—and that he had not
received a glimmering of direction in his general speculations.

In the course of the two following years, while continuing the duties
of a surveyor and civil engineer, he became gradually acquainted with
all the minute facts of stratification in the country round Bath: and
for the purpose of bringing to the test the inquiries suggested by his
surveys in 1791, he made two transverse sections along the lines of
two parallel valleys intersecting the oolitic groups (determining the
actual elevation of these lines by means of levels carried from the
Somerset Coal Canal); and ascertained that the several beds, found
in the high escarpments around Bath, were brought down by an
eastern dip, in regular succession, to the level of his lines of section.
During these two years Mr. Smith was in the constant habit of ma-
king collections of fossils, with strict indications of their localities ; and
in completing the details of his transverse sections, he found, where
the beds themselves were obscure, that he could by organic remains
alone determine the true order of succession. During this period he
also extended his surveys through the Cotteswold Hills, and became
acquainted with the general facts of the range of the oolitic escarp-
ment towards the North of England.

In the year 1794 he crossed the whole series of formations, and
marked their escarpments between Bath and London; and afterwards

278

extended his surveys to the Durham and Northumberland coal-
field: while on his way, partly by actual sections and partly by the
help of external contours, with which his eye was now familiar, he
ascertained the range of the chalk to Flamborough Head, and of
the oolitic series, through a regular succession of escarpments, to
the Hambleton Hills and the cliffs of Yorkshire. Combining the
facts discovered in this excursion with the distribution of the for-
mations in the south-western parts of England, he began to record
his observations by colouring geological maps. Several documents
of this kind are now unfortunately lost: but I have been informed
by Mr. Phillips (Curator of the museum of the Yorkshire Philo-
sophical Society), that he possesses a valuable geological map, co-
loured by Mr. Smith in the year 1800, connecting the structure of
the North of England, which at that time he had not again visited,
with the structure of the South-western districts; and delineating
the whole oolitic series through England, in some places very cor-
rectly, and in all with a general approach to accuracy.

Mr. Smith in 1795 became for the first time a housekeeper; and
no sooner had he apartments of his own, than he turned them to
account by arranging his large collection of organic fossils (the
accumulation of several years) stratigraphically. I am certain,
Gentlemen, that this stratigraphical collection, preceded by many
years any other similar collection formed in this country : aad with-
out pretending to any exact knowledge of the history of Continental
geology, I greatly doubt whether a stratigraphical collection of or-
ganic fossils, derived from a long series of formations, and specially
intended to assist in identifying their subordinate strata and deter-
mining their relations, was ever made before the year 1795 in any
part of Europe.

Local collections of organic remains were undoubtedly made in
this country long before the time of Mr. Smith, and in the works of
our older writers we may sometimes find the glimmerings of his dis-
coveries.— Woodward formed a magnificent collection of organic re-
mains ; and he separated from the rest a series of fossils of the Hamp-
shire coast, and was aware that many of the species were the same
as those of the London clay : but this fact, and many others of like
kind, were with him but sterile trutns ; and being led astray by his
theory, he knew nothing either of the real structure of the earth,
or of any law regulating the distribution of organic forms.— Michell
was a man of great talents, and undoubtedly made out the true rela-
tions of the secondary deposits in one portion of this island: but he
was, | believe, ignorant of the importance of organic remains, and did
not use them as a means of identifying strata. —Lister is distinguished
among the writers of the seventeenth century as the first to propose
the construction of mineralogical maps, and he had some limited no-
tions of the distribution of organic fossils, though he misunderstood
both their nature and importance.

The works of these authors were, however, entirely unknown to Mr,
Smith during his early life, and every step of his progress was made

274

without any assistance from them*. But! will go further, and affirm,
that had they all been known to him, they would take nothing
from the substantial merit of his discoveries. Fortunately placed in a
country where all our great secondary groups are brought near toge-
ther, he became acquainted in early life with many of their complex
relations. He saw particular species of fossils in particular groups of
strata, and in no others; and giving generalization to. phenomena,
which men of less original minds would have regarded as merely
local, he proved (so early as 1791) the continuity of certain groups
of strata, by their organic remains alone, where the mineral type was
wanting. He made large collections of fossils; and the moment an
opportunity presented itself he arranged them all stratigraphically.
Having once succeeded in identifying groups of strata by means of their
fossils, he saw the whole importance of the inference—gave it its ut-
most extension—seized upon it as the master principle of our science
—by help of it disentangled the structure of a considerable part of
England—and never rested from his labours till the public was fairly
in possession of his principles. If these be not the advances of
an original mind, I do not know where we are to find them; and I
affirm with confidence, after the facts already stated, that the Council
were justified in the terms of their award, and that Mr. William
Smith was “the first, in this country, to discover and to teach the
identification of strata, and to determine their succession by means
of their imbedded fossils.”

* T am anxious to do no injustice to those who preceded Mr. Smith. No part of
Woodward’s collection was arranged stratigraphically— Michell, who. occupied
the Woodwardian Chair several years, was of course intimately acquainted with
every part of this collection: but I do not think he made any use of it as a, means
of determining the order of superposition. There is, however, one passage in
his celebrated paper ‘‘ On the Cause and Phznomena of Earthquakes” (Phil.
Trans. vol. li. p. 587), which I am bound to. notice. Itis as follows: ‘“ These
inequalities are sometimes so great, that the strata are bent for some small distance,
even the contrary way from the general inclination of them. This often makes
it difficult to trace the appearances I have been relating ; which, without a general
knowledge of the fossil bodies of a. large tract of country, it is hardly possible to
do.’’ Iam almost certain, that by the term fossil, he did not intend organic re-
mains. In the works and catalogues of Dr. Woodward (with which of course
Michell was most familiar), and in the language of naturalists of the last
century, every mineral substance was designated under the general term fossil ;
and. organic remains were almost always distinguished by the name of extraneous
fossils, organic fossils, &c, &c. The memorandum, by which it.is proved that
Michell had a knowledge of the true relations of several of our secondary groups,
was found by accident among the papers of Sir Joseph Banks, and published in
1810. It could not, therefore, have possibly been known to Mr. Smith during
the progress of his discoveries. (See Tilloch’s Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxvi.
p. 102.)

Since the Anniversary, I have looked over the paper in which Lister recom-
mends the construction of mineral maps (Phil. Trans. vol. xiv. p.730: 1684).
It is clear that he had no correct notions on the nature of stratification; and
his: opinions on organic remains were, as is well known, most erroneous and un-
philosophical. All these questions are discussed at considerable length, and with
great ability and candour, in an article of the Edinbargh Review (vol. xxix.
p- 311, &c.), now known to be from the pen of Dr. Fitton. To this article I par-
ticularly wish to refer the reader.

275

After the year 1795, he turned his knowledge to effect in his va-
rious employments as civil engineer. Works of drainage were carried
on by him on the principles of stratification—his stratigraphical col-
lections were continually increased—he sketched geological sections
on the lines of local surveys (many of which have been since pub-
lished)—and traced geological lines of demarcation upon various
county maps. Of these [ may mention an excellent map of Somer-
setshire, coloured on the scale of an inch to a mile, and publicly ex-
hibited and explained at an annual agricultural meeting at Bath, in
the year 1799; and another map (publicly exhibited at the same
time, and now, I rejoice to tell you, on the table of this Society) of
the country six miles round Bath; representing all the different
formations, and the minute subdivisions of the oolites, distinguished
as they remain in our geological maps to this day. For eight or
nine years he had been steadily and resolutely advancing, but with-
out aid, and almost without sympathy ; for he was so far before the
rest of our geologists, if indeed they deserved the name, that they
could not even comprehend the importance of what he had done.
The public exhibitions I have alluded to, and the obvious practical
interest of the subject, seem, however, at length, to have roused the
attention of the scientific gentlemen near Bath: and it appears to
have been during the meeting of the Agricultural Society, in 1799,
that he first became acquainted with the Rev. B. Richardson of Far-
ley, an excellent naturalist and a very extensive collector of fossils ;
and with the Rev. J. Townsend of Pewsey, whose literary and philo-
sophic works are well known to you all. I will not do injury to this
part of my narrative, by offering any comments upon these facts, but
I will read you a letter I have just received from Mr. Richardson
himself.

Copy of Mr. Richardson’s Letter.

Farley Rectory, near Bath,
Sir, 10th Feb. 1831.

I am requested to present you the particulars of my acquaintance
with Mr. William Smith, well known by the appropriate appellation
of Strata Smith.

At the Annual Meeting of the Bath Agricultural Society in 1799,
Mr. Smith was introduced to my residence in Bath, when, on viewing
my collection of fossils, he told me the beds to which they exclusively
belonged, and pointed out some peculiar to each, This, by attending
him in the fields, I soon found to be the fact, and also, that they had
a general inclination to the south-east, following each other in regu-
lar succession.

With the open liberality peculiar to Mr. Smith, he wished me to
communicate this to the Rev. J. Townsend of Pewsey (then in Bath),
who was not less surprised at the discovery. But we were soon much
more astonished by proofs of his own collecting, that whatever stra-
tum was found in any part of England, the same remains would be
found in it and no other. Mr. Townsend, who had pursued the sub-
ject 40 or 50 years, and had travelled over the greater part of civi-

276

lized Europe, declared it perfectly unknown to all his acquaintance,
and he believed to all the rest of the world.

In consequence of Mr. Smith’s desire to make so valuable a disco-
very universally known, I, without reserve, gave a card of the English
strata to Baron Rosencrantz, Dr. Muller of Christiana, and many
others, in the year 1801.

I am happy to hear that the Geological Society proposes to pay a
deserved compliment to his merits, to which I most gratefully bear
a willing testimony ; and am, Sir,

Most respectfully, Yours,
The Reverend Professor Sedgwick, B. RicHARDSON.

Trinity College, Cambridge*.

Mr. Smith’s views now expanded through the influence of sym-
pathy and the hopes of patronage (too feebly answered in the event);
and under the advice of the two gentlemen [| have mentioned, he be-
gan to commit his thoughts to paper, and to designate the great sub-
divisions of our secondary series by names, many of which have been
since almost universally current, and are adopted in our Society : and
there now exists, in the hand-writing of Mr. Richardson, a geological
table of our successive formations, dictated by Mr. Smithin 1799, for
the express purpose of serving as the foundation of a memoir, to ac-
company an intended geological map of England. This very curious
and important document is now placed before you; and as it was the
first tabular sketch of our formations, drawn up before he had, in
conjunction with Mr. Richardson, finally decided upon the names by
which they ought to be designated, you will remark, that the succes-
sive groups, from the coal measures to the chalk inclusive, are re-
presented by a series of numbers, accompanied with explanatory
notes, but without any proper names affixed to them.

At a great sacrifice, and great personal expense, Mr. Smith
now began to extend his observations with a direct view to publi-
cation: and in 180] he printed a very elaborate prospectus, of
which I fortunately possess a copy (now on the table of the So-
ciety), containing proposals for publishing, by subscription, a work
in 4to, entitled, ‘‘ Accurate Delineations and Descriptions of the
Natural Order of the various Strata that are found in different parts
of England and Wales; with Practical Observations thereon.”” The
work was to have been accompanied by ‘‘ a correct map of the strata,
describing the general course and width of each stratum at the sur-
face, and accompanied by a general section, showing their proportion,
dip, and direction, and referring to the map by corresponding num-
bers and general explanations.”

The concluding paragraph of the prospectus is so remarkable, that
I will extract it entire :

«« To attempt a complete history of all the minutiz of strata, would
be an endless labour ; for along life devoted to such a pursuit, must
be inadequate to the purpose, considering the immense variety that is

. * The letter being addressed to me at Cambridge during my absence, was
only received a day or two before the Anniversary.

277

to be found within this little island. But should the present Essay
meet with that liberal patronage from the public which the author has
reason to expect, it is his intention, ina future work, to give a particu-
lar description of the numerous animal remains and vegetable impres-
sions found in each stratum; with an accurate detail of every charac-
teristic mark that has led him to these discoveries.”

Why his hopes of patronage were disappointed, and why his
works were so long retarded, not by any want of zeal on his part,
but by want of assistance from the public, it is not for me now
to inquire—The fact is not, however, difficult of explanation. At
the time this prospectus made its first appearance, none of the
magnificent discoveries of Cuvier and Brongniart were, I believe,
published *. The Geological Society of London had no existence—
the branches of natural history connected with secondary geology
were little cultivated, and indeed almost unknown in this country—
and hence some persons perhaps doubted the reality of Mr. Smith’s
pretensions on a subject they had been taught to regard as em-
pirical, and the public at large took little interest in what they did
not comprehend. He suffered, therefore, as many men of genius
have done before him, in his peace and in his fortune, from what
in our estimation constitutes his chief honour—from outstripping the
men of his own time in the progress of discovery.

The Geological Society was organized in the year 1807, and
its Transactions are the true records of its labours and opinions,
In the first volume of the first series, published in 1811, and com-
posed of papers read during the four preceding years, there is
one paper, and one only, containing any direct allusion to the
great geological importance of organic remains. ‘he allusion
is conveyed in the following words—‘ To derive any informa-
tion of consequence from fossil organized remains, on these sub-
jects, it is necessary that their examination should be connected
with that of the several strata in which they are found. Already

“have these examinations, thus carried on, taught us the following
instructive facts :—that exactly similar fossils are found in distant
parts of the same stratum, not only when it traverses this island,
but when it appears again on the opposite coast: that in strata of
considerable comparative depth fossils are found, which are not
discovered in any of the superincumbent beds: that some fossils,
which abound in the lower, are found in diminishing numbers
through several of the superincumbent, and are entirely wanting in
the uppermost strata },” &c. &c.

To this passage, the author appends a note, commencing as fol-
lows :—“ This mode of conducting our inquiries was long since
recommended by Mr. W. Smith, who first noticed that certain fos-
sils are peculiar to, and are only found lodged in, particular strata;
and who first ascertained the constancy in the order of super-
position, and the continuity of the strata of this island,” &c. &c.

* The first memoir with which I am acquainted, explaining the views of these
two illustrious authors respecting the phenomena of the Paris basin, was pub-
lished in the year 1808, in the Annales du Muséum, tom. xi. p, 307. —

+ Geol. Trans. vol. i. Ist series, p. 325.

278

One quotation more, and I have done. The Reverend J. Town-
send of Pewsey, in the first volume of a work published in 1813
(entitled «The Character of Moses established for Veracity.as an
Historian”), described at considerable length the secondary strata
of England ; and after referring nearly the whole of his information
to Mr. Smith, adds the following words :—“ The discoveries of this
skilful engineer have been of vast importance to geology, and will
be of infinite value to the nation. To a strong understanding, a
retentive memory, indefatigable ardour, and a more than common
sagacity, this extraordinary man unites a perfect contempt for
money, when compared with science. Had he kept his discoveries
to himself, he might have accumulated wealth ; but with unparal-
leled disinterestedness of mind, he scorned concealment, and made
known his discoveries to every one who wished for information. It
is now eleven years since he conducted the Author in his examina-
tion of the strata which are laid bare in the immediate vicinity of
Bath: and subsequent excursions in the stratified and calcareous pores
tions of our island have confirmed the information thus obtained.”

Knowledge thus orally communicated, gradually and insensibly
became a part of the public stock; and beyond doubt “ produced
a very important, though unobserved effect upon the labours of all
succeeding inquirers, who have been, perhaps unconsciously, but
not-less really, indebted to Mr. Smith for very essential assistance
in their progress.”-—Edinburgh Review, vol, xxix. p. 313.

On what Mr. Smith has done since 1813, it is needless for me to
dwell, as it is now a matter of public notoriety. But I may be par-
doned for reminding you of his great geological map of England, pub-
lished in 1815, which forms one of the decorations of this room—of a
work accompanied by plates (published by Mr. Sowerby, in numbers,
commencing, I beliéve, in 1816), entitled ‘ Strata identified by
their Fossils’—of a stratigraphical system, published in 1817, spe-
cially designed as an accompaniment to his collection of fossils
purchased by the Treasury, and deposited in the British Museum —
of his instructive series of sections, published at various times, and
intended to illustrate his other works—lastly, of his twenty county
maps, the result of incredible labour, and admirable for many of
their details ; and of a value known to every English geologist who
has laboured in the field. :

I for one can speak with gratitude of the practical lessons I have
received from Mr. Smith: it was by tracking his footsteps, with
his maps in my hand, through Wiltshire and the neighbouring coun-
ties, where he had trodden nearly thirty years before, that I first
learnt the subdivisions of our oolitic series, and apprehended the
meaning of those arbitrary and somewhat uncouth terms, which we
derive from him as our master, which have long become engrafted
into the conventional language of English geologists, and, through
their influence, have been, in part, also adopted by the naturalists
of the Continent.

After such a statement, Gentlemen, I have a right to speak
boldly, and to demand, your approbation of the Conncil’s award—
I could almost dare to wish, that stern lover of truth, to whose

279

bounty we owe the ‘‘ Donation Fund’—that dark eye, before the
glance of which all false pretensions withered, were once more
amongst us. And if it be denied us to hope, that a spirit like
that of Wollaston should often be embodied on the earth, I would
appeal to those intelligent men who form the strength and ornament
of this Society, whether there was any place for doubt or hesitation ?
whether we were not compelled, by every motive which the judg-
‘ment can approve, and the heart can sanction, to perform this act of
filial duty, before we thought of the claims of any other man, and to
place our first honour on the brow of the Father of English Geology.

If, in the pride of our present strength, we were disposed to for-
get our origin, our very speech would bewray us ; for we use the
language which he taught us in the infancy of our science. If
we, by our united efforts, are chiseling the ornaments, and slowly
raising up the pinnacles of one of the temples of Nature, it was he
that gave the plan, and laid the foundations, and erected a portion
of the solid walls, by the unassisted jabour of his hands.

The men who have led the way in useful discoveries, have ever
held the first place of honour in the estimation of all who, in
aftertimes, have understood their works, or trodden in their steps.
It is upon this abiding principle that we have acted ; and in award-
ing our first prize to Mr. Smith, we believe that we have done
honour to our own body, and are sanctioned by the highest feel-
ings which bind societies together.

I think it a high privilege to fill this Chair, on an occasion when
we are met, not coldly to deliberate on the balance of conflicting
claims ; in which, after all, we might go wrong, and give the prize
to one man by injustice to another; but to perform a sacred duty
where there is no room for doubt or error, and to record an act of
public gratitude, in which the judgment and the feelings are united.

Gentlemen, I will detain you no longer: Mr. Smith is now pre-
sent, and though become grey in the service of science, you will re-
joice to see that he still has the lineaments of vigorous health ; and
I cannot refrain, before I sit down, from expressing a fervent hope
(in which you all will join me), that God may long preserve that
life he has employed so much to his own honour, and the advan-
tage of his country.

The President then presented, in the name of the Society, a purse
of twenty guineas to Mr. Smith, being a portion of the proceeds of
the Wollaston Fund; and promised to forward to him the first gold
medal struck from the die above mentioned. Mr. Smith, in a
short and manly speech, returned thanks for the honour conferred
upon him ; expressed his anxiety to be still a useful servant of the
public as a practical geologist ; and, finally, presented to the Society
some documents referred to in the President’s address *.

It was then proposed by Dr. Fitton, and seconded by George

* Various papers detailing the history of Mr. Smith’s researches will be

found in the former series of the Philosophical Magazine; in vol. xxxv.
p- 113, vol. xlii. p. 249, vol. lit. p. 112; &c.

280

Bellas Greenough, Esq., That the foregoing Address of the Rev. Pro-
fessor Sedgwick be printed with the Annual Report.
‘The meeting next proceeded to ballot for the Officers and Council
for the ensuing year ; and on the glasses being closed, the scrutineers
announced that the following gentlemen had been duly elected :—

OFFICERS.

PRESIDENT.
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.R.S. L.S.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

William John Broderip, Esq. B.A. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.

Rev. William Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. & L.S. Professor of Geology
and Mineralogy in the University of Oxford.

Rev. William Conybeare, M.A. F.R.S. Instit. Reg. Soc. Paris. Cor-

resp

Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. M.A. V.P.R.S. Hon. MLR.S. Ed. F.S.A.

L.S. & H.S. M.R.I.A.

SECRETARIES.
Edward Turner, M.D. F.R.S. L. & E. Professor of Chemistry in the

University of London.

Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.

FOREIGN SECRETARY.
Charles Lyell, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. & L.S.

TREASURER.
John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S.

COUNCIL.

William Clift, Esq. F.R.S.

Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Eger-
ton, Bart. M.P. F.R.S.

William Henry Fitton, M.D.
F.R.S. & LS.
George Bellas Greenough, Esq.
F.R.S. L.S. & H.S. M.R.A.S.
Basil Hall, Esq. Capt. R.N. F.R.S.
L. & E. M.R.A.S.

J. F. W. Herschel, Esq. M.A.
F.R.S. L. & E. M.R.L.A.

‘Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. L.
& E. Warden of the University
of London.

J. W. Pringle, Esq. Capt. R.E.

Rev. J.Honywood Randolph, M.A.

Rev. Adam Sedgwick, M.A.F.R.S.
Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge.

James Vetch, Esq. Capt. R.E.
M.W.S.

Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Esq.
M.A. Sec. Z.S. F.R.S. S.A. L.S.
H.S. & M.R.LA.

Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P.
F.R.S. L.S. & H.S.

Rev. W. Whewell, M.A. F.R.S.
Professor of Mineralogy in the
University of Cambridge.

281

Address to the Geological Society, delivered on the Evening of the 18th
of February 1831, by the Rev. Professor Sepawicx, M.A. F-.R.S.
&c. on retiring from the President’s Chair.

I coneratuLaTE you, Gentlemen, on the general Report of the
Council laid before the Society this morning. The number of names
on our lists has increased by 45 since our last anniversary; and after
discharging all the expenses of the past year, besides paying off 835/.
of arrears, there remains a balance of more than 450/. to meet the
ordinary expenses of the current year. We have now a clear pro-
perty amounting in value to 1200/., without including in this estimate
our books, cabinets, and collections. Our Library has been enriched
with many valuable works, and our Museum with large suites both of
English and Foreign specimens. But it is not so much to the in-
crease of our various collections as to the great progress made in
atranging them, that I rejoice to call your attention. They have
received an immense accession of value from the labour bestowed on
them by Mr. Lonsdale, whose zeal, self-devotion, and great talents are
now well known to yeu all. I heartily concur in the sentiments recorded
by the Committee, and am convinced that no small part of our present
prosperity is derived from our official connexion with that gentleman.

As a duty imposed on me by the office I have had the honour to
fill, I now proceed to throw a retrospective glance over the memoirs
which have come before us during the past year. To introduce them
in chronological order would be attended by no advantage, and would
deprive me of the power of showing their relations to each other,
and of making such general comments as are compatible with the
limits of this address. I shall commence, therefore, with the memoirs
relating to the older formatiuns, and pass on to those connected with
the great secondary and tertiary groups; and in this way, without
mingling matters of fact and speculation, I hope to lead you to the
consideration of one or two great questions which have lately been
pressed upon our attention.

A paper by Mr. Weaver on the physical structure of the South of
Ireland demands our first notice. It is accompanied with a geolo-
gical map, extending to the limits of a similar map of the East of
Ireland, published by him in a former volume of our Transactions ;
and we have thus obtained from his unassisted labours an accurate
geographical distribution of the formations spread over more than
half that island. But great as they are, these are not the only
obligations we owe to that excellent observer. He has described with
the clearest details the various formations of the South of Ireland,
commencing with the contorted and highly inclined groups of the
older transition rocks, and ending with the unconformable deposits
of old red sandstone and carboniferous limestone.

The order of succession, as far as it goes, is in exact accordance
with that of our island, and the beds of transition limestone subor-
dinate to the greywacké contain nearly the same series of organic
remains as the corresponding beds of Gloucestershire, Cumberland,
and South Wales. Amidst the uncertainty of some of our conclu-

282

sions derived from the organic types of deposits remote from each
other, we seem in these transition fossils to have a secure starting
point; and whether derived from the flanks of the Austrian Alps, the
eastern plains of Gallicia, the central regions of Russia, or the grey-
wacké chains of northern Germany or North America, they have at
least a family resemblance not easily mistaken.

In the limestone of Cork Mr. Weaver observed impressions of the
vertebre of fishes associated with the fossils abounding in the grey-
wacké slate of the neighbouring country. ‘The fact is in perfect ac-
cord with our present knowledge. Impressions of fish have long
been known of in some varieties of transition slate ; certain families of
crustacea are eminently characteristic of formations of the same age;
remains of fish are commonly found in the mountain limestone of
Bristol ; shark’s teeth occur in the mountain limestone of Northum-
berland; and I need not perhaps remind you that impressions of fish
(sometimes accompanied with crustacea) are found in incredible abun-
dance among the bituminous schists associated with the old red con-
glomerates of Caithness. Yet such is the inveteracy of our preju-
dices in favour of the hypothesis which admits nothing but what we
suppose the simplest forms of animal life into the older strata, that
even now we receive the facts opposed to it with doubt and hesitation.

What above all distinguishes the greywacké series of the South of
Ireland from the corresponding deposits in this country, is the occur-
rence of beds of pyritous shale abounding in impressions of Equiseta,
Calamites, &c., and containing beds of coal (whence many thou-
sand tons are annually extracted) interlaced with, and partaking of,
all the flexures of the transition system*. This fact, rendered doubly
striking by the horizontal and discordant position of the true carbo-
niferous limestone of the neighbouring districts, was an important
addition to our information, and was heard with no small surprise
by many members of this Society. It gives us, however, a new
term of comparison with the phenomena of distant countries. The
greywacké chain of Magdeburg contains innumerable impressions of
true coal plants, and some of the carboniferous deposits on the con-
fines of Westphalia partake (like the deposits in the South of Ireland)
of all the contortions of the older transition series.

On the descriptions of the old red sandstone and the carboniferous
limestone | shall make no comments ; but I think it right to recall your
attention to some valuable details respecting the metalliferous depo-
sits in the counties of Cork and Kerry. ‘The copper ore of Ross
Island, on the lake of Killarney, does not constitute either metalli-
ferous beds or true veins, but is distributed in the form of branches
or strings, contemporaneous, like those of calcareous spar, with the

* Small quantities of anthracite have been found here and there among
the old slate rocks of Cornwall; and some portions of the oldest division of
the slate series of Cumberland are so carbonaceous as to have given rise to
borings and other works in search of coal. I have been informed that
similar unsuccessful attempts were formerly made in North Devon, But in
none of these instances, I believe, were true coal beds and plants, like
those described by Mr. Weaver, ever discovered.

283

limestone rocks they traverse. At Mucruss mine, in the same neigh-
bourhood, copper ore was obtained from a true metalliferous bed.
In Kenmare the deposits of lead ore are shown to be discontinuous
masses, nearly parallel in range and dip to the regular strata.

In the county of Cork the most valuable mine of copper is opened
in a true vein: but the author remarks that in some parts of this
county there is a very general diffusion of cupreous matter, some-
times appearing in separate particles, and sometimes in strings
veins or filaments more or less connected with each other, but not
continuous, and therefore contemporaneous with the rocks to which
they are subordinate. Such repositories of metals might not inaptly
be termed “ veins of segregation,” as they seem to have been formed
by a separation of parts during the gradual passage of the mineral
masses into a solid state.

In England we have almost every variety of metalliferous deposits.
Near Whitehaven in Cumberland great masses of reniform hematite
alternate with red beds of mountain limestone. At Nosterfield, near
Bedale, a true bed charged with sulphuret of lead alternates with the
upper strata of magnesian limestone. The great copper pipe veins of
Ecton must have been contemporaneous with the shale limestone
to which they are subordinate. The great Jead veins of our northern
counties originated, if | mistake not, in cracks formed during the ele-
vation of the carboniferous chain, before the period of the new red
sandstone.

In Cornwall we have, as is well known, both on the great scale
and the small, every modification of veined structure. ‘Tin is dis-
tributed through some of the granitoid rocks where no vein is visible.
The slate rocks, near their junction with the granite, are traversed by
veins of injection, and some of these are metalliferous, (for example,
an elvan or porphyry dyke near St. Austell). The regular metallife-
rous lodes were probably once but cracks and fissures produced du-
ring some periods of elevation; and how they have been filled up is
perhaps a question beyond our scrutiny. But after the important ex-
periments of Mr. Fox, there can, I think, be no doubt that the great
vertical dykes of metallic ore, which rake through so many portions
of the county, owe their existence, at least in part, tosome grand de-
velopment of electro-chemical power.

In all the crystalline granitoid rocks of Cornwall there are also
many masses and “ veins of segregation.’’ Such are the great contem-
poraneous masses and veins of schorl rock; and some of these are
metalliferous. The decomposing granite of St. Austell Moor is tra-
versed, and sometimes entirely superseded, by innumerable veins of
this description. Upon these lines of schorl rock there is often aggre-
gated a certain quantity of oxide of tin, which sometimes diffuses itself
laterally into the substance of the contiguous granite. After examin-
ing this district with Professor Whewell during the summer of 1828,
we left it in the conviction that several of the neighbouring tin works
were opened not upon true lodes, but upon ‘‘ veins of segregation.” I
only throw out these remarks as hints for future inquiry ; as the sub-
jects introduced by the memoir of Mr. Weaver are of vast importance,

284

and have been unfortunately but seldom brought under the conside-
ration of this Society.

A paper by Mr. Alfred Thomas gives us some new details con-
nected with the structure of the northern parts of Pembrokeshire.
His descriptions are illustrated by a geological map, and a section
extending north and south from Cardigan to St. Gowan’s Head. By
help of this section we are conducted, in a descending order, from the
higher part of the coal series with subordinate beds of anthracite,
through the mountain limestone, the old red sandstone and conglo-
merates, and the transition limestone with Trilobites, down to grey-
wacké and greywacké slate. All these formations are occasionally
traversed by masses of trap producing contortions and changes of
structure among the rocks with which they are in contact.

In a communication read very recently to the Society, I have en-
deavoured to explain the structure of the Lake Mountains and the
period of their first elevation—the manner in which, during a sub-
sequent period of elevation, they were separated from the great
calcareous chain of the north—and the relations they still bear to it
through the intervention of a carboniferous zone. In conformity with
the system first published by Mr. Otley of Keswick, I have shown
that the greater part of the central region of the Lake Mountains is
occupied by three distinct groups of stratified rocks of a slaty texture :
and I have further shown, that crystalline unstratified masses form the
true mineralogical centres of these great groups—that by the protru-
sion of these masses the schistose formations have been elevated into
the positions they now occupy—and that a true mineralogical axis
may be traced through the oldest division of the slate rocks, on each
side of which the several formations, as far as they are developed, are
arranged symmetrically. I have traced in great detail the range of a
band of transition limestone imbedded in the upper portion of these
older formations: and from the phenomena described, certain facts
(important in the physical history of the mountain groups) become
securely established.

]. Great cracks were formed at a very ancient epoch, and probably
during the first period of elevation, diverging from the central regions
of the Lake Mountains; and such enormous shifts took place in the
position of the shattered strata, that in several instances the broken
ends of the same bed are more than a mile apart, the distance being
measured in a direction at right angles to the lines of bearing. In
after periods many of the existing valleys were scooped out upon the
lines of fracture.

2. The central schistose groups abut in succession against the car-
boniferous zone; and from this fact alone (independently of many
others bearing upon the same point), the two systems are proved to
be unconformable.

3. The mean bearing of the great central groups, notwithstanding
their enormous dislocations, is, with very slight deviations, north-east
by east, and south-west by west. Now this is nearly the mean bear-
ing of the slate rocks of Cornwall, of the principal greywacké chains
of Wales and of the Isle of Man, and also of the entire greywacké

285

chain extending across the South of Scotland, from St. Abbs Head to
the Mull of Galloway: and it is, I believe, generally allowed, that
these several chains, producing so great an impress on the phy-
sical character of our island, are all nearly of one age, and were pro-
bably all elevated nearly at the same period, before the complete de-
velopment of the old red sandstone. Such a parallelism cannot surely
be regarded as accidental, and offers, if I mistake not, a beautiful
confirmation of the great principle in the late Essay of M. Elie de
Beaumont, that mountain chains elevated at the same period of
time have a general parallelism in the bearing of their component
strata. In admitting such a principle, we must not however shut our
eyes to the exceptions. Mr. Weaver has shown, that the mean bear- _
ing of the greywacké strata in the South of Ireland is east and west ;
and from his descriptions they appear to have been elevated before
the deposit of the old red sandstone. The transition rocks of Devon-
shire and of a small portion of South Wales are nearly in the same
direction, and parallel to the principal axis of the great Welsh coal-
field.

I will not detain you, Gentlemen, with my speculations on the
original extent of our carboniferous formations—on the different
periods of elevation of the coal-fields on the Bristol Channel and of
the great carboniferous chain of the North of England—on the diffe-
rent effects produced by the two systems on the range of the newer se-
condary groups—or on the causes by which the conflicting phenomena
have been brought about.—I may however be permitted to remind you
of the prevailing north and south bearings of the great carboniferous
chain, from the latitude of Derby to the border of Scotland—of the
great faults by which its western limits are tracked through the Peak
of Derbyshire—of its prolongation through an anticlinal line into the
high western moors of Yorkshire—and of the enormous breaks accom-
panying its escarpment from the heart of Craven to the foot of Stain-
moor. The range and effects of one part of the great Craven fault
have been described, with excellent illustrative sections, by Mr. Phillips
of York. Taking the subject up where he had left it, I have traced
a connected system of breaks to the foot of Stainmoor, and shown
that by a prolongation of the great Craven fault, producing an
enormous downcast on its western side, the entire carboniferous
zone of the Lake Mountains has been nearly cut off from the
central chain with which it must undoubtedly have been once con-
tinuous.

Another enormous break, passing under the escarpment of the
Cross Fell range, meets the prolonged line of the Craven fault near
the foot of Stainmoor. The forces producing this double system of
‘disruptions appear to have been contemporaneous, and by their joint
action have thrown whole mountain masses of the carboniferous series
headlong into the valley of the Eden.

We have direct proof that all the fractures above mentioned took
place immediately before the formation of the conglomerates of the
new red sandstone; and we have the strongest reasons for believing,
that they were produced by an action both violent and of short dura-

286

tion: for we pass at once from the inclined and disrupted masses to
the horizontal conglomerates now resting upon them ; and there is
no trace of any effect that indicates a slow progress from one system
of things to the other.

Lastly, we have the clearest evidence to show that these vast dis-
ruptions were produced during the elevation of the carboniferous
chain ; and, if1am not mistaken, during the same period arose many
minor cracks and fissures, forming the moulds into which were, in after
times, cast some of the richest lead veins of our island.

It is well known that the rich carboniferous deposits of this coun-
try undergo a great change of structure in their range from the Bristol
Channel to the valley of the Tweed ; and 1 hope I shall not be thought
to wander too far from my object, if I attempt shortly to explain in
what the changes consist, and what are their modifications.

All our coal formations are essentially composed of mountain
limestone, sandstone, and shale: they differ only in the mode in
which these constituents are aggregated—lIn the various coal-basins
on the Bristol Channel, the limestone-beds are developed only in
the lower, and the coal-bearing-beds in the upper part of the series ;
and the two members are separated by nearly unproductive deposits
of millstone-grit and shale.

Almost in the same words we may describe the carboniferous series
of Derbyshire. There, however, the millstone-grit is more complex,
and of very great thickness ; and subordinate to the great shale are,
here and there, very thick masses of a peculiar, thin-bedded and some-
what argillaceous limestone. :

On the re-appearance of the carboniferous limestone, at the base
of the Yorkshire chain, we still find the same general analogies of
structure: enormous masses of limestone form the lowest part, and
the rich coal-fields the highest part of the whole series ; and, as in
the former instances, we also find the millstone-grit occupying an
intermediate position. The millstone-grit, however, becomes a very
complex. deposit, with several subordinate beds of coal; and is sepa-
rated from the great inferior calcareous group (known in the North
of England by the name of scar limestone), not merely by the great
shale and shale-limestone, as in Derbyshire, but by a still more com-
plex deposit, in some places not less than 1000 feet thick ; in which
five groups of limestone strata, extraordinary for their perfect con-
tinuity and unvarying thickness, alternate with great masses of
sandstone and shale, containing innumerable impressions of coal
plants, and three or four thin beds of good coal extensively worked
for domestic use.

In the range of the carboniferous chain from Stainmoor, through
the ridge of Cross Fell, to the confines of Northumberland, we have
a repetition of the same general phenomena. On its eastern flanks,
and superior to all its component groups, is the rich coal-field of
Durham. Under the coal-field, we have, in regular descending order,
the millstone-grit, the alternations of limestone and coal measures
nearly identical with those ef the Yorkshire chain, and at the base of
all is the system of the great scar limestone. The scar limestone

287

begins, however, to be subdivided by thick masses of sandstone and
carbonaceous shale, of which we had hardly a trace in Yorkshire; and
gradually passes into a complex deposit, not distinguishable from
the next superior division of the series. Along with this gradual
change is a greater development of the inferior coal-beds alternating
with the limestone ; some of which, on the north-eastern skirts of Cum-
berland, are three or four feet in thickness, and are now worked
for domestic use, with all the accompaniments of rail-roads and
steam-engines.

The alternating beds of sandstone and shale expand more and
more, as we advance towards the North, at the expense of all the
calcareous groups, which gradually thin off, and cease to produce
any impress on the features of the country. And thus it is, that
the lowest portion of the whole carboniferous system, from Bew-
castle Forest along the skirts of Cheviot Hills to the valley of
the Tweed, has hardly a single feature in common with the inferior
part of the Yorkshire chain ; but, on the contrary, has all the most
ordinary external characters of a coal formation. Corresponding
to this change, is also a gradual thickening of carbonaceous matter
in some of the lower groups. Many coal works have been opened
upon this line; and near the right bank of the Tweed (almost on a
. parallel with the great scar limestone) is a coalfield, with five or six
good seams, some of which are worked, not merely for the use of
the neighbouring districts, but also for the supply ef this capital.

The beds of sandstone, shale, and limestone, forming the base of
the carboniferous system in the basin of the Tweed, are often deeply
‘tinged with red oxide of iron, and have been sometimes compared
with the new, and sometimes with the old red sandstone. ‘To the
new red sandstone they have unquestionably no relations; and I
should rather compare them (especially as the old red sandstone of
the North of England seldom exists but as a conglomerate, and is
seen in that form on the flanks of the Cheviot Hills) with the red
beds of mountain-limestone and sandstone, which, both in Cumber-
land and Lancashire, sometimes form the base of the whole carbo-
niferous series.

Such are the remarkable changes of our carboniferous system in
its range from the Bristo] Channel to the Scotch border: and it re-
appears on the north-side of the great greywacké chain of that country
with so many points of analogy, that we must, [ think, regard the
coal measures in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh as part of a
very ancient deposit, nearly of the same age with that on the banks of
the Tweed *.

Thus it appears, from what has been stated above—that tree

* The general relations of the various groups of the carboniferous system of
Northumberland, are, on the whole, very faithfully represented in the geological
map of that county, published some years since by Mr. Smith. A very detailed de-
scription of a portion of the carboniferous series of the Tweed was read during the
past year, by Mr. Winch, before the Philosophical Society. of Newcastle, and has
' been since published. [See Phil. Mag. and Annals, N.S. vol. ix. p. 11.] Another
paper, on the same subject. (which I did not see till these sheets were passing
through the press), has been'recently published by Mr, Witham of Edinburgh.

288

ferns, gigantic equiseta, and other plants belonging to the herba-
rium of the ancient coal-fields, grew on the land, and were some-
times swept down into the sea, before the elevation of the grey-
wacké chains of one portion of the British Isles—that in after times,
the same families of plants were swept down into the sea, in immense
abundance, and spread out, here and there, in beds alternating
with mud, sand, and banks of zoophytes and sea-shells, during the
whole period of the deposit of mountain-limestone, from its beginning
to its end—lastly, that these mechanical accumulations continued
to go on in shallow seas and estuaries (and perhaps also in inland
lakes), till the whole process of degradation was interrupted by the
elevation of the carboniferous chain, producing the enormous breaks
and dislocations above described, and succeeded by the conglomerates
of the new red sandstone.

Before I leave this subject, | may notice a work, just published by
Mr. Witham of Edinburgh, containing many beautiful illustrations of
the internal structure of fossil plants derived from the old coal-fields
of the Tweed, and from various parts of Scotland. By submitting
extremely thin, polished slices of these fossils to microscopic observa-
tion, he has been enabled to detect the minutest traces of organic
texture; and he has proved the existence of so large a number of
phanerogamic plants, in the lowest part of the carboniferous series,
as greatly to modify one of the positions laid down in the Prodromus
of M. Adolphe Brongniart.

A paper, by Dr. Buckland and Mr. de la Beche, on the Geology of
Weymouth and the adjacent parts of the coast of Dorsetshire, brought
before us all the secondary deposits of this island, from the lower divi<
sion of the oolites to the chalk. It is so rich in its details, and adorned
with such admirable illustrations, that the structure of the whole
region, though crowded with formations, dislocated, contorted, and
traversed by enormous and complicated faults, will hereafter be
comprehended at a single glance; and the country will be visited
as classic ground, where the most perfect types of our newer secon-
dary groups may be studied under every variety of position and
combination. Without attempting to follow the authors in their de-
scription of twelve of these successive groups, I may be permitted
to remind you of the extraordinary bed between the Purbeck and Port-
land formations (first noticed by Mr. Webster), containing silicified
trunks of coniferous trees and stems of Cycadeoidee. From this
paper, we learn, that these trunks lie partly sunk in black earth,
like fallen trees in a peat-bog, and partly imbedded in the incum-
bent limestone ; and that many of the stumps remain erect, with
their roots in the black soil, and their upper portions in the lime-
stone: and from these facts the authors conclude—that the surface
of the Portland rock was once dry land—and that on it grew a
forest containing plants of a tropical form—that this forest was
submerged under the waters of an estuary or a lake, but with a
movement so gentle, that neither the plants nor the soil were swept
away—that upon this ancient forest were accumulated the mixed
formations of the Wealds, not much less than 1000 feet in thickness—

289

and lastly, that the whole region was again sunk under the waters of
a deep ocean, in which were deposited the great formations of green-
sand and chalk. Continuing in the same spirit of induction, we might
add—that these marine deposits again became dry land, upon which
lived great tribes of palzotherian animals, now become extinct—
that during this period were formed the lacustrine rocks of Hamp-
shire and of the Isle of Wight—that it was succeeded by a sudden
and violent convulsion, heaving on their edges the great deposits of
the Isles of Wight and Purbeck, and at the same time producing the
anticlinal axis and great longitudinal fractures, so well described in
this memoir.

There can be no doubt that the same cause which upset the Isle of
Wight, also produced the great breaks and fissures of the Weymouth
district ; and that this upheaving force (for such we must consider
it) came into action at a recent geological period, is proved b
the verticality of the lower lacustrine beds at the east end of the Isle
of Wight. Whether this period was contemporaneous with the last
elevation of the Eastern Alps may well admit of doubt: to substan-
tiate a fact like this, many links are yet wanting in the chain of evi-
dence; and England has, if I mistake not, been acted upon by far too
many local disturbing forces, to be ever brought rigidly within the
systems of the great European chains considered in the researches
of M. Elie de Beaumont.

The investigation of the faults and dislocations interrupting the
continuity of our secondary deposits is becoming, daily, a sub-
ject of increasing importance ; and we are now called upon, not
to regard them as solitary phenomena, but to trace them through
whole regions, and to examine their relations to each other. These
great theoretical and practical questions throw no common difficul-
ties in the way of a person who is beginning the study of Geology :
and it is especially on this account, that 1 regard the ‘‘ Sections
and Views illustrative of Geological Phenomena,” recently published
by Mr. de la Beche, as a compendium, excellently fitted to assist the
progress of our science. .

Before finally quitting the subject of British secondary formations,
I must mention a communication by Mr. Sharpe, describing a speci-
men of an Ichthyosaurus found in the lias near Stratford-upon-Avon.
From the proportions of the vertebre, the size of the paddle, and
the circular or oval form of its component bones, as well as from
other anatomical peculiarities, the author concludes, that this ani-
mal belongs to a new species, for which he proposes the name of
Ichthyosaurus grandipes.

Facts illustrating the structure of distant regions of the earth
have their value greatly enhanced by the difficulty of obtaining
them. Every gleaning of information on the physical history of Aus-
tralia or the Isles of the Pacific, will be received in this Society with
the deepest interest. 1 will not, however, detain you with any ana-
lysis of the paper by Mr. Cunningham on the Geology of Hunter's
River in New South Wales, or of that by Mr. Caldcleugh on the

290

Physical Structure of the Island of Juan Fernandez, as the im-
portant parts of their contents must be still fresh in your recollec-
tion, and they offer no materials from which I can draw any general,
theoretical conclusions.

Connected with the primary and secondary formations of Conti-
nental Europe, several communications have come before the Society. -
Of these I must first notice two short memoirs, accompanying geo-
logical maps of Moravia and Transylvania, by Doctor Boué; and a
longer and more elaborate memoir, by the same author, explanatory
of a geological map of Austria and Southern Bavaria. I need not
inform the gentlemen whom I| am addressing-—that this indefatigable
observer has spent many years of his life in disentangling the com-
plex phenomena of the Alps—that he has extended his surveys
through Moravia and the great Carpathian chain, to the province of
Transylvania—that combining his own observations with those of
De Lill, Beudant, and others, who had in part preceded him, he
has been enabled to exhibit the geological relations of this vast
region, and through the intervention of common deposits to bring
it into accordance with the system of the Austrian Alps. It is ob-
viously impossible for me to offer any analysis of such labours, of
which the three maps presented to the Society are most honourable
records.

It would be equally impossible to give, with any effect, an abstract
of the several memoirs of Dr. Boué ; for they bring before us so many
facts, and in so condensed a form, that they seem to contain mate-
rials hereafter to be expanded into works far beyond the limits of any
ordinary communication. On these subjects I must therefore be
content to refer you to the printed analysis of his papers, and to his
various essays, published during the past year, on the structure of
the Alpine and Carpathian chains*.

In elucidation of the geology of the Eastern Alps, a paper was also
presented to the Society, during the past year, by Mr. Murchison
and myself. Our object was, by help of a transverse section along
the line where we crossed.the Chain, to bring together such facts
as were seen by ourselves, and appeared of any real importance : and,
connecting them with other facts, partly derived from oral informa-
tion, and partly from a number of scattered memoirs little known in
this country, to give such an outline .of the general structure of
the whole chain, as should be intelligible to. an English reader.

As our Memoir has been published, I should hardly have alluded to
it, had not our views been partially misrepresented ; and, what is of
vastly more importance, had we not differed from Dr. Boué in the
interpretation of some very singular, and we think not unimportart,
phenomena.

During the past year, Mr. Murchison again visited the same region;
and the results of his investigations have been laid before us in an
elaborate paper, which I am now called upon to notice. In doing

* See especially several elaborate articles on these subjects, published by
Dr. Boué, during the past year, in the Jowrnalde Géologie.

291

this I am compelled so far to retrace my own steps as to bring
to your recollection the geological subdivisions of the Alpine chain
adopted in our published Memoir. We stated that the Eastern Alps,
considered in their greatest simplicity, might bedescribed as a mountain
chain with an axis of primary rocks, flanked and surmounted by two
great secondary calcareous zones, which are in their turn surmounted
by vast tertiary deposits, descending on one side into the plains of
Italy, and on the other into the plains of the upper Danube ; and that
the same great physical region, when considered in more detail, might
be separated into formations admitting of a general comparison with
those of our own country in the following order, commencing with
the lowest. 1. Primary rocks of the ceatral axis. 2. Highly crystal-
line deposits graduating in the ascending order into rocks conforming
to the ordinary transition type, and containing, though very rarely,
transition fossils. 3. Red and variegated sandstone and gypseous
marls, sometimes alternating with masses of magnesian limestone.
4. Older Alpine limestone—a formatien of enormous thickness, sup-
posed to represent a part of the oolitic series, and based upon fetid
dark-coloured limestone and other strata which we endeavoured to
identify with the lias. 5. Limestone and sandstone with great masses
of saliferous marls rolled up and encased among the contorted strata.
6. Younger Alpine limestone, including all the secondary deposits of
the Alps superior to the saliferous system, and containing two distinct
groups ; the first of which was supposed to represent the highest
portion of our oolitic series, and the second (or Vienna sandstone) the
whole system of the green-sand and chalk. 7. Tertiary deposits.

Between the two subordinate groups of No. 6. we were not able to
draw any precise line of separation; and, to our surprise, we were
still less able to define the limits of the secondary and tertiary series.:
For, sometimes resting unconformably among the serrated peaks of
the higher mountains, and sometimes in a position intermediate be-
tween the outer zone of the chain and the tertiary plains descending:
towards the Danube, we found great complex deposits, apparently
graduating at one extremity into the secondary, and at the other
into the tertiary system, and abounding in fossils, which in a great
majority of the species seemed to conform to the tertiary type.
Upon this mixed evidence we concluded that these singular deposits
formed a true connecting link between the secondary and tertiary
systems of the region; and, though unknown in our own country and
the North of France, were to be placed somewhere between the cal-
caire grossier and the chalk.

To the clearing up of this point (on which alone we had any essen-
tial disagreement with Dr. Boué), Mr. Murchison has devoted the
most elaborate details of his recent Memoir. He first describes the —
extension of the primary axis into the Leitha-gebirge, which thus
seems to form a connecting link between the Alpine and Hungarian
chains, and notices some new and interesting localities of the mage
nesian limestone and red mari series. He then traces the reappear-
ance of the gypseous and saliferous marls, apparently of the age of
the new red sandstone, in some longitudinal valleys of the Salzburg
Alps ; and by means of detailed sections, fixes the great salt deposits

292

of Aussee and Halstadt between the older Alpine limestone based
upon lias, and the newer limestone terminating in the Hippurite rock.
He afterwards gives various sections of the Vienna sandstone group,
and shows that it is the equivalent of the green-sand and chalk ; and
proves, by very elaborate details, chiefly derived trom the banks of the
Traun, that in the enormous development of the nummulite series one
part graduates into the secondary, ond another into the tertiary sy-
stem of the Eastern Alps ; thus confirming by new and uninterrupted
sections the justness of our former classification.

Among the novel and important observations in this Memoir, the
author describes a deposit, at Ortenburg in the valley of the Danube,
composed of chalk with flints, supporting tertiary sands and clays, and
resting horizontally upon the primary rocks of the Bohemian chain.
Arguing from this fact he shows, (agreeably to the system of M. Elie
de Beaumont,) that the elevation of the Alpine and Bohemian chains
took place at two distinct periods.

In glancing over the various papers on the structure of the Eastern
Alps, it was impossible for me entirely to separate the descriptions
of the older and newer systems; but I now proceed to notice some
communications almost exclusively devoted to the phenomena of ter-
tiary deposits.

- A paper was laid before the Society by Mr. Murchison and myself,
during the past year, on the Tertiary Formations of Lower Styria.
In an east and west section, from the Styrian Alps to the confines of
Hungary, we describe along succession of marine strata; commencing,
as we have endeavoured to prove by the imbedded fossils, with rocks
of the Paizotherian period, and ascending through the middle Sub-
Apennine system to a large group of strata, apparently containing
several species of recent shells, and of the same age with the higher
deposits of the Vienna basin. Yet in this most recent group are masses
of limestone exhibiting so fine an oolitic structure, that by hand spe-
cimens alone we should find it no easy task to separate them from the
great oolite of Bath.

‘In another section from north to south, we have shown the asso-
ciation of the upper tertiary groups with the rugged volcanic rocks
which start out from the eastern plains of Styria: and from all the
complicated phenomena we conclude, that the volcanic forces were
first called into action in this region during the most recent tertiary
period, and were probably continued for a long succession of ages,
during which the sea was spread over the lower portions of Styria
and Hungary ; and that no test can be established whereby we can
fix the ages of the different igneous productions : inasmuch as the
same groups of strata are in one place covered by basaltic lava, in
another by trachyte, in a third by volcanic conglomerate, and in a
fourth alternate with volcanic sand and breccia. Lastly, we have in
the discontinuous masses of volcanic breccia, and in the rude and
interrupted escarpments of trachytic and basaltic rocks, the clearest
and most emphatic proofs of enormous degradation, within a period
of time bounded by one of the newest regular formations of geology.
- Before quitting this subject I may add, that Mr. Murchison has, in

293

his last Memoir, identified all the groups of the Vienna basin with
those of our Styrian sections. The inferior blue marl (or Tegel) of
that basin is supposed to be the equivalent of the London clay; the
white coralline limestone of the Leitha-gebirge is placed on the same
parallel with the limestone of Wildon ; and the higher accumulations
of sand and gravel are compared with the upper formations of Lower
Styria, through which, as stated above, the basaltic and trachytic
eruptions have made their way.

The papers of Colonel Silvertop, on two lacustrine deposits in the
province of Granada, placed before us an interesting sketch of the
structure of a region little known to the geologists of this country.
After pointing out the primary formations of the Sierra Nevada, and
the recent marine strata near the southern base of the chain, he de-
scribes the Jarge freshwater basins of Baza and Alhama, occupying
two deep depressions on its northern declivity. The strata of the
former basin are subdivided into two great groups; the lower com-
posed of marls with many fossils of the genus Cypris, and containing
brine springs, gypsum, and sulphur; the upper composed of light-
coloured indurated marl and limestone, charged with innumerable
Paluding. The basin of Alhama gives very nearly a repetition of the
same phenomena: but among its indurated white mars is a larger
number of organic remains, some of which very nearly resemble those
of the freshwater limestone in the basins of Paris and the Isle of
Wight.

It is not necessary for me to point out the importance of facts like
these ; and I am not called upon to follow the author through his de-
tails, as his communications are already published.

On the subject of tertiary deposits, I have finally to notice a com-
munication by Mr. Pratt, who found, during last summer, in the
lower freshwater marls of Binstead in the Isle of Wight, many com-
minuted or rolled fragments of the bones and teeth of several species
of Mammalia, mingled with pulverized shells, and with the bones of
two or three species of freshwater turtles, resembling those described
by M. Cuvier from the Paris basin. Among the more perfect speci-
mens of these fossils, the author found a tooth of the Anoplotherium
commune, and the teeth of two species of Palgotheria; thus confirm-
ing a previous discovery made known by Mr. Allen, and perfecting
the zoological analogy between the newer lacustrine formations of
England and central France.

The bones of the Binstead marls do not however belong exclu-
sively to the order of Pachydermata; for the author also found the
jaws of a ruminating animal closely allied to the genus Moschus, but
at the same time differing in some essential characters from every.
species hitherto described; and he gives us reason for sanguine hope,
that large additions may be hereafter made to his very important list
of new fossil quadrupeds. All the magnificent generalizations of
Cuvier, as far as they are borne out by the zoological phenomena of
the Paris basin, apply therefore literally to the more recent physical
revolutions of our own country.

Among the papers published in the early volumes of our Trans-

294

actions, none excited a greater or more deserved interest than
those of Mr. Webster. But first generalizations are almost always
pushed too far. After being bewildered with the observation of un-
connected facts, the first glimmering of general truth is so delightful,
that it often leads us beyond the bounds of fair induction. We are then
compelled to retrace our steps, and cast about for new phenomena ;
and it is only after a succession of trials and adjustments, that the
facts we had at first partially misinterpreted are seen at their pro-
per jevel, and with their true bearing upon each other. The broad
conclusions of Mr. Webster, in his comparison of the basins of Paris
and the Isle of Wight, are however too firmly established to be ever
shaken ; and it is only in his estimate of the subordinate groups that
his early essays require either revision or correction: and surely it
is no reproach to him that he did not foresee the subsequent disco-
veries of MM. Cuvier and Brongniart.

The argile plastique of Paris is now regarded as a mere local lacus-
trine deposit. The plastic clay of this country is, on the contrary, an
arenaceous formation of enormous thickness, not merely coextensive
with, but often stretching far beyond the limits of, our tertiary basins ;
and containing, here and there, subordinate argillaceous beds, and
many marine shells of the same species with the characteristic fossils
of the London clay.

The deposits of the Isle of Wight above the London clay are sub-
divided (in all our published works) into three principal groups,—the
upper and the lower composed of calcareous lacustrine marls in diffe-
rent states of induration—the middle one of argillaceous marls sup-
posed to be exclusively of marine origin. But it has been long known
to many of the gentlemen I am now addressing, and to no one better
than Mr. Webster—that in Headdon Hill (which gave the types of
all his formations above the London clay), the middle argillaceous
group contains innumerable freshwater shells, greatly predominating
over the marine, and bands of lacustrine marl differing in no respect
from that of the upper and lower groups—that in Norton Cliff (about
two miles north of Headdon Hill), the three groups are mineralogically
well developed without containing a single marine fossil—that at
Hampstead Cliff, where the argillaceous marls have four or five times
their average thickness, no undoubted marine shells appear on the
true parallel of the upper marine formation *—and that in many other
parts of the Isle of Wight the three groups admit not either of mine-
ralogical or zoological separation from each other; but are composed,
from top to bottom, of an indefinite number of alternations of argilla-
ceous and calcareous marls, passing at one extremity into soft unc-
tuous clay, and at the other into freshwater limestone+.

* Tn the highest part of the argillaceous marls of Hampstead Cliff (about
two miles east of Yarmouth), there are, however, two species of Corbule ;
but they occur, if I mistake not, far above the parallel of the “upper marine
marls”? of Headdon Hill.

+ Anomalies, similar to those pointed out above, are stated also to occur
in portions of the Paris basin, and may perhaps hereafter be used as terms
of comparison with the structure of the Isle of Wight.

295

Facts like these prove, if I mistake not, the impossibility of insti-
tuting any rigid comparison between all the successive groups in the
basins of Paris and the Isle of Wight. But discrepancies in minute
details militate in no respect against Mr. Webster’s leading gene-
ralizations, which have received such a striking and unlooked-for
illustration in the fossil mammalia of Binstead. If the hints now
thrown out should induce him to lay before the public some part of
his valuable observations on our different tertiary deposits, or to
hasten the publication of his long-promised work on the Isle of
Wight, my present purpose will be completely answered.

In these papers, a brief analysis of which I have now placed before
you, we have some new and striking proofs of the great importance
of organic remains in determining the comparative age of remote
and discontinuous formations. And we have seen that in cases where
we have few examples of specific agreement, we can, from the aspect
of large groups of fossils and the general resemblance of their generic
types, form at least a probable estimate of the age of the deposits to
which they are subordinate. Inferences of this kind would be alto-
gether worthless were they invalidated by the direct evidence of
geological sections. But we deny that this is in any respect the case ;
and our conclusions are the more certain, because they are not only.
founded upon a wide induction of particulars, but are consistent
among themselves.

There can be no doubt that in the ancient ocean, as well as in the
present, the distribution of organized beings was affected by many
causes—by the temperature and depth of the waters—by the nature
of the soundings—by the action of tidal currents—and by other unap-
preciable disturbing forces. Even among the old secondary groups
we can sometimes separate littoral formations from those of deep seas,
not merely by their mineral structure, but also by their fossils: and
in all geological periods of the history of the earth, formations on the
shores and formations in deep seas must have gone on together.

Again, our great formations may be subdivided into many dis-
tinct mineralogical groups of strata; and the large suites of organic
remains, characteristic of the formations as a whole, may also be sub-
divided into many groups, the species being defined by the mineral
structure of the beds to which they are subordinate.

All this is in harmony with the distribution of the animal kingdom
in the existing seas. Some animals may be found almost indifferently
on a calcareous, a sandy, or a muddy bottom (for example, the float-
ing cephalopods) ; and the remains of ancient animals of kindred
organization occur indifferently in calcareous, siliceous, and argilla-
ceous groups of strata. Some animals have lived and propagated
under the waters of a muddy shore; the remains of these occur
abundantly in our secondary beds of shale. To the very existence of
some shells calcareous rocks are necessary ; and on banks of mud or
moveable sand, corals and attached zoophytes could find no proper
resting place. Hence it is that many species of shells and zoophytes
are chiefly characteristic of limestone strata; and if they exist at all

296

in other beds, have probably been drifted there by the action of marine
currents.

It follows from thése remarks, that any great change in the mine-
ralogical character of a formation must also be accompanied with a
corresponding change in the accompanying forms of organic struc-
ture once subservient to life. In this way we may explain the great
difference between the organic remains of the lower oolitic series of
western and central England, and of the contemporaneous coal for-
mation on the Yorkshire coast. And in the same way we may also
explain an opposite fact, observed more than once by Mr. Murchison
and myself during our traverses through the Eastern Alps, that wher-
ever a secondary deposit of that great chain approaches the mineral
type with which we are familiar in this country, it also contains an
imbedded group of organic remains very nearly resembling those we
have been taught to regard as characteristic of the formation.

I believe that the subject to which I am now pointing is one of in-
terest and importance ; and I know no one who could do so much
justice to it as Mr. Lonsdale, whose admirable knowledge of recent
and fossil species, and of the minutest subdivisions of our secondary
groups of strata, (strengthened and improved as it is by the perform-
ance of the great task he has undertaken so much to the advantage
of this Society,) qualifies him to compose an essay which will throw
the greatest light upon the physical causes affecting the distribution
of organized beings during the long periods of geology.

In a paper by Mr. Yates, the last 1 have to notice in connection
with our ordinary subjects of discussion, we have a minute detail
both of the processes regulating the production of alluvial matter,
and of the forms it assumes during its accumulation. He first con-
siders the causes of disintegration, independent of the immediate
action of running water ; among which he principally enumerates
earthquakes, landslips, the various effects of oxidation, and the ex-
pansive powers of frost. He then describes the distribution of the
comminuted materials by running water, the manner in which they
become piled into obtuse cones in passing from lateral to principal
valleys, and the various causes modifying the erosive power of rivers.
From these subjects he proceeds to the forms assumed by alluvial
silt when carried down into standing water, the manner in which
lakes become gradually filled up, and the inclination of the stratified
masses resulting from the operation. Lastly, he describes the effects
produced at the junction of two streams, the depositions on the inter-
mediate stagnant points, and the forms of alluvial masses, whether
in rivers or lakes, produced by this compound action ; and, from the
observation of these forms, he draws some practical conclusions re-
specting the probable accumulations at the bottom of the sea by the
opposition or the union of currents, whether flowing at the same or
at different levels.

Questions of this kind are of most obvious importance ; but they
admit of no illustration except by details ill fitted for the nature of
this address. I may however, before 1 finally quit this subject, remind

297.

you of two opposite facts recorded in papers very lately read in this
Society, especially as they strengthen an opinion advanced at our
last anniversary—that the river drainage of every physical region
is a complex result, always modified by local conditions, and often
depending upon the action of many successive causes. I have already
shown that in a part of Cumberland and Westmorland the valleys
are excavated upon the lines of ancient breaks or fissures. On the
contrary, in the neighbouring carboniferous chain of Yorkshire, the
faults and dislocations hardly ever range inthe directions of the
valleys, and do not seem to have produced any sensible effect upon
the directions of the erosive currents.

Again, the valleys of the carboniferous chain are of great depth,
and the strata on their opposite sides are generally horizontal and at
the same level; yet within these valleys we have in every river and
every tributary torrent, proofs, in my opinion the most unequivocal,
that the channels-where the waters now flow have only existed during
a very recent period.

I mention these facts for the purpose of urging upon you the
important truths, that geology has little to do with the combinations
‘of simple elements, and that we are in most cases called upon
sternly to reject such conclusions as are founded only upon particular
phenomena.

Such, Gentlemen, are the subjects which have come before us
during the past year. They are neither small in number nor unim-
portant in their objects; and whatever may be their other merits,
they at least prove that our body has manifested the activity of
healthy life. As we advance on our way, we gain strength at
every step; but new and loftier subjects of contemplation are con-
tinually rising up before us; so that as yet we have no glimpse of
the furthest boundary to our prospects and our labours. And in all
this there is a perpetual motive for combination and energy and hope,
and for the exercise of all those faculties which are called forth in the
great journey of discovery.

We have indeed neither the time nor the power to slumber; and,
in spite of ourselves, we cannot but partake of that forward move-
ment by which all our neighbours are borne along. The continental
press teems with admirable works on every department of natural hi-
story ; and our subject has obtained, to say the least, its full share of
consideration. Professor Hoffman’s map, alluded to in my former
address, will soon be illustrated by a work which promises fair to
make the north of Germany once more the classic land of geology.
The excellent Memoirs of MM. de Beaumont and Dufrénoy will
soon be followed by the Geological Map of France,—a great national
work, to appear, I hope, before the expiration of this year. I select
these subjects, not merely on account of their general importance,
but because they have an immediate relation to the structure of this
country, and to the best labours of our own body.

The organization of the Geological Society of Paris belongs to the
history of the preceding year: and when we consider the incompa-

298

rable collections of that capital, and the illustrious naturalists who
are there assembled, we confidently look to this association for results
which shall greatly affect the future history of our science. With
ordinary fortune it can hardly fail to become a great central point of
union, where geologists from all the nations of Europe may from time
to time meet together with no rivalry but in the love of truth.

Our studies, Gentlemen, have no part in those bad passions by
which mankind are held asunder; the boundaries of tribes and
nations are blotted out from our maps; the latest revolutions we treat
of are anterior to the records of our race, and compared with the
least of the monuments which we decipher, all the works of man’s
hand vanish out of sight. If we have advanced with a vigorous
step for the last fifteen years, it has been during the peace of the
civilized world. The foundations on which we build are so widely
parted, that we require nothing less than a free range through all
the kingdoms of the earth; and if anything should occur to
cloud our prospects or retard our progress, it must be accom-
panied by some moral plague which will desolate the face of Eu-
rope. Against the visitation of such a calamity, every man whom
I now address will join with me in heartfelt aspirations.

Geology is a science of observation : and it is a humiliating fact,
forced upon us at every step of our progress, that the material
combinations we investigate and attempt to classify are too rude
and ill defined to be regarded as the appreciable results of any
simple law of nature. Some great and simple problems in physics
have however so immediate a connexion with the structure of the
earth, that we may almost claim their solutions for our own.

The form put on by a fluid body in rotation is an abstract ques-
tion, which might or might not have any real application to the
bodies of our solar system. But direct geodesic observations, as
well as the relative position of land and water, prove that the stra-
tified matter on the crust of the earth is deposited in near confor-
mity to the surface of a true spheroid of rotation. Here then we
have, in spite of one of the arbitrary dogmas of the Huttonian
theory, an indication of a primeval fluidity before the commence-
ment of any one phenomenon coming within the direct specu-
lations of geology. And again, the direct phenomena of geology
are in the strictest harmony with this conclusion. For, after passing
through a few stages of stratified matter, formed by the degradation
of matter in a prior state of solidity, we are conducted to other un-
stratified masses with that crystalline structure which implies an
anterior fluidity—in some cases unequivocally, and in all cases pro-
bably, derived from the solvent power of heat.

But if the earth ever existed in any state approaching to igne-
ous fusion, it must have undergone a great diminution of tem-
perature before it was fitted for the habitation of any organized
being. And here again geological facts are at least in a general
accordance with the hypothesis ; for the forms of the living beings
entombed among the ancient strata, not only seem to indicate a

299

high temperature, but also a gradual refrigeration of the surface of
the earth.

Here however we meet with an unexpected difficulty. If during
any period the earth have undergone a sensible refrigeration, it
must also have undergone a contraction of its dimensions; and also,
as a necessary consequence of a well known mechanical law, an ac-
celeration round its axis of rotation. But direct astronomical ob-
servations prove that there has been no sensible diurnal acceleration
during the last 2000 years ; and therefore, by inverting the steps of
the reasoning, we prove—that during that long period there has been
no sensible diminution in the mean temperature of the earth. This
difficulty does not, however, entirely upset the previous hypothesis:
it only proves that the earth had reached an equilibrium of mean
temperature before the commencement of good astronomical ob-
servations.

But if, Gentlemen, our speculations are thus limited and guided
by the observations of astronomy, we have in part paid back to that
exalted science the obligations we owe to it. ‘The great bodies
of our system leave behind them no marks to track their pro-
gress through the heavens; and the vast secular periods we can
calculate, reaching to ages long anterior to the records of our
being, might be mere fictions of the mind which have never had any
archetype in nature. But in the phenomena of geology we are
carried back, almost at our first step, into times unlimited by any
narrow measures of our own; and we exhibit and arrange the monu-
ments of former revolutions requiring for their accomplishment per-
haps all the secular periods of astronomy. Nor is this all. We show
by help of records, not to be misinterpreted, that during this vast
lapse of time, in the very contemplation of which our minds become
bewildered, the law of gravitation underwent no change, and the
powers of atomic combination were still performing their office.

If the phenomena of geology be coeval with long returning astro-
nomical periods (and it is at least impossible to prove the contrary),
a question may arise, whether some of the first difficulties we meet
with (such as those connected with the transport of diluvial gravel,
and the gradual diminution of temperature,) may not be attributed
rather to effects of planetary perturbation than to any change in the
internal condition of the earth. This question has been admirably
discussed in a recent paper by Mr. Herschel.

Of ali the secular inequalities produced by perturbation, those of
the moon alone can produce any visible effects upon the tidal level.
The lunar inequalities considered are of two kinds—change of
mean distance, and change of eccentricity. Both are confined
within narrow determined limits; and Mr. Herschel shows, by
actual calculation, that they could not have produced any of the
great movements contemplated in geology.

The planetary perturbations of the orbit of the earth are next
considered, and the influences they may have produced on the
diffusion of light and heat. The secular variation of obliquity is
too small to have ever caused any sensible effect on our climates:

300

but he proves, by direct calculation, that the mean annual diffusion
of solar light and heat varies inversely as the minor axis of the
orbit ; or, in other words, increases or diminishes with the increase
or diminution of eccentricity. Now, as a matter of fact, the eccen-
tricity of the earth’s orbit has been for many ages slowly diminish-
ing, and is now very small; but the limits of its secular variation
have not yet been calculated. He assumes therefore, hypotheti-
cally, that the eccentricity of our orbit may once have been as
great as that of some of the inferior and superior planets; and on
that supposition he proves, that the slow diminution of eccentricity
may have produced a gradual change of climate, of the very kind
indicated by geological phenomena.

Several other great modifications in the diffusion of light and
heat are involved in this hypothesis, one only of which I will men-
tion, as it can be easily explained. It is well known that the place
of the apogee and the equinoctial points are both in continual
movement; and after the completion of a long cycle, these points
will have travelled through the whole circumference of our orbit ;
whence it follows—that, during one part of the great astronomical
cycle, our summers would coincide with the greatest, and during
another with the least distance from the sun. And these con-
ditions, in an orbit of considerable eccentricity, would produce,
at one time a climate resembling perpetual spring; at another,
the extreme vicissitudes of a burning summer and a rigorous
winter.

Whether influences of this kind ever have caused any con-
siderable changes in the climate of different portions of our globe,
must, however, still remain in doubt, as the calculations are only
founded on analogy. We rejoice, however, to associate our science
with these lofty speculations, in which man seems to be no longer
a worshiper at the portal of Nature’s temple, but is allowed to pass
within, and to be so far a partaker of her mysteries, as to see with
his intellectual eye both the past and the future.

I believe that the law of gravitation, the laws of atomic affinity,
and, in a word, all the primary modes of material action, are as
immutable as the attributes of that Being from whose will they
derive their only energy. But it is not merely through the simple
and unchangeable modes of material action, or through the simple
laws by which the parts of material things are bound together, that
the works of nature are submitted to our senses. ‘The things
we see on the surface of the earth are in a continual state of move-
ment and change, of destruction and renovation. They are not
inerely subject to those fundamental powers, commonly considered
as the laws of nature; but the very powers themselves act under
such endless modifications, sometimes combined together, and some-

imes in conflict, that there follow from them results of indefinite
complexity, the very simplest of which are removed far out of the
reach of any rigid calculation.

As the primary laws of matter are immutable, every physical ex-
periment tried under the same conditions must end in the same

501

results, whether they be chemical, or mechanical, or a compound of
both. But let any new and unknown condition be introduced, and
the results are not only changed, but are often the very contrary of
what we should have at first anticipated. Let it again be con-.
sidered within what narrow limits we have the power of modify-
ing the conditions of any physical experiment, and how little we
still know of those mysterious imponderable agents which co-exist
perhaps, with gravitation, and unquestionably play their part in
every change and every combination—and we must see the utter
hopelessness of bringing under the definite calculations of any me-
chanical law, those mighty combinations still going on in the great
laboratory of nature.

Of the origin of volcanic forces we know nothing : but we do
know that they are the irregular secondary results of great masses
of matter obeying the primary Jaws of atomic action—that they
differ in their intensity—are interrupted in their periods—and are
aggravated or constrained by an endless number of causes, external
and purely mechanical. Of all modes of material combination,
those of which I now speak are perhaps the most complicated.
To assume, then, that volcanic forces have not only been called
into action at all times in the natural history of the earth, but also,
that in each period they have acted with equal intensity, seems to
me a merely gratuitous hypothesis, unfounded on any of the great
analogies of nature, and [I believe also unsupported by the direct
evidence of fact. ‘This theory confounds the immutable and pri-
mary laws of matter with the mutable results arising from their
irregular combination. It assumes, that in the laboratory of nature,
no elements have ever been brought together which we ourselves
have not seen combined ; that no forces have been developed by their
combination, of which we have not witnessed the effects. And what is
this but to limit the riches of the kingdoms of nature by the poverty
of our own knowledge; and to surrender ourselves to a mischie-
vous, but,not uncommon philosophical scepticism, which makes us
deny the reality of what we have not seen, and doubt the truth of
what we do not perfectly comprehend ?

Into the solution of the great problem of the heavenly bodies,
there enter only a few simple and unchangeable mechanical. ele-
ments, and the conclusions are of a simplicity corresponding to the
simplicity of the premises. All the celestial movements return into
themselves; and even the most complex of the deviations pro-
duced by mutual perturbation, are confined within narrow limits,
and are completed in secular periods. The solution of this problem
is incontestably the greatest triumph of exact science. But with
what semblance of physical truth can we apply such mathematical
results as these to the great phenomena of geclogy—where the com-
binations are mutable and indefinite—where we have no vestige of
returning periods—and where the fixed elements of force are either
unknown or imperfectly comprehended ?

If all the complex groups of crystalline and stratified rocks; if,
in a word, all the material things existing on the surface of the

302

globe, be bound to each other by laws like those which govern
the movements of the heavenly bodies—then every material combi-
nation we now see must re-appear with all its complicated relations
after the lapse of some long period of time. But would not such a
supposition be now regarded as the mere wantonness of hypothetical
extravagance? And let it not be said, that it is only in the greater
combinations on the surface of the earth that we are to look for re-
turning cycles. Great and small have nomeaning, exceptin reference
to us and our conceptions. The earth is an atom in comparison with
the visible creation; and all we now behold may be but as an atom in
comparison of that which is unseen ; and the meanest combinations
of material things submitted to our senses propagate their influence
through all space co-extensive with gravitation, and play their part
in keeping up the stability of the universe.

To the supreme Intelligence, indeed, all the complex and mutable
combinations we behold, may be but the necessary results of some
simple law, regulating every material change, and involving within
itself the very complications, which we, in our ignorance, regard as
interruptions in the continuity of Nature’s work. In contempla-
tions of this kind our understanding is lost among the stern doctrines
of philosophical necessity. But, as far as regards us and our facul-
ties, there is no such thing on earth as undeviating moral or phy-
sical necessity. For as, in morals, necessity is made, in part, at
least, subordinate to the freedom of human will ; so, in physics, the
continued action of immutable causes may and does co-exist with
mutable phenomena.

The study of the great physical mutations on the surface of the
earth is the business of geology. But who can define the limits of
these mutations? They have been drawn hy the hand of Nature,
and may be studied in the record of her works—but they never
have been, and never will be fixed, by any guesses of our own, or by
any trains of a priori reasoning, based upon hypothetical analogies.
We must banish all a prior: reasoning from the threshold of our
argument; and the language of theory can never fall from our
lips with any grace or fitness, unless it appear as the simple enun-
ciation of those general facts, with which, by observation alone, we
have at length become acquainted.

I should not have detained you one moment in enunciating pro-
positions such as these, had I not believed that their true import had
been partially misunderstood, and their spirit sometimes violated
in a recent work on the “ Principles of Geology.” Before I pro-
ceed with this remark, let me, however, first discharge a debt of
gratitude to the author, which, as yet, remains unpaid. Were I to
tell him of the instruction I received from every chapter of his
work, and of the delight with which I rose from the perusal
of the whole, I might seem to flatter rather than to speak the lan-
guage of sober criticism; but’ I should only give utterance to my
honest sentiments. His work has already taken, and will long
maintain a distinguished place in the philosophic literature of this
country; higher praise than this I know not how to offer; and

303

when, by publishing another volume (for which we all look with
earnest anticipation), he shall have recorded his discoveries in a
field of observation, almost his own ; he will then have reaped the
honour of being the first writer in our country to make known
a general system of ‘geological dynamics,”—a new province
gained by the advance of modern science.

But Mr. Lyell appears not only as the historian of the natural
world, but as the champion of a great leading doctrine of the Hut-
tonian hypothesis: and it is to the effects produced on the princi-
ples of his work by the latter character, that I now wish to call
your attention, with all the freedom belonging to fair discussion
and the love of truth. It would, indeed, be a strange anomaly in
the history of physics, if the Huttonian hypothesis, framed by its
distinguished author, without any knowledge of the most important
facts of secondary geology, should require no new adjustments,—
no limitation of its principles during the progress of discovery.
I cannot but regret, that from the very title-page of his work,
Mr. Lyell seems to stand forward as the defender of atheory. An
hypothesis is indeed (when we are all agreed in receiving it) an
admirable means of marshalling scattered facts together, and ex-
hibiting them in all the strength of combination. But by those who
differ from us, an hypothesis will ever be regarded with just sus-
picion; for it too often becomes, even in spite of our best efforts,
like a false horizon in astronomy, and vitiates all the great results of
our observations, however varied, or many times repeated.

It cannot, I think, be doubted, that in the -general statement
of his results, Mr. Lyell has, unconsciously, been sometimes warped
by his hypothesis, and that, in the language of an advocate, he
sometimes forgets the character of an historian. In reading his
graphic and eloquent descriptions of the mighty works of degrada-
tion yearly going on through the eastern shores of England, or of
the enormous weight of solid matter hourly rolled down by the
Ganges or the Missisippi, I have fancied that the earth was sliding
from under my feet, and that it would soon pass away, like the sand
of an hour-glass, beneath the waters of the ocean.

But are there no antagonist powers in nature to oppose these
mighty ravages—no conservative principle to meet this vast de-
structive agency? The forces of degradation very often of them-
selves produce their own limitation. The mountain torrent may
tear up the solid rock, and bear its fragments to the plain below : but
there its power is at an end, and the rolled fragments are left be-
hind to a new action of material.elements. And what is true of a
single rock is true of a mountain chain; and vast regions on the
surface of the earth, now only the monuments of spoliation and
waste, may hereafter rest secure under the defence of a thick vege-
table covering, and become a new scene of life and animation.

It well deserves remark, that the destructive powers of nature
act only upon lines, while some of the grand principles of conserva-
tion act upon the whole surface of the land. By the processes of
vegetable life, an incalculable mass of solid matter is absorbed,

304

year after year, from the elastic and non-elastic fluids circulating
round the earth, and is then thrown down upon its surface. In
this single operation, there is a vast counterpoise to all the agents:
of destruction. And the deltas of the Ganges and the Missisippi
are not solely formed at the expense of the solid materials of our
globe, but in part, and I believe also in a considerable part, by one
of the great conservative operations by which the elements are made
to return into themselves.

Let me not, however, be misunderstood. I am not denying the
great processes of degradation so admirably described by Mr. Lyell;
but I contend that to estimate their whole effects is a problem of
such complexity, and so variable in its conditions, that its true na-
ture is not fairly placed before the mind by the mere enumeration of
a few extreme cases, or the description of a few striking instances.
If I were to speculate upon the method of solving this problem, I
should compare it to the summation of a converging series — the
successive terms of degradation may be infinite, but the whole result
may still perhaps be limited and finite.

It is impossible for me now to grapple with Mr. Lyell’s whole
argument; but it appears to me, that volcanic action is not the only
true conservative principle, and is rather to be regarded as the great
productive principle, by which the solid matter on the surface of the
globe has been lifted above the waters: and that the grand princi-
ples of conservation are to be looked for among the operations of the
elements themselves, assisted by the combined action of animal and
vegetable life.

According to the principles of Mr. Lyell, the physical operations
now going on, are not only the type, but the measure of intensity of
the physical powers acting on the earth at all anterior periods : and
all we now see around us is only the last link in the great chain
of phenomena, arising out of a uniform causation, of which we can
trace no beginning, and of which we see no prospect of the end.
And in all this, there is much that is beautiful and true. For we all
allow, that the primary laws of nature are immutable—that all we
now see is subordinate to those immutable laws—and that we
can only judge of effects which are past, by the effects we behoid in
progress. Whether there be, or be not, any physical traces of a state
of things anterior to the commencement of our geological series of de-
posits, is a question of no real importance. But to assume that the
secondary combinations arising out of the primary laws of matter, have
been the same in all periods of the earth, is, I repeat, an unwarrant-
able hypothesis with no @ priori probability, and only to be main-
tained by an appeal to geological phenomena.

If the principles I am combating be true, the earth’s surface ought
to present an indefinite succession of similar phenomena. But as far
as I have consulted the book of nature, [ would invert the negative
in this proposition, and affirm, that the earth’s surface presents a
definite succession of dissimilar phenomena. If this be true, and
we are all agreed that it is; and ifit be also true, that we know no-
thing of second causes, but by the effects they have produced ; then,

305

‘« the undeviating uniformity of secondary causes,’—the “ uniform
order of physical events,’”—‘ the invariable constancy in the order
of nature,” and other phrases of like kind, are to me, as far as regards
the phenomena of geology, words almost without meaning. ‘They
may serve to enunciate the propositions of an hypothesis; but they
do not describe the true order of nature*. ne

Each formation of geology may have required a very long period
for its complete development ; and of such an element as past time,
we grudge no man the appropriation. But after all, the successive
formations, about which we speculate, however complex in their sub-
divisions, are small in number: and after deciphering a series of
monuments, we reach the dark ages of our history, when, having no
longer any characters to guide us, we may indulge at will in the crea-
tions of our fancy. We may imagine indefinite cycles, and an indefi-
nite succession of phenomena ; and in the physical world, as well as
in the moral, we may have our long periods of fabulous history. But
these things belong not to inductive geology ; and all I now contend
for is—that in the well established facts brought to light by our in-
vestigations, there is no such thing as an indefinite succession of
phenomena.

I will not, even in imagination, travel with you over the succes-
sive formations of the earth, or point out their mineralogical di-
stinctions ; but I may remind you, that in the very first step of our
progress we are surrounded by animal and vegetable forms, of
which there are now no living types. And I ask, have we not
in these things some indication of change and of an adjusting
power altogether different from what we commonly understand by
the laws of nature? Shall we say with the naturalists of a former
century, that they are but the sports of nature? Or shall we adopt
the doctrines of spontaneous generation and transmutation of spe-
cies, with all their train of monstrous consequences? ‘These sub-
jects, indeed, are not yet touched upon by Mr. Lyell; and I throw
out these remarks only to show by what difficulties the Huttonian
hypothesis is encountered—of a kind, too, never present to the mind
of its inventor.

There is however one chapter in the ‘Principles of Geology” where
the author combats the doctrine of the progressive development of
organic life, and briefly considers the distribution of fossil bodies in
the successive strata of the earth. I admit the general truth of his facts
and the strength of his argument, and I allow that he has succeeded
in exposing some of the errors and misstatements of his opponents.
A doctrine may however be abused, and yet contain many of the
elements of truth, With reference to the functions of the individual
being, one organic structure is as perfect as another. But I think
that in the repeated and almost entire changes of organic types in
the successive formations of the earth—in the absence of mammalia
in the older, and their very rare appearance (and then in forms en-
tirely unknown to us) in the newer secondary groups—in the diffu-

* Principles of Geology, p. 75, 76, 86, &c. &c.
D

306

sion of warm-blooded quadrupeds (frequently of unknown genera)
through the older tertiary systems—in their great abundance (and
frequently of known genera) in the upper portions of the same
series—and, lastly, in the recent appearance of man on the surface
of the earth (now universally admitted)—in one word, from all
these facts combined, we have a series of proofs the most emphatic
and convincing,—that the existing order of nature is not the last of
an uninterrupted succession of mere physical events derived from
laws now in daily operation: but on the contrary, that the ap-
proach to the present system of things has been gradual, and that
there has been a progressive development of organic structure sub-
servient to the purposes of life.

Considered as a mere question of physics, (and keeping all moral
considerations entirely out of sight,) the appearance of man is a
geological phenomenon of vast importance, indirectly modifying
the whole surface of the earth, breaking in upon any supposition
of zoological continuity, and utterly unaccounted for by what we
have any right to call the laws of nature.

If by the laws of nature we mean only such manifestations of
power as seem good to the supreme Intelligence, then there can be
no matter for dispute. But in physical questions such terms as the
“« laws of nature” have a proper reference only to second causes :
and I ask, by what operation of second causes can we account for the
recent appearance of man? Were there no other zoological fact in
secondary geology, I should consider this, by itself, as absolutely
subversive of the first principles of the Huttonian hypothesis.

If the principles vindicated in. Mr. Lyell’s work be true, then
there can be no great violations of continuity either in the struc-
ture or position of our successive formations. But we know that
there are enormous violations of geological continuity : and though
relatively speaking many of them may be local, of this at least we
are certain, that they have been produced by forces adequate to the
effects and coextensive with the phenomena.

The very first step we take, we see a violation of continuity. Be-
tween the alluvial silt, deposited by the waters now flowing off from
the inequalities of the earth, and the masses of diluvial gravel scat-
tered over so many parts of its surface, we can seldom establish any
appearance of continuity, or give any intelligible proof of their
common origin. JI am not going now to plunge into this long de-
bated question ; but I may remind you of the enormous waterworn
blocks (derived from the primary chains to the north of the Baltic
Sea), which lie seattered over the great European plain, extending
from the eastern states of Holland to the Steppes of central Russia.
Where are the inclined planes down which these boulders could
have descended? Where are the grooves and channels cut out by
the rivers which once propelled them? Where is the alluvial silt
accumulated by the erosion of these ideal waters? No answer can
be given to these questions : and to talk of river action, aided as it
may have been by every ordinary power of nature, appears to me,
in a case like this, little better than a mockery of my senses.

307

Hundreds of instances leading to a like conclusion (on a less
scale indeed, and therefore perhaps the less impressive,) may be
found among the phenomena of our island*.

If indeed we were to admit a period of intense volcanic violence,
and a sudden elevation of the Scandinavian chain, we might then
have a cause commensurate to the effects observed, and in the rush
of the retiring waters we might explain the transport of those great
boulders which lie scattered over the northern plains of Europe.
But in the speculations I am combating, all great epochs of eleva-
tion are systematically, and I think unfortunately, excluded. Vol-
canic action is essentially paroxysmal; yet Mr. Lyell will admit no
greater paroxysms than we ourselves have witnessed—no periods of
feverish spasmodic energy, during which the very framework of
nature has been convulsed and torn asunder. The utmost move-
ments that he allows are a sliglit quivering of her muscular integu-
ments.

But if we have proofs of the violation of continuity among our
most recent deposits, still more impressive are the proofs as we
descend in the geological series. Every observer is aware that we
often pass, without any intermediate gradations, from systems of
strata which are horizontal, to other systems which are highly in-
clined, This is a fact independent of hypothesis; but it is now
almost universally admitted, that the highly inclined strata have
undergone a movement of elevation. Using then the language
of this hypothesis (to say the least of it a convenient mode of de-
scribing the phenomena)—we affirm that the inclined strata have
been elevated at a time anterior to the existence of the horizontal
strata which abut against them, or rest upon their edges. And if
the ages of the inclined and horizontal strata be defined, we also
necessarily define the period of the elevation.

This kind of reasoning has for some years been familiar to the
geologists of Europe. Mr. Webster endeavoured to prove that the
Isle of Wight had been upset after the period of the London clay,
and before that of the lacustrine rock marl. Every one now admits,
(and indeed it is made the foundation of one of the classifications
of Mr. Conybeare,) that our carboniferous chains were elevated
before the period of the new red sandstone.

But the researches of M. Elie de Beaumont, to which I now wish
to direct your attention, have given a vast extension to the obser-
vations of all those who had gone before him. And before I pro-
ceed I cannot but lament that persons, who have not perhaps com-
prehended the meaning of this admirable observer, should have
nibbled at the originality of his discoveries; as if the very essence
of philosophical discovery did not often consist in bringing to a
point all the scattered lights of former observations, and giving
generalization to insulated phenomena.

* The diluvial phenomena of this country are so well known, that it is
perhaps unnecessary to appeal to them: but I wish to refer the reader to the
papers of Sir James Hall (published in the Edinburgh Transactions), for some
very remarkable proofs of the action of diluvial currents in the neighbour
hood of Edinburgh.

pd 2

308

In the first place then, by an incredible number of well conducted
observations of his own, combined with the best attested facts re-
corded by other observers, he has proved, on the principles already
pointed. out—that whole mountain chains have been elevated at one
geological period—that great physical regions have partaken of the
same movement at the same time—and that these paroxysms of
elevatory force have come into action at many successive periods.
Distinguished as are his merits, he so far claims not an undivided
honour. But in the next great step of generalization he reaches a
position where he stands entirely by himself.

Step by step we had been advancing towards the conclusion—
that different mountain chains had been elevated at several distinct
geological periods: and by a long series of independent observa-
tions, Humboldt, Von Buch, and other great physical geographers,
had proved—that the mountain chains of Europe might be separated
into three or four distinct systems; distinguished from each other,
if I may so express myself, by a particular physiognomy, and, above
all, by the different angles made by the bearings of their component
formations with any assumed meridian. All the subordinate parts
of any one system were shown to be parallel ; while the different sy-
stems were inclined at various angles to each other.

By an unlooked-for and most felicitous generalization, M. Elie
de Beaumont has now proved that these two great classes of facts
are commensurate to each other; and that each of these great
systems of mountain chains, marked on the map of Europe by given
parallel lines of direction, has also a given period of elevation, limit-
ed and defined by direct geological observations. ‘The steps by which
he reaches this noble generalization are so clear and convincing,
as to be little short of physical demonstration. It forms an epoch
in the history of our science ; and I am using no terms of exaggera-
tion when I say, that in reading the admirable researches of M. de
Beaumont I appeared to myself, page after page, to be acquiring a
new geological sense, and a new faculty of induction: and I cannot
express my feelings of regret, that during my recent visit to the
Eastern Alps I did not possess this grand key to the mysteries of
nature.

I am aware how impossible it is in a few words to give any clear
notion of a volume of condensed original researches. Dropping
all minor details, I may, however, claim your indulgence while
I point out the author’s manner of induction in four great systems
of European chains: not indeed in the wish of quenching the curi-
osity of those who have not studied this question, but rather in the
hope of urging them to seek the fountain of original information.

1. The first system includes the higher elevations, in eastern
France, of the Cote d’Or and Mont Pilas, and a portion of the Jura
chain. It may be traced towards the valley of the Rhine, where it
is suddenly cut off; but it reappears in the chain of the Erzgebirge,
between Bohemia and Saxony. It never rises into mountains of the
first order, but is marked throughout (as may be seen on a good
physical map) by many longitudinal ridges and furrows, ranging
nearly parallel to each other in a direction about north-east and south-

309

west. So far the statement is only an enumeration of certain con-
nected facts in physical geography. But it is followed by a coordi-
nate series of geological phenomena.

A number of formations, including in the ascending order the
whole oolitic series, enter here and there into the composition of
the geographical system above described ; and without exception,
wherever they appear, all are in turn elevated, broken, or contorted ;
yet in their lines of range they preserve a parallelism to the general
direction of the ridges. On the contrary, wherever rocks of an age
not older than that of the green-sand or chalk, appear in the vicinity
of any portion of this system, they are either found at a dead level
and expanded from the neighbouring mountains into horizontal
planes, like the sea at the base of a lofty cliff; or if, since their first
deposit, they have undergone any great movement, it is shown to
have no relation to the bearing of the older ridges, and to have been
produced at a later period.

From all these combined facts follow three important conse-
quences. Ist, That the whole system of parallel ridges, from one
end to the other, was elevated at the same period of time, after the
development of the oolitic series, and before the deposition of the
green-sand and chalk. 2ndly, That the action of elevation was
violent and of short continuance ; for the inclined strata are shattered
and contorted, and between them and the horizontal strata there
is no intermediate gradation of deposits. 3rdly, That the period of
elevation was followed by an immediate change in many of the
forms of organic life.

2. The next great system includes the whole chain of the Py-
renees—the Northern Apennines—the calcareous chains to the
north-east of the Adriatic—nearly the whole Carpathian chain—
and a great series of inequalities, continued from that chain through
the Hartz mountains to the plains of Northern Germany. Through
the whole of these vast regions the principal inequalities range
nearly parallel to each other, and have a mean bearing about west-
north-west and east-south-east. So far again the statement is purely
geographical, and its truth is seen at once in glancing over any good
physical map of Europe; and will be still more clearly comprehend-
ed, by comparing some of the principal ranges of colour on Von
Buch’s great geological map with the bearing of the Pyrenees. But
it is followed by a series of co-extensive geological phznomena.

Through all parts of this great system, formations of the age of the
green-sand and chalk have had an enormous development, and with-
out exception, their strata are ruptured and contorted, and often lifted
up to the very pinnacles of the mountains. But on the contrary,
wherever any tertiary formations approach the confines of this system,
they are stated to be either in a position almost as horizontal as the
surface of the waters in which they were deposited; or if they have
been moved at all, it is by forces uninfluenced by the parallels of the
older chains. And the same three conclusions, with a mere difference
of dates, follow here as in the former case. All the great parallel
ridges and chains of this second system must have been suddenly and
violently elevated, and at a period of time between the deposition of

310

the chalk and the commencement of the tertiary groups; and the cor-
responding change in organic types is, in this instance, still more
striking than in the former.

3. The third system embraces a great number of parallel inequa-
lities, bearing about north-north-east and west-south-west, and in-
cludes the whole Western Alps, from the neighbourhood of Marseilles
to the volcanic ridges near the foot of the Lake of Constance. And
by an hypothetical, but I think probable extension, it also takes in the
whole of the great Scandinavian chain. :

I cannot enter on the elaborate and satisfactory details by which
it is proved—that all these great parallel inequalities in the region of
the Western Alps had their origin after the tertiary molasse, a deposit
partaking of all the elevations and contortions of the older strata—
that the elevatory movements were sudden and violent, and com-
menced at a time when tribes of mammalia (the remains of which
in England are hardly ever found except in the superficial gravel)
flourished in many parts of Europe—and that these movements were
immediately succeeded by great horizontal deposits of old diluvial
gravel at the base of the Western Alps, and probably also by that
vast offshot of Scandinavian rocks which lie scattered over the
northern plains of Germany.

4. The fourth system embraces many great parallel ridges having
a range about east-north-east and west-south-west, and includes
several considerable chains in Provence, and nearly the whole chain
of the Eastern Alps—from the great flexure in the region of Mont
Blanc to the Alps of the states of Austria.

It would be impossible to follow the author through details occupy-
ing a large portion of his volume. I may however state, that he proves
the formations of the Eastern and Western Alps not to pass into each
other by any flexure of the strata coinciding with the bend of the
whole chain; but to meet at an angle marked by a great double system
of breaks and fissures, one passing in the direction of the eastern,
and the other of the western portions of the chain. He further proves,
that the system of fissures in the line of the Eastern Alps is more
recent than the other system—that in the prolongation of this line
towards the west, the old diluvial gravel has undergone movements
of elevation—and that these movements have been propagated to the
lacustrine and volcanic regions of Auvergne.

On a review of the whole evidence, I think he has demonstrated,
that there are two distinct deposits of diluvial gravel near a portion
of the Western Alps—that the colossal mass of Mont Blanc, and at
least a considerable portion of the Eastern Alps, were elevated after
the deposit of the older diluvium—and that the newer diluvium (in-
cluding all those enormous crystalline erratic blocks so admirably
described by Saussure) rolled off from the regions of the higher Alps
during this last period of their elevation.

There are six other supposed periods of elevation briefly considered
in the researches of M. Elie de Beaumont, each marked by distinct
geographical features: but I will not now detain you with their enu-
meration. If the generalizations to which I have pointed be true,
and, as far as I comprehend them, they seem to be based on an im-

311

moveable mass of evidence, we must then conclude that there have
been in the history of the earth long periods of comparative repose,
during which the sedimentary deposits went on in regular continuity,
and comparatively short periods of violence and revolution, during
which that continuity was broken. And if we admit that the higher
regions of the globe have been raised from the sea by any modifica-
tion of volcanic force, we must then also admit that there have been
several successive periods of extraordinary volcanic energy.

How we are to escape from this conclusion I am unable to com-
prehend, unless we shut out the evidence of our senses. Of volcanic
powers we know nothing, except during the irregular periods of their
activity—and returning periods of intense activity, after long ages of
comparative repose, may be among the enduring principles in the me-
chanism of nature. I do not throw this out as even a probable hypo-
thesis; but it is, at least, as probable as any other hypothesis un-
founded on the evidence of geological phenomena.

That the system of M. Elie de Beaumont is directly opposed to a
fundamental principle, vindicated by Mr. Lyell, cannot admit of
doubt. And I have decided to the best of my judgement, in favour
of the former author, because his conclusions are not based upon any
a priori reasoning, but on the evidence of facts ; and also, because, in
part, they are in accordance with my own observations*.

.. Let me not, however, be misunderstood. I have been offering no
general criticism of Mr. Lyell’s work: [ have merely been arguing
against the extension of one hypothetical principle (an important
one indeed in the interpretation of geological phenomena) on which
we differ in opinion. Nineteen twentieths of his work remain un-
touched by these remarks. His excellent and original historic narra-
tive—his dignified philosophic views and clear descriptions—his ad-
mirable account of the effects brought about by the great causes,
whether ayueous or igneous, now acting on the crust of the globe,
contribute to make his volume, in the highest degree, both popular
and instructive ; and I cannot but express a wish, that, in the future
editions of his work, the system of ‘‘ geological dynamics’ may be
stripped of even the semblance of hypothetical assumption ; and that
having first ascertained by a-mere appeal to facts, what the powers
of nature now are (and 1 know no one more competent to the
task), he will then proceed to apply them to the solution of the
dark problems of geology. This arrangement would not only be the
most fair and logical, but would take away that controversial cha-
racter, by which, in my opinion, some pages of his present volume are
disfigured ; and would, in the end, give him incomparably the best

* For example; the vertical position of the green-sand and chalk on the
eastern flank of the Hartz mountains, and the horizontal position of the same for-
mations on the flanks of the Erzgebirge, were remarked by Mr. Murchison and
myself in the summer of 1829. During the same tour we had repeated proofs of
the recent eleyation of the chain of the Eastern Alps; of the high elevation of the
green-sand series in the calcareous chain to the north-east of Trieste; and of the
horizontality of the tertiary deposits of Styria. All these facts (of which we did
not at the time comprehend the whole importance) harmonize with the system of
M. de Beaumont.

312

chance, either of limiting or extending his own principles, as might
seem good during the advances of our science. What he has written
with so much power, must inevitably produce a great impression on
the English school of geology. It is on this account, and not with any
spirit of unfriendly criticism, that I have discussed, at greater length
than I first intended, the points on which we differ; and 1 am only
anxious, that a work abounding in:so many admirable details, should
hereafter appear, as far as any human production can do, without a
blemish in the enunciation of a single principle.

Greatly as I admire the generalizations of M. de Beaumont, they
have, I think, been already pushed too far. We may follow them as
our guides, but they must never take the place of direct observations.
It is only through limited regions of the earth that we shall perhaps be
ever able to make out the true parallels of contemporaneous elevation.
Distant continents may have independent parallel systems of eleva-
tion. In several mountain chains (for example, in the Eastern Alps) we
have direct proof, that the forces of elevation have acted on the same
line at successive epochs ; and in our island, there have been move-
ments of elevation at. different epochs, yet on lines which are parallel.
Lastly, lines of elevation (like the existing lines of modern volcanic
vent) may, in their prolongation, have deflected far from their first
direction. But I must forbear, for the discussion of these questions
would jead me into endless details*.

At our former Anniversary I ventured to affirm, that our diluvial
gravel was probably not the result of one, but of many successive
periods. But what I then stated as a probable opinion, may, after the
Essays of M. de Beaumont, be now advanced with all the authority of
established truth: and among the many obligations we owe to this
accomplished observer, I may mention the new and instructive views
he has given us of the origin of the great masses of old detritus lying
scattered over the lower regions of the earth. We now connect the
gravel of the plains with the elevation of the nearest system of moun-
tains ; we believe that the Scandinavian boulders in the North of
Germany are of an older date than the diluvium of the Danube; and
we can prove, that the great erratic blocks, derived from the granite
of Mont Blanc, are of a more recent origin than the old gravel in
the tributary valleys of the Rhone. That these statements militate
against opinions, but a few years since held almost universally
among us, cannot be denied. But theories of diluvial gravel, like

* That part of the generalizations of M. Elie de Beaumont, in which he seems
to assume, that each great period of elevation was followed by a great change in
organic forms, is, perhaps, the least secure. In England, there is a great break be-
tween the greywacké and carboniferous systems ; yet the fossils, in the calcareous
groups, alternating with the greywacké, very nearly approach to those of the car-
boniferous limestone. There is also a great break between the carboniferous and
magnesian limestone series of this country ; but their suites of fossils very nearly
resemble each other, and several species are common to both. Again, on the
outskirts of the calcareous zone of the Alps, there are large groups of strata, with
fossils conforming both to the secondary and tertiary type. I must, however,
add, in justice to the author, that his observations on the changes of or-
ganic forms, are casually thrown out, -here and there, and do not seem to form
any essential portion of his theory.

313

all other ardent generalizations of an advancing science, must ever
be regarded but as shifting hypotheses to be modified by every new
fact, till at length they become accordant with all the phenomena of
nature.

In retreating where we have advanced too far, there is neither com-
promise of dignity nor loss of strength; for in doing this, we partake
but of the common fortune of every one who enters on a field of in-
vestigation like our own. All the noble generalizations of Cuvier,
and all the beautiful discoveries of Buckland, as far as they are the
results of fair induction, will ever remain unshaken by the progress of
discovery. It is only to theoretical opinions that my remarks have
any application.

Different formations of solid rock, however elevated and contorted,
ean never become entirely mixed together ; and the very progress of
degradation commonly lays bare all the elements of their structure.
But diluvial gravel may be shot off from the flanks of a mountain chain,
during one period of elevation, and become so confounded with the
detritus of another period, that no power on earth can separate them :
and every subsequent movement, whether produced by land floods or
any other similar cause, must continually tend still further to mingle
and confound them. ‘The study of diluvial gravel is, then, not only
one of great interest, but of peculiar difficulty and nice discrimina-
tion: and in the very same deposit, we may find the remains of
animals which have lived during different epochs in the history of the
earth. -

Bearing upon this difficult question, there is, J think, one great
negative conclusion now incontestably established —that the vast
masses of diluvial gravel, scattered almost over the surface of the
earth, do not belong to one violent and transitory period. It was in-
deed a most unwarranted conclusion, when we assumed the contem-
poraneity of all the superficial gravel on the earth. We saw the
clearest traces of diluvial action, and we had, in our sacred histories,
the record of a general deluge. On this double testimony it was, that
we gave a unity to a vast succession of phenomena, not one of
which we perfectly comprehended, and under the name diluvium,
classed them all together. :

To seek the light of physical truth by reasoning of this kind, is, in
the language of Bacon, to seek the living among the dead, and will.
ever end in erroneous induction. Our errors were, however, natural,
and of the same kind which led many excellent observers of a former
century to refer all the secondary formations of geology to the Noachian
deluge. Having been myself a believer, and, to the best of my power,
« propagator of what I now regard as a philosophic heresy, and having
more than once been quoted for opinions I do not now maintain, |
think it right, as one of my last acts before I quit this Chair, thus
publicly to read my recantation.

We ought, indeed, to have paused before we first adopted the dilu-
vian theory, and referred ail our old superficial gravel to the action
of the Mesaic flood. For of man, and the works of his hands, we
have not yet found a single trace among the remnants of a former
world entombed in these ancient deposits. In classing together di-

314 -

stant unknown formations under one name ; in giving them a simul-
taneous origin, and in determining their date, not by the organic re-
mains we had discovered, but by those we expected hypothetically
hereafter to discover, in them; we have given one more example
of the passion with which the mind fastens upon general conclusions,
and of the readiness with which it leaves the consideration of
unconnected truths.

Are then the facts of our science opposed to the sacred records?
and do we deny the reality of a historic deluge? I utterly reject such
an inference. Moral and physical truth may partake of a common
essence, but as far as we are concerned, their foundations are inde-
pendent, and have not one common element. And in the narrations
of a great fatal catastrophe, handed down to us, not in our sacred
books only, but in the traditions of all nations, there is not a word to
justify us in looking to any mere physical monuments as the intelligi-
ble records of that event: such monuments, at least, have not yet
been found, and it is not perhaps intended that they ever should be
found. If, however, we should hereafter discover the skeletons of an-
cient tribes, and the works of ancient art buried in the superficial de-
tritus of any large region of the earth; then, and not till then, we may
speculate about their stature and their manners and their numbers,
aS we now speculate among the disinterred ruins of an ancient city.

We might, I think, rest content with such a general answer as
this. But we may advance one step further—History is a con-
tinued record of passions and events unconnected with the enduring
laws of mere material agents—The progress of physical induction,
on the contrary, leads us on to discoveries, of which the mere light
of history would not indicate a single trace. But the facts re-
corded in history may sometimes, without confounding the nature
of moral and physical truth, be brought into a general accordance
with the known phenomena of nature: and such general accordance
I affirm there is between our historical traditions and the phenomena of
geology. Both tell us in a language easily understood, though written
in far different characters, that man is a recent sojourner on the sur-
face of the earth. Again, though we have not yet found the certain
traces of any great diluvian catastrophe which we can affirm to be
within the human period ; we have, at least, shown, that paroxysms of
internal energy, accompanied by the elevation of mountain chains, and
followed by mighty waves desolating whole regions of the earth, were
a part of the mechanism of nature. And what has happened, again
and again, from the most ancient, up to the most modern periods in
the natural history of the earth, may have happened once during the
few thousand years that man has been living on its surface. We have
therefore, taken away all anterior incredibility from the fact of a
recent deluge; and we have prepared the mind, doubting about the
truth of things of which it knows not either the origin or the end, for
the adoption of this fact on the weight of historic testimony.

If, Gentlemen, I believed that the imagination, the feelings, the
active intellectual powers bearing on the business of life, and the
highest capacities of our nature, were blunted or impaired by the

315

study of our science, I should then regard it as little better than a
moral sepulchre, in which, like the strong man, we were burying our-
selves and those around us, in ruins of our own creating. But I believe
too firmly in the immutable attributes of that Being g, in whom all
truth, of whatever kind, finds its proper resting place, to think that
the principles of physical and moral truth can ever be in lasting col-
lision. And as all the branches of physical science are but different
modifications of a few simple laws, and are bound together by the
intervention of common objects and common principles; so also,
there are links (less visible, indeed, but not less real) by which they
are also bound to the most elevated moral speculations.

At every step we take in physics, we show a capacity and an appe-
tency for abstract general truth; and in describing material things,
we speak of thein, not as accidents, but as phenomena under the
government of laws. The very language we use (and it is hardly pos-
sible for us to explain our meaning by any other), is the language in
which we describe the operations of intelligence and power. And
hence we admit, by the very constitution of our intellectual nature,
and even in spite of ourselves, an anima mundi pervading all space,
existing in all times, and under all conditions of being.

But we do not stop here ; for the moment we pass on to that por-
tion of matter, which is subservient to the functions of life, we there
find all the phenomena of organization: and in all those beings the
functions of which we comprehend, we see traces of structure in many
parts as mechanical as the works of our own hands, and, so far, differ-
ing from them only in complexity and perfection ; and we see all
this subservient to an end, and that end accomplished. Hence, we
are compelled to regard the anima mundi no longer as a uniform and
quiescent intelligence, but as an active and anticipating intelligence :
and it is from this first principle of final causes, that we start with that
grand and cumulative argument, derived from all the complex func-
tions of organic nature.

Geology lends a great and unexpected aid to the doctrine of final
causes ; for it has not merely added to the cumulative argument, by
the supply of new and striking instances, of mechanical structure ad-
justed to a purpose and that purpose accomplished ; but it has also
proved that the same pervading acttve principle, manifesting its power
in our times, has also manifested its power in times long anterior to
the records of our existence.

But after all, some men seeing nothing but uniformity and con-
tinuity in the works of nature, have still contended (with what I think
a mistaken zeal for the honour of sacred truth), that the argument
from final causes proves nothing more than a quiescent intelligence.
I feel not the force of this objection. In geology, however, we can
meet it by another direct argument; for we not only find in our for-
mations organs mechanically constructed—but at different epochs in
the history of the earth we have great changes of external conditions,
and corresponding changes of organic structure ; and all this without
the shadow of a proof that one system of things graduates into, or is
the necessary and efficient cause of, the other. Yet in all these in-
stances of change, the organs, as far as we can comprehend their use,

316

are exactly those which were best suited to the functions of the being.
Hence we not only show intelligence contriving means adapted to
an end, but at successive times and periods contriving a change of
mechanism adapted to a change in external conditions. If this be not
the operation of a prospective and active intelligence, where are we
to look for it?

Our science is then connected with the loftiest of moral specula-
tions; and I know no topic more fitting to the last sentiments |
wish to utter from this Chair.

There is one way, and one way only, in which the higher intellec-
tual powers may be cramped by the pursuit of natural truth, and that
is by a too exclusive devotion to it. In the pursuit of any subject,
however lofty, a man may become narrow-minded, and in a condition
little better than that of moral servitude: but on this score we have
not much to fear. Every department of science offers its spoils for
our decoration ; we are carried into regions where we contemplate
the most glorious workmanship of Nature, and where the dullest ima-
gination becomes excited; we are forced to travel through distant
lands, and become familiar with the complexions, and the feelings,
and the characters of mankind under every form of social life; and in
doing this, if we be not most indocile learners, we must bear away
lessons of kindness, and forbearance, and freedom of thought, along
with the appropriate knowledge of our own vocation ; and all this
we can carry with us into the business of life. These, Gentlemen,
are the high qualities which ought to form the ornament of this So-
ciety; and I am certain that I have seen their constant exercise in
the intercourse and the discussions of this room, where mutual good-
will, frankness, and the love of truth, are the only dominant senti-
ments.

My own connexion with this Society during the two years I have
had the honour to preside over its councils, has been to me a source
of continued and heartfelt pleasure: and it would be with pain inde-
scribable that I should now quit this Chair and bid you farewell, did
I not think that I should very often meet the same friends, and partake
in the same discussions,

Every man, whatever be his station, has a small circle of duties
which are paramount to all others: but after these are performed,
such powers as are given me shall ever be willingly devoted to your
service. I do not mean this for empty boasting ; that language would
ill become me at any time, and least of all when I am leaving this
Chair and descending into your ranks. Mine has been indeed but an
interrupted service ; but I resign it to one of whose powers you have
had long experience, who can give them to you undivided, and whose
hands are in no respect less ready than my own.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1831. No. 21.

March 2nd.—Robert McCallan, Esq. of Hampton Wick, Mid-
dlesex ; the Very Reverend the Dean of Carlisle; and William
Hawes, Esq. of Russell Square,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was first read << On the rippled markings of many of the
forest marble beds north of Bath, and the foot-tracks of certain ani-
mals occurring in great abundance on their surfaces.” By George
Poulett Scrope, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S.

The wavy and wrinkled figuring of these and other sedimentary
strata, the author considers to be identical in all its various acci-
dents, as well as in its origin, with the markings of the sea-sands
exposed at low tide on many of our shallow shores. He attributes
it to the vibratory movement of the lower stratum of water, when
agitated by winds or currents, by which sediment, either in the act
of precipitation or stirred up from the bottom, is led to arrange
itself in ridges corresponding to the intervals between the contigu-
ous arcs of oscillation.

Since it cannot be supposed that such movements reach to any
very considerable depths, these ripple-marks make it probable that
the beds in which they occur were formed ona shallow shore; and
this idea is further confirmed, and their analogy with the littoral
deposits of our modern coasts brought still closer, by their compo-
sition of rolled fragments of shells, of corals, spines of echinus, and
crustacea, by the imbedded remains of fuci, and above all by the
frequent intersection of their surfaces by the sharp well-defined and
fresh-looking tracks of some small animal, impressed upon the sand,
apparently when left dry by the ebbing of the tide.

Here then, says the author, we have brought together in the
compass of a small slab, several interesting memoranda of the day,
however distant, when the waves of the ocean were beating against
a line of coast now in the centre of our island; and a new class of
facts to assist in better deciding the question as to the date of
emergence of the different successive formations from the bosom of
the deep.

Mr. Scrope does not hazard a conjecture respecting the genus
or even the class to which the animal may have belonged; leaving
it to zoologists to determine whether it be marine, terrestrial, or
amphibious. He, however, earnestly recommends geologists in
every quarter of the globe to examine minutely the surface of sand-
stones, and other sedimentary strata, particularly where ripple-

318

marked or alternating with clay seams (which effectually preserve
the surface in all its original freshness), little doubting that the re-
sult will be to throw much new light on the early history of our
planet, and on the habits and characters of its successive races of ani-
mated inhabitants.

The reading of a paper, entitled “A description of longitudinal
and transverse sections through a portion of the carboniferous chain
between Penigentand Kirkby Stephen,” by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick,
F.G.S., F.R.S., Woodwardian Professor in the University of Cam-
bridge,—was begun.

March 16.—Henry Bickersteth, Esq., Fellow of Caius College
Cambridge, and of Lincoln’s Inn, London; and Charles Barclay,
Esq. of Grosvenor Place, were elected Fellows of this Society. |

The reading of the paper by the Rev. Professor Sedgwick, begun
at the last Meeting, was concluded.

The author having i in a former paper (read Jan. 5th, 1831) de-
scribed some of the characters of the great central carboniferous
chain of the North of England, here describes, in great detail, the
composition of a very remarkable portion of it, which forms a con-
necting link between the structure of the High Peak of Derbyshire
and the region of Cross Fell. The principal section, commencing
at the top “of Penigent in Hocton parish, passes over the highest
mountains of the chain, and ends in the valley of the Eden, near
Kirkby Stephen, among the conglomerates of the new red sandstone.
From the top of Penigent and of Whernside, branch out two other
sections connecting the mountains along the principal line, with
those which range between Wensleydale and Swaledale. The suc-
cessive groups of strata appearing along these lines are described
in the ascending order, and their modifications in the successive val-
leys where they crop out are shortly noticed.

It is impossible to notice the seventeen groups enumerated in
this paper; but they may be subdivided more simply into three
principal groups as follows:

Ist. Great scar limestone; the maximum thickness of which is
more than 500 feet. The author compares this group with the
limestone of the High Peak, and shows that they have many cha-
racters incommon. He particularly notices the reciprocating wells
and caverns, about the origin of which he briefly speculates.. He
notices the chief changes of mineralogical character; and states
that among the very rare fossils of the mountain limestone, ammo-
nites, Trilobites, and Orthoceratites, appear to be confined to this
group. Hefurther states, that although carbonaceous and bituminous
matter are the colouring principle of the limestone strata in this
group, there are no workable beds of coal subordinate to it on any
of the lines of section.

2nd. The next great group comprehends no less than eleven
groups of the author’s sections, and in several mountains is more than
1000 feet in thickness. It is essentially composed of mountain
limestone, sandstone, and shale. The limestone groups are stated
to be five in number, and to be very remarkable for their regularity

319

in all the various sections: the lowest contains the black compact
beds now extensively quarried in the North of England for marble;
the highest group represents the twelve-fathom-limestone of the
mining districts; it contains beds made up of an incredible number
of encrinital stems, and is also quarried for marble. The shales are
carbonaceous, and contain three or four beds of coal, some of which
are of good quality, and are extensively worked for domestic use:
the most remarkable of these beds occurs under the twelve-fathom-
limestone.

3rd. The highest complex group includes all the deposits con-
nected with the millstone grit, and is stated to be more than 500
feet in thickness. It includes three distinct deposits, to which the
author gives the name of millstone grit; and several beds of carbo-
naceous shale, one of which contains a bed of coal three feet thick
and of good quality. Besides this there are one or two other coal-
beds, but of very inferior value, seen here and there along the lines
of section.

After entering on many minute details, which it is impossible
to notice in this abstract, the author describes five transverse sec-
tions, drawn nearly east and west from different points in the prin-
cipal line of section across the prolongation of the great Craven
fault, described in a former paper. By the help of these sections
he points out the peculiar relative movements of the grauwacké
and carboniferous chains during the period of elevation which pre-
ceded the new red sandstone. At the foot of Barfell, above Sed-
burgh, a mass of the carboniferous system, six or seven hundred
feet in thickness, has been torn up from the foundations of the
mountain and placed in an inverted position.

From all the previous details the author draws a series of con-
clusions, and shows:

Ist. That the region described in the paper, forms a connecting
link between the northern and southern ends of the carboniferous
chain ; and that the carbonaceous deposits are gradually more and
more interlaced with the limestone in the range towards the north.

2ndly. That many of the coal-beds alternating with the mountain
limestone must have been deposited in the waters of a deep sea;
that no fresh-water shells appear associated with the fossils of these
beds; and that the highest part of the Yorkshire coal-fields was
probably deposited in shallow bays and estuaries, inasmuch as Pec-
tens and Ammonites are there found associated with fresh-water
genera.

Srdly. That, with limited exceptions, the same species of fossils
are found in all the beds of limestone ; but wherever there is a change
of mineral character, that there we may remark an equally sudden
change in the fossil species. Thus the vegetable impressions
abounding in the sandstone and shale are not found in the lime-
stone; on the contrary, the corallines, encrinites, &c. of the lime-
stone, with rare exceptions, do not occur in the shale or sandstone
beds.

4thly. That the beds of limestone appear to have been formed by

320

a slow and tranquil deposit, assisted by the action of organic bodies,
which lived and died on the spots where they are now found; that
on the contrary, the beds of shale and sandstone appear to have
been formed mechanically, and contain fossils drifted from a di-
stance. Hence these beds are less continuous and regular than the
groups of limestone; but some of them, especially two of the coal-
beds, may be traced through the greater part of the several lines of
section.

5thly. That the valleys of the carboniferous chain, near the lines
of section, are not excavated on lines of fault, but on true valleys
of denudation. Notwithstanding this, there has been some change
in the distribution of the water channels, at a period very recent,
compared with that of the elevation of the carboniferous chain—just
before the deposit of the new red sandstone.

March 30th.—Viscount Norreys, M.P., of John Street, Berkley
Square; Sir John Johnstone, Bart. M.P., of Lower Grosvenor
Street; Samuel Duckworth, Esq. of Trinity College, Cambridge,
and Lincoln’s Inn, London; William John Hamilton, Esq. of Stanley
Grove, Chelsea ; and Charles Hay Carnegy, M.D. of Edinburgh,—
were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled “Geological remarks on the vicinity
of Swan River and Isle Budche or Garden Island, on the coast of
Western Australia ;” by the Rev. Archdeacon Scott, F.G.S.

The author, who was accidentally detained for several months at
the settlement recently established on the western side of Australia,
describes a line of coast, of more than thirty miles in length, as
composed of a highly calcareous sandstone, presenting very similar
mineralogical characters throughout its whole extent. At a pro-
montory, about five miles to the north of the river Swan, the cal-
careous sandstone exhibits a surface in which are numerous concre-
tions having the appearance of inclosing vegetable matter. This
character is by no means confined to that spot, but is very commonly
observed; and on a rising ground, to the east of a space marked out
for the intended town of Fremantle, the sandstone assumes the
appearance of a thick forest, cut down about two or three feet from
the surface, so that to walk on it becomes extremely difficult, and
even dangerous.

The author gives a detailed account of the sections which accom-
pany the paper, and notices the beds passed through in sinking
various wells in the calcareous sandstone.

At Mount Eliza, which rises above Perth, ten miles from the
mouth of the Swan, and the principal place in the settlement, the
calcareous sandstone attains the height of about 300 feet, and is
observed to be based upon a ferruginous sandstone fitted for the
purposes of building. From Perth to the foot of Dariing’s Range,
red clay and white marl are found after passing the Helena River.
Darling’s Range is estimated at about 1500 feet above the level of
the sea, and is composed, where visited, of greenstone and sienite ;
and he was also informed that clay slate had been discovered more
to the southward in the same range.

321

Isle Budche, or Garden Island, consists of the same highly cal-
careous sandstone which forms so considerable a portion of this
part of the Australian coast.

April 13.—The Rev. Henry Browne, A.M. Head Master of the
London University School, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

A paper was read, dated at Sydney, New South Wales, 14th Oc-
tober, 1830, and entitled, ‘An Account of the limestone caves at
Wellington Valley, and of the situation, near one of them, where
fossil bones have been found :” by Major Thomas L. Mitchell, F.G.S.,
&c. Surveyor-General of New South Wales.

Wellington Valley is about 170 miles west of Newcastle on the
eastern coast of Australia. [t forms the ravine of the river Bell, one
of the principal sources of the Macquarrie, which river it joins, below
the places described in the paper, after a course of about six miles in
a direct line from south to north ; the Macquarrie itself at the point
of junction running nearly from east to west, in its progress towards
the swamps of the interior, where it disappears.

The rock, through which the vailey has been excavated, is lime-
stone, much resembling in external characters that of the carbonife-
rous series of Europe. This appears on both sides of the valley above
the alluvial deposits in the bottom, and extends on the east to the
height of about 100 feet above the stream. On the west of the val-
ley, hills of greater height run parallel to the limestone, consisting
of a red sandstone and couglomerate; and a range of heights on
the east of it is composed of trap rocks. ‘The basis of a tract, still
further eastward, which divides the watershed of the interior, from
that which sends its streams to the sea, is granite.

The rugged surface of the limestone tract, in several parts of which
the bare rocks are exposed, appears to abound in cavities, the orifices
of caves and fissures ; two of which, the more immediate subject of
this communication, are about eighty feet above the stream of the
Bell, on its eastern side; the first being a cave about 300 feet in
extent ; the second apparently a wide fissure in the limestone, par-
tially filled up.

The Cave agrees in structure with many of those well known from
the descriptions of Dr. Buckland and other writers : it descends, at
first, with a moderate inclination ; and about 125 feet from the mouth,
the floor is thickly covered with a fine dry reddish dust, in which a
few fragments of bones, apparently of kangaroos, occur. The ca-
vern in different places affords beautiful stalactites and stalagmitic
incrustations. Irregular cavities in the roof seem to lead towards the
surface of the hill; and at the remotest part the floor is covered with
a heap of dry white dust, so loose and light, that one of the ex-
ploring party sunk into it up to the waist. ‘This dust, when chemi-
cally examined by Dr. Turner, was found to consist principally of
carbonate of lime, with some phosphate of lime and animal matter.
In fine, the cave appeared to terminate in a fissure nearly vertical,
with water at its bottom, about thirty feet below the lowest part of
the cavern, and nearly on a level with the waters of the river Bell,
This fissure also extended upwards towards the surface.

322

About eighty feet to the west of the cave above described, is the
mouth of another cavity of a different description, first examined by
Mr. Rankin. At this place the surface itself consists of a breccia
full of fragments of bones ; and a similar compound confusedly mixed
with large rude blocks of limestone, forms the sides of the cavity,
which is a nearly vertical, wide, and irregular sort of well, accessible
only by the aid of ladders and ropes. Ts breccia consists of an
earthy red calcareous stone having small fragments of the grey lime-
stone of the valley dispersed through it, and in some parts possesses
considerable hardness. Near the lower part of the fissure (the whole
extent of which was not explored) were three layers of stalagmitic
concretion about two inches in thickness and three inches apart, the
spaces ‘being occupied with a red ochreous matter, with bones in
abundance imbedded both in stalagmite and between the layers of it.

The bones found in the fissure just described, of which specimens
have been sent to England, belong with only two exceptions, to ani-
mals at present known to exist in the adjacent country; and their
dimensions also are very nearly the same with those of the existing
quadrupeds. The species, from the report of Mr. Clift, to whose exa-
mination the bones were submitted, appear to be as follows: Kangaroo,
Wombat, Dasyurus, Koala, Phalangista,—the most abundant being
those of the Kangaroo. Along with the remains just mentioned were
found two bones, not agreeing with those of any of the animals at
present known to exist in New South Wales. The first and larger
(of which a figure only accompanies this paper, the bone itself having
been sent to Edinburgh) is supposed to belong to the Elephant: the
second bone is also obscure and imperfect, but seems to be a part of
one of the superior maxillary bones of an animal! resembling the
Dugong ; it contains a portion of a straight tusk pointing directly
forward.

A pit was dug, by Major Mitchell’s direction, in the surface of the
ground about twenty-five feet from the mouth of the fissure, at a
place where no rocks projected; and the hill was there found to be
composed of a hard and compact breccia, such as that described above,
and abounding likewise in organic remains.

Other caverns containing a similar breccia occur in the limestone
on the north bank of the Macquarrie, eight miles north-east of-those
at Wellington ; and about fifty miles to the south-east, at Buree, are
several caves like the first described above, which communicate with
fissures partially occupied with breccia containing bones. At Molong,
thirty-six miles to the east of Wellington, a small quantity of con-
creted matter has been found, containing numerous bones, of which
no specimens have been sent to Europe; but the author remarks that,
from their size, they would appear to have belonged to species larger
than those which at present occupy the country.

In conclusion, the author states that he can offer no explanation
of the facts he has mentioned; and he points to the great resemblance
between the bony breccia of New South Wales, and that of the shores
of the Mediterranean described by Major Imrie, in the Transactions
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

323

April 27.—William Pyle Taunton, Esq., of Stoke Bishop, near
Bristol, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled, “On some effects of the atmosphere
in wasting the surfaces of buildings and rocks :”” by John Phillips,
Esq. F.G.S., &c. he

The remarks in this paper are restricted to the initial or prepa-
ratory processes by which earthy materials are provided for rivers and
the sea to transport and deposit in new situations. These processes
are considered by the author under several heads, according to their
chemical and mechanical relations; but he observes that it is not
always possible to distinguish accurately the effects of these several
causes, which indeed are commonly concerned in the same ope-
ration.

The author, after stating some of the changes produced upon va-
rious rocks and buildings by the chemical agency of the gaseous ele-
ments of the atmosphere, illustrates the almost entire immunity from
such alterations enjoyed by substances buried in the dry earth, by the
remarkable perfection of sculpture, colour, and gilding, of the statues
formerly placed in St. Mary’s Abbey at York, which were recently
discovered in digging the foundation of the Yorkshire Museum.

The more rapid waste of those parts of a building which are shaded
by a projecting ledge, is compared with analogous effects upon de-
tached blocks of stone (like the Buckstone near Monmouth), which by
a further continuation of the process might be transformed into rock-
ing-stones, as at Brimham Crags in Yorkshire. The rapid waste oc-
casioned by fluctuations of heat and moisture is next examined; and
it is shown that the south and west fronts of buildings suffer most by
these variations ; that when the composition of the stone is unequal,
the waste of its surface corresponds in general to the nature and ar-
rangement of the particles; but that also there are cases when the
atmospheric influences cause an exfoliation of the surface, without
reference to the internal arrangement of the particles. Thus, de-
squamation is observed to happen parallel to the ornamented sur-
face of the sandstone balusters of a bridge at Durham, to the rounded
face of the “flagstone” employed for curbstones at York, to the em-
bossed tooling of the ‘‘molasse’’ used in the walls of Zurich, and to
the west front of the magnesian limestone of a church in Yorkshire.

The power of frost in connection with other agents is then noticed
as very important in producing the fall of mountain precipices ; and
the author concludes his paper with a description of some remarkable
excavating effects of rain on the surfaces of ancient monumental
stones and bare limestone rocks. He endeavours “to show, that
within the historic era hard and durable stones have been greatly
furrowed by the rain, and that in more ancient periods the precipita-
tions from above have carved themselves channels of various kinds,
and sometimes occasioned real though miniature valleys of great
length and continuity.”

The first example of these rain channels is taken from the druidi-
cal stones of Boroughbridge, composed of millstone grit, called the
Devil’s Arrows; and itis shown that the rain beating upon these vene-

524

rable pillars, has cleft their tops and furrowed their sides, in the lines
of quickest descent, without regard to the irregularities of their com-
position. One of the stones leans remarkably and threatens to fall;
but an examination of the rain channels shows the inclination of the
stone to be of most ancient date, for these descend further on the
upper sloping face than on the under.

Stones which have fallen from the limestone cliffs of Switzerland
have been furrowed by the rain since the time of their descent.

On Doward Hill near Monmouth, and still more in the broad sur-
face of the crags around Ingleborough in Yorkshire, the effects of the
rain on the weathered beds of limestone are evident and remarkable.
But the most striking phenomena of the kind known to the author
occur on Hutton roof crags near Kirby Lonsdale.

Hutton Roof Crags afford an opportunity of tracing the rain chan-
nels over an immense surface of bare limestone rocks, lying nearly
level on the hill-top, but sloping rapidly down the sides to the east
and south. On the level top of the hill the stones are variously
worn in hollows and grooves, irregularly united and running in dif-
ferent directions, according to little inequalities of the ground ; but
on the steep slepes the channels are extended into long furrows,
which, meeting at acute angles, enlarge, widen, and descend the
hill-side in lines following exactly the declination of the rocks, and
stopped only by the few and distant fissures, beyond which other
systems of concurrent grooves begin.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
1831. # No. 22.

May 11th.—William Richardson, Esq. M.A. of Christ Church Col-
lege, Cambridge, and Bedford Row, London, was elected a Fellow
of this Society.

The reading of a paper entitled “‘ Notes on the Secondary Forma-
tions of Germany, as compared with those of England,” by Roderick
Impey Murchison, Esq. Pres.G.S. F.R.S. &c., was begun.

May 25th.—The Rev. Thomas Worsley, M.A. of Downing College,
Cambridge ; and the Rev. Robert Willis, M.A. of Caius College,
Cambridge,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of the paper by Mr. Murchison, begun at the last Meet-

_Ing, was concluded.

This communication is derived from a series of memoranda which
the author has extracted from note-books, written as he passed through
various parts of Germany in the last three years ; and he presents it
to the Geological Society in the hope, that it may rouse the atten-
tion of his countrymen to the increasing geological interest of that
country, and to the various valuable native publications which de-
scribe its subdivisions. He endeavours to point out, in ascending
order, all the German formations from the surface of the carboniferous
rocks up to the newest tertiary deposits, showing, as far as is possi-
ble, their analogies and discrepancies when compared with those of
England, and entering into detail on such points only as fell directly
under his own observation. He refers for an account of places not
visited by himself, te the general work of M. Boué, and to various
local authorities. Ao cae

In citing, with much praise, the recently published maps and sec-
tions of Hoffmann on North-Western Germany, the English inquirer
is cautioned against the general application, in Germany, of that part
of the table of superposition, in which the coal-measures are desig-
nated as some beds, subordinate to a vast thickness, 3000 or 4000
feet, of red sandstone and conglomerate, the whole of which are
grouped by, Hoffmann under the one term of rothe-todte-liegende. It
is shown, on the contrary, that, however well this classification may
apply to a small part of Germany, it is by no means the rule in the
N.E. part of Bavaria, in Bohemia, and Westphalia; in all of which
countries there are successions in the carboniferous series, very simi-
lar to those in England, accompanied with large expansions of moun-
tain and transition limestones. The author, therefore, adopts that
view of Professor Sedgwick which restricts the name of rothe-todte-

326

liegende to those sandstones and conglomerates which surmount the
carboniferous series, and separate it from the kupfer-schiefer and mag-
nesian limestone.

In describing the kupfer-schiefer and overlying limestones, zech-
stein, &c. the author cites M. Klipstein’s late work on the Wetterau
and Spessart; and he confirms the conclusions already drawn by Prof.
Sedgwick in his comparison and identification of the same strata
with the magnesian limestone of England.

New red sandstone series.—In this vast group the author, following
the classification of Humboldt, Hoffmann, and other modern writers,
points out that in Germany it is divided into three great systems ; an
inferior and a superior red sandstone, each abounding in variegated
marls, the one separated from the other by that great limestone for-
mation called the muschelkalk. The lowest system or bunter sand-
stein being described first in general terms, detailed sections of it are
then given from Alsace, where the author found it to be capped by
muschelkalk, and charged with some peculiar plants, chiefly Conifere
and Ferns, first discovered in it by M. Voltz, and since described by
M. Adolphe Brongniart : he likewise found in it many bivalve and
univalve shells, approaching very nearly in character to those of the
muschelkalk and superior formations, but, as well as the plants,
differing essentially from any fossils of the magnesian limestone and
inferior formations. The frequent occurrence of salt and gypsum is
noticed—numerous instances of great dislocations and elevations of
the beds are enumerated, particularly on the northern flank of the
Hartz—in the south of Hanover, a section across the Thuringerwald,
by a new road, is given—and places are cited where the red sandstone
is prismatized, in contact with trappean or igneous rocks.

Muschelkalk.—This most important limestone formation, averaging
in thickness from 600 to 800 feet, is seen in Wirtemberg, Bavaria,
Gotha, and Hanover, to rest upon the binter sandstein, and to be
capped by keuper. A triple subdivision of the muschelkath, established
by Hausmann, is spoken of, in which each subdivision is characterized
by its peculiar fossils.

For a full account of the muschelkalk of Wirtemberg the reader is
referred to Alberti’s Konigsreich’s Wiirtemberg, by which it is shown,
that all the salt-mines of that kingdom occur in this formation. The
Saurian remains found in it by M. Jager consist of Plesiosaurus,
Ichthyosaurus, and an unknown reptile ; in addition to which Count
Munster has procured from the same limestone the jaws and teeth of
a crocodile, plates of a turtle, many parts of fishes of new genera, &c.
By way of comparison with the muschelkalk of Germany, the author
gives a sketch of the same formation in Lorraine, where the fine col-
lection of M. Gaillardot of Luneville is specially spoken of, in which,
in addition to many Saurian remains, there are bones of gigantic
tortoises, with the characteristic fossils of the formation (.4mmo-
nites nodosus, A. biplicatus, Mytilus socialis (Schlot.), Encrinites lili-
formis), and two species of the remarkable fossil called Rhyncolites.

Keuper.—This formation of purple, red and green sandstone and
marls is stated to be of enormous thickness at Stuttgart, where it is

327

seen reposing on muschelkalk, surmounted by lias; and a detailed
section at that place is given, in which are specified the beds of red
sandstone containing the greatest number of the fossil plants de-
scribed by M. Jager. Calamites are mentioned as being found in the
lower quarries; and in the upper, certain Equisetaceous plants, which
very much approach to the characters of the plants of the lias and
oolitic series of England: 2 new species of Saurians (Cylindricodon
and Cubicodon of Jager) arealso mentioned. The exact range of this
formation in the north of Germany is to be found in Hoffmann’s
new maps.

The author believes that the upper red and green marls of the En-
glish series are the true representatives of the keuper, and that the
only group in the red sandstone series of Germany hitherto un-
observed in England, is the muschelkalk ; and he invites geologists
to attempt to discover the equivalent, however feeble, of that lime-
stone formation, by seeking for it as a bed of separation between
the upper red marls and the lower new red sandstone of this island.

Lias.—The lias marls and gryphite limestone, with many identical
species of English fossils, are stated to be well developed in Wirtem-
berg, the north of Bavaria, Hanover, Westphalia, &c.

After instituting a close comparison between the fossil contents of
the lias of Wirtemberg and that of England, in Saurian and other ani-
mal remains, drawn chiefly from the work of M. Jager, the author gives
in great detail, a section on the right bank of the Maine at Banz, near
Coburg, a spot to which his attention was first directed by M. de Buch,
where the beds are very analogous in mineral characters and suc-
cession to those of the coast of Whitby, and where the most asto-
nishing profusion of fossils has been collected through the indus-
try of MM. Theodori and Gezer, all of which now ornament the
Ducal museum of Banz. Amongst these are 6 species of Ichthyo-
saurus, 5 of which are known in England (Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris
being the most abundant) :—Fishes, 6 or 7 genera, (Dapedium,
Clupza, Cyprinus, &c.)—Pterodactylus—Crustacea, 2 species, Ammo-
nites, 11 species, of which about two-thirds are figured in Sowerby’s
Mineral Conchology—Belemnites, 12 species, Scaphites, Nautili and
numerous other univalves as well as bivalves common to the English
lias. Some of the higher beds are described as containing Trochi,
Helicine, and Spirifere. Pentacrinites Briareus of the English lias
is likewise stated to be of common occurrence, and that a species of
Fungia, a genus of corals hitherto unobserved in the lias of England,
also occurs.

Inferior Oolite.—The inferior oolite of Germany is next described, as
being quite analogous to that of the Hebrides and the coast of York-
shire, viz., a great arenaceous formation for the most part highly
ferruginous. It contains many characteristic British fossils, and uni-
formly caps the lias throughout Wirtemberg, Bavaria, Hanover and
Westphalia, and in some parts (near Banz and in Franconia) it
passes up into an iron-shot, true oolite (oolitischer eisen-stein of
Minster).

The ferruginous grits of this formation, it is stated, are not to be

328

confounded with the lias grits, from which they are clearly distin-
guished both by fossils and superposition.

A very detailed section is then given of all the strata exposed
in the gorge, called the Porta Westphalica, by which the Weser
escapes into the plains of Minden, and where all the sub-formations
of the oolitic series, consisting of shales, grits, bands of oolite, &c. are
well exposed. The beds are here considerably inclined, and include
representatives of the English series, from the top of the lias to
shales of the age of the Oxfordclay. All this system of the inferior and
middle oolite, passes, it is observed, beneath the Buckeburg range of
hills, containing sandstone and calcareous shale with workable seams
of coal, which group the author agrees with M. Hoffmann in refer-
ring to the upper system of the oolitic series, and states that it con-
tains many marine shells ; whilst he distinctly shows that it is not
the green-sand, of which there are clear sections in the immediate
neighbourhood.

Middle Oolite—Jura Kalk, &c—The mineralogical characters of
the middle oolite of central and southern Germany are pointed out as
being essentially different from those of rocks of the same age in
Westphalia and Hanover: so that instead of the shales, grits, &c. just
described, they consist in one part of compact, cream-coloured lime-
stone, and in another of dolomite. In Franconia (the great region of
bears’ caves), in the hills opposite Banz, and in many other places, the
dolomite usually caps the limestone, the latter containing the greater
number of the fossils. In these groups, and in the inferior oolite,
Count Mister has detected nearly all the species of Ammonites
ficured from this part of the series in the Mineral Conchology, with
many other new species ; and has also procured at least sixty species
of Scyphia from the middle Jura kalk, and many other zoophytes now
figured in Goldfiss. .

Solenhofen Slate.—The Jura limestone or middle oolite is observed
within a certain limited district, between Kehlheim on the S.E. and
Pappenheim on the N.W., to pass upwards into a slaty, compact
limestone, which is exposed in plateaux overlying dolomitic Jura
kalk on both banks of the river Altmuhl, but is of sufficiently
fine texture, in only a few quarries near Solenhofen, to be worked as
lithographic stone*. The quarries are then described, and their
fossil contents, as collected by the author or observed by him in the
collections of Count Minster and others, are enumerated. Seeing
the prevalence of Pterodactyli, Insects, Crustaceze, and Tellinites,
and knowing that these fossils, together with certain plants, are
also found in the Stonesfield slate of England, and further that these
slaty beds at Solenhofen immediately surmount limestones, which
by their contents are found to be the equivalents of the middle and in-
ferior oolites of England, on which the Stonesfield slate also rests,—
he is led to consider it probable that the Solenhofen and Stonesfield
slates are of a similar age; an opinion which he believes has been re-
cently expressed by Dr. Boue.

__* For a specific account of this range, see Von Buch’s Letter to Brong-
niart, 1823.

329

The whole of this slaty group of Solenhofen, &c. is seen near the
mouth of the Altmuhl to thin out between masses of dolomite ; the
whole being surmounted by green-sand and cretaceous deposits.

The author inclines to the opinion that the higher members of the
oolitic groups of England, viz. Coral Rag, Portland Stone, &c., have
not yet been defined in any part of central Germany, though they
may exist in Hanover ; and he is unable to say whether the limestone
of Nattheim, Heidenheim, &c., so abundant in corals, is referrible to
the upper part of the great oolite or to the coral-rag.

Green Sand.—It is remarked that wherever this formation shows
itself in Germany, it is nearly always divisible, as in England, into
lower or siliceous sandstone, and upper or cretaceous sandstone ;
the former known in certain districts as the guader sandstein, the
latter as the pliner kalk. Numerous sections exhibiting these two
formations are given in various parts of southern Hanover and the
northern flank of the Hartz, where the lower sandstone is sometimes
a highly ferruginous rock, at others a white sandstone, in which cha-
racter it ranges from the northern flank of the Hartz into Saxony
and Bohemia. In Westphalia the green-sand series is said to ap-
proach still closer to the mineral type of the English group, and sec-
tions are described near Bidofeld, Soest Weil, &c. in which not only
an upper and a lower green-sand with many characteristic fossils are
described, but also traces of a separating stratum of blue marl or gault.

Chali.—The author states that the chalk is quite as clearly sepa-
rated from the pliner kalk in Hanover, as the chalk of the South
Downs is from the malm rock or upper green-sand in Western Sussex.
He remarks that on the northern flank of the Hartz, Professor Sedg-
wick and himself observed it to be quite vertical, whilst the under-
lying green-sands were by great faults thrown up into unconformable
juxta-position ; and he further refers to a memoir recently read by
himself, in which the chalk with flints is stated to occur in southern
Bavaria, resting in horizontal strata on the granite of the Bohemian
mountains ; and he points out as a necessary inference arising there-
from, that the Hartz and Bohmerwald-Gebirge have been elevated
at distinct periods. |

Tertiary Formations—Those_ peculiar transition-tertiary forma-
tions described by Professor Sedgwick and the author at Gosau, and
in the Austrian Alps, are stated to have been not as yet discovered in
central Germany, but only along certain points encompassing it, such
as at Maestricht, in the Baltic, the Carpathians, and the Alps. The true
tertiary formations, though of considerable extent in different parts of
the country, particularly in Hanover, Westphalia, &c., are stated to
have heen hitherto little attended to by native authors. Without en-
deavouring to give anything like a general account of the tertiary de-
posits of Germany, the author rapidly enumerates several localities
where there are great exhibitions of sands, clays, lignite, &c. of the
age of the plastic and London clays, particularly at Hesse Cassel,
and the environs, where the brown coal, &c. of this epoch is traversed,
and in parts prismatized by the overlying basalt (Meisner, &c.). The
lower tertiaries are again spoken of as appearing in many points near

330

Frankfort. In the environs of Mayence, Wisbaden, &c. it is shown
that they pass upwards into a great estuary deposit of white limestone
and marl, in which fluviatile and land-shells greatly predominate over
those of marine origin, and at Monbach are associated with bones
of large mammalia; so that the author inclines to the belief of the
previous existence of a vast estuary or brackish lake in this spot, the
waters of which have been let off by the fissure through the Taunus
Mountains in which the Rhine now flows.

The low countries of Westphalia, Osnabruch, Briinde, &c. are
specially cited as regions in which a vast development of tertiary
marine strata exists ; and little doubt is entertained that when fully
examined they will afford representatives of most of the formations
from the calcaire grossier to the crag inclusive, the latter having
been already discovered at Antwerp, &c.

The deposits of unmixed lacustrine origin in central and southern
Germany, such as Oettingen, Steinheim, &c. are merely named, having
been already alluded to in a memoir upon Céningen, in which the
author endeavoured to prove that deposit to be one of the most recent
on the surface of the earth; and he terminates this communication
with an account of a more newly discovered accumulation of the
same nature at Georges Gemiind near Roth, which, from its organic
remains, is proved to be of an age intermediate between the gypseous
period of the Paris basin, and the youngest lacustrine formations.
Beds of sandy marl, and whitish concretionary limestone are said to
occur in isolated patches, crowning low hills of keuper sandstone at
heights of about 150 feet above the present drainage of the district,
and containing subordinate layers of calcareous, ferruginous and
bony breccia, in portions of which, collected by the author, Mr. Pent-
land has discovered Paleotherium magnum; Anoplotherium, a new
species, resembling 4. commune, and a new genus allied to Anthraco-
therium or Lophiodon. Mr. Clift has identified fragments of the teeth
and bones of the hippopotamus, ox, bear, &c. Count Minster had pre-
viously collected from the same place, remains nearly similar, with the
addition of Paleotherium Orleani, Mastodon minutum, Rhinoceros pyg-
meus (Munster), Ursus speleeus, and a small species of fox. Judging
from the appearances on the spot and the evidences there offered of
the gradual accumulation of this deposit, the author is of opinion that
all these animals were of contemporaneous existence, and that this
intermixture of quadrupeds of so old a period as the gypseous lime-
stone of Paris, with others, the genera of which now inhabit our pre-
sent continents, has supplied a valuable link in the chain of fossil
zoological affinities.

The following books are referred to in the memoir: Keferstein,
Teutschland, Geognostisch-geologisch Dargestelt ; with Maps, &c.—
Boué, Synoptische Darstellung.—Boué, Geognostisches Gemalde
von Deutschland, 1829.—Merian, Umgebungen von Basel, 1821.—
Hoffmann, Nord-westlichen-Deutschland ; with Maps, Sections, &c.
Berlin, 1830.—Klipstein, Kupferschiefergebirge der Wetterau und
des Spessarts, Darmstadt, 1830.—Alberti, Die gebirge des Koni-
greich’s Wurtemberg, 1828.—Schwatzenberg, Petrographische carte

331

von Kreise, Cassel, 1825.—Von Buch, Letter to Brongniart, Jour-
nal de Physique, Oct. 1822. —Zincken, Ostliche Hartz, Brunswick,
1§25.—Hausmann, Uebersicht der jungeren Flétzgebilde i im Flus-
gebiete der Weser, Gottingen, 1824.—Oeyenhausen,Von Dechen und
De La Roche, Geognostische Umrisse der Rheinlander; with Maps,
Sections, &c., Essen, 1825. Together with many memoirs in Leon-
hard’s, Karsten’s and other journals.

June &th.—Henry A. Aglionby, Esq. M.A. of St. John’s College,
Cambridge, and of the Temple, London; Marmaduke Ramsay, Esq.
M.A. Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge ; Lord King, of
Dover Street; and the Rev. Edward Stanley, Alderley Rectory, Con-
gleton,—were elected Fellows of this Society.

A letter was read, from Joshua Trimmer, Esq. to the Rev. Dr.
Buckland,V.P. ‘On the diluvial deposits of Caernarvonshire, between
the Snowdon chain of hills and the Menai strait, and on the discovery
of marine shells in diluvial sand and gravel on the summit of Moel
Tryfane, near Caernarvon, 1000ft above the level of the sea.”

The object of this paper is to point out evidences of extensive dilu-
vial action in that part of Caernarvonshire which lies at and near the
N.W. base of the mountains of Snowdonia. This district is traversed
in a direction from N.E. to S.W., and nearly parallel to the mountain
chain, by two remarkable beds ae roofing slate, well known by the
name of Penrhyn Slate, dipping usually to the S.E. ata considerable
angle, and extending along a series of hills of moderate elevation,
between the Snowdonian chain and the Menai strait. Great part of
the surface of these hills, and of the still lower ground between them
and the Menai, is so covered by accumulations of drifted gravel, sand
and clay, that the slate is seldom accessible, without first quarrying
down through a thick bed of this diluvium. It occurs, not only in the
valleys, but on the sloping sides and summits of hills, sometimes en-
tirely covering the hills, at others accumulated around small project-
ing crags. It is spread indiscriminately, and with little reference to
the rivers that now intersect the country : its greatest observed thick-
ness is about 140ft.

A large proportion of this gravel is composed of pebbles and blocks
of various sizes, derived from rocks that occur in Caernarvonshire ;
many of these are less rolled than pebbles of another class, that are
mixed with them, and which have come from a greater distance, and
must have been drifted upwards by some violent inundation, in a
direction contrary to that of the rivers which descend from Snowdonia
into the Menai. Among these pebbles are several which can be iden-
tified with the granite, sienite, green-stone, ser pentine and jasper of
Anglesea: other granite pebbles agree with no rock in Anglesea or
Wales, and resemble the granite rocks of Cumberland; some may
have come from Ireland or the S.W. extremity of Scotland.

There are also chalk flints, which can have come from no nearer
source than the chalk of the county of Antrim.

This diluvium occurs in great thickness in the lower region of the
valley of the Ogwen, usually from 60 to 100ft ; forming its bed, and
often occupying both sides of the valley through which it flows. These

332

sides, for a considerable distance, afford indications of having received
their last form from the bursting of a lake higher up in the valley of
the Ogwen.

Shells, and fragments of shells, like those on the shores of the ad-
jacent sea, are reported by the workmen to have been found in the
sand and gravel at an elevated spot near Moel Taban, on the right:
bank of the Ogwen, nearly opposite the quarries of Penrhyn. Mr.
Trimmer did not see them here; but on the summit of Moel Tryfane,
on the south of Caernarvon, towards Bethgellert, in a sinking made
through sand and gravel, in search of slate, at about 20ft below the
surface, he found marine shells in a bed of sand; they were for the
most part broken, resembling the broken shells on the adjacent beach;
when dry, they adhere to the tongue : the fragments are too indistinct
to identify species; the genera Buccinum, Venus, Natica and Turbo
occur among them. Mr. Trimmer found similar broken shells also
in the diluvium of the low cliff near Beaumaris.

Beneath the diluvial deposits of this district, when the surface of
the slate-rock is newly laid bare, it is found to be covered with
scratches, furrows and dressings, like those observed by Sir James
Hall on the summit of the Costorphine and other hills near Edin-
burgh. These furrows and dressings were noticed several years ago
by Mr. Underwood: they are referred to the action of the diluvial
currents which overspread the country with gravel: some of the
larger blocks amid the gravel have also deep scratches upon their
surface.

Where the diluvium is argillaceous, the surface of the subjacent
slate has been so protected by it, as to remain sound and fit for use
as roofing slate up to its line of contact with the incumbent clay ;
but where the diluvium is of sand or gravel, admitting ready access
of water through it to the subjacent slate rock, the slate is often in
a shattered state, and bent and decomposed to the depth of many feet
below the line of contact.

At the close of this Meeting, which terminated the Session, the
Society adjourned till Wednesday the 2nd of November.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1831—1832. No. 23.

Nov. 2.—The Society assembled this evening for the Session.

James Forbes, Esq. F.R.S.E., Edinburgh ; and the Hon. Charles
Harris, of Privy Gardens, were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, “ On certain younger deposits in Sicily, and on
the phenomena accompanying their elevation.” By Dr. Turnbull
Christie, F.G.S., and communicated by the President.

The observations contained in this essay were made partly during
a short visit to Palermo, and partly on an excursion in which the
author travelled from Palermo along the northern coast as far as the
Castello di Tusa, crossed the central chain of mountains by way of
Mistretta and the Monte di Castellito Nicosia, Leonforte, and Castro-
Giovanni, turned eastward by way of San Filippo d’Argire to Ca-
tania, and then proceeded along the east coast by Lentini, Syracuse,
and Noto to Cape Passero, where he embarked for Malta. In this
route he had an opportunity of examining most of the principal stra-
tified formations in Sicily, and hopes to have clearly determined the
exact place in the geological series to which many of them must be
referred.

The formations described by the author are arranged under the
eight following divisions :—

1. The oldest formation which he met with is a sandstone with a
few subordinate beds of marl and limestone, occupying a great portion
of the central chain of the island, and extending along part of the
northern coast. Its exact age he was unable during his rapid tour to
determine, but it is older than the Jura or Apennine limestone. In
travelling along the coast eastward from Palermo, the author first
came on this sandstone near the river Pilato, a few miles to the west
of Cefalu; and the island eastward of this point principally consists
of the same rock and its accompanying shales. In his route thence to
Mistretta he passed over the great chain of the island, which in this
part consists entirely of this sandstone, and attains a very great ele-
vation. The mountain of Sancta Diana rises 3875 feet above the
level of the sea, and is overtopped by many others within sight, on
the loftiest of which, the Madonia, patches of snow were still visible
on the 8th of June.

The dip of the sandstone strata is various ; but they are in general
highly inclined, and sometimes vertical. Their direction is for the
most part parallel to the general direction of the chain itself,—namely,
inclining from the north of east to the south of west. At Mistretta
the strata are seen distinctly to dip away from an anticlinal line,

334

which passes across the mountain of Sancta Diana, extends between
the hill on which the castle stands, and the small hill of S. Catarina
on its north, and thence across the valley to the east of Mistretta.
At the Monte di Castelli, the highest point near Mistretta, the strata
have two different bearings, one nearly east and west, and the other
north and south; and a similar observation was made at Nicosia.
The author directs attention to the fact, as indicative of the central
chain having been raised during at least two distinct periods of ele-
vation.

2. The formation next in order to the sandstone, and of more recent
origin, is the limestone and dolomite composing the north-western
part of the island, and which the author considers as the equivalent
of the Jura or Apennine limestone. It rises in bold, precipitous cliffs
flanking the bay of Palermo, and at the distance of about two miles
inland bounds the rich plain which lies along the coast. The dolomite
closely resembles that of the Tyrol, presenting a bold, rugged outline,
without a trace of stratification, and having its naked sides traversed by
numerous rents and fissures. Caves, sometimes containing bones, are
frequent, formed probably by the enlargement of fissures by the action
of water. The limestone, which frequently contains magnesia, is
stratified, and the strata are often highly inclined.

3. The third formation distinguished by the author consists of marls
and limestones containing Nummulites and Hippurites, and which he
believes to belong to the chalk and green-sand formations of other
parts of Europe. These beds are horizontal, and lie on trap-tufa and
basalt. They were observed at the most southern extremity of Sicily:
they extend from the village of Pachino to the sea—occupy the upper
part of the island of Cape Passero—and form the base of the small
island named the Isola delle Correnti.

4. The next rocks in the series are cretaceous limestones and marls
of the older tertiary epoch. In the order of superposition they occupy
a place immediately below the tertiary limestone next to be described,
which contains shells of existing Mediterranean species, and is hence
probably of much more recent origin.

5. The fifth formation is an extensive tertiary limestone, found both
north and south of the great central range. Its prevailing character is
that of a coarse, yellowish or white limestone, extensively quarried in
several places as a building material. Most of its shells belong to
species now existing in the Mediterranean, the most abundant being
Pectens and Oysters. The genera Cardium, Pectunculus, Arca, with
Echini, Serpule, and Corals, are also very common. In the plain of
Palermo the strata are perfectly horizontal; but in the valley of the
Oretus, where they lie close upon the dolomitic limestone, they are
considerably inclined, and are higher by 100 feet than in the plain.
A similar disturbance was observed at the Cape delle Mandre. At
the south of the central chain the tertiary rocks are still more dis-
turbed, being elevated to several thousand feet above the level of the
sea. The direction of these inclined strata is parallel to that of the
principal chain.

_ 6. The next formation is a conglomerate still more recent than the

335

upper tertiary beds last mentioned, and containing shells of species
now existing in the Mediterranean. Its character varies in different
situations, according to the nature of the rocks of which it is com-
posed. It may be studied as well on the north coast as in the valleys
to the south of the central chain, especially in that of the Limetus,
between Palermo and Catania, and to the south of Syracuse. Its
position, as well as fragments of tertiary rocks contained in it, prove
it to be posterior to these ; its sea shells attest its marine origin ; and
the perforations by Lithodomi prove it to have been covered by the
waves prior to its elevation.

7. Of the same age with the preceding conglomerate is the Bone-
breccia. Three bone-caves are enumerated by the author as situated
in the immediate neighbourhood of Palermo. One of them, the Grotta
de San Ciro, about two miles south-east of the town, is situated near
the base of the magnesiferous limestone mountain of Grifoni, close upon
the plain of Palermo; while the other two are in the mountain of
Beliemi, about four miles to the west of the town, at a considerable
elevation, being more than 300 feet above the level of the sea, and 100
feet higher than the cave at San Ciro.

The breccia at San Ciro is not confined to the cave itself, but forms
a great part of the external talus, where it rests immediately on the
upper tertiary beds, and has a thickness of about 20 feet. The breccia
consists of numerous fragments of bones, with some rolled pieces and
blocks of limestone cemented together by a little lime or clay ; and
it has some appearance of stratification, indicative of a deposit from
water. The bones have been pronounced by Baron Cuvier to have
been those of the Elephant, Hippopotamus, and Deer, with a few of
a carnivorous animal of the genus Canis.

The author infers from a careful personal examination, that this
breccia was deposited by water, and that subsequently to its formation
and prior to its elevation, it remained long under the waves. This
conclusion he believes to be justified by the appearance exhibited by
the sides of the cave, which in some parts are smooth and polished as
if long worn by water, and at others are perforated by Lithodomi.
In this opinion he considers himself fully borne out by a bone-breccia
lately discovered near the bay of Syracuse, about 70 feet above the
level of the sea, and deposited in caves worn in the tertiary rocks.
This breccia is of the same age as that at San Ciro, contains the
bones of similar extinct quadrupeds, is intermixed with sea-shells, and
has not only been worn by water since its formation, but its substance
has been perforated by Lithodomi. From all these circumstances,
considered in conjunction with the extent of the preceding newest
tertiary deposits, the author considers it certain that the extinct qua-
drupeds, the bones of which are contained in the breccia, must have
lived at a period long posterior to that in which the Mediterranean
began to be inhabited by its present species of Mollusca, Radiata,
and Zoophytes, and before the last convulsion which raised a great
part of Sicily above the level of the sea.

The caves at Beliemi were not so minutely examined by the author

336

as that at San Ciro. In one respect they possess much interest. They
are situated at a greater height than the tertiary rocks have attained
in that neighbourhood; and neither the caves themselves nor the
bone-breccia have any appearance of marine action. The author
thence infers that the breccia at Beliemi was above the surface of the
sea at the time that the breccia at San Ciro was beneath it; and that
their present heights mark the extent to which the tertiary formation
at that part has been raised by the great convulsion, by which a
large portion of Sicily has been elevated.

8. The last formation noticed by Dr. Christie is diluvium, of which
he distinguishes two kinds differing in age. The older diluvium—an-
swering, he conceives, to the terrain de transport ancien of Elie de
Beaumont—consists of large rolled fragments of sandstone, with a
few fragments of the tertiary rocks cemented by a sandy clay, is of
the same age as the conglomerate and bone breccia, and occupies
considerable heights on the sides and summits of the hills. The newer
diluvium is quite distinct from the preceding, occupies only the bottom
of the valleys, sometimes to great depth, and consists partly of rolled
fragments of older rocks, even of the conglomerate, together with a
great quantity of grey clay. They may both be distinctly seen in the
valley of the Limetus. ;

In addition to the general conclusions already mentioned in the
history of the bone-breccia, the author considers his observations as
affording complete confirmation of the views of Elie de Beaumont re-
garding the epochs of elevation of the Sicilian mountains. The prin-
cipal chain, extending across the island to the north of Castro Novo
and Nicosia towards Messina, is not only sensibly parallel to the
principal chain of the Alps, whence alone, according to Elie de Beau-
mont, the date of elevation must be the same; but the author con-
tends that both chains were elevated posterior to the formation of the
conglomerate and older diluvium, and therefore that their periods of
elevation are identical.

Nov. 16—Martin Tupper, Esq. of New Burlington-street, and
Lord Ernest Bruce, of Grosvenor Square, were elected Fellows of
this Society.

A paper was read “On a large species of Plesiosaurus in the
Scarborough Museum,” by John Dunn, Esq. V.P. Scarborough
Philosophical Society, and communicated by Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq. P.G.S.

The animal was discovered by Mr. Marshall, of Whitby, im-
bedded in a hard rock belonging to the upper lias beds, situate
between Scarborough and Whitby, near the place where that gen-
tleman had formerly discovered the remains of a crocodile. The
skull and cervical vertebra are wanting, but the rest of the skeleton
is pretty entire and measures from the anterior dorsal to the last
coccygeal vertebra nine feet six inches. The entire animal, with the
head and neck, is estimated to have been nineteen feet long, and it
is considered by the author to be identical with the gigantic species
from Havre and Honfleur, described by Baron Cuvier, particularly

gai

from the close resemblance in the forms of the vertebrae. It ap-
pears to have been about twice the size of the Plesiosaurus found
at Lyme, and described by Conybeare in the Transactions of the
Geological Society *. The animal is lying on its left side with the
vertebrz and the bones of the shoulders and pelvis nearly zm situ,
but the ribs and the bones of the extremities are somewhat broken
and detached. The vertebral column has the gentle sigmoid flexure
we observe in the Ichthyosaurus, being concave before in the dorsal
region, and concave behind in the region of the pelvis. The bodies
of the vertebra lie in close contact with each other, and about
fifty-nine may be estimated as forming the part of the column from
the anterior dorsal vertebra to the end of the tail, which is nearly
the same number as that observed in the corresponding part of the
specimen from Lyme. Judging from the appearance of the first
dorsal vertebra, which is exposed and a little worn, the author con-
cludes that the bodies of the vertebre present flat surfaces to each
other, as in those described by Cuvier from Honfleur. The an-
nular part of the vertebre is anchylosed to the body of the bone,
as in the species from Honfleur.. The tubercular expansions of
the transverse processes of the dorsal vertebre are all directed
downwards, and not, as in that described by De la Beche and Cony-
beare, pointing upwards in the middle of the series. The right
coracoid bone is pushed down from the head of the humerus, and
the expanded bones of the pelvis are thrown forwards to some di-
stance from the vertebral column. One of the arms is pretty en-
tire, and the author considers the flattened form of the bones as
indicative of the aquatic life of the animal. The scapula exhibits
a suture dividing it into two parts, and the head of the humerus
presents a distinct protuberance, for the attachment probably of
the pectoral muscles. One of the sacral extremities is detached
and inverted, having the tibia and fibula lying next to the pelvis ;
the other sacral extremity appears to be concealed by the broad
bones of the pubis. The author has given as full an account of
all the bones of this interesting animal as the hardness of the im-
bedding rock, or the safety of the specimen, would allow of their
examination.

A letter was then read, addressed to the President and Fellows
of this Society, “On the ancient and present state of Vesuvius,”
by Count de Montlosier, For. Mem. G.S. President of theAcademy
of Clermont Ferrard, &c. &c.

The author offers this short notice on Mount Vesuvius in testi-
mony of the grateful sense entertained by him of having been
elected Foreign Member of the Geological Society; and the present
communication is intended te convey his opinions, formed during
a visit to Naples in the year 1813, in respect to the age and origin
of Mount Vesuvius, and of its neighbour Monte Somma.

Having pointed out the direct analogy between the active vol-
cano of Vesuvius, and the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne, formerly

* Geol. Trans. 2nd Series, vol. 1. p. 381 —389. pl. 48.

338

described by him, Count Montlosier proceeds to show that the
Monte Somma is the true Vesuvius of the ancients, the present
volcano being of posterior formation ; and he arrives at this conclu-
sion by varivus considerations upon the nature and form of Somma,
which he supposes to be the remaining segment of a vast elliptical
cavity, the other sides of which have since been destroyed. The
chief object of the author, however, is to point out the very dif-
ferent origin of such a large crateriform hollow as that of the ancient
Vesuvius or Somma, which he attributes to explosions, and the small
crater of the present Vesuvius, which gives vent to currents of
lava. The former having destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Stabie,
with showers of puzzolana and ashes, the latter having overflowed
Herculaneum. He endeavours to strengthen this theory by reference
to a peculiar class of extinct craters in the Eyfel, in Central France,
and in the Phlegreean fields; the circular hollows of which have since
been occupied by small lakes usually of great depth. As none of
these have lava-currents issuing from them, and many of them are
devoid of marks of igneous alteration, they are considered by the
author to be of the same origin as the ancient Vesuvius, i. e. craters
formed by sudden explosicn.

Strabo, Pliny, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, are quoted in proof
of the ancient Vesuvius having had the outline of only one moun-
tain; and it is stated that an antique painting, recently discovered
at Pompeii, represented the same fact.

The notice was accompanied by drawings of the supposed form
of the Vesuvius of antiquity, before the great eruption under Titus ;
of the condition of the mountain after that catastrophe, by which
it is presumed that its summit was destroyed and blown away in
detritus and puzzolana, leaving an enormous crater; and lastly, of
the final state of the mountain, presenting three sides of the an-
cient area broken down, with a parasitic cone and crater established
on its flank.

Nov. 20.—Lord Teynham, of Bruton-street ; Alexander Logan,
Esq. of Vere-street, Oxford-street ; Sir Thomas Winnington, Bart.
of Stamford Park, Worcestershire; Thomas Egerton, Esq. of Christ
Church Oxford, and Tatton Park, Cheshire; Colonel Wingfield,
of Onslow House, near Shrewsbury ; George Stewart Nicholson,
Esq. of Robert-street, Adelphi; W. Long Wrey, Esq. of Thornhill,
near Swansea, were elected Fellows of this Society. :

A paper “ On the Geology of the Southern Provinces of Spain,”
by Capt. Edward Cook, R.N. F.G.S., was begun ; and a communi-
cation containing extracts from the memoirs published by M. de
Buch in the Preussische Staats Zeitung, ‘“‘On the new volcanic
island in the Mediterranean, and its connection with the extinct
volcanic island of Pantellaria, and the hot springs of Sciacca on
the coast of Sicily,” by Leonard Horner, Esq. V.P.G.S. and ad-
dressed to the President, was read.

About twenty-four miles S.E. from the point where Sicily and
Africa lie nearest together, is the small island of Pantellaria, almost ~
half way between the two coasts, but rather nearer Africa. It is

339

of an oval form, about fourteen miles long from N.W. to S.E., and
rather more than seven broad. It is under the Sicilian Government,
is very fertile, and contains about 7000 inhabitants,

The island is entirely volcanic, and there are three distinct
points of eruption, from which the materials have been supplied.
The external border is formed almost wholly of a succession of
- numerous beds of a peculiar kind of trachytic lava of a light
greenish-gray colour, and resembling gneiss in its granular, slaty
structure. Within this encircling border there rises, as from the
bottom of a vast crater, the principal mountain mass of the island,
the summit of which is 2000 feet high, composed of pumice and
numerous lava streams which have issued from the flanks. From
every part of the sides of the mountain aqueous vapour issues, and
copious hot springs are found at its foot, which are accumulated in
a warm lake of salt-water 6000 feet in circumference.

About seventy miles north-east of Pantellaria lies Sciacca, on the
Sicilian coast, where hot sulphureous springs issue continually from
fissured limestone, indicating a seat of volcanic action; although no
rocks of igneous origin are found there. Between this point and
Pantellaria there are many shoals in the Mediterranean, and on one
of these the new island arose in July last, which had been an-
nounced by the shocks of earthquakes at Sciacca on the 28th of
June. This volcano was seen in eruption by the Captain of a
Sicilian ship, who found the sea around the volcano, and at the di-
stance of eight miles from it, covered with dead and half-killed fish.
On the 12th of July, floating cinders were found in such quantity
near the coast of Sciacca, thirty-seven miles distant from the spot,
that fishermen were obliged to cut a way through them with their
oars, They found at the same time newly killed fish on the sur-
face of the water, which they sold in Sciacca. M. Hoffmann and
his travelling companions visited the volcanic island on the 24th of
July, when it was 60 feet high and 800 in its greatest diameter.
Cinders and ashes were then ejected, and a column of white smoke
rose to the height of 2000 feet.

Two months afterwards the Prussian geologist and his com-
panions paid a second visit to the island, which he then found
about seventy feet high. The sea had broken down the black wall
of sand in many places, and had formed a kind of moving reef of sand
and mud, which made it impossible to land. Large masses were
falling from the hillinto the water, and it appeared probable that the
storms of the coming winter might utterly destroy the whole island.

Dec. 14.—Major T. H. Shadwell Clarke, K.H. of Trevor Terrace,
Knightsbridge; Christopher Rawson, Esq., Hope House, Halifax ;
Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq. Magdalen College Oxford, and Eating-
ton Park, Warwickshire ; and John Dickinson, Esq. of Bedford Row,
were elected Fellows of this Society.

A letter was first read “‘ On the Influence of Season over the
Depth of Water in Wells,” from William Bland, jun., Esq. of Hart-
lip, near Sittingbourne, and addressed to the Rev. William Buck-
land, D.D. V.P.G.S. &c.

Tt) S40

The writer directs attention to a fact, which he has confirmed
by numerous observations, that the depth of water in wells, within
the district which he has examined, is almost invariably greater in
summer than in winter. His observations were made on his own
well at Hartlip, in Kent, during twelve successive years, namely,
from 1819 to 1830 inclusive ; and the general result is, that the
depth of water gradually increases from Christmas to June, attains
a maximum at Midsummer, and then gradually decreases until
about the shortest day, when its depth is a minimum. from the
regularity of the phenomena Mr, Bland was induced to extend the
inquiry to other localities ; and with the aid of Sir J. M. Tylden,
of Milsted, and the Rev. F. Wollaston, of Upton House, near
Sandwich, he has supplied a large collection of facts, which are
comprised in tables and illustrated by drawings. The observations
were made principally in the county of Kent, and coincide with
what had been previously ascertained at Hartlip. The strata per-
forated in digging the wells, consisted of chalk in some situations,
of green sand at others, of Weald clay at others, and in some places
of iron sand. The depth of the wells in water, their depth below
the surface of the ground in which they were dug, and their height
above the level of the sea, varying with the general elevation of the
country in which the wells occur, were very various; and yet they
were all uniform in having the greatest depth of water about Mid-
summer, and the least about Christmas.

A paper “On the stratiform Basalt associated with the carboni-
ferous formation of the North of England,” by William Hutton,
Esq. F.G.S, was begun.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1831—1832. No. 24.

Jan.4, 1832.—A paper ‘‘ On the stratiform basalt associated with
the carboniferous formation of the North of England,” by William
Hutton, Esq., F.G.S., begun at the meeting of the 14th of Dec. 183),
was concluded.

The author’s object in this memoir is to detail the range, con-
nexion, and phenomena of the whin sill, which occurs in the lead mea-
sures or carboniferous limestone of the North of England.

He commences his observations by enumerating the points at
which the basalt is visible within the escarpment of the limestone
between Knaresdale and Lunehead ; then traces it along the outcrop
of that formation from Murton to the Roman wall, near Haltwhistle;
next along the wall itself; and afterwards by Gunnerton Crags,
Little Swinburne, Hartington, Newbigging, Shield’s Dykes, Rugby,
and Greenfield, to the Aln near Denwick. Besides the whin thus
traced along the escarpment of the limestone, the author includes in
this sill or stratum the basalt which occurs in the series of beds dis-
played on the coast of Northumberland from the Aln to Bamborough
Castle ; likewise that which appears in the interior between the last
point and Belford and Kyloe; and the basalt of the Fern Islands and
Holy Island. During the course of this extensive survey the author
made the following observations :—

That the basalt within the escarpment, as on Alston Moor and the
neighbouring mining districts, dips regularly with the strata of the
metalliferous limestone.

That the whin sill in general constitutes but one bed, though
sometimes two, and near Bavington three beds ; and is found in
contact with every stratum belonging to the limestone formation.
He noticed that great irregularity prevails in the thickness of the
whin; and states that it varies from one to thirty or forty fathoms,
sometimes swelling out into dome-shaped masses, though without
producing any disturbance in the strata in contact with it.

The igneous action of the basalt he observed to be principally ex-
hibited on the subjacent strata ; but he mentions four instances where
the incumbent beds of shale or limestone had assumed the same al-
tered characters as the beds below; and one, Gallows-hill near Hat-
lington, where the limestone above the whin is much contorted.

Lastly, the author draws the following conclusions :—

That the whin is a stratum included in the limestone series, and
was deposited subsequently to the beds on which it rests, but ante-

342

cedently tothose which rest upon it: that it was not injected laterally,
as Professor Sedgwick proved to be the case with the whin at High-
Teesdale, but was produced by an overflowing of lava during the
deposition of the limestone group; and that the alternations of basalt,
limestone, sandstone or shale, where they occur, indicate a succes-
sion of overflowings at different periods.

A paper was then read entitled “ Zoological observations on a new
fossil species of Chelydra from Giningen,” by Thomas Bell, Esq.
F.G.S. F.R.S., &c.

In this notice the author gives a description of the osteological
structure of a fossil tortoise, which was found in the upper quarries of
the lacustrine limestone of Giningen, near the lake of Constance.

He proves that the fossil belongs to the genus Chelydra, by
showing that it possesses the characters which distinguish this genus
from every other form of Testudinata ; but he determines, by a table
of comparative measurements, that the Ciningen specimen is a _
species distinct from Chelydra serpentina or the snapping tortoise of
North America.

He concludes his memoir by describing the habits of the recent
animal.

Jan. 18.—Nathaniel Thomas Wetherell, Esq., of Highgate, Mid-
dlesex ; Captain T. E. Sampson, 22nd Regiment of the Bengal Native
Infantry ; The Hon. and Very Reverend the Dean of Windsor, — were
elected ordinary Fellows of this Society ; and M. Erlert Mitschir-
lich was elected Foreign Member of this Society.

An essay “‘ On the geological structure of the Crimea,’ by Baron
Stanislaus Chaudoir, communicated by Sir Alexander Crichton,
K.W.S. F.G.S. F.R.S.,:was read.

The peninsula of the Crimea is described by the author as being
naturally divided into two districts ;—that of the plain, and that of
the mountains, The plain commences at the isthmus and terminates
near Simpheropol, following the direction of the mountains from
south-east to north-west. It is level, and watered by very few
streams, which are generally dry during the heats of summer. The
surface is so uniform and unbroken that the author did not find a
single opportunity of observing any rock below the superficial stra-
tum, which belongs to the most recent formations, and consists of
shells, analogous to those now living in the neighbouring seas, ce-
mented by sand, lime, and marl. The mountainous district extends
along the sea-shore, varying in breadth from 15 to 70 wersts, the
principal ranges being those of Ischaterdagh, and Yaila. The rocks
of which they are composed the author considers as belonging to the
following formations :—

1. Cretaceous deposit with large strata of flints, but which resembles
the chalk neither of England nor of France, being always marly. It
is the principal formation near Karasoubazar.

2. A limestone accompanying the above, containing in the neigh-
bourhood of Simpheropol great numbers of univalves, and very large
oyster-shells.

343

3. Another calcareous rock, of a compact close grain, and yellowish
smoky colour. It is found near Soudak. -

4. The jura or oolitic formation, which the author considers to
rest on hard, cellular, magnesian limestone (rauhwacke) and on moun-
tain limestone.

5. Rauhwacke, porous, globular, and of a yellow colour, occurring in
perfectly horizontal strata on the road from the German colony of
Rosenthal to Koutschouk-Kousin.

6. Cavernous limestone, which, as well as the rauhwacke, is
found in parallel strata of very great extent, and forms chains of hills,
which are less elevated than those of the magnesian limestone.

7. Variegated sandstone in alternate thin strata of a green, brown,
red, and yellow colour: it is well developed at Sably and Alma.

8. Conglomerate limestone, which forms the greater part of the
environs of Theodosia.

9. Magnesian limestone, constituting the highest mountains of the
Crimea. Near Koutlak it rises above all the other formations, having
very elevated and isolated cupolas and rounded summits. The flanks
of the mountains are generally steep, and often perpendicular, as is
well seen at the Falkenberg near Soudagh, and in the mountain chain
of Yaila,

10. Red sandstone conglomerate, the component parts of which vary
from very small grains to blocks of six feet in diameter. It lies under
the magnesian limestone, and is found in very large masses at Koos.
Fragments of quartz, flinty slate, limestone, slate-clay, greenstone,
and sandstone are contained in it.

11. Quartzy sandstone found at Nikita. The author suspects
that this rock was mistaken by Pallas for the old red sandstone. It
is always more or less interstratified with wood-coal.

12. Slate-clay, which begins behind Koutlak, on the road from
Kapsiter, and ranges towards Gouak, Koutschouk-Kousin, and Kou-
rousin on the road from Alouschta. Throughout its whole extent,
the author found it to contain alum, derived from decomposing pyrites.
This slate-clay also contains a considerable bed of wood-coal, and
masses of clay-ironstone.

13. Basalt, occurring only in beds of inconsiderable thickness
and small extent, as at Sably and Kikineis; also near Kozloff, Se-
bastupol and Theodosia.

14. Greenstone, which occurs on Mount Aioudagh near Koutschouk-
Lambat. The serpentine described by Pallas was merely decomposed
greenstone.

15. Wacke, accompanied with basaltic hornblende and crystals of
black mica, occurs in the greenstone just mentioned.

16. Amygdaloidal basalt, greenstone, and wacke. These rocks
are met with near the convent of St. George, on the sea-shore.

17. Argillaceous or clay-stone porphyry, remarkable for its columnar
appearance, occurs above Alma, three wersts above Sably.

Feb. 1—A paper was read ‘‘On the deposits overlying the car-
boniferous series in the valley of the Eden, and on the north-western

344

coasts of Cumberland and Lancashire,” by the Rev. A. Sedgwick,
F.G.S. F.R.S., Woodwardian Professor in the University of Cam-
bridge, &c.

The author states that this paper is a continuation of two former
communications, and that the details, now laid before the Society,
define the geographical limits of the central Cumbrian Mountains ;
a general description of which will form his next object.

§ 1. He first traces the geographical distribution of the new red
sandstone series, which commencing near Kirkby Stephen is ex-
panded, between the central Cumbrian chain and the carboniferous
chain of Cross Fell, to the Solway Firth. He then traces the mem-
bers of the same series along the north-western coasts of Cumber-
land and Low-Furness ; pointing out their modifications of structure
—the analogies they present to other British formations of the same
age—and their relations to the older rocks on which they rest.

The author describes some protruding masses of the carboni-
ferous series within the area of the new red sandstone. Of these
he enumerates three examples :—Ist. A contorted mass of car-
boniferous limestone in the plateau of Broadfield, about five miles
south of Carlisle-—2ndly. A mass of yellow magnesian limestone
at Chalk Beck to the east of the village of Rosley. From its fossils,
structure and position, he concludes that it isan outlying mass of
the carboniferous limestone.—3rdly. Some masses of carboniferous
limestone, sandstone and shale near Aketon, about three miles north
of Wigton: and he states his belief that in no place within the area
of the red sandstone, could a search for the small beds of coal which
alternate with the limestone be made with a greater probability of
success than near this place.

§ 2. He then describes in detail the successive deposits exhibited
in a coast section extending from the cliffs north of Whitehaven
to St. Bee’s Head. They are enumerated in the ascending order as
follows :—

(1.) Great carboniferous system of Whitehaven; of which some
of the great faults and dislocations are briefly noticed.

(2.) A coarse sandstone of great thickness, generally with a red-
dish tinge, containing, though rarely, traces of calamites, and some-
times appearing to graduate into the true coal measures. It is, how-
ever, shown to be on the whole unconformable to the carboniferous
series, and to be the exact equivalent of the “lower red sandstone,”
described in a former paper (Geol. Trans. vol. iii. part I. p. 64),
which separates the magnesian limestone and conglomerates from
the Yorkshire and Durham coal-fields. It is further compared with
a red sandstone, which in Shropshire separates the true coal mea-
sures from the magnesian, porphyritic conglomerates.

(3.) Magnesian conglomerates, sometimes of considerable thickness,
and formed in the hollows and irregularities of the “lower red sand-
stone” (No. 2.). They are identified with the similar conglomerates
of the valley of the Eden, and of various parts of Yorkshire and of
Shropshire; and they appear to be on the exact parallel of the
similar conglomerates of the Mendip Hills, Exeter, and the south-
western coal-fields.

345

(4.) Magnesian limestone—sometimes replaced by, or alternating
with, magnesian conglomerate.

(5.) Red marl and gypsum—supposed to represent the “ lower
red marl and gypsum” of the Yorkshire sections. (Geol. Trans.
vol. ili, part I. p. 101.)

(6.) Great, red and variegated sandstone of St. Bee’s Head.

From these facts the author draws the following conclusions : —

1st. That in Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, and Shropshire,
there is the same succession of deposits overlying the carboniferous
order—that in all these regions the “lower red sandstone’ (No. 2.)
represents the rothe todte liegende or lowest division of the red sand-
stone series— and that in some cases thesame group (No. 2.) appears
to graduate into the true coal measures.

Yndly. That the magnesian conglomerates are anintegral part of
the formation of magnesian limestone, are superior to the “dower red
sandstone,” and sometimes unconformable to it.

3rdly. That the succession of deposits overlying the south-
western coal-fields of England is imperfect; inasmuch as the low-
est division of the new red sandstone series (No. 2.) is entirely
wanting ;—a fact easily explained by the discordant position of the
overlying groups, and the entire break of any continuity between
them and the coal measures.

4thly. That the magnesian and porphyritic conglomerates of
the south-western districts of England (being in their mineral
structure and in their relations apparently identical with the mag-
nesian ccnglomerates of the northern counties) do not represent
the rothe todte liegende, but are on the higher parallel of the mag-
nesian limestone.

§ 3. The author then briefly considers the classification adopted by
several continental writers, in which the old red sandstone, the car-
boniferous series, and the lowest division of the new red sandstone
series are regarded as one great complex group; and he endea-
vours to show, that, however adverse the English succession of the
older secondary formations may be to this view, it receives some
countenance from the development of the red sandstone and car-
boniferous series of Scotland.

Lastly, he notices the great masses of red sandstone and conglo-
merate which fringe the Highland coasts, and doubling along the
south flank of the Grampians stretch from one side of Scotland to
the other. It is inferred, from their mineral structure and conti-
nuity, that they are of one epoch: and as one portion of them is
proved by Dr. Fleming to pass under the carboniferous series of
Fifeshire, it is inferred (in conformity with an opinion already pub-
lished by Mr. Murchison and the author) that, considered on the
whole, they are nearly on the parallel of the old red sandstone. It
is further shown that the Ichthyolites of Caithness and the Orkneys
cannot be separated from the same ancient group, and that they
are probably on the parallel of other ichthyolites discovered by Dr.
Fleming under the carboniferous series of Fifeshire ;—a conclusion
which does not appear to be invalidated by a single opposing fact.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1832. No. 25.

AT THE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
17th February 1832,

The following Report from the Council was read :—

The Council have much satisfaction in making a most favourable
Report of the affairs of the Society. The number of Fellows ad-
mitted since the last Anniversary, affords at once a proof of the in-
creasing interest which is taken in geological science, and of the
continued prosperity of the Society. The numerous donations of
Books, Maps, and Specimens have given additional value to the
Library and Museum ; and the indefatigable zeal of the Curator in
classifying and arranging the collection, has supplied facilities for
study and reference far greater than the Society had hitherto pos-
sessed. ‘The annexed returns will show that the property of the
Society is very much increased, and that in every point of view its
affairs are in a flourishing state.

REPORT of the Committee on the Museums.

The disposition of the collections in the apartments of the So-
ciety has been considerably improved during the last year; the
simple Minerals having been removed into the Library ; the Scotch
and Irish specimens from thence to the lower Museum; the foreign
specimens to the upper Museum: so that the lower Museum now
includes the whole of the collections from the British Isles.

The Curator has completed the arrangement of the whole of the
English and Scotch collections; the specimens of the secondary
strata being disposed stratigraphically ; and those of the primitive
and transition rocks according to the districts in which they have
been collected; each respective district being likewise stratigraphi-
cally arranged, so far as was practicable.

The Fossils of the several strata are all fixed on boards, and dis-
posed in zoological order.

I. Barris Couuections. The following are among the principal
Deficiencies which still remain in this part of the series.

The collection from the Crag, and the accumulations above the
Chalk, has been improved, but is still defective.
A

348

The collection from Portland has been enriched by a present ot
Cycadeoidee from Professor Buckland: but that of the other Fossils
from this part of the series is very incomplete.

From the Kimmeridge Clay, the Coral-rag, and Oxford Oolite,
the collection is very defective.

The collection from the Great and Inferior Oolites has been im-
proved, but is still in many respects defective.

The Fossils of the Lias are defective.

There is a great want of the Fossils of the New Red Sandstone and
Magnesian Limestone.

Coal-measures. There is a total want of specimens to illustrate
the character of the Millstone Grit and Upper Limestone Shale,
throughout the tract from Bristol to Yorkshire.

Mountain Limestone. Collection of Fossils defective.

Old Red Sandstone. A series of specimens of the various pebbles
of older rocks, which occur in the conglomerate of this formation,
is very much to be desired.

The Specimens from the Transition and Primary Series of England
having been arranged, the Committee are enabled to make the
following observations.

From Cornwall and Devonshire the series is good.

From the Midland Counties of England, especially those bordering
on Wales, and from Wales itself,—with the exception of a very
valuable collection from Anglesea, presented by Professor Henslow,
—the collection is poor.

As also is that from Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Northum-
berland, except of the Cheviot Hills.

Of the Scotch collection, the secondary rocks had been partially
arranged before the Report of 1830. The Curator has, during the
past year, completed the arrangement ; and the collection is rich in
valuable specimens.

Ireland. A valuable series from the South of Ireland has been
presented by Thomas Weaver, Esq. to accompany his Memoir on
that district.

There is a small collection of specimens from the Isle of Man, and
a few from Guernsey and the other islands in the English Channel.

The President has enriched the collection with one side of the slab
containing the Fossil Fox of Giningen, and has presented to the So-
ciety the whole of the extensive collections formed by him during his
last summer’s geological tour through a very considerable part of
England. These are principally illustrative of the transition and
oolitic series.

Il. Foreren Cotuections. Some further progress has been made
in the arrangement of this part of the Museum. ‘The principal
additions have been:

1. A collection of Fossil Bones from Wellington Valley in Austra-
lia, presented by Major Mitchell, Surveyor General in New South
Wales, and accompanied by a Memoir, Map, and Drawings.

349

2. Specimens of Rocks, collected by Captain P. P. King, R.N.
during his survey of part of the shores of South America.

3. A collection of specimens made by Captain Belcher during his
survey of the coast of Africa in 1830 and 1831.

The two collections last mentioned have been presented by their
donors, with the permission of the Lords of the Admiralty.

The Committee cannot forbear particularly to mention a magnifi-
cent specimen of Meandrina cerebriformis from Bermuda, presented
by John Taylor, Esq. the Treasurer of the Society.

III. Lisrary. ‘Donations of Books and Pamphlets, to the amount
of 97, have been presented to the Society since the last Anni-
versary.

A new Alphabetical Catalogue of the Library has been completed
and fairly transcribed.

The simple Minerals having been brought down into the Library,
it is desirable that the Books on Mineralogy should be removed to
the same place.

The Committee recommend that Deshayes’s Coquilles Fossiles des
Environs de Paris should be completed :—

And they suggest, as very desirable, that the Foreign Journals, and
Transactions of Societies connected with Geology, be extended and
completed: and that such measures as the Council may think
proper, be taken to complete the copy of the Ordnance Map of
England, of which part is already in possession of the Society.

IV. The Committee cannot conclude this Report without calling
the attention of the Council to the fact, that the Curator, in order
that his arrangement of the Collections might not interfere with his
other duties, has hitherto devoted to the cabinets and to the business
of the Society, a very large portion of his leisure hours, and also of
his vacation. And they suggest, that it will be highly expedient to
guard against such encroachment in future, from a just regard both
to the interest of the Institution, and to the health and comfort of
Mr. Lonsdale ;—of the great value of whose labours, in the discharge
of his various duties, the examination just made by your Com-
mittee has afforded new proofs.

W. J. BRODERIP.
W. D. CONYBEARE.
W. H. FITTON.
Geological Society,
Feb. 13, 1832.

350

Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the close
of the years 1830-—31.

Fellows. 31st Dec. 1830. 3st Dec. 1831.
Having compounded! j..c. Qass moore. ur ce 64
Contributing: (ise. a2 3 Ree Vio oa ares 187
INOn=resid entseiy 9215) te) ete tets Zoos hg Leo 288

508 539

Honorary senor sein. br. aE ee DOR ale leaky. 50

Foreign Members... OAs anon oc 08

Personages of ‘Royal Blood: -.3:. 3.i 0002... 3

617 650

The following Persons were elected Fellows and Foreign Members
during the Year 1831.

January 19th. ~ Robert Trotter, Esq. of St. John’s Coilege, Cam-
bridge ; and Thomas Hodgson Holdsworth, Esq. of Gray’s Inn
Square,

February 2nd.—Robert Francis Seale, Esq. Secretary to the Go-
vernor at St. Helena, &c.; and James C. Somerville, Jun. M.D.
of Princes Street.

February 16th.—John MacDonell, Esq. of Upper Gloucester Place,
Dorset Square; John Evans, Esq. of Hertford Street, Mayfair ;
and John Badams, Esq. of Birmingham.

March 2nd.—Robert MacCallan, Esq. of Hampton Wick, Middle-
sex ; the Very Rev. the Dean of Carlisle, of Grosvenor Street ; and
William Hawes, Esq. of Russell Square.

March 16th.—Charles Barclay, Esq. of Grosvenor Place; and Henry
Bickersteth, Esq. of Caius College, Cambridge.

March 30th.—Lord Viscount Norreys, M.P. of Great Stanhope Street,
Mayfair; Sir John Johnston, Bart. M.-P. of Lower Grosvenor
Street ; Samuel Duckworth, Esq. of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
William John Hamilton, Esq. of Stanley Grove, Chelsea ; and
Charles H. Carnegy, M.D. of Edinburgh.

April 13th—The Rev. Henry Browne of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge.

May 11th.—William Richardson, Esq. of Christ Church, Cambridge.

May 25th.—Rev. Thomas Worsley, of Downing College, Cambridge ;
Rev. Robert Willis, of Caius College, Cambridge; and Marma-
duke Ramsay, Esq. of Jesus College, Cambridge.

June 8th.— Henry Aglionby Aglionby, Esq. of St. John’s College,
Cambridge ; Lord King, of Dover Street; and the Rev. Edward
Stanley, of Alderley Rectory, Congleton.

November 2nd.—James Forbes, Esq. of Edinburgh ; and the Hon.
Charles Harris, of Privy Gardens.

November 16th.—Martin ‘Tupper, Esq. of New Burlington Street ;
and Lord Ernest Bruce, of Grosvenor Square.

351

November 30th.—Right Hon. Lord Teynham, of Bruton Street ;
Alexander Logan, Esq. of Vere Street, Oxford Street; Sir Thomas
Winnington, Bart. of Stanford Park, Worcestershire ; Thomas
Egerton, Esq. of Christ Church College, Cambridge; Colonel
Wingfield, of Onslow House, near Shrewsbury ; George Stuart
Nicholson, Esq. of Robert Street, Adelphi; and William Long
Wrey, Esq. of Thornhill, near Swansea.

December 14th.—John Ashton Yates, Esq. of Liverpool; Major T.
H. Shadwell Clerke, K.H. of Trevor Terrace, Knightsbridge ;
Christopher Rawson, Esq. of Hope House, Halifax ; Evelyn Philip
Shirley, Esq. of Magdalen College, Oxford ; and John Dickinson,
Esq. of Bedford Row.

Foreign Members elected in 1831.
Karl Ernest Adolf von Hoff; and M. Eilert Mitscherlich.

The Names of the Fellows deceased, within the past year, are as
follows :—

Compounders ........ (None.)
Residents: yen ns (None.)
Marmaduke Ramsay, Esq.
Non-residents ...... { Rigi Rev. J. M. Turner, D.D. Bishop
of Calcutta.
HOnele tir ote et cin ers arc (None.)
EFONGT AGEs cmeye. oy. ce (None.)

The Museum has received many Donations since the last Anniver-
sary, among which are included the following :—

British and Irish Specimens.

An Ammonites from the Calcareous Grit ; presented by T. O. Anstie,
Esq. F.G.S.

Fossils from the Green-sand near Warminster ; presented by the Rev.
B. Richardson, Hon. Mem. G.S.

A slab of Dudley Limestone; presented by Karl Dudley. :

Fossils from the Chalk, Green-sand, and Weymouth-beds; pre-
sented by Miss Benett.

Fossils from the Chalk, Lower Green-sand, Coral-rag, Inferior Oolite,
Lias, &c. ; presented by Henry H. Goodhall, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from the Coral-rag of Yorkshire ; presented by W. D.
Saull, Esq. F.G.S.

Coprolites, and casts of Coprolites, from the Lias, and Cycadeoidea
from Portland; presented by the Rev. Dr. Buckland, V.P.G.S.
Specimens from the South of Ireland; presented by T. Weaver, Esq.

F.G.S
Specimens illustrative of the Mines of Cornwall; presented by W.
S. Henwood, Esq. F.G.S.

352

Fossils from the Isle of Sheppey; presented by the Rev. H. Engle-
heart, F.G.S. A

Minerals from Cornwall, &c. ; presented by the Rev. James Yates,
F.G.S. /

An Orthoceratite from the Limestone at Newton-on-the-Moor, near
Felton ; presented by the Rev. James Cook.

Casts of Impressions in Red Sandstone, presented by Henry Witham,
Esq. F.G.S.

Fossils from Leckhampton Hill, and additional Specimens from the
Isle of Wight ; presented by S. P. Pratt, Esq. F.G.S.

Corals from the Mountain Limestone of Flintshire ; presented by J.
Taylor, Jun. Esq.

Specimens found in the Clay Iron-stone of the New Hadley Iron
Works, near Wilmington, Shropshire ; and a specimen of Chil-

drenite from Cornwall; presented by T. H. Holdsworth, Esq.
F.G.S.

Foreign Specimens.

Specimens from the Isthmus of Darien ; presented by J. A. Lloyd, Esq.

Silicate of Copper and Sulphate of Barytes, containing native silver,
from Coquimbo in Chili; presented by Alexander Caldcleugh,
Esq. F.G.S.

Recent Shells and Corals from Australia, &c.; presented by Arch-
deacon Scott, F.G.S.

Specimens from the Caucasus ; presented by Col. Monteith.

A collection of Bones from the Caves in Wellington Valley, New
South Wales ; presented by Major Mitchell, F.G.S.

Four recent Corals from Sincapore; presented by R. I. Murchison,
Esq. Pres. G.S.

Geological Specimens from Pasco in Peru; presented by H. J.
Brooke, Esq. F.G.S.

Fossil Corals from Pappenheim and Nuttheim; presented by the
Duke of Buckingham, F.G.S.

Cast of Fucoides Alleghaniensis; presented by G. W. Featherston-
haugh, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from Van Dieman’s Land, Ems, &c.; presented by Leo-
nard Horner, Esq. F.G.S.

A collection of Geological Specimens made by Capt. P. P. King, R.N.,
during his survey of Terra del Fuego, Cape Horn, &c.; presented
by Capt. King, by permission of the Lords of the Admiralty.

Specimens of Iron Ore from the Cerro del Meriado; presented by
the Directors of the United Mexican Mining Association.

A Block of Gibraltar Breccia ; presented by Dr. Buckland, V.P.G.S.

Geological Specimens from Malta and Sicily; presented by Turnbull
Christie, M.D. F.G.S.

Head of an Hippopotamus, from the river Gambia; presented by Dr.
Tebbs.

A collection of Specimens made by Capt. Belcher, during his survey
on the coast of Africa in 1830 and 1831; presented by Capt. Bel-
cher, by permission of the Lords of the Admiralty.

353

Fossils from Gerolstein, Blankenheim, and Weissebach; presented

by F. W. Hoeninghaus, Esq.

Fossils from Normandy ; presented by A. Majendie, Esq. F.G.S.
Fossils from the Rock of Gibraltar; presented by Lieutenant Col.

Harding.

A Specimen of recent Mendrina cerebriformis ; presented by John

Taylor, Esq., Treas. G.S.

The Lisrary has been increased by the donation of ninety-seven

works and pamphlets.

The Second Part of the Third Volume of the Transactions of the

Society will appear in a few days.

The following Lisr contains the Names of all the Persons and
Societies from whom Donations to the Library and Museum have
been received during the past year.

Academy of Science at Phila-
delphia.
Anstie, T. O. Esq. F.G.S.

Babbage, Charles, Esq. F.R.S.

Belcher, Capt. R.N. F.G.S.

Benett, Miss.

Boué, Ami, M.D. For. Mem. G:S.

Brayley, Jun. E. W. Esq.

Brockedon, W. Esq.

Brooke, H. J. Esq. F.G.S.

Buch, Leopold von, For. Mem.
G.S

Buckingham, His Grace the Duke
of, F.G.S.
Buckland, Rev.W. DD.V.P.G.S.

Caldcleugh, Alex., Esq. F.G.S.
Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Cheek, Henry, Esq.

Christie, A.Turnbull, M.D. F.G.S.
Clift, W. Esq. F.G.S.

Cole, Viscount, M.P. F.G.S.
Cook, Rev. J.

Daubeny, C. G. B. M.D. F.G:S.
De la Beche, H.T. Esq. F'.G.S.
Dudley, Earl of, F.R.S.

Editors of the Horticultural Re-
gister.

Editor of the Athenzeum,
Egerton, Sir Philip, Bart. F.G.S.
Engleheart, Rev. H. F.G.S.

Faraday, Michael, Esq. F.G.S.

Featherstonhaugh, G. W. Esq.
F.G.8.

Forster, Thomas, Esq.

Geological Society of France.
Goodhall, H. H. Esq. F.G.S.
Griffin, John, Esq.

Hall, E. Esq.

Harding, Lieut. Col.

Harlan, Dr.

Hart, J. Esq.

Hausmann, J. F. von.

Henwood, W.S. Esq. F.G.5.

Heeninghaus, F. W.

Holdsworth, T. H. Esq. F.G.S.

Humboldt, A. Baron, For. Mem.
G.S.

‘Hutton, Wm. C. Esq. F.G.S.

Institute of France.
Jones, H. Capt. R.E.

King, Capt. P. P. R.N. F.R.S.

Leeds Philosophical Society.

354

Lloyd, J. A. Esq. F.R.S. Royal Berlin Academy. ;
Loudon, J. C. Esq. F.G.S. Royal College of Surgeons.

ee Royal Irish Academy.
Majendie, A. Esq. F.G.S.

Medico-Botanical Society. Saull, Devonshire, Esq. F.G.S.
Meyer, M. Esq. Scott, Rev. Archdeacon, F.G.S.
Mitchell, Major, F.G.S. Serres, M. de.
Monteith, Col. Silliman, Benjamin, M.D. For.
ee aa ae Impey, Esq. Mem. G.S.

GS,

Taylor, John, Esq., Treas. G.S.
Necker, L. A. For. Mem. G.S. Taylor, John, Jun, Esq.

Taylor, Richard, Esq. F.G.S.
Page, Frederick, Esq. F.G.S.

Pentland, M. Underwood, S. Esq. F.G.S.

Phillipps, Mrs. United Mexican Mining Ass.

Phillips, R. Esq. F.R.S.

Pratt, S. P. Esq. F.G.S. Weaver, T. Esq. F.G.S.
White, C. Esq. F.G.S.

Reinwardt, C. G. Esq. Witham, H.T, Esq. F.G.S.

Rensselaer, Hon. Stephen von. Woodward, S. Esq.
Richardson, Rev. B. Hon. Mem.

G.S. Yates, Rev. James, F.G.S.
Rodd, M. E. Esq. Yorkshire Philosophical Society.
Royal Society of London.

Royal Institution. Zoological Society.

Royal Astronomical Society.

List of Pavers read since the last Annual Meeting, Feb. 18, 1831.

March 2.—On the Rippled Markings of many of the Forest Marble-
beds north of Bath, and on Foot-tracks of certain Animals occurring
in great abundance on their surfaces; by G. P. Scrope, Esq.
F.G.S. F.R.S. &e.

March 2 and 16.—A Description of Longitudinal and Transverse
Sections through a portion of the Carboniferous Chain between
‘Penigent and Kirkby-Stephen; by Professor Sedgwick, F.G.S.
F.R.S. &c.

March 30.—Geological Remarks on the Vicinity of Swan River, and
on Isle Buadche or Garden Island, on the coast of Western Austra-
lia; by the Rev. Archdeacon Scott, F.G.S.

April 13.—An Account of the Limestone Caves at Wellington
Valley, and of the Situation, near one of them, where Fossil Bones
have been found ; by Major Mitchell, F.G.S. &c. Surveyor Gen.
of New South Wales.

April 27.—On some Effects of the Atmosphere in Wasting the Sur-
faces of Buildings and Rocks ; by John Phillips, Esq. F.G.S. &c.

355

April 27,—An Extract from a Letter of the Rev. George Greg, ex-
planatory of certain subterraneous sounds, occasionally heard at
Nakoos, near Tor, in Arabia ; communicated by the President.

May 11 and 25.—Notes on the Secondary Formations of Germany,
as compared with those of England; by R.1. Murchison, Esq.
Pres. G.S. F.R.S. &e.

June 8.—A Letter on the Diluvial Deposits of Caernarvonshire,
between the Snowdon Chain of Hills and the Menai Straits ; and
on the Discovery of Marine Shells in diluvial sand and gravel on
the summit of Moel Tryfane, near Caernarvon, 1000 feet above
the level of the sea; from Joshua Trimmer, Esq., and addressed
to the Rev. Dr. Buckland.

November 2.—On certain younger Deposits in Sicily, and on the
Phenomena accompanying their elevation; by Alexander T.
Christie, M.D, F.G.S.

November 16.—An account of a Plesiosaurus in the Museum of the
Philosophical Society at Scarborough; by John Dunn, Esq. V.P.
Scar. Phil. Soc., and communicated by the President.

—- A Notice on Mount Vesuvius ; by the Comte de Mont-
losier, For. Mem. G.S. President of the Academy of Clermont Fer-
rand, &c.

November 30.—On the Geology of the Southern Provinces of Spain,
by Capt. Edward Cook, R.N. F.G.S.

——_———— A Letter from Leonard Horner, Esq. V.P.G.S., and
addressed to the President, containing extracts from an account
published by M. de Buch, of the new Volcanic Island in the Me-
diterranean, and its connexion with the extinct Volcanic Island of
Pantellaria, and the Hot Springs of Sciacca, on the coast of Sicily.

December 14.—A Letter on the Influence of Season over the Depth
of Water in Wells; from William Bland, Esq., and addressed to
the Rev. Dr. Buckland, V.P.G.S.

14, and January 4, 1832.—On the Stratiform Basalt as-
sociated with the Carboniferous Formation of the North of En-
gland; by William Hutton, Esq. F.G.S.

January 18.—On the Geological Structure of the Crimea; by Baron
Stanislaus Chaudoir, and communicated by Sir Alexander Crich-
ton, K.W.S. F.G.S.

Zoological Observations on a new Fossil Species of
Chelydra found at Géningen ; by Thomas Bell, Esq. F.G.S.

February ].—On the Deposits overlying the Carboniferous Series in
the Valley of the Eden, and on the North-west Coast of Cumber-
land and Lancashire ; by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, F.G.S., Wood-
wardian Professor at Cambridge.

356

Sums actually Received and Expended,

Receiretvs.

Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1831: Sez bisyon aes SER.
Banker ree erg Wosbee coer ater 336 13 3
Accountant sce s seers sities cme 40 14 0

—_———._ 377 7 3

Arrears : B Seen ls
AGINISSION GEES ski o-oo eee ee jo) \22 0
Annual Contributions ............ 33 18 O

—— 109 10 O

Ordinary Income : Rats ids
Annual Contributions ............ 434 9 O
Admission Fees: psu cls

Residents ........ 132 6 O

Non-Residents..... 73 10 0O

Compositions, FEV as hcarsy ald ots deanssSof Le heat UM ak 157 10 0
Seb iSijoe
(PFANSACLIONS: H2h554 cin! Soukyercpbeans adie os ope 7M ly 0
Proceedings) oy) ccksc eee ater ae ea nie IS) 40
— 8419 0

Wollaston) Hund: -y45)05. seen AOS Ae! kph a te BO eal pax

357

during the Year ending December 31, 1831.

PAYMENTS.
Bills outstanding Jan. 1, 1831: B5n 6b Gh 28 Gs dL
lousemE xpenses: si) es cores custo ot 900000 13 16 10
Collectors /Eoundapen. ie sapere rel - 910 6
leatforsMectings) Meee emcee aces cle « 513 9
Taxes, Parochial Charges ............--+--- 15 0 0
Wepairsiof House). )0 5) sos a cette eio eo ae ie 812 8
Scientific Expenditure ....... Peeepateratskeroiares Vans ANTS 7,
57 12 4
General Expenditure : en Se dag oasa «ds
Household Furniture.......... 13.19 5
Repairs of House.........-... LOW
House Expenses.............-- 152 15 11
Taxes, Parochial............-- 2815 O
Hae ISIN DIS cloister clelicisiewiele' = cele 52 11 4
Insurance ........ o00000x0000 6 0 0
264 9 1
Salaries and Wages : £. s. d.
Curatonetecee cece osoD0b600 150 0 O
Porter ........ Setlcnaks ladelensperesieener 90 0 0
Collector's Poundage.......... Nee lo)
256 1 0
Scientific Expenditure........ 52 10 8
Stationery and Miscellaneous
Printin Geta lckes suckevonciebsie cio ac) Oral). ek
122 12 0
Mea fon Meectingsemen saci cae e401, 0 0
GOL 7 al
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aransactionswe)- eer ee etree acaooocean WS UD -O
Proceedings ......-.. Arh tev Taeest Set eI LE ear AE Oe 38 O 6
134 19 6

Wollaston Fund ....

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BATIK OT. post" cra 'e:veloveie' avs ayasei metetNers oRaote eet eee 457 2 8
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360

The Report having been read, it was Resolved :—

1. That this Report be received ; and that such parts of it as the
Council shall think fit, be printed and distributed among the Fel-
lows of the Society.

2. That the thanks of the Society be given to William John
Broderip, Esq., and Davis Gilbert, Esq., retiring from the office of
Vice Presidents.

3. That the thanks of the Society be given to Henry Thomas De
la Beche, Esq., retiring from the office of Secretary.

4, That the thanks of the Society be given to Sir John Herschel,
K.C.H., Leonard Horner, Esq., Captain John Pringle, the Rev. J.
Honywood Randolph, Captain James Vetch, and Nicholas Vigors,
Esq., retiring from the Council.

The Meeting then proceeded to ballot for the Officers and Council
for the ensuing year ; and on the glasses being closed, the scrutineers
announced that the following gentlemen had been duly elected :—

OFFICERS.

PRESIDENT.
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Rev. William Buckland, D.D. V.P.R.S. F.L.S. Professor of Geology
in the University of Oxford.

Rev. William Daniel Conybeare, M.A. F.R.S. Instit. Reg. Soc. Paris.
Corresp.

William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. & L.S.

Rev. Adam Sedgwick, M A. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge.

SECRETARIES.
William John Hamilton, Esq.
Edward Turner, M.D. F.R.S. L. & E. Professor of Chemistry in the
University of London.
FOREIGN SECRETARY.
Charles Lyell, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. & L.S. Professor of Geology in
King’s College, London.
TREASURER.
John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S.

361

COUNCIL.

William John Broderip, Esq. B.A.

F.R.S. & L.S.

William Clift, Esq. F.R.S.

Viscount Cole, M.P. F.R.S.

Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq.
F.R.S. & L.S.

Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Eger-
ton, Bart. F.R.S.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. MP. M.A.
VEPEReS:
F.S.A. L.S. & H.S. M.R.I.A.

Robert Edmund Grant, M.D.
F.R.S. Ed. Professor of Com-
parative Anatomy in the Uni-
versity of London.

Hon. M.R.S. Ed.

George Bellas Greenough, Esq.
F.R.S. L.S. & H.S. M.R.A.S.

Basil Hall, Esq.Capt.R.N. F.R.S.
L. & Ed. M.R.A.S.

William Somerville, M.D. F.R.S.

Charles Stokes, Esq. F.R.S. S.A.
& LS. M.R.A.S.

Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P.
F.R.S. L.S. & HS.
Rev. William Whewell,

F.R.S.
Rev. James Yates, M.A. F.L.S.

M.A.

362

Address to the Geological Society, delivered on the Evening of the 17th
of February 1832, by the President Ronrericx Impey Murcuison,
Esq. F RS. LS. &c.

GENTLEMEN,

From the Reports which have just been read, it appears that,
flourishing as our condition may have been under my distinguished
predecessors, this Society is moving onwards in a course of con-
tinued and increasing prosperity.

Our list of Fellows has been augmented by thirty-five new names :
and our foreign list has been honoured by the accession of Von Hoff
and Mitscherlich; the first of whom has much enlarged our know-
ledge of the causes in operation upon the surface of the earth; the
latter is known to you by his great discoveries in analytical mine-
ralogy.

We have to regret the loss of only two English members of our
body. In our foreign associate, the venerable Sommering, death has
indeed deprived us of a most invaluable coadjutor; but he has fallen
ripe in years and loaded with honours*.

Our collections and library have received most important additions ;
and these, together with the whole of our property, have been incal-
culably increased in value by the lucid arrangements and unabated
zeal of our curators

The Council have attentively considered the most befitting appro-
priation of the proceeds of the Wollaston Fund for the present year ;
and in their wish to comply with the spirit of the bequest of the illus-
trious testator, who has charged them ‘“‘ not to hoard these dividends
parsimoniously, but to expend them liberally, and, as nearly as may
be, annually,”’ they have resolved to adjudge them on this occasion to
Mr. Lonsdale, to enable him during the ensuing summer to continue
his researches in the oolitic formations, and to detect the variations
of mineral and zoological character, which mark this series in its
range to the North of England. By this award of the Council, I
feel satisfied, that the science will derive much real benefit in con-
sequence of the closeness of geological observation, and accurate
knowledge of natural history, which are so happily combined in the
person of our curator.

The earliest communication during the last session, on secondary
deposits, was from the pen of Mr. Poulett Scrope, who, although so
well known by many able writings on volcanic subjects, had not
previously directed much of his attention to the nature of sedimentary
formations ; and his accession, therefore, to the small number of
working contributors in this branch of inquiry, is to be hailed with
satisfaction. From the rippled and wavy markings upon the surfaces of
certain beds of the forest marble in Wiltshire, and from the apparent

* We may rejoice that some of the most precious mcnuments of Sém-
mering’s skill in fossil comparative anatomy, have been happily secured to
the English student by the exertions of Mr. Konig, and are now exhibited
in the British Museum.

363

impression of the feet of animals thereon, Mr. Scrope infers, that this
deposit, though now in the centre of England, was accumulated upon
a line of coast, and must have been formed in shallow water, subject
to the flux and reflux of tides. Though we admit, in this case, the
littoral nature of the deposit, there are many other Strata, the rippled
surfaces of which, cannot be received in proof of the same mode of
accumulation ; since, like appearances occur in rocks, which from their
imbedded fossils, as well as from their structure, seem to have been
formed in very deep seas.

Your late President, Professor Sedgwick, after an interval allotted
to the study of the Eastern Alps, has resumed the arduous task,
which he had brought so nearly to completion, of explaining the
varied and complicated relations of the oldest secondary and transi-
tion rocks of the North of England. His first memoir during the
_past session, is a description of longitudinal and transverse sections,
through a portion of the carboniferous chain between Penigent and
Kirkby Stephen. In this communication he shows that the mountain
limestone, though consisting of many beds separated by shales and
sandstones, may be divided into two groups, of which the “ great
scar limestone”’ is the lower, having an average thickness of more
than five hundred feet, and containing Orthocerata, Trilobites and
Ammonites. The younger group contains five beds of limestone, of
which the highest, or twelve-fathom limestone of the miners, is asso-
ciated with many strata of sandstene and shale, and three or four seams
of workable coal. ‘The whele of this calcareous system is overlaid
by a complex group connected with the millstone grit, and in-
terlaced with beds of shale and one or two seams of coal. By five
transverse sections drawn across the prolongation of the great Craven
fault, described by Mr. Phillips, as well as by himself in former me-
moirs, the author points out the peculiar relative movements of the
carboniferous and grauwacké chains, anterior to the deposit of the new
red sandstone.

From his general conclusions we learn,—that the carbonaceous for-
mations become much more calcareous in their range to the north—
that from the nature of the associated erganic remains, coal has, in
some places, been produced in deep seas, and in other places in shallow
estuaries—that changes in the mineral character of the contempo-
raneously formed strata, are usually accompanied by changes in the
species of the fossils, whether animal or vegetable—and, lastly, that
the valleys in the carboniferous chain, near the lines of section, are
not fissures which have been deepened by erosion, but true valleys of
denudation.

The last paper, by Professor Sedgwick, is on the red sandstone of
the vailey of the Eden, and of the coasts of Cumberland and Lanca-
shire. In a section from Whitehaven to St. Bee’s Head, he describes
the carboniferous strata as being overlaid by a lower red sandstone,
containing a few coal-plants, which, though sometimes conformable
to, and appearing to graduate into, the coal measures, is more fre-
quently in an unconformable position to them, and therefore is the
true base of the new red sandstone series. This lower sandstone is

364

succeeded, in an ascending order, first by a magnesian conglomerate,
quite identical with that which overlies the south-western coal-fields ;
then by magnesian limestone; afterwards by red marl with gypsum and
bands of carbonate of zinc; and, lastly, by the new red sandstone of
St. Bee’s Head. The identity of different parts of this succession
with the groups overlying the carboniferous system of Yorkshire and
Durham, is described in detail ; and by further comparisons we learn,
that the great member of the red sandstone, described in this and
former memoirs by the same author, as the equivalent of the rothe-
todte-liegende and the Gres de Vosges, is entirely wanting in the south-
west of England, the conglomerates of which (near Exeter and the
Mendip Hills) stand in the place of the second member of this series,
as existing in countries where the system is fully developed.

The concluding part of this valuable memoir, is occupied with a
brief reconsideration of the red sandstone formations of Scotland ; and
the author confirms the views, published by him and myself, respecting
the great antiquity of the vast range of red sandstone and conglome-
rate surrounding the highland regions of Scotland—by pointing out
the continuity and mineral identity of the whole range, the south-
eastern limb of which has been shown by Dr. Fleming to pass under
the coal-fields of Fifeshire—by stating that it has not a single fossil
in common with the magnesian limestone series—by instancing a
case where a newer red sandstone is found overlying the old red in a
transverse position: Finally, from a consideration of the coast
sections of Arran, the nature of the carboniferous series of Scotland,
and the apparent passage from the coal measures of the North of
England into the lower part of the new red sandstone, he concludes,
that the succession of the lower, secondary formations of the northern
parts of Great Britain, lends some support to the classification adopted
in Germany, by which the carboniferous series is placed subordinate
to a vast formation of red sandstone.

Mr. W. Hutton has communicated an elaborate memoir on the
Whin Sill of Northumberland, which he conceives to have been one of
the oldest basaltic eruptions of that neighbourhood, and to have been
poured forth at a period, when a great number of the strata of the
metalliferous series were not in existence, these having been subse-
quently deposited on the unequal surface of the basalt.

Professor Sedgwick, many years ago, arrived at a different con-
clusion. From repeated and careful examination of the southern
branch of this great mass in High Teesdale, he ascertained it to have
there a wedge-shaped form—to have acted mechanically and chemi-
cally upon the strata above and below—and to be interstratified with
different beds of limestone and sandstone ;—and thence he inferred,
that the igneous matter must have been injected laterally between
those beds subsequently to their consolidation. He had previously
given a masterly view of the great trap dyke of Bolam, which
pointing to High Teesdale as the seat of its origin, traverses the
southern coal measures of Durham, and seeming to plunge beneath
the magnesian limestone, re-appears and continues its course even
through the lias and inferior oolite of the Yorkshire Moorlands.

365

From my own observation in Teesdale, I am of opinion that Pro-
fessor Sedgwick has faithfully described the facts ; and has irresistibly
proved the basalt of that district to have been injected laterally; be-
cause the overlying depositary beds are quite as muchaltered in struc
ture, as those immediately below the basalt.

In this discussion, however, we should recollect, that Mr. Hutton
has drawn his inferences chiefly from the Northumbrian district, and
Professor Sedgwick solely from High Teesdale; whilst the truth may
be, that no one portion of this vast range of country can be selected
as a type, whereon a theory explanatory of all the phenomena
can be constructed; and, as there are independent proofs of seve-
ral distinct periods of volcanic action in those northern coun-
ties, we may feel warranted in endeavouring to explain the pheno-
mena of the whin sill by reference to volcanic operations of compa-
ratively modern date. In central France, for example, not only do
we see that basalt, in the form of dykes, has cut through strata previ-
ously consolidated ; but we have in the very same district, evidence
of acontinuous series of igneous operations, exhibited in nearly every
possible form, from the outburst of sub-lacustrine volcanic ejections, up
to sub-aerial craters, which have vomited forth scorize and streams of
lava: and hence we may, without a strained hypothesis, be disposed
to think, that in the elevated region of Western Northumberland,
currents of submarine volcanic matter found issue at intervals, which
were continued even beyond the period when the oolitic deposits
were accumulated.

Mr. Phillips, so well known to you all as the author of that excel-
lent work ‘The Geology of Yorkshire,’ the second volume of which I
rejoice to say is now in preparation, has given us an interesting prelude
to a more detailed memoir upon the various modes by which the
atmosphere wastes the surfaces of rocks and buildings; a subject
which he intends to follow up with copious details, and which must
be of essential use in serving to explain many changes continually
operating upon the crust of the globe.

A series of observations, made by Mr. William Bland, on the wells
in the strata above and below the chalk, both in the Weald of Kent
and on the adjacent hills, acquaints us with the curious fact, that the
water is always highest about the summer solstice, and lowest about
Christmas; and that throughout the district examined, the same law
prevails in the waters derived from all the strata, whether consisting
of chalk, sand, or clay.

At the conclusion of our last session a letter from Mr. Trimmer
to Dr. Buckland, gave us an account of certain diluvial deposits of
Caernarvonshire, between Snowdon and the Menai Straits, and on the
discovery of marine shells in diluvial sand and gravel on the summit
of Moel Tryfane. It is stated, by this author, that gravel, sand, and
clay are heaped up, not only in the valleys, but on the sloping sides
and summits of the hills, and that the transported materials consist of
pebbles and blocks of Caernarvonshire rocks, mixed up with other de-
tritus, derived from formations foreign to this district, and drifted ina
direction contrary to the courses of the rivers which now descend

366

from Snowdonia. Mr. Trimmer discovered on the summit of Moel
Tryfane, one thousand feet above the level of the sea, broken shells
of recent species of the genera Buccinum, Venus, Natica, and
Turbo, beneath twenty feet of sand and gravel. The same shells have
also been seen by him, in similar accumulations, in the low cliffs of
Beaumaris. It is likewise mentioned that the slate-rock, when laid
bare, frequently exhibits on its surface, scratches and furrows like
those, which have been described in Scotland.

This striking phenomenon, of the sea having overspread the western
parts of this island at a period so comparatively recent, led me in a
late journey along the north-west coast, to endeavour to ascertain
whether the lower country of Lancashire had partaken of similar
operations ; and I was induced to suppose this might have been the
case from the occurrence, as stated by Mr. Gilbertson, of marine shells
of existing species near Preston in Lancashire. I was fortunately
able to confirm this discovery ; and to observe similar phenomena
over a very considerable tract of country, occupying the ancient
estuary of the Ribble. Sands, marls, and gravels, occasionally
constituting terraces, are spread ever this great area, sometimes in
finely laminated beds, but for the most part loosely aggregated, and
bearing a great resemblance to the arrangement of the same materials,
now in the act of formation, on the adjoining shore. Many of the
shells found in these beds, far inland and at heights extending to
three hundred feet above the sea, are perfectly identical with existing
species. These circumstances have induced me to dissent from the
theory, which would refer all these deposits to a diluvial current ; and
1 have inferred, that the ancient shore of Lancashire, and the es-
tuary of the Ribble, in which the above materials had accumulated
during a long protracted epoch, were elevated and laid dry after the
creation of many of the existing species of mollusca.

Of communications descriptive of foreign countries, I have first to
notice two papers by Fellows of this Society on different parts of
distant colonies in Australia. One of them by Archdeacon Scott,
accompanied by instructive specimens, is interesting, as being
the first attempt at a geological sketch of the country around
the new settlement of Swan River. This tract, we are tald, has
a granitic nucleus, which towards the coast is overlaid by sandstone
and limestone ; these being succeeded along the shore by coralline
and shelly deposits of very modern date.—The other memoir, from
the pen of Major Mitcheli*, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, —
gives an account of the limestone caves in Wellington Valley,
and of the bones of quadrupeds, which occur in clefts or cavities con-

* The author of this memoir, who acquired such deserved scientific repu-
tation in the peninsular war by his beautiful, military drawings of the Pyre-
nees, has lately announced to me his completion of the Trigonometricak
Survey of an important part of our eastern colonies in Australia; after
the accomplishment of which he promises to devote much of his time to
the examination of the geological structure of those districts.

367

tiguous to them. Some of these bones, which were procured on the
surface, have experienced little or no change, whilst others inclosed
in the breccia, are very much in the state of those found at Gibraltar.
The examination the bones have undergone since their arrival in
Europe shows that, though belonging chiefly to the Marsupial tribes,
abounding in that country, there are also remains resembling those
of a cetaceous animal, and of the elephant and rhinoceros. If the
presence of the bones of these great mammalia be well established,
changes must have occurred in the distribution of animals in New
Holland, analogous to those which have taken place in other
quarters of the globe.

In the absence of better information, I endeavoured to Jay before
you, in a synoptical form, the knowledge I had acquired during
various journeys, of the nature of the different sedimentary deposits of
central and north-eastern Germany. In this sketch, the systems of
todte-liegende, zechstein, kupfer-schiefer, &c., were rapidly passed
over, asI considered them to have been already correctly identified, by
Professor Sedgwick, with the magnesian limestone series of England.
The muschelkalk was shown to be a great calcareous formation in the
middle of the new red sandstone, having the bunter sandstein below,
and the keuper red sandstone and marl above it ; and the organic re-
mains of this tripartite group to possess a common family character.
Banz-on-the-Maine was instanced, as well meriting to be visited by
English geologists, because it offers a true lias shale and limestone,
(abounding in all the species of Ichthyosauri* known in Dorsetshire)
capped by the sands of the inferior oolite ; thus presenting a strong re-
semblance, both in order of position and zoological character, to these
formations in England. The gorge called the Porta Westphalica,
previously described by Hausmann, was cited, as offering a clear
and instructive section of nearly the whole of the oolitic series from
the lias upwards; and it was mentioned that here, as in many other
places, the inferior oolite has the same arenaceous type which
distinguishes it throughout so great a part of its range in the Bri-
tish Isles fT.

The Jura limestone and dolomite of Franconia, occupying the place
of our middle oolites, was shown to be overlaid by the Solenhofen
slate, so well known in lithography, and so rich in organic
remains; and its age was proved to be coeval with the upper
part of the oolitic series, by sections on the Danube, marking
its passage beneath the green sand. Various districts, chiefly in
Hanover and Westphalia, were described as consisting of a lower

* Of the Ichthyosauri at Banz, the I. tenuwirostris is by far the most
abundant, whilst the Z. communis, so common at Lyme, is very rare. There
are also two species of Pterodactyli at Banz, one of which is the P. Ma-
cronyx of the English lias; the other is a new species. I believe it is the
intention of M. Theodori to publish engravings and descriptions of these
fossils.

+ Yorkshire, Brora, the Hebrides, &c. See Geol. Trans. 2nd series,
pie pp- 293, 353; also Conybeare, and Phillips’s, Outlines of Geology,

368

green sand (quader sandstein), an upper green sand (pliner kal),
and true chalk; and the memoir terminated with an account of
one of the most remarkable of the numerous, tertiary formations of
Germany. It isa deposit of lacustrine limestone and bone breccia,
covering the tops of the undulating hillocks of keuper red sand-
stone, in the plains south of Roth and Nuremberg, and near the villages
of George’s and Frederich’s Gemund, In the breccia, Paleotheria and
Anoplotheria, identical in species with those of the Paris basin,
are associated with the Mastodon of Auvergne, the Rhinoceros in-
cisivus and pygme@us, with remains of the bear, the stag, the horse, the
fox, a new genus of Carnivora, and other undescribed animals *.
The associated limestone being finely laminated and charged with de-
licate and well preserved freshwater and land shells, seems to indicate
a long period of accumulation, during which, certain animals hitherto
considered to have been peculiar to an ancient tertiary age, appear
to have been co-existent with species nearly analogous to the pre-
sent races.

This sketch was prepared, principally with the view of directing the
attention of English geologists to the structure of countries simi-
lar to their own; some of which have been described by native
authors of great merit, whose works ought to become familiar to us
all: for it is indeed of high interest to observe the astonishing pro-
gress, which our German fellow-labourers have made within the last
few years in the study of fossil zoology. In alluding to the necessity
of cultivating a more intimate acquaintance with the works of
German authors on geology, I may be allowed to say, that this
Society conferred a most appropriate honour, when it added to its
list the name of Count Minster of Bayreuth ; who, though isolated
and unassisted, has by spirited exertions avgmented his collection of
fossils to the extraordinary number of five thousand species, and who
has detected in the limestone of Franconia nearly all the characteristic
Ammonites, and many other shells of the English oolites. His
original communications, explanatory of a vast number of new
fossils, of which I will here mention only three species of Ptero-
dactyli, can be known only by consulting various German and
French periodical publications. The splendid work of Professor
Goldfuss, of the University of Bonn, to which Count Munster has
also contributed so largely, deserves, on this occasion, a special
notice; for though not yet sufficiently known in England, it may
safely be pronounced to be the most comprehensive and instructive
description of fossil Zoophytes and Radiaria, which has yet issued
from the continental press.

Among the periodical works of Germany, the new series of

* When this memoir was read, I was unacquainted with the pricr obser-
vations of M. Von Meyer of Frankfort, upon those osseous remains (see
Karsten’s Archiv. vol. vii. p. 181); and it is with great pleasure I now
learn from Count Miinster, that the same ingenious naturalist is occupied
a preparing a complete monograph of the whole of the contents of this

eposit.

369

the Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie und Geologie must be mentioned as
being of that clear arrangement, and of that great general utility to
the geologist, which might have been expected from the association
of one like M. Leonhard, so deeply versed in the inorganic processes
of nature, with so able a naturalist as M. Bronn. Karsten’s Berlin
Journal must also be noticed; for every Prussian work connected
with our science cannot but excite interest among us, so long as
that country shall continue to send forth such geologists as Hum-
boldt, Von Buch, Hoffmann, Dechen, and Ovenhausen ; all of whom
add lustre to the foreign list of our Society.

The fossil tortoise which I had mentioned in a memoir upon
(Eningen, has found its way to this country, owing to the liberality
of Mr. Bell, who proves it to ke a Chelydra, allied to the C. Ser-
pentina, or Snapping Tortoise, of North America. The paper of—
this excellent zootomist is of great interest in completing the proofs,
that all the animals of this rich deposit, whether fox, tortoise, or
lagomys, as well as the insects, were such as would naturally have
been associated together on the shores of a freshwater lake, and
might have been tranquilly deposited at its bottom in alternating
layers with a variety of fishes and lacustrine shells*.

Sir Alexander Crichton has favoured us with a communication
from the Baron Chaudoir on the Crimea, containing much valu-
able detail of the mineral structure of that Peninsula. This essay
will, I trust, incite some of our enterprising associates to explore
that region, for the purpose of affording us a clear insight into the
precise geological relations of the strata, which, from the general data
in Baron Chaudoir’s Memoir, we may infer to be very analogous
to those of the Morea and parts of Greece, as described by M. de
Boblaye; and of the north-western flanks of the Caucasus, as
sketched by M. Kupffer.

Dr. Christie has communicated to us some good observations, made
by him Jast summer, during a rapid journey through Sicily ; and they
give us a fair promise of what we may expect from this accomplished
traveller, when he shall have examined the geological structure of
those parts of the Peninsula of Hindostan, to which he is now pro-
ceeding by the route of Egypt. He describes the general structure
of the sedimentary formations of the island, as consisting of an axis of
old, secondary sandstone, the two principal chains of which have dis-
cordant directions, overlaid by limestone, frequently dolomitic, yet
often stratified, of the age of that of the Jura or the Apennines,
Marls and limestone, containing Hippurites and Nummulites, con-
stitute the youngest secondary group, and are referred to the green
sand and chalk, The oldest tertiary deposits, made up of limestones
and marls, are succeeded by an extensive calcareous formation, which
is charged with many species of existing shells, the beds of which are,
in some places, elevated to a height of several thousand feet above the
level of the sea. Of still more modern date, and chiefly composed of
the detritus of the last-mentioned limestone, is a conglomerate, which

* See Memoir, Geol. Trans. vol. iii. part il. p. 277.

370

also contains recent shells, and which has been extensively perforated
by Lithodomi. Of similar age with this conglomerate, is a bone brec-
cia observed by the author in three different caves, one of which is a
hundred feet, and another three hundred feet above the sea. As the
bones belong to extinct species of the elephant, hippopotamus, &c., and
as they are intimately mixed up with recent sea shells, he infers, that
these races of large quadrupeds, now extinct, prolonged their dura-
tion in Sicily, after the Mediterranean became inhabited by its pre-
sent species of marine animals ; and he proves, by the workings
of Lithodomi, that some of the breccia, as at St. Ciro, was
long washed by the waves. The detritus of the island is divided
by this author into two periods, the older of which is marked by
large rolled blocks, and is supposed to be of the same age as the
bone breccia; while the smaller and younger occupies the bottoms
of valleys.

The venerable Count Montlosier,—desirous of proving to us that
the fire of his youth, during which he gave to the world so clas-
sical and original a sketch of the old volcanoes of Auvergne,
still burns within him,—has sent us a lively account of the im-
pressions made upon him by a first visit to Vesuvius in 1813. It then
appeared evident to him, that the present mountain is a parasitic
cone, established on the flank of Somma, which he considered to have
been the true Vesuvius of the ancients ; and that its vast crater must
have been produced by one great explosion: a mode of formation to
which he assigns the existence of the lake-craters of the extinct vol-
canoes of the Eyfel and of Auvergne.

Dr. Daubeny, having for some time paid much attention to ther-
mal springs, has lately published it as his opinion, that they all owe
their origin to volcanic agency, whether they issue from the neigh-
bourhood of active and extinct foci of eruption, or upon linear fis-
sures and dislocations of the ancient strata, produced by expansive
forces during former periods of elevation. The views of this able ex-
positor of igneous operations, are entitled to our deepest attention: and
in regard to the Jast-mentioned class of them, it is highly gratifying
to observe that the numerous facts adduced by him of the source of
thermal waters upon lines of elevation, and at points of fracture, are
remarkably supported by the observations of M. Stifft* in the Duchy
of Nassau. Dr. Daubeny supposes that the forces which give rise to
volcanoes, are at work throughout the globe; and that the evolution of
gases and increased temperature of springs may be looked upon
in the light of volcanic phenomena, with the same propriety as
eruptions of lava and shocks of earthquakes ; and having repeatedly
detected the presence of nitrogen gas in thermal waters, he concludes,
that the chemical theory of the origin of volcanoes is still to be
maintained, as being more philosophical and more consistent with
facts and experiments, than the hypothesis of a central ignited fluid,
which has been, from time to time, mechanically forced up to the
surface of the earth.

* Ferussac, Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles, Juillet 1831, p. 7-- 12.

Srl

Whilst on volcanic ground, I must remark, that the records of
the past year have been impressively marked by the appearance and
disappearance of an island in the Mediterranean, which, notwith-
standing its ephemeral existence, fortunately engaged so large a
share of scientific attention, as to have afforded some important data
for the explanation of geological phenomena. In these inquiries our
countrymen at Malta, appear to have been most active. Sir William
Hotham, the Admiral commanding on that station, directed un-
remitting observations to be made, from the first appearance of this
islet above the sea, when visited by Captain Swinburne, to its com-
pletion and passage into a quiescent state, when examined and accu-
rately surveyed by Captain Wodehouse : and, fortunately for science,
the latter officer was accompanied by a distinguished chemist,
who has been the first to furnish his countrymen with a good
account of the voleano. Although this able memoir of Dr. Davy
has been read before the Royal Society, and will shortly be given
to the public, I may here be permitted to state, that a careful ex-
amination of all the products of-this eruption, both solid and
gaseous, has convinced the author that of all the hypotheses of vol-
canic action, that which was last adopted by his great and lamented
brother, and which refers such paroxysmal elevations to the expansive
power of steam and gas, generated within the earth by the percola-
tion of water upon an ignited nucleus, is the most easily reconcilable
with the phenomena observed upon this spot. We also learn from Dr.
Davy that, besides the scoria and cinders of which this island was
chiefly constituted, various fragments of dolomiticlimestone and sand-
stone, similar to those forming the nucleus of the adjacent island of
Sicily, were brought up in the ejections ; and it is further important
for geologists to know, that from the accurate surveys of sub-
marine levels in these seas, previously made by Captain Smyth,
R.N., as well as from more recent soundings, this island was
elevated from beneath a deep sea, and not upon the site of a
pre-existing reef of rocks, as had been asserted. Whilst our
countrymen were visiting this island, the fortunate proximity of
M. Hoffmann on the adjoining coast of Sicily, enabled this merito-
rious Prussian geologist to visit it on two occasions ; and an
abridged account of his observations has been transmitted to us
by our Vice-President Mr. Horner, and read before the Society.
At a later period the French Government sent out M. Constant
Prevost, an observer well known for the accuracy of his researches and
the ingenuity of his speculations; and we are therefore entitled to hope,
that his detailed accounts will throw much additional light on the re-
lations of this new-born island, to many volcanic phenomena of more
ancient date. The examination of M. Hoffmann has, indeed, already
proved of singular interest, in showing that this eruption occurred
on a line which has been subject to volcanic action from remote an-
tiquity, ranging from the extinct volcanic island of Pantellaria by the
sulphureous springs of Sciacca to Mount Etna. This author further
presents us with the first published explanation of the mineral
structure of Pantellaria ; although it must be here mentioned, that

372

this island was, some years ago, visited by one of our fellows, the
Duke of Buckingham *, who brought home with him a rich collection
of its minerals.

A year has elapsed since Dr. Buckland, owing to his incessant
labour in the completion of other geological works, has favoured
this Society with any written communications. Still, I have to re-
cord from his pen a lively and instructive account of the geological
phenomena, observed by Captain Beechy in his late Polar voyage.
The existence of the remains of great fossilized mammalia in
Escholtz Bay, had been noticed by the Russian navigator, Kotze-
bue, who had described them as being commingled in this spot with
the bones of quadrupeds now inhabiting those regions. Our skil-
ful Vice-President, having specifically described these fossil bones,
infers that the animals to which they belonged, lived at an
era antecedent to the creation of existing species, with which they
have recently been mixed up in this locality, simply by the falling
away of the ancient cliffs in which they were imbedded. The memoir
also contains some excellent remarks on the evidence afforded by
these fossils, that the former temperature of this high latitude, on the
west coast of America, was similar to that which once prevailed in
the northern parts of Europe and Asia.

It is needless, at this period, to expatiate upon the essential va-
lue of fossil vegetables in the identification of strata; or to trace
the rise and progress of this branch of our science, from those
early days when Scheuchzer published an assemblage of plants
from rocks of every age under the chaotic title of Herbarium Dilu-
vianum, down to the year 1822; when Count Sternberg gave a
new impetus to this study by his Flora der Vorwelt. The splendid
work of the Bohemian nobleman, was followed by attempts of other
naturalists to illustrate the fossil plants of their respective districts ,
among which must be mentioned the English work of Mr. Artis, as
explanatory, to a certain extent, of the plants of the Yorkshire coal-
field. It is, however, to the more recent efforts of M. Adolphe Bron-
gniart, that we owe the general classification of fossil vegetables,
founded on their resemblances to existing genera, as well as on their
peculiar characters in certain groups of geological formations. You
must have read, with instruction and delight, the Prodromus of this
author; and there can he no doubt that the continuation of his inter-
esting illustrations, will fulfill the hopes geologists so justly entertain.
The bright example of the French botanist soon produced its due
effects in this country ; and four years have now elapsed since a pro-
ject was conceived for the publication of a Fossil Flora of the British
Isles, by the union of Mr. Lindley (author of the Introduction to the
Natural System of Botany), with Mr. W. Hutton, an active geo-
logist, peculiarly fitted for such a task, by his habits of accurate ob-

* M. Donati, a scientific mineralogist, attached to His Grace’s suite,
has prepared, in the Italian language, an elaborate and correct description
of the mineral structure of this island, but unfortunately it has not yet been
translated.

373

servation, and his residence in the Northumbrian coal-field. The

appearance of this useful and desirable work, was a long time de-

layed, owing to the difficulty, I regret to say, of procuring a suffi-

cient number of subscribers. Three fasciculi have, however, now been

brought out; and in an ensuing number we shall be presented with

an explanation of the general views of the authors. ‘The serious ob-

stacles which oppose themselves to the elucidation of this obscure

path in our inquiries, in many cases requiring a perfect acquaint-

ance with existing species of rare exotic and tropical plants, must

be appreciated by every one who has laboured in the same field ;

and working geologists, who are compelled, in the absence of
such instruction, to obtain data by slow and imperfect means, are

called upon warmly to support those, who, like Messrs. Lindley and

Hutton, have thus come forward to lighten their labours. The zeal
of Mr. Witham in this department, and his ingenious method of
assisting inquiry into the true characters of fossil wood, have been

already noticed by my predecessor ; and, as other naturalists seem

inclined to interest themselves in this pursuit, we may say that fossil

botany is at length taking root among us.

In mineral conchology, that most important branch of cur fossil
evidences, the year has not passed over without its fruits; and
those who know the devotion which Miss Benett has bestowed upon
this study, and how largely she has thereby contributed to the
successful progress of Sowerby’s text-book of the science, must
have witnessed with sincere pleasure the appearance of the organic
remains of Wiltshire, as collected and illustrated by that accom-
plished lady.

I must now advert to those works of a more comprehensive cha-
racter, which have been produced in the last year by Fellows of this
Society. ‘The English student in geology had so long felt the want
of a practical work, which should embrace and systematize all the
well authenticated data on which the science is founded, that the
warmest thanks of every one of its cultivators are due to Mr. De la
Beche, for the ability and perspicuity with which he has compress-
ed them into a portable volume, entitled ‘The Manual of the
Geologist.’ Nothing short of this compendious and instructive
digest, in which, without losing sight of general principles, the
author has endeavoured to adhere to the impartial rule of swum
cuique, was to have been expected from the pen of so experienced
and acute a geologist; and so eager is the demand of the public for
a really good work on this subject, that a second edition has been
called for, and is already published.

In noticing the appearance of the second volume of the “‘ Principles
of Geology,” I cannot but feel my inability to do justice to the merits
of a work, which, in the powerful language of the late Professor of
Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge, has been termed the
“Dynamics of Geology.”

As a fellow labourer with Mr. Lyell in France and the North of
Italy, when the first idea of this arduous task began to germinate in
his mind, I hope to be excused from the charge of vanity on my own

374

part, or of undue bias towards my friend, when I say that I antici-
pated no less than this productive harvest from his projected labour
in hitherto uncultivated ground; because I had seen in him the most
scrupulous and minute fidelity of observation, combined with close
application in the closet and ceaseless exertion in the field. Imbued
with the prevalent doctrine of the English school of geology, which
has worked its way to distinction by a steady accumulation of facts,
Mr. Lyell first visited the region of extinct volcanos in central France ;
where, I might almost say, in the nervous language of Professor
Sedgwick, ‘he acquired a new geological sense, and a new faculty
of induction.”

In our tour along the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and
subsequently in the North of Italy, Mr. Lyell’s particular attention
was directed to the distribution of the tertiary strata into new groups,
according to the proportional number of shells, identical with living
species found fossil in each formation. We had convinced ourselves,
that the highly inclined strata of the valley of the Bormida, consisting
chiefly of green sand, and the same beds, which re-appear in the Su-
perga near Turin, constituted a tertiary group of higher antiquity than
the more horizontal Sub-Apennine marls which skirt the southern
borders of the plains of the Po; and we were informed by that
lamented zoologist, Signor Bonelli, that the fossil shells of the Su-
perga differed, asa group, from those of Parma and other parts of the
Sub-Apennines. On the other hand, Signor Bonelli had identified a
great portion of the shells of the Superga with thecharacteristic tertiary
shells of the Bordeaux basin and the South of France. In confir-
mation of these views, he exhibited to us the shells collected from
France and Italy in the Museum at Turin, pointing out at the same
time that, although some recent species occurred in the Superga
beds, they were fewer in number than those in the blue marl and
yellow sands of the Sub-Apennines.

When I recrossed the Alps, Mr. Lyell directed his course to the
south, and first carefully examined the great collection of Sub- Apen-
nine shells of Professor Guidotti of Parma, amounting to more than
one thousand species, with a view of obtaining from that comparison
the proportion of living analogues. He next proceeded to interro-
gate nature in Naples and Sicily, where disturbing forces have been
continually in action from remote antiquity; hoping to ascertain
whether successive and distinct creations of organic remains, might
not have been elevated from beneath the sea, by a series of sub-
terranean convulsions, continued from the period of the mixed
Sub-Apennine deposits, uninterruptedly to the historic era. By
letters addressed to myself and others from Naples, it was clear
that Mr. Lyell was beginning to unfold the true papyri of geo-
logical history ; and his subsequent discoveries in Sicily proved,
that there were many places in which the extinct species had nearly
disappeared, and that amid vast accumulations of marine shells,
entering into the composition of mountains of no inconsider-
able altitude, nearly all were specifically identical with those now
inhabiting the adjoining sea. At this period, therefore, he had, by a

375

series of inductions, completely effaced from his mind as arbitrary and
untrue, those lines of demarcation between, what had been termed,
the ancient and existing orders of nature,—fixed by those who had
observed the results of her subterranean workings only in countries,
where her internal energies have long been dormant.

On the return of Mr. Lyell to Paris in February 1829, M. Desnoyers
had just published the first part of his invaluable memoir ‘ On
the Tertiary Formations, more recent than the Paris Basin.” From
that gentleman he learnt, that M. Deshayes, from a mere inspection of
the fossil shells of his rich collection, had already conceived the idea of
classing the tertiary formations chronologically, according to the re-
lative number of species in each group, which could be identified
with those now living *. Henceforward, Mr. Lyell became anx-
ious to obtain the co-operation of M. Deshayes in his intended clas-
sification of the tertiary strata, and therefore submitted to him
the shells which he had procured from Sicily, Italy, the South of
France, and the English Crag. M. Deshayes at the same time under-
took to hasten the completion of a series of tables of tertiary fossils,
intended to form part of a ‘‘ Manual of Fossil Conchology,” in order
that they might accompany Mr. Lyell’s forthcoming volume. I am
happy to announce to the Society that these tables have been for
some time printed, and that we may expect them to be soon com-
municated to the English public in the third volume of the ‘ Princi-
ples of Geology.”

After the study of these modern deposits, Mr. Lyell was prompted
to examine, with increased attention, the effects of the various causes
now in operation on the surface of the globe, and it is the execution
of this task which has delayed the publication of his views relating
to Italy and Sicily.

In the former volume we were made acquainted with his ideas upon
the operations of the inorganic forces of nature ; and in the present
he offers to us his interpretation of an abundant collection of facts,
connected with the fluctuations in the organic world. So ample are
the data in natural history, upon which the author has established
his conclusions, that they cannot fail of relieving him from the charge
of visionary speculation. They must indeed demonstrate—that he has
anxiously sought for the truth of the laws of Nature in her own works
—that he has not only led the way in pointing out a method of inquiry
hitherto almost untried, but has, with great skill and patient research,
brought the detached accounts of naturalists in every branch of their
respective sciences, to bear upon and to illustrate his geological views.
Adequate justice cannot be done to a work of this grasp by any obser-
vations on unconnected passages ; but I cannot avoid noticing the
clear and impartial manner in which the untenable parts of the dogmas,
concerning the alteration and transmutation of species and genera,
are refuted; and how satisfactorily the author confirms the great
truth of the recent appearance of man upon our planet.

* See M. Desnoyers, Sur un ensemble &c. Ann. des Sci. Nat. tom. xvi.
pp- 216. 441. (1829), in which he announces the views of M. Deshayes and
of Mr, Lyell.

376

The late elevations and depressions of land in the delta of the In-
dus are well introduced, as correlative of similar phenomena in the
Mediterranean and in South America, so much insisted upon in the
first volume: and, whatever discrepancies of opinion may still exist
among geologists, in reference to various questions—such as, the true
origin of elevation-craters—the mode of action by which sedimentary
deposits have been altered and crystallized,—the cause of metallic
veins—and other obscure problems still remaining to be solved ;
all inquirers agree in this fundamental opinion, that the earth’s surface
has been mainly brought into its present condition by numerous
changes of relative level between the land and the sea: we must
therefore cordially thank Mr. Lyell for his energetic attempt to
elucidate the modes of action by which, in the ordinary course of
nature, such revolutions may have been effected.

The last of the Englisi works on geology, which I am called upon
to notice, proceeds from an eminent writer, who greatly distin-
guished himself by his scientific contributions to this Society during
its earlier years. [ allude to a System of Geology recently pub-
lished by Dr. Macculloch. Instructed as we have all been by the
writings of this author, particularly by those which elucidate the
origin of the crystallized, igneous, and altered rocks, we have ever
been ready to acknowledge the full sense of our obligations to him.

Not content, however, with that share of fame to which his ex-
ertions justly entitle him, Dr. Macculloch has now put forth a system,
written, as he states, in 1821; adding, “ that he has waited ten
years in the hope that some better man would stand forward to re-
present geological science as it is ; but he grieves to say, that during
that long period geology has scarcely received a valuable addition,
and not a single fundamental one.”

This is an aspersion so groundless, that I should be unworthy of
the Chair with which your kindness has honoured me, were [ not to
repel it. Gentlemen, if you wish to study geological science “ as it
is,”’ in the writings of your own countrymen, you will naturally
consult the works of Lyell and of De la Beche. But for a knowledge
of what “it was,” I may request you to peruse these volumes of
Dr. Macculloch : for in truth they are chiefly made up of views pre-
viously expressed by himself, with the exception of certain passages,
I will not now fatigue you with quoting, the sense and bearing of
which are, however, at direct variance with the author’s published
opinions in 1821, although they are transcripts of the opinions of
other observers recorded in your Transactions within the last five
years. This work, in short, is so far from being a new system, that
it can hardly be said to enter into the boundless field now opened
to modern geologists—the evidence derived from organic remains,
.the very key-stone of our fabric, being either slightly touched upon,
or its value derided. It is, however, a matter of notoriety among
working geologists, that even within the limited field of this
author's personal observation, a specific acquaintance with such re-
mains has alone been the means, and this within the last five years,
of fixing the ages of the secondary deposits in the Hebrides and

377

around the shores of the Highlands of Scotland. Had Dr. Macculloch
read the Geological Transactions, published within the anathema-
tized period, he must have been made conscious of the truth of
this statement. .

It is indeed by the help of zoological distinctions that modern
geology has been carried onwards far beyond the original scope of
certain earlier observers, who now seem to feel regret that they can
no longer confine it within those mineralogical barriers with which
they had endeavoured to surround it. I shall not, however, longer
occupy your time with detailed criticisms of the parts of this system ;
though I must be permitted to advert to two sentences. The first
of these is a pointed sarcasm, describing as a person “ preferring
ancient ignorance to modern truth,” that accomplished philosopher,
the author of the Geology of England and Wales, whose election as
a Corresponding Member of the Institute of France has been hailed
with gratitude by every English geologist. Yet it is to this very work
of the author so stigmatized, that Dr. Macculloch himself actually
refers his readers for zoological information*,—a reference the more
remarkable, inasmuch as the authority so cited was produced within
that time which Dr. Macculloch characterizes as the period of
darkness.—The other sentence is to be found in the title-page, which
declares, that this system is followed by an “ Explanation of the
connexion of a theory of the earth with the sacred records.” In the
face of this assertion, the work itself goes distinctly to prove the
entire disconnexion of our science with the inspired writings,—a
point, however, on which the author can claim no originality; as
the same doctrine was several years ago dwelt upon most energeti-
cally by the Rev. Dr. Fleming, who has been followed by other
writers, and by no one more eloquently or more conscientiously,
than by our President on the occasion of the last Anniversary.

Finally, if there be any geological student who should have been
led away by the assertions contained in the preface to this ‘‘System,”
let him reflect, that our present line of research has received the ap-
proving stamp of a Wollaston ; and that still more recently, we have
been urged onwards by the cheering encomium of a Herschel, who in
his Discourse on Natural Philosophy has told us ‘ that in the magni-
tude and sublimity of the objects of which it treats, geology ranks
next to astronomy, and that at length it is brought effectually within
the list of the inductive sciences.”

I would now call your attention to the establishment of nu-
merous Provincial Scientific Institutions, for further proofs of that
general and increasing taste for natural knowledge, which is spread-
ing so fast throughout this kingdom f. I will not attempt to mention

* Vol. ii. p. 243.

+ Since this address was written I have been delighted to learn, that a
Geological Society has arisen at Dublin; and the science cannot but
derive most important benefits from the efforts of some of those en-
lightened men whose names are already enrolled in it.

378

the proceedings of all these bodies, but will confine my remarks to
such of them as have more particularly originated in the efforts of geo-
logists, miners, and fossil collectors.

The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is to be revered as the
precursor of all these provincial institutions ; and the value of its
Transactions must have been fully appreciated by many whom | now
address.

The Philosophical Society of York may be said to owe its origin to
the ardent and enlightened views of its first President, the Rev. W.
Vernon Harcourt, who succeeded so far in rousing the public spirit
of that opulent county, that an elegant building has arisen, which
is now stored with specimens of natural history and geology,
rendered highly instructive by the skill and good arrangement of the
Secretary, Mr. Phillips——A perusal of the annual discourses of Mr.
Vernon Harcourt, will enable you to judge of the many advantages
which have flowed from this Institution. ‘To the same individual,
philosophy has now to record a deeper obligation, for his unremit-
ting exertions in modelling and giving permanency of character to
that national Institution ‘‘ ‘The British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science,” the first meeting of which was held at the Museum
at York in September last *.

The Institutions of York and Whitby have been imitated by the
establishment of others at Leeds, Hull, Halifax, &c.; and at Scar-
borough, where the oolitic series is so admirably and clearly exposed
upon the coast, the scientific traveller will now find a new and ap-
propriate building, filled with all the local fossils, stratigraphically ar-
ranged upon a plan of Mr. W. Smith, by an intelligent curator, Mr.
Williamson. The Scarborough coast merits to be specially visited by
those geologists, who have had the advantage of studying the oolitic
series only on our southern shores, where it puts on a type of so
very different a mineralogical character. All zoological analogies can
now, however, be promptly and clearly established by a comparison
of the contents of the museums of Scarborough and Whitby with
that of Bath, which owes its value to the arrangement and zeal of
Mr. Lonsdale; and with that of Bristol, which has been rendered
truly important by the penetrating skill and incomparable collec-
tions of Mr. Miller, whose loss we all so much deplore.

The limits of this address prevent my enlarging upon the fossil
wealth of many of these Institutions ; and I have, therefore, con-
fined myself to the mention of those with which I am personally

* It is to another Fellow of the Geological Society, Dr. (now Sir David)
Brewster, we are indebted for the first suggestion of this admirable mode
of concentrating the scientific power of the United Kingdom. (See
Mr. Harcourt’s discourse in the first report of the British Association.)—
Geologists will recur with pleasure to the Meeting at York, because in bring-
ing the working men of science into communication with individuals of
rank and property, it was the means, through the exertions of that ac-
complished nobleman, Lord Morpeth, of inducing His Majesty’s Govern-
ment to grant a well-merited pension to our distinguished fellow-labourer,
Mr. W. Smith.

5) fee)

acquainted. This scientific emulation is indeed now spread from one
end of Great Britain to the other; Inverness, the chief town of the
Highlands of Scotland, having been for some years the seat of the
** Northern Institution of Science,’ which includes in the number
of its contributing members the names of Sir George Mackenzie
and Sir Thomas Lauder Dick*.

“The Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and
Newcastle-on-T'yne,” though of so modern a date, has, within the
brief space of one year, promulgated a mass of useful and practical
mineral knowledge, in a quarto volume of Transactions. This work
contains eighteen communications connected with geological in-
quiry: the greater number of these are explanatory of the structure
of Northumberland and Durham, districts which, however great their
national importance, have been till now very imperfectly known in
their geological details. The accumulated data of the working men
of science in the northern coal-fieids were so numerous, that they
called for some special organ of communication with the public ;
and having found one, we are now presented with a surprising mass
of underground knowledge, illustrated by sectional drawings and ad-
measurements of great accuracy and beauty. I can here do little
more than enumerate the valuable memoirs comprised in this volume.
Several are from the pen of that eminent colliery viewer, Mr. Buddle ;
among which, the synopsis and sections of the Newcastle coal-field,
are invaluable mining and statistical documents. His sketch of the
undulatory course of a basaltic dyke may serve to explain many pre-
vious difficulties, occasioned by the anomalous appearances of this
class of rocks; and his account of the explosion in Jarrow Colliery
is of paramount interest to the miner and the philanthropist. Two
sections, with full explanatory details by Mr. Nicholas Wood, exhibit
the succession of strata along the eastern coast of Northumberland,
from the Tyne to the Tweed; and from the sea at Tynemouth to the
new red sandstone plain of Carlisle. Messrs. Witham and Winch,
in two separate papers, have completely proved the red sandstone
of the Tweed to be a subordinate and inferior member of the car-
boniferous limestone, and not the new red sandstone, to which,
from mineral characters, it had formerly been assigned. Mr. Hut-
ton has made an important addition to the former discoveries of Pro-
fessor Sedgwick, and has traced a great and continuous extension
of the white and red sandstone, or todtliegende, beneath the mag-
nesian limestone, and overlying the coal strata. The volume con-
tains two memoirs by Messrs. Nicholas Wood and Witham, illus-
trative of fossil vegetables. Mr. W. C. Trevelyan and Messrs. F.
and M. Forster have contributed interesting notices of trap-dykes,
and of their effects when in contact with limestone, sandstone, and
coal: Mr. Williamson Peile, a description of a group of dykes in

* The Northern Institution of Science, &c., owes no small share of its
success to the zeal of its able Secretary Mr. J. Anderson, whose know-
ledge of the structure of the eastern Highlands has proved so advan-
tageous to every geologist who has visited that country.

380

the Whitehaven Colliery. The Lothian coal-field in Scotland is
sketched by Mr. W. Dunn, who also gives an account of a colliery
explosion: and Mr. Francis Forster, a colliery viewer of Northum-
berland, has communicated a memoir on the South Welsh coal-basin,
which contains much practical information, and evinces considerable
knowledge in chemistry and mineralogy. I would here, however,
remark that this district has for many years been under the exami-
nation of Mr. Conybeare, some of whose views of the relations of
that most remarkable basin have already been recorded in the Par-
liamentary Report of 1830 upon the coal trade.

During a late visit to this district, 1 found with much pleasure, that
our Vice-President had already nearly perfected an extensive geolo-
gical map, and had ascertained the existence of a most important
anticlinal line, which had been overlooked by Martin and older ob-
servers, and of which Mr. Forster, whose personal examination has
been confined to the region west of Swansea, seems to have been
ignorant. I hope that another Anniversary will not pass away before
the appearance of the long expected memoir of Mr. Conybeare.

Notwithstanding the magnitude of the project, the Natural History
Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, supported by the proprietors of
the adjoining counties, has resolved to undertake the completion of a
geological and mineral map of Northumberland, Cumberland, and
Durham, with a part of Westmoreland, on which are to be desig-
nated all the mines worked out, and the probable range of coal and
other minerals yet unexplored.

A similar praiseworthy spirit had previously actuated the proprietors
of the county of Mayo in Ireland, who, by a happy choice, employed
Mr. Bald to prepare an original map of their county, on the scale of
two inches to amile; and to trace upon accompanying sections the
whole of its ascertained mineral structure—a task which has now been
accomplished by that most able surveyor in a style of so great beauty
and accuracy, that I have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be unique
in this department of art. A deep conviction of the value of such
surveys, could alone have stimulated individuals to engage in such
arduous undertakings: and their accomplishment affords a_ tri-
umphant answer to those who, in their ignorance, have scoffed at
geology as a science of no practical application.

Having touched upon the subject of maps, [am sure that I express
the feelings of every geologist, in saying, that we have derived the
greatest aid from many of the gentlemen employed in the Ordnance
Survey. The necessary and intimate connexion between their voca-
tion and our own, is too apparent to require any comment ; but in
proof of it, I may cite one of my predecessors, Dr. Fitton, as having
been eminently successful in his exertions for the promotion of
geological inquiry, through the means of the Ordnance surveyors.
Even whilst I am penning this address, Colonel Colby and Captain
Robe, as if to sanction these statements, have deposited in our ar-
chives the new sheets of Herefordshire, the border of Wales, and part
of Shropshire, correctly and geologically coloured by Messrs. Wright
and Maclauchlan, two gentlemen of the Trigonometrical Survey. For

381

a long time this Society had been regularly supplied with each pub-
lished sheet of the Ordnance map. Anxious for the restoration of so
useful a gift, which had been discontinued, I made application to the
Master-General and Board of Ordnance, and rejoice in now an-
nouncing to the Society, that they have complied with this request,
in a manner the most prompt and liberal.

From the continent we have just received a map of Teneriffe,
which completes the labours in that isle of the great and disinterested
geologist, Von Buch. I commend it to your admiration for its beau-
tiful execution, and for its singular value as an accurate delineation
of an ancient volcano *.

The works relating to our science, which have issued from the
French press during the past year, are numerous and important; at
the same time they are of so easy access, that I shall, on this occasion,
simply advert to a few of those which appear to be more connected
with inquiries, in which English geologists have been recently oc-
cupied.

The vast importance of comparative lists of fossil shells, on which
I dwelt when speaking of the “ Principles of Geology,” has been
placed in a new and striking light by that profound conchologist
M. Deshayes, for a full comprehension of whose tables I refer you to
the report of the Academy of Sciences; and [have no hesitation in
declaring, that since the appearance of the fossil osteology of .Baron
Cuvier, no work has placed in so strong a light the mutual and in-
separable connexion which must ever exist between the progress of
zoology and the science which we are associated to cultivate. I trust
that the example of M. Deshayes will stimulate naturalists of other
countries to prosecute the study of organic remains with the same
attention to minute details, united with an enlightened and philo-
sophical regard to the general views of geology.

The theory of that eminent geologist, M. Elie de Beaumont, which,
at our last Anniversary, was so fully and clearly expounded by my
predecessor, although supported by some distinguished names, has
since been warmly contested by M. Boué and other able writers;
who, in denying to the author the merit of having been the first to
point out that different formations and masses of land have been ele-
vated at distant and separate periods, reject that part of his system
which asserts the synchronous elevation of distant mountain chains,
parallel to each other. :

_As the latter part of this subject will, I doubt not, still undergo
ample discussion, both on the continent and in England, we must
wait for the development of numerous facts before we can be
warranted in arriving at general conclusions; and I need scarcely

* To another distinguished Prussian geologist, the Earon A. Humboldt.
we are indebted for a new map of the Cordilleras of the Andes. Germany
seems to be annually giving birth to many departmental geological maps ;
whilst the Empire of Russia has, I am informed, produced no less than
sixteen such works within a very short period.

t Ann. des Sciences, tom, xxiv. p. 176.

382

urge all our working brethren, to try the adequacy of M.de Beaumont’s
ingenious theory by an appeal to nature in our own country.

The new work of M. de Humboldt (“ Fragmens Asiatiques’’) pre-
sents us with some striking phenomena.

This illustrious traveller, not content with having been the first to
clear away the mists which obscured our knowledge of the physi-
cal structure of the great continent of South America, has, with all
the energy of his character, embarked in the attempt to throw light
upon the unexplored regions of the continent of Asia; and we
have now before us the outline of his own observations and inquiries,
together with those of MM. Rose and Ehrenberg, made during a
journey to the Tartarian frontiers of China, under the auspices of the
Government of Russia.

Of the four great mountain chains which traverse Asia from west
to east, one of them, the Thian Chan, is said to be marked by a
line of active volcanos, the chief of which is situated at a distance
of from three hundred to four hundred leagues from any sea. This
phenomenon is in strict accordance with the recent observations of
M. Riippel, in the interior of Africa, and M. de Humboldt infers
from it, that the received doctrine of the sea being necessarily a
proximate agent in the causation of volcanic outbursts, is errone-
ous; and he conceives that the greater frequency of active volcanos
along maritime tracts, depends on the less thickness and conse-
quently greater weakness of the earth’s crust upon such lines of
coast, than in those parts where massive continents have been
raised ; and that when they occur in the centre of continents, as in
central Asia, the molten and gaseous matters find vent through
deep rents and fissures.—I need scarcely remind you that the same
view had previously been entertained by Mr. Poulett Scrope.

M. de Humboldt believes that the four great chains of Asiatic
mountains are parallel to each other; and that this circumstance
tends powerfully to confirm the theory of M. Elie de Beaumont.
As, however, the personal observations of the author have not ex-
tended beyond the Altai, we are as yet wholly unprovided with
evidence, whereon the synchronism of the elevations of these moun-
tains, so distant from each other, can be established ; for should their
parallelism be confirmed by subsequent observations, geologists are
still compelled to pause in drawing conclusions as to their contem-
poraneity of elevation, until the precise nature of the sedimentary
deposits on the flanks of each chain, and the manner in which these
sediments have been affected, shall have been clearly ascertained.

The existence of a vast depression on the earth’s surface, extend-
ing beyond the Caspian and the Oural, which had been partially
noticed by Englehardt and old travellers, and recently, as re-
spects the former, by Colonel Monteith*, is now fully explained and
much extended by the publication of M. de Humboldt +, who

* In a memoir lately read before the Geographical Society, and about
to be published by that body.

+ The Academy of St. Petersburg, at the instigation of M.de Hum-

383

states that he has already ascertained it to extend over at least
18,000 square leagues, reaching to Saratof, Orenburg, and the
low regions of the Oxus and Jaxartes. This great basin, the
lowest level of which is about three hundred feet below the Medi-
terranean, is filled with tertiary deposits; and, according to the
speculations of M. de Humboldt, is supposed to have been formed by
a subsidence, accompanying the elevation of the great table-land of
Teheran, whilst the Oural mountains, which traverse the depression
from north to south are referred to a more ancient period.

By consulting these volumes you will find valuable information
not only respecting the frigid climate of central Asia, as determined
by the great mass of land and other geological causes ; but you will
learn that the metallic veins in the Oural occur only on its eastern
flank, and that remains of large extinct mammalia have recently
been found on the very summits of the chain.

Another part of Asia has lately been explored. The Russian Go-
vernment, with its cheracteristic enterprise, being desirous of ac-
quiring accurate information respecting the structure, natural
history and heights of the Caucasus, sent thither in the summer of
1829, under a strong escort commanded by General Emanuel, a
party of men of science, the chief of whom, M. Kupffer, has given
in his report to the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

From the geographical and geological chapters of this interesting
report, we learn, that the low hills which rise above the steppes of
the Black Sea and Sea of Azof, are composed of limestone filled with
littoral shells, the collections of which made by M. Pander, on this
and on a former occasion, must prove of great geological importance.
On ascending from the steppes towards the Caucasus, grits and older
limestones with Ammonites occupy an undulating country, diversi-
fied by several peaks of trachyte, the principal of which, the Bechtav,
or Five Mountains, is stated to be 4,000 feet above the sea. The
outer zone of the Caucasus is described as being a rugged and lofty
plateau, from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea, the strata of which
present, tabular summits, chiefly composed of calcareous grit and
conglomerates nearly horizontal, or rising at only a gentle angle
towards the central ridge. This table-land is fissured by deep, trans-
verse rents, in which the rivers flow; and one of the lowest forma-
tions is a limestone, which the author compares with the cal-
caire a gryphites. ‘These secondary strata are separated from the
central mountains by a band of transition and old slaty rocks, which
have been dislocated by the contact of certain green-stones and
basalts. The loftiest part of the central chain, culminating in the
double peak of Mount Elbruz at the height of 15,400 French feet
above the Black Sea, is entirely of igneous origin, being principally

boldt, is now engaged in directing surveys and barometrical “ soundings,”
as they are emphatically styled, by which the precise extent, depths,
and true shore of this dry Caspian will be accurately defined.

384

composed of a dark-coloured, porphyritic trachyte*. The volcanic
rocks of this region are shown to be of considerable antiquity, because
the secondary deposits rest upon them in undisturbed positions, the
transition formations having alone been dislocated.

_ Of the memoirs read before the Geological Society of France, you
will find a clear account in the annual reports of its Secretary, Dr.
Boué ;—those of Count Munster and M. Deshayes on Organic Re-
mains, of Dufrénoy upon the Pyrenees, of Botta upon Mount Lebanon,
and of De Boblaye upon Greece, are specially entitled to your at-
tention. The last mentioned of these works might be cited as cor-
roborating an opinion entertained by Professor Sedgwick and myself,
—that in parts of Eastern Europe, there exists a series of beds inter-
mediate between the chalk and those deposits, to which the name
of tertiary has been commonly assigned. M. de Boblaye, after de-
scribing the various primary and secondary rocks of which the Morea
is composed, points out the existence of coarse conglomerates and
clays, posterior to the green-sand and chalk, and elevated to heights
varying from 2,400 to 4,500 feet above the sea, and he regards them
as occupying the oldest stage of the tertiary series. These deposits,
so little known in the West of Europe, seem to occupy the same
geological horizon as the formations of Gosau ; whilst the other
groups of true tertiary deposits, which succeed at lower levels on the
flanks of the Eastern Alps, have also their analogues in corresponding
younger deposits on the shores of the Morea.

It must indeed be gratifying to all whom I now address, to note.
the rapid progress of this infant society of the metropolis of France,
founded as it has been upon the model of our own; and you mill
hear with increased satisfaction, that its zealous and indefatigable
Secretary, Dr. Boué, to whom so much of its success is due, has
announced the early publication of a first volume of their Trans-
actions}.

Having glanced at the strides which geology has made on the con-
tinent of Europe, I would say a few words on the increasing taste for
the science, which has lately appeared in the United States of Ame-
rica. You have long gathered instruction from the periodical work
of Professor Silliman, whom we have to thank for many valuable me-
moirs, particularly on the mineralogical structure of his country :
but within the past year one of our own body, a man possessed of

* According to M. de Humboldt this rock is undistinguishable from
- that of Pinchincha, i in the Cordillera of the Andes.

+ This volume will contain the Memoirs of Von Lill, on Gallicia;
Botta, on Mount Lebanon; Bertrand Geslin, on Val d'Arno ; Pareto,
on the Sub- Apennine Hills; Steminger, on the Transition Fossils of the
Eifel ; and De Grateloup, on the Tertiary Fossils of Dax. The meeting
of French Geologists, which took place last summer at Beauvais, has af.
forded fresh proof of the zeal which actuates our neighbours, and par ticu-
Jarly that excellent observer M. Graves of Beauvais.

385

great energy of mind, has been endeavouring, by lectures given in
Philadelphia, to rouse the educated classes of the southern states
to a sense of the importance of modern geology. Having suc-
ceeded in creating a love for the subject, Mr. Featherstonhaugh has
followed up his first labours by the publication of a new monthly
work *, the leading object of which is to propagate the principles of
modern geology. A few numbers only of this useful work have yet
appeared, and I refer you to their contents for several spirited de-
scriptions of parts of the United States, and their peculiar organic
remains; whilst I earnestly hope that this effort of an unassisted
Fellow of our Society, who is labouring to implant in that great
country of our kinsmen the principles and nomenclature of the
science, as adopted in England, will meet with general encourage-
ment.

Lastly, I have the pleasure to inform you that a new Part of our
Transactions will shortly be laid upon the table; and I trust this
publication, from the quantity of new and important matter which it
contains, will support the reputation to which the Transactions of
the Geological Society have so justly attained 7.

These volumes must ever be valuable as the true records of our
scientific progress. But great as may have been the acquirements of
their authors, few indeed are the memoirs which have been com-
pleted without the aid of other distinguished Fellows of the Society,
who, each in the branch of natural knowledge for which he stands
pre-eminent, comes to the assistance of his wandering associate, and
enables him to clothe his memoir in an appropriate dress. For where
is the working geologist who, unassisted, can unravel the delicate
and obscure complications of fossil organic structure? Do his fossil
shells require to be identified,—has he not the assistance of a Sowerby?
and if these types of former states of nature call for a comparison
with modern species,—is not a Broderip ever prompt in affording him
the results of experienced discernment, and in unfolding the riches
of his unrivalled cabinets? If he meet with difficulties in the deter-
mination of mammalia,—are not a Mantell and a Clift at hand to
explain their relations and define their characters? Or if bewildered
in the obscurity of fossil vegetation,—is he not assisted by a Lindley?
Have not, in fine, a Turaer, a Prout, a Faraday, and a Herschel,
been willing instruments in enabling him to explain those laws of

* The Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science. —
Philadelphia. ”

+ This Part contains the following Memoirs :

Lensdale on the Oolitic District of Bath.

Murchison on the Fossil Fox found near Giningen, and the Deposit in
which it was iinbedded.

Mantell, Osteological Description of the Fox.

Herschel on the Astronomical Causes which influence Geological
Phenomena.

Sedgwick and Murchison on the Eastern Alps.

386

chemical change, without which the recondite parts of the science
might have remained in utter darkness ?

Surely every contributor to our Transactions will acknowledge with
gratitude the aid he may have received from several of our most
gifted members, who, unambitious of personal fame, have been
contented with the delightful consciousness of being, sure, though
silent instruments, in urging on the advance of truth ;—and were I to
single out one individual specially characterized by this high quality,
I should name your first President, Mr. Greenough, who by the de-
votion of the best years of his life to our science, and by an unbounded
liberality in throwing open to every student the vast accumulations of
his knowledge in geological geography, has produced results of which
no one can form an estimate who is not acquainted with the interior
workings of our Society from its earliest beginnings. It is this kindly
principle of co-operation, the true latent heat of the Geological So-
ciety, so ready to manifest itself on every occasion fitted to call it
forth, which, warming and vivifying our endeavours, gives us our
consistency and our strength, and enabling us to grapple with our
hundred-headed science, constitutes the main-spring of our pros-

perity.

Permit me, Gentlemen, in concluding this address, to offer you my
heartfelt wishes for the continuance of your triumphant career, and
to assure you that I consider myself truly ennobled in having been
placed, for a time, at the head of a brotherhood united for purposes
so great, and knit together by such lofty and enduring sympathies.

F PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1832. No. 26.

February 29.—A paper “On the Secondary Formations in the
neighbourhood of Ludlow,” by J. R. Wright, Esq., employed on the
Ordnance Trigonometrical Survey, and communicated by Col. Colby,
F.G.S., F.R.S., &c., was first read.

The district described in this memoir occupies a surface of about
167 square miles around Ludlow, and consists of clay-slate, transition
limestone, with accompanying beds of shale, old red sandstone, car-
boniferous limestone, the coal measures, and basalt.

The clay-slate is not described in detail, as it did not form part of
the author’s personal investigations. The transition limestone and
shale are stated to occupy about one-third of the district. The lime-
stone occurs principally in the lower part of the formation, not in
regular strata, but in nodules intimately united to the shale in which
they are imbedded. The upper part of the formation consists chiefly
of a dark bluish grey rock, which passes into a soft argillaceous shale,
and contains occasionally calcareous concretions. ‘The thickness of
the deposit is estimated to be between 800 and 1000 feet ; and the
dip of the strata is stated to vary from 8° to 22°. Besides the con-
tinuous band which ranges to the westward of Ludlow, the transition
limestone constitutes the narrow ridge, rising above the old red sand-
stone, called Tinker’s Hill and Caynham Camp, about two miles to
the south-east of that town.

The old red sandstone, the next formation described, is stated to
occupy about one half of the district under consideration, and to be
composed of soft, micaceous sandstone, conglomerates, and beds of
limestone or cornstone. The general dip of the strata is said to be
about 8° to the south-east, and the thickness of the formation is es-
timated to be from 400 to 700 feet.

The carboniferous limestone is mentioned as occurring at only two
places, Knowl Hill and Oreton, the most southern and northern
points of the Titterstone-Clee-Hill range. The thickness of the
principal stratum is said to be twelve yards, and the dip of the for-
mation to vary from 20° to 75°.

The coal measures are shown to be confined to the same range,
and to consist of millstone grit, surmounted by several seams of coal,
alternating with the usual strata of shale and sandstone. Sectional
lists are given of the principal workings, and the great seam is said
to be from 3 to 10 feet thick. The coal-field is much disturbed by
faults, and the measures have been partially acted upon by the ha-

388

salt, which rises through them, and forms a thick deposit resting upon
their surface. The author concludes by promising to give, ina future
memoir, details of this mass of basalt.

A letter from Sir John Herschel, K.C.H. to Roderick Impey Mur-
chison, Esq., P.G.S., ‘On the Cause of the Subterranean Sounds
heard at Nakoos: near Tor in Arabia,’’ was then read.

The remarks of the author relate to a communication by Mr. Greg,
which was read before the Society on the 27th of April 1831. He
suggests, as the only probable explanation which occurs to him, that
the phenomena may be owing to a subterraneous production of
steam, by the generation and condensation of which, under certain
circumstances, sounds are well known to be produced. They belong
to the same class of phenomena as the combustion of a jet of hy-
drogen gas in glass tubes.

The author makes the general remark, that wherever extensive, sub-
terraneous caverns exist, communicating with each other or with the
atmosphere by means of small orifices, considerable difference of tem-
perature may occasion currents of air to pass through those apertures
with sufficient velocity for producing sonorous vibrations. The sounds
described by Humboldt, as heard at sunrise by those who sleep on
certain granitic rocks on the banks of the Orinoco, may be explained
on this principle.

The sounds produced at sunrise by the statue of Memnon, and the
twang, like the breaking of a string, heard by the French naturalists
to proceed from a granite mountain at Carne, are viewed by the
author as referrible to a different cause, viz.: to pyrometric expan-
sions and contractions of the hecrbenaeues material of which the

statue and mountain consisted. Similar sounds, and from the same
cause, are emitted, when heat is applied to any connected mass of
machinery ; and the snapping often heard in the bars of a grate af-
fords a familiar example of this phenomenon.

March 14.—William Ogleby, Esq., York Street, Portman Square ;
Francis Boott, M.D., Gower Street, Bedford Square ; James Bow-
erbank, Esq., Sun Street, Bishopsgate Street ; Lieut. Col. Sykes, of
the Bombay Establishment; Peter Stafford Carey, Esq., M.A., of St.
John’s College, Oxford, and Middle Temple, London; and John
Fisher, Esq., of Highbury Park, Middlesex, —were elected Fellows
of this ‘Society.

A paper was read, which described,

Ist. The structure of the Cotteswold Hills and country around
Cheltenham :

2nd. The occurrence of stems of fossil plants in vertical positions
in the sandstone of the inferior oolite of the Cleveland Hills; By Ro- —
derick Impey Murchison, Esq., P.G.S. F.R.S., &c.

I. Structure of the Cotteswold Hills and district around Cheltenham.

The formations constituting the Cotteswold Hills and Vale of Glou-
cester, in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham, are described in the
following descending order.

(1.) Forest Marble, the upper members of which consist of clays,

389

containing slaty beds, the equivalents of the Stonesfield slate (Seven-
hampton Common, &c. &c.). The lowest member of this group is a
hard calcareous grit, which caps the hills of Lineover and Leckhamp-
ton, and is peculiarly distinguished by the abundance of a Gryphza,
a variety of G. cymbium ? together with Lima proboscidea, Pholado-
mya ambigua and P. fidicula, Trigonia striata, &c. &c.

(2.) Great Oolite—consisting of upper and lower rags, inclosing a
fine-grained building-stone, the united thickness of which in the pre-
cipitous escarpment of Leckhampton is estimated at upwards of 120
feet. The fossils are nearly the same as those of the great oolite of
Bath. The Bradford clay and Fuller’s earth are entirely absent, the
upper rags of the great oolite being separated from the forest mar-
ble by only a small loamy wayboard of a few inches, and the lower -
rags pass into the inferior oolites

(3.) The Inferior Oolite is described at its maximum thickness in
Crickley Hill, occupying about 60 feet, whence it thins off in its
range to the north-east, presenting about half that thickness beneath
Cleeve Clouds. In this district the formation assumes a remarkable,
mineral aspect; for, although it contains some subordinate beds of
oolitic structure, it is in general made up of coarse concretions,
which, being flattened, give to it the appearance of a nummulite rock.
Numerous coralline bodies are described as being spread over the
sandy, ferruginous faces of the stronger beds. Among the fossils
there are many species common to other formations of the oolitic
series.

(4.) The Lias formation having usually a cap of marlstone, the
upper lias shale of Yorkshire being wanting, is observed to rise to
heights ranging from 300 to 500 feet above the Vale of Gloucester,
beneath which it has been penetrated at Cheltenham to the depth of
230 feet ; so that the greatest thickness of the formation is estimated
at about 700 feet.

The marlstone is best seen in the insulated hills of Robinswood
and Church Down, in the first of which the principal stratum is a
thick-bedded, calcareous grit,separated from a covering of sandy and
ferruginous, inferior oolite by thin courses of marl and marlstone.

On Church Down, of which it constitutes the summit, the marl-
stone is quarried to the depth of 16 or 20 feet, in beds of hard, blue
and grey calc-grit, abounding in Gryphea gigantea and Belemnites
pencillatus. In the Cotteswolds, this subformation has been de-
tected by the author in the form of only a finely laminated, micaceous
sandstone, alternating with marls, on which the springs generally
burst forth after percolating through the strata of the inferior oolite
—thus giving rise to the Chelt and other tributaries of the Severn,
as well as to the Isis or Thames.

The upper beds of the lias, beneath the marlstone, are best exposed
near the culminating part of the new London and Cheltenham road,
which traverses the Cotteswolds at their lowest point, viz., about
500 feet above the sea, and where a great denudation of the over-
lying oolites has taken place. Here, these beds are rich in fossils,

390

including Ammonites Walcottti, A. undulatus, Nucula (nov. spe.),
Inoceramus dubius, Belemnites acutus, B. tubularis, and B. pencilla-
tus, &c. &e.

Below this point the sloping sides of the escarpments are obscured
by accumulations of the detritus of the superior formations, and the
same accumulations extend in the form of gravel and sand over a
great portion of the low country around Cheltenham, the lias pro-
truding in small knolls. At Cheltenham the superficial beds of the
lias marls are loaded with the Gryphcea incurva, Ammonites subar-
matus?, and a small species of Ammonites, which is very abundant,
the strata being highly pyritous. Towards the base of the formation,
thin bands of compact lias limestone occur; and at Comb Hill, 5
miles N.W. of Cheltenham, these dark coloured hard bands are un-
derlaid by thick beds of white lias enclosed in thinly foliated, black
shales, which are seen to be incumbent on the green and red marl of
the new red sandstone, the whole dipping to the S.E.

(5.) New Red Sandstone. The author describes merely the hard
green and red marl, or upper member of this formation, which is
in immediate contact with the lias, on the left bank of the Severn.

Dislocations in the Coiteswold Hills Remarkable instances of dis-
ruption are exhibited in many upland coombs and valleys, where the
marlstone or surface of the lias is laid bare, and the strata of the
great and inferior oolites, on opposite sides of such depressions, dip
in different directions and at high angles, frequently inclining in-
wards or below the superior masses of the hills. Seeing that the
overlying slaty beds of the forest marble usually maintain their
horizontality, and that the above derangements are partial, the
author refers them to local subsidences, which may in many cases have
been in great measure occasioned by the undermining effects of
springs, acting upon the pyritiferous and decomposing beds of the
lias. :

Mineral Waters of Cheltenham.—The upper strata of water in the
lias of Cheltenham containing 27 parts of chloride of sodium, and
174 of sulphate of soda; whilst the water obtained by the deepest
sinkings contains 724 parts of the chloride of sodium, and only 62
of the sulphate of soda, the author was led to believe that the true
source of the sea salt in these waters is the new red sandstone. He
was confirmed in this conjecture by observing that the mineral waters
occurring along the edge of the escarpment where the lias is very thin
and directly incumbent on the red marl, are almost pure brine springs
(Gloucester, Tewkesbury, &c.). By the dip of the strata to the S.E.
these salt waters must necessarily be carried to considerable depths
below the town of Cheltenham; and he conceives that they are raised
to their original levels by cracks and fissures, and passing through cer-
tain soft and pyritous beds of the lias, obtain their peculiar medicinal
properties. Geological evidence is thus brought in support of the views
of Dr. Daubeny, which explain under similar circumstances the che-
mical changes of muriated into sulphated waters.—See Phil. Trans.

391

II. On the occurrence of stems of fossil plants in vertical positions
in the sandstone of the inferior oolite of the Cleveland Hills.

After a short illustration of the nature and arrangement of the dif-
ferent members of the oolitic series in the north of Yorkshire, for fuller
details of which he refers to Phillips’s Geology of Yorkshire, and
having mentioned a vast number of new species of fossils, collected on
the coast of Scarborough by Messrs. Bean, Dunn, and Williamson, the
author proceeds to give a particular account of a discovery recently
made by himself of the stems of Equisetum columnare, arranged in
vertical positions in the escarpment of the lower carboniferous sand-
stone of the oolite at Carlton Bank, near Stokesley, Yorkshire. A
similar phenomenon was first. made known by Messrs. Young and
Bird, and subsequently by Mr. Phillips, as respected a portion of the
coast between Scarborough and Whitby ; but owing to the limited
field in which it was observed, nearly all geologists continued to be
of opinion that the plants thus found had been accidentally collocated
by drifts and currents of water. The recent discovery of these stems in
an upright position in the same stratum, far in the interior, and
40 miles distant from that point of the coast where they were first
noticed, induced the author of this memoir to infer that this peculiar
arrangement, at points so distant from each other could not have
been fortuitously produced, and that therefore these plants like those
of the dirt bed in Portland*, are still in the place of their growth.
The author had observed the vertical stems in the Yorkshire coast in
the year 1826; and in returning to Scarborough last summer, after
making the discovery at Carlton Bank, he was confirmed in the
conclusion to which he had arrived, by learning from Messrs. Wil-
liamson and Bean that all the Equiseta found by them in the lower
sandstone and shale, since his first visit, were invariably in vertical
positions. He further ascertained that the only fossil shell which had
been detected in the associated strata of the lower sandstone and
coal, was a fresh water bivalve; and the fine lamination of the beds
indicated that they must have been formed in a tranquil manner. In
the overlying formations, on the contrary, all the fossil shells are of
marine origin ; and although in one of them vegetable matter and coal
are also found, yet the stems of the Equisetum are never vertically
arranged as in the lower sandstone, but are confusedly mixed up with
other vegetable detritus.

From these data the author concludes, that during the formation of
the sandy lower oolite of Yorkshire, the dark, shale beds in which the
Equiseta still seem to be rooted, were exposed to the atmosphere—
that these stems have never been detached from the place of their
growth, but have been sustained in their original positions, having
been first gradually silted up, and then buried under the accumu-
lations of an estuary, the matter in which having consolidated round
them, has retained the forms of their lower parts ;—that afterwards
these vegetable and carbonaceous strata were covered by a sea in

* See the abstract of Dr. Buckland and Mr. De Ja Beche’s paper cn
Weymouth, p. 219.

392

which the shells of the middle oolite were deposited, and into which
the rolled plants found in the upper sandstone and shale were
transported.

March 28.—Colonel the Earl of Munster, F.R.S., Belgrave Street ;
Robert Daun, M.D., Brompton Square, Kensington ; J. Robinson
Wright, Esq., of the Trigonometrical Survey; the Hon. William
Charles Wentworth Fitzwilliam, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and
Halkin Street, London; Joshua Trimmer, Esq., Bangor; Henry
Maclauchlan, Esq., of the Trigonometrical Survey; Rev. Frederick
William Hope, of Christ Church, Oxford, and Upper Seymour Street,
London; John Cotterell Powell, M.A., Jesus College, Cambridge,
and Upper Harley Street, London ; Robert Hunter, Esq., Burton
Crescent; Mr. Sergeant Taddy, of Sergeant’s Inn, Chancery Lane ;
Thomas Bodley, Esq., of Brunswick Terrace, Brighton ; and Captain
Alexander Robe, R.E., Park Road, Regent’s Park,—were elected
Fellows of this Society.

A paper was first read, entitled ‘“‘A Sketch of the Geology of Pulo
Pinang and the neighbouring islands,” by J. W. Ward, M.D., As-
sistant Surgeon of the Madras Establishment, and communicated by
the President.

Pulo Pinang, or Prince of Wales's Island, is stated to consist of a
central mountain range, with plains on the eastern and western sides.
The mountains are said to be composed wholly of granite, varying in
the size and the proportion of the constituent mineral; and to be tra-
versed by veins of quartz and finely grained granite. The plains are
described as formed entirely of alluvial matter, in which no animal
remains have been found. _The author conceives that these plains
have been gained from the sea, which, according to his opinion, once
washed the foot of the mountains. Stream tin, in small quantities,
is stated to occur near Amees Mills, but no veins of this mineral
have been found. The sea is said to be making considerable ravages
on some parts of the coast, but on others to be depositing extensive
mud banks. Of the neighbouring islands Pulo Rimau, Pulo Jerajah,
Pulo Ticoose, and Pigeon Island, consist of granite; Pulo Boonting,
of felspathic rocks ; Pulo Sonsong, the Pulo Kras, Pulo Kundit, of
argillaceous schists ; Pulo Bidan, of limestone resting on argilla-
ceous schist; and Pulo Panghil, of limestone similar to that of the
island last mentioned. :

A paper was then read, entitled, ‘‘An attempt to bring under ge-
neral geological laws the relative position of metalliferous deposits,
with regard to the rock formations of which the crust of the earth is
formed,” by M. Albert Louis Necker, For. Mem. G. S. &c.

The author commences by remarking, that ancient writers failed
in their attempts to establish fixed rules for recognizing metalliferous
districts by the external configuration of the soil; and that the laws
which guide the miner in discovering new metalliferous veins in one
country will often not assist him in another. He next observes that,
as far as he is aware, Werner and his disciples abandoned the idea of
establishing a connexion between formations and metalliferous depo-
sits; and that Hutton considered the connexion of veins and the rocks

393

through which they pass to be purely fortuitous. He then states,
that he believes Dr. Boué* was the first to point out, in a general
manner, the relative position of metalliferous veins and primary un-
stratified formations ; and thus to lead to the,inference, that the me-
tals were deposited in the former by sublimation from the latter: and
he adds, that Baron Humboldt ¢ accounts for the association of the
mines of the Oural and Altai mountains with granite, porphyry, and
syenite, by supposing all of them to be the effect of volcanic agency,
taken in its most extended signification.

This doctrine, the sublimation of the metalliferous contents of veins
from igneous matter, the author states, occurred to him twelve years
ago, from observing the deposition of specular iron on the crust of a
stream of lava flowing down the side of Vesuvius ; and he was in-
duced from that circumstance to institute a series of inquiries, and in
further prosecution of the subject, he proposes in the memoir the fol-
lowing questions :—

Ist, Is there near each of the known metalliferous deposits any
unstratified rock ?

2ndly, If none is to be found in the immediate vicinity of such de-
posits, is there no evidence, derived from the geological constitution
of the district, which would lead to the belief that an unstratified
rock may extend under the metalliferous district, and at no great
distance from the surface of the country ?

3rdly, Do there exist metalliferous deposits entirely disconnected
from unstratified rocks ?

With respect to the first of these questions, the author shows, by
copious references to works on England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway,
France, Germany, Hungary, the southern Alps, Russia, and the north-
ern shores of the Black Sea, that the great mining districts of all
these countries are immediately connected with unstratified rocks :
and in further support of this solution of the first question, he men-
tions the metalliferous porphyries of Mexico, and the auriferous gra-
nite of the Orinoco; but he observes that his knowledge of the
mining countries of South America is not sufficient to enable him to
state their general geological connexions.

With reference to the second question,—the probable association
of metallic veins with unstratified rocks, though the latter are not
visible in the immediate neighbourhood of the former ;—the author
gives a section of the country between Valorsine and Servoz, and
points out the probable extension of the granite of Valorsine under
the Aiguelles Rouges and Breven, composed of protogine, chlorite,
and talcose schists, to the immediate vicinity of the mines of Servoz,
which are situated in the latter formation. He also refers the reader
for further illustration to the metallic deposits of Wanlockhead and
the Lead-hills ; to the mines of Huelgoet and Poullavaen in Brittany ;
to those of Macagnaga and Allayna at the foot of Mount Rosa, of
Cardinia, Corsica, and Elba; to the metalliferous veins'of the Vosges,

* Mémoire Geologique sur 1’ Allemagne.
+ Essai de Géologie et de Climatologie Asiatique.

394

Brescina in the Alps, and the Altai chain ;—all of which occur in
districts where unstratified rocks are known to exist.

The author, however, states that besides the evidence thus afforded
of the connexion of igneous rocks with metalliferous deposits, it is
necessary to have a knowledge of the stratification of the formations
in which mines are worked before any legitimate conclusion can be ©
drawn.

In reply to the third question,—Do there exist metalliferous depo-
sits entirely disconnected from unstratified rocks ?—The author enu-
merates the mines of the Netherlands ; those of quicksilver at Idria ;
the lead mines of Poggau in the valley of the Mur; Pezay and Ma-
coz in the Tarentaise; and the veins of galena in the mountain-
limestone of the south-west of England.

The author then gives, as a general illustration of his subject, a
sketch of the countries between the Alps and the western extremity
of England, and shows that igneous rocks and metallic deposits are
totally wanting in the whole of the districts extending from the foot .
of the Alps across the valley of Lac Leman, the Jura chain, the plains
of Franche Comte and Burgundy; and in the oolitic, green-sand,
chalk and tertiary formations of the north-west of France, and in the
tertiary and secondary formations of England as far as Devonshire ;
but that, on the contrary, as soon as the unstratified rocks recome
mence in the last-mentioned district, metailic veins reappear.

Lastly, the author compares the relative connexion of igneous de-
posits with metallic accumulations, and states that ores are more
abundant in granite, certain porphyries, syenites, amygdaloids, and
trap, which he calls underlying, unstratified rocks, than in the newer
porphyries, the dolorites, and the true volcanic formations, which he
distinguishes by the term of overlying, unstratified rocks ; and he al-
ludes to the assistance which the practical miner would derive from
attending to this distinction, and to the principal object of the paper,
—the connexion of igneous with metalliferous deposits.

April 11th.—Peter Frederick Robinson, Esq., Lower Brook-street,
was elected a Fellow of this Society ; and the name of John Buddle,
Esq. was removed, by ballot, from the honorary to the ordinary list of
Fellows.

A Letter from George Gordon, Esq., addressed to Roderick Im-
pey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S., noticing the existence of lias on the
southern side of the Murray Firth, was first-read.

Mr. Gordon, after referring to the memoir of. Professor Sedgwick
and Mr. Murchison on the North of Scotland, in which lias is shown
to occur on the northern side of the Murray Firth, points out-the
existence at Linksfield or Cutley-hill near Elgin, of a stratum of clay
inclosing thin bands of limestone, and occupying a position analo-
gous to that of the lias on the northern side of the Firth. Mr. Gor-
don likewise states, that in making the canal to drain Loch Spyine,
a bed of clay was penetrated containing numerous specimens of Be-
lemnites ; and he conceives that a great part of the bay of Lossie-
mouth belongs to that formation. top

A paper was then read “On ‘the strata inthe immediate neigh-

395

bourhood of Lisbon and Oporto,” by Daniel Sharpe, Esq. F.G.S. &
F.L.S.

Lisbon is shown, by the author of this memoir, to stand upon a
range of hills divided by a narrow valley or ravine. The eastern di-
vision of the range is stated to be composed of tertiary deposits, and
the western of a limestone containing Belemnites.

The superior bed of the tertiary formations consists of sand in
which no fossils were observed, and is about 150 feet thick. It does
not occur in Lisbon, but appears on the south side of the Tagus,
forming part of its bank and the summit of the neighbouring hills.

To this bed succeeds a series of strata from 200 to 300 feet thick,
and composed of alternations of sand and rubbly, arenaceous lime-
stone, containing in great abundance shells of the genera Ostrea,
Pecten, Venus, Fistularia, Turritella, Cerithium, Balanus and Ser-
pula. The limestone appears on both sides of the Tagus, and though
of a perishable nature, is employed as a building material. «

The lowest visible portion of the tertiary series is a bed of blue
clay, which also incloses many organic remains.

The belemnitic limestone is a finely-grained hard rock, occasionally
used as a marble, and contains, though rarely, layers of black flints
similar to those which are found in the Portland oolite. This lime-
stone forms extensive tracts in the neighbourhood of Lisbon, and
constitutes a part of the abrupt escarpments along which the far-
famed lines of Torres Vedras were constructed.

The next formation, in a descending order, is a deposit of sand
and sandstone, in which no organic remains were noticed. It appears
to the north and east of Lisbon, and at Villa Franca, where it under-
lies the belemnitic limestone. The celebrated springs of Caldas burst
forth in this formation.

Beneath the sandstone last mentioned, the author observed at
Villa Nova da Reinha, to the north of icbow another bed of lime-
stone ; but he gives no details respecting its nature.

The next formation described in the memoir is an extensive deposit
of basalt, which is stated to occur in contact both with the tertiary
series and the belemnitic limestone, but to have produced no change
on these strata at its junction with them.

The granite of the hill of Cintra is said to be composed principally
of quartz and felspar with a small proportion of mica and hornblende,
and to be divided into large blocks by natural lines of cleavage. On
the north side of the hill a limestone is stated to rest against the
granite, and on the east a deposit of shale, and the strata of these
formations to be highly inclined.

The author next proceeds to describe the structure of the neigh-
bourhood of Oporto. ‘The city stands upon a low ridge of granite,
cut through by a defile in which the Douro flows. The granite,
composed of quartz, felspar, mica, and hornblende, in the immediate
vicinity of Oporto is hard, but at a short distance from it, is decom-
posed even to a considerable depth beneath the surface.

To this formation succeeds a granitic gneiss, the strata of which
dip at a considerable angle from the granite, and extends on the west

396

of Oporto to the mouth of the Douro, and on the south and the east
for several miles. On the gneiss, in the direction of Vallongo, reposes
chlorite slate, the strata of which are stated to be inclined at a very
high angle. The next deposit, resting conformably on the last, con-
sists of alternate beds of anthracite and conglomerate, derived from
the rocks already enumerated ; and to these strata chlorite slate again
succeeds, forming the range of hills called the Serra de Vallongo. In
this part of the series veins of metalliferous quartz occur, containing
ores of antimony and silver. ‘To the east of the Serra de Vallongo
the chlorite slate is overlaid by a dark blue argillaceous schist. Be-
yond this point the author's observations did not extend.

An Essay “On the Curvilinear Structure of Lava,” by Signor
Monticelli of Naples, was afterwards read.

The object of the author is to attract the notice of geologists to a
peculiarly beautiful and symmetric arrangement which he has ob-
served in the lava of La Scala, one of the largest and most ancient
currents of Vesuvius. The existence of numerous perpendicular and
horizontal fissures which traverse this lava, and sometimes give it the
appearance of regular stratification, was described by Breislac; and
the same observer noticed its tendency to split, under the hammer,
into irregular prisms of an hexagonal figure. But a far more sym-
metric arrangement was recently discovered in a grotto opened by
the workmen in quarrying the lava. The walls of lava bounding this
grotto were distinctly curvilinear; several distinct curvilinear strata
were traced with their seams parallel to each other; and the grotto
itself, decreasing in height and width towards either extremity, pos-
sessed the form of an ellipsoid. The author describes another similar
arrangement of the lava at the same locality, consisting of not fewer
than fourteen successive, parallel strata of a spherical form, arranged
one above the other in such a manner as to present the outline of an
inverted, truncated cone.

The author, after referring to similar though less perfectly de-
veloped curvilinear arrangements which have been seen in lava and
basalt in other situations, throws out suggestions as to the cause of
these remarkable appearances. He objects to the opinion of Breislac,
that the vertical and horizontal fissures noticed by him are referrible
to contraction produced by the sudden cooling of a heated mass; and
he adduces an instance of a lava current having flowed into the sea,
and been thereby subject to most rapid refrigeration, without possess-
ing the least fissure in its substance. The author believes that the
production of fissures, of prismatic forms, and of the curvilinear ar-
rangements, in lava and basalt, depends on uniform forces of attrac-
tion acting on the mass while in a fluid condition. He appeals, in
particular, to the spherical, elliptic, and parabolic forms observed by
himself in proof of the agency of central points of attraction having
acted on surrounding particles, and influenced their arrangements.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1832. No. 27.

May 2.—Thomas Baker, Esq., Wilton Place, and Capt. Jones,
R.N. M.P. Curzon Street, were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was read, “On the Geological Structure of the North-
eastern Part of the County of Antrim,” by James Bryce, Jun. Esq.
M.A. Member of the Belfast Natural History Society, &c., and com-
municated by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S.

In this memoir the author enters into a minute description of the
physical features and geological constitution of a portion of the di-
strict, described by Dr. Berger, and by Dr. Buckland and Mr. Cony-
beare in the third volume of the first series of the Geological Society’s
Transactions.

After alluding to the labours of these celebrated observers, the au-
thor defines the extent and physical features of the district described
in his memoir. He states that it is bounded on the west by the es-
carpment of the chalk from Kenbaan Head to Corky; on the south
by a line drawn from that place to Gerron Point; and on the east
and north by the Irish Sea. The area, thus circumscribed, is tra-
versed in a N.W. direction by the Aura mountains, from the southern
part of which several, long, projecting ridges with flat, broad sum-
mits and precipitous sides, branch off ; and in the northern part of
the district the surface is occupied by detached hills, having a direc-
tion parallel to that of the main chain. The height of the principal
mountains varies from one thousand to two thousand feet. Their
eastern declivity is abrupt, but their western is formed by a succes-
sion of undulating hills, which gradually descend into the low country
extending from Kenbaan Head to Corky.

The principal formations described, are mica-slate, porphyry, old red
sandstone, carboniferous limestone, coal measures, new red sand-
stone and conglomerate, lias, mulatto or green sand, chalk, and trap.

Mica-slate——This formation is stated not to differ from the cha-
racters assigned to it by Dr. Berger in other parts of the North of Ire-
land. The subordinate strata which it contains, are limestone, com-
pact felspar, porphyry, and hornblende rock ; granite is also said to
form a bed in it near the village of Ardsilloch. It occupies nearly the
whole of the central area of the district described in the memoir,
being covered at only four points by beds of chalk and basalt. The
strata dip invariably to the eastward, and generally at a high angle.

Old red sandstone—This deposit is of very limited extent, being
confined, by the author, to a narrow band ranging from Cushendan
Church to Ballyeemin Glen; and he is of opinion that the district as-

(FQ)

signed to it by Dr. Buckland and Mr. Conybeare on the shore of
Cushendan Bay, belongs to a conglomerate associated with the new
red sandstone. It is described as consisting principally of a coarsely
grained, whitish sandstone, containing in its upper part fragments of
quartz and porphyry, but no pebbles of granite or mica-slate. It is
stated to alternate both with the subjacent mica-slate and the super-
incumbent new red conglomerate, and it is said to contain also beds of
porphyry. The strata dip conformably to those of the mica-slate, but
the angle of inclination gradually decreases from 65° to 30° as the
formation recedes from the latter rock.

Porphyry.—Several varieties of this rock are stated to occur, the
most common having aclaystone base. The author conceives, as it
frequently alternates with the old red sandstone, but never with the
new red conglomerate, thatit constitutes the essential character by
which these deposits may be distinguished from each other.

__ The carboniferous limestone—is merely ailuded to as occurring on
the sea shore near Fairhead.

The coal measures—are stated to consist of the usual alternations
of coal, shale, sandstone, and ironstone ; to rest at their northern
boundary on the mountain limestone and old red sandstone ; and at
their southern on mica-slate ; and to be overlaid by the great basaltic
deposit of Fairhead.

New red sandstone and conglomerate.—The conglomerate occur-
ring on the shore of Cushendan Bay, the author separates from the
old red sandstone to which it had been previously assigned, and con-
siders it as a member of the new red sandstone. His reasons for
making this separation are, that it is identical in character with the
conglomerate which overlies the coal measure in Murloch Bay ; that
it contains pebbles of granite and mica-slate, which are never found
in the old red sandstone; that the latter formation alternates with
mica-slate, but that the conglomerate when in contact with that rock,
does not alternate with it, but reposes unconformably upon it; and
that the old red sandstone contains beds of porphyry which are never
found in the conglomerate. ‘The author, however, states that the
conglomerate alternates with the old red sandstone as well as with
the new red sandstone; and he admits that the whole series of
strata between the mica-slate and the chalk must be regarded as
one great mechanical deposit, produced by the eperation of the same
cause, occasionally modified in intensity.

The upper division of this formation consists of the usual varieties
of red sandstone and red marl with gypsum.

Lias, the next stratum described, consists entirely of shale, and
occurs only on the southern shore of Cushendan Bay.

The mulatto is divided by the author, in conformity with the cha-
racters assigned to it by Dr. Berger, into two parts,—the upper con-
sisting of a homogeneous sandstone, and the lower of a conglomerate
containing quartz pebbles, and fragments of mica-slate and white
limestone. ‘These two varieties are said to be constant in their cha-
racters and position, and to form a band varying from 9 inches to 10
feet in thickness from Gerron Point to Teabuliadh mountain.

399

Chalk.—This formation is extensively displayed resting in hori-
zontal strata on the highly inclined beds of mica-slate, and is for the
greater part overlaid by basalt. No additional characters, to those
already published, are given by the author, but he points out that the
boundaries which have been hitherto assigned to it are far from cor-
rect.

Trap.—The history of this rock, the author says, has been so com-
pletely investigated in all its relations, that he has no new facts to
communicate regarding it; he, however, notices the occurrence of
several important dykes, some of which pass through the conglome-
rate beds of the new red sandstone, without penetrating the strata
which rest upon them.

Lastly, the author alludes to the enormous extent to which the
chalk and superincumbent basalt have been denudated in this por-
tion of Ireland, leaving only four isolated monuments within the area
of the district, to prove their former extension over the whole of its
surface ; and he enumerates several instances of the rapid destruc-
tion of the clitls along certain portions of the coast, and of the accu-
mulation of detritus at the mouths of all the rivers.

May 16.—James Mitchell, Esq. of New Broad Street, was elected
a Fellow of this Society.

A paper “‘ On the Geological Relations of the stratified and un-
stratified Groups of Rocks composing the Cumbrian Mountains,’’
by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, V.P.G.S. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor
in the University of Cambridge, was read.

Chap. I.—Iniroduction.

The author first shows, that the limits of the region to be described,
are defined by a zone of carboniferous limestone, based here and
there upon masses of old red conglomerate. ‘This zone is described
as entirely unconformable to the central system, and for the pheno-
mena presented at the junction of the two great classes of rocks, he
refers to previous memoirs read before the Society.

The rocks of the central system are separated into stratified and
unstratified ; and the stratified are divided into four distinct groups,
iv ae following descending order :

Greywacke and greywacke-slate ; the whole group based on
ee of fimestone and calcareous slate, and bounded at its upper
surface by a part of the carboniferous zone.

2. A great formation of quartzose, chloritic, roofing slate and fel-
spar porphyry ; alternating in great, irregular, tabular masses, each
passing into, or replacing, the other; the whole having nearly a
constant strike, and dip similar to that of the preceding group.

3. Skiddaw slate—a very fine, dark, glossy clay-slate, occasionally
penetrated by quartz veins, sometimes passing into a coarse grey-
wac and greywacke-slate.

4ke rystalline slates between the preceding group and the cen-
tral granite of Skiddaw Forest.

It is then shown, that the mineralogical axis of the whole region
may be placed in the direction of a line drawn from the centre of
Skiddaw Forest to Egremont, and that on the north side of this line

400

the second group reappears immediately under the carboniferous
zone, forming a band which gradually thins off, and disappears be-
low Cockermouth.

The unstratified groups are then enumerated as follows :

1. Granite of Skiddaw Forest, the true mineralogical centre of
the whole region.

2. Carrock Fell syenite, irregularly traversing and overlying the
third and fourth stratified groups, and apparently underlying the se-
cond.

3. A great formation on the §.W. side of Cumberland, composed
of syenite, porphyry, and granite, which breaks through between the
second and third groups, penetrating, traversing, and overlying the
third, but never overlying the second.

4. Shap granite, breaking through, between the first and second
great, slaty groups, and cutting off the range of the fossiliferous lime-
stone by which they are separated from each other.

5. Granite veins ; porphyritic dykes, having the relations of the
Cornish elvans ; common trap dykes: these are found associated
with all the stratified groups.

Chap. II.— Successive stratified groups.

§ 1. Greywacke and greywacke-slate.—This group is subdivided as
follows, in descending order :

1. Coarse greywacke and greywacke-slate, occasionally with or-
ganic remains, but with no beds of limestone.

2. Finer greywacke-slate, thrown into great undulations, but
having a prevailing strike about N.E. by E.

3. A band of calcareous slate and fossiliferous limestone, ranging
from the hills north of Dalton to Coniston-water-foot.

4. A broad zone of greywacke-slate, having generally a strike
about N.E. by E. and a dip S.E. by S. at an angle varying from 30°
to 45°. From this zone masses of roofing slate are commonly de-
rived by a cleavage transverse to the plane of stratification.

5. Calcareous slate and limestone, ranging from the south-western
extremity of Cumberland till it is cut off by the Shap granite. Its
range, and the evidence it offers of great dislocations, have been de-
scribed in a previous memoir (see pp. 247, 318).

§2. Green slate and porphyry, &c.—This great group, which occu-
pies all the highest and most rugged mountains of the region de-
scribed in this memoir, is essentially composed of great, tabular
masses (having generally the same strike and dip as the lower beds
of the preceding group), composed of different modifications of por-
phyritic and felspathic rocks, and of quartzose and chloritic slate,
all the finer portions being derived from a cleavage transverse to the
stratification of the beds. The modifications of the slate are first
described, and it is shown that they pass, on one hand, into compact
felspathic slate sometimes porphyritic; on the other, into coarse
granular and concretionary slaty masses, and through them into brec-
cias, or pseudo-breccias, all these changes being effected without any
change of strike or dip. In like manner it is shown that the amor-
phous, and even semicolumnar, prismatic, porphyries are not only

401

arranged in directions parallel to the tabular masses of green roof-
ing slate ; but pass themselves into a slaty texture with a strike and
dip parallel to those of the true roofing slate. They also pass into
brecciated masses similar to those which form a part of the slate
groups. From these facts,—as well as from the negative facts, that
the porphyries never penetrate the roofing slate in the form of dykes,
and produce no mineral change in the limestone beds resting on
them,—it is inferred that the whole group is of one formation, which
has originated in the simultaneous action of aqueous and igneous
causes long continued.

§ 3. Skiddaw slate-—The author briefly describes the range and
extent of this group, its position below the preceding, and some of
its mineral changes from fine, glossy, clay-slate, much penetrated by
quartz veins, into, though rarely, very coarse greywacke. It does not
generally effervesce with acids, and contains no organic remains: it
is chiefly distinguished from the first group above described, by these
negative properties, and by its being of finer texture.

§ 4.—Crystalline slaty rocks in the central portions of Skiddaw
Forest, immediately between the preceding group and the central
granite.

This group is described as being irregular in its order and ill
exposed, but from the comparison of a series of sections appears to
be separable into the following subdivisions.

(1.) Skiddaw slate with interspersed crystals of chiastolite, alter-
nating with and passing into the preceding group.

(2.) Asimilar slate with numerous crystals of chiastolite, passing
in the descending order into a crystalline slate sometimes almost
composed of matted crystals of chiastolite.

(3.) Mica slate spotted with chiastolite.

(4.) Quartzose and micaceous slates sometimes passing into the
character of gneiss.

With this group the paper terminates: but the author promises to
resume the subject, and describe, in order, first the several unstratified
masses above enumerated; and then the changes produced by the
protrusion of the unstratified masses, both on the position and mineral
character of the several stratified groups.

May 30th.—A paper was first read “ On the Basalt of the Titterstone
Clee Hill, Shropshire,” being the concluding part of a memoir on the
Ludlow district, laid before the Society on the 29th of February, by
J. Robinson Wright, Esq., F.G.S. employed on the Ordnance Trigo-
nometrical Survey.

The basalt occupies the two highest points of the hill, called the
Giant’s Chair and the Hoar Edge, which are separated from each
other by a narrow ravine. It rests partly upon the old red sandstone,
and partly upon the coal measures; and occasionally assumes a
columnar structure,—the prisms inclining at an angle of 75°. Be-
sides these overlying masses a basaltic dyke has been ascertained to
cut through and greatly affect the coal measures; and the author
suggests that the outburst of this dyke may, from its direction, possibly
form the north-westerly escarpment of the Hoar Edge.

402

The author, in conclusion, compares the Titterstone basalt with the
trap of Rowley Regis, and points out their agreement in geological
position and mineralogical structure.

A paper was then read “‘ On a large Boulder-stone on the Shore of
Appin, Argyleshire,’’ by James Maxwell, Esq., and communicated by
William Smith, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S., &c. &c.

This boulder-stone consists of a granitic compound of quartz, fel-
spar, and mica; the last mineral being the principal ingredient. Its
form is irregular, but the angles have been rounded. The greatest
vertical circumference is forty-two feet, and the greatest horizontal
thirty-eight feet. It is supported on three smaller stones, each ibout
six inches thick ; one of them being a granite of a paler colour than
that which composes the boulder itself; and the other two consisting
of argillaceous ironstone. The formation on which the supports rest
is a slaty, calcareous sandstone. Numerous other granitic boulders
occur in this part of Scotland, but no rock in sifu from which they
could have been derived.

A third paper was read ‘‘On the Discovery of Bones of a Rhinoceros
and a Hyena in one of the Cefn Caves, situated in the Vale of Cyfire-
dan, Derbyshire,” by the Rev. Edward Stanley, F.G.S , &c.

The author commences his memoir by describing the physical fea-
tures of the district, and the present mode by which its waters are
drained. He then shows that if the pass between the Cefn and
Galltfaen cliffs were filled up, the river Elwy would be converted into
an extensive lake which would occupy the vale of Cyfiredan, on the
eastern side of which the Cefn caves are situated. The lowest cave,
raised but a few feet along the level of the river, forms a natural arch-
way penetrating through the limestone cliff and affording a passage
for a road. In its lateral ramifications, human bones, the horns of a
deer, and works of art have been found, but no remains of extinct
animals. About one hundred feet above the level of the valley, two
other caves are situated in the face of the precipitous, limestone cliff;
but only one of them has been examined, and it is to this cave that
thesmemoir in particular refers. When it was first discovered, the
interior, from the level of the entrance to a short distance from the
roof, was occupied by calcareous loam, in which a few angular masses
of limestone, part of the humerus of a rhinoceros, teeth of a hyena,
and numerous fragments of bones were found. Beneath this accu-
mulation, and beneath what had been considered the floor of the cave,
the author ascertained the existence of another deposit of similar
loam ; but containing, besides, fragments of bones and small portions
of wood, rounded pebbles of greywacke.

The cave was found to have several branches, one of which was
traced, in a southern direction, through the hill till it terminated in
the face of the escarpment opposite the Galltfaen cliff; but the real
extent of the other branches has not been determined.

The author, after these details, enters into an inquiry respecting
the former physical structure of the district, and the mode by which
the contents of the cave were deposited in the position in which they
were found. He conceives that either the vale of Cyffredan was

405

formerly occupied by a lake, or that the surface of the vale was once
nearly on a level with the entrance of the cave: and he explains the
position of the loam and associated pebbles and bones by supposing
that a sudden flood, rushing through the valley, carried into the cave
the pebbles, fragments of wood, and loam found in its lower part :—
that after this inundation no similar catastrophe occurred for an un-
known period, during which the caves again became the resort of
wild animals :—that at the close of that period another and more pow-
erful flood occurred, rising above the level of the caves, and deposit-
ing within it, the loam which occupied the greater part of its cavity;
and that this flood, overcoming every obstacle, excavated the valley to
its present depth.

The memoir was illustrated by numerous drawings of the caves and
bones, a ground plan, and a manuscript map of the district.

June 13.—William Henry Egerton, Esq., of Oulton Park, Cheshire ;
Bridgeman More, Esq., of Lindley Hall, Shropshire; George Mercer,
Hsq-, Queen Ann Street West; Edward Hawkins, Esq., of Street near
Glastonbury; Thomas Watson, M.D., late Fellow of St. John’s Col-
lege, Cambridge; Lieut. Col. Hugh Montgomery; and Edward
Hussey, Esq., Park Street, Grosvenor Square,—were elected Fellows
of this Society.

A paper was first read, entitled ‘‘ Observations on the London Clay
of the Highgate Archway,” by Nathaniel Wetherell, Esq., F.G.S.

This communication, which was accompanied by a series of speci-
mens, gives a full account of the position, extent, and order of the
beds cut through in making the excavation for the archway, and a
list of the fossils found in the lowermost stratum or the London clay.

For the details respecting the order of the beds the author refers
to the “Outlines” of the Rev. William Conybeare and the late Mr.
Phillips; and after enumerating the fossils found in the clay, points
out that the species of most common occurrence were Pectunculus
decussatus, Natica glaucinoides, Modiola elegans, and Teredo antenauta,
and that those of rarest occurrence were Acteon elongatus, Cyprea
oviformis, Neritina concava, and Serpula crassa. .

A paper was afterwards read giving “ An account of the Discovery
of portions of three Skeletons of the Megatherium in the province of
Buenos Ayres in South America,” by Woodbine Parish, jun. Esq.,
His Majesty’s Chargé d’ Affaires and Consul General at Buenos Ayres ;
followed by a description of the bones by William Clift, Esq. F.G.S.
F.R.S. &c. &e.

Mr. Parish some years since présented to the Geological Society
several large bones of mammalia, discovered in the valley of Tarija
on the confines of Bolivia, and being anxious to procure further
specimens, he instituted a series of inquiries, by which he ascer-
tained that the teeth and bones of quadrupeds had been frequently
inet with in the province of Buenos Ayres, especially in the neighbour-
hood of the river Salado, and in the beds of its tributary lakes and
streams; as well as in the adjoining province of Entre Rios, and that
in the Banda Oriental a nearly perfect skeleton was once found.

During these inquiries Mr. Parish was informed that some bones

404

of extraordinary size had been found in the bed of the Rio Salado, and
brought to Buenos Ayres from the Estancia of Don Hilario Sosa. On
inspecting them he was immediately struck with their resemblance to
the remains of the Megatherium formerly sent to the Museum at
Madrid by the Marquis of Loreto, and likewise procured in the pro-
vince of Buenos Ayres. These bones, the property of Don Hilario
Sosa, consisted of a pelvis, nearly perfect, a thigh bone, several ver-
tebre, five or six ribs, and four teeth. After much solicitation Mr.
Parish became possessed of them, and in the hopes of procuring the
remainder of the skeleton, he deputed Mr. Oakley, a gentleman of
the United States, to make the necessary investigations.

Mr. Oakley soon ascertained that other bones were imbedded in
the mud at the bottom of the river, and by diverting, in part, the
course of the stream, he succeeded in obtaining a scapula, an os
femoris, five cervical vertebree, several teeth, and numerous other
bones which were too much decayed to be preserved.

Besides these valuable remains Mr. Oakley procured parts of two
other skeletons of the Megatherium; one of them from a small rivulet
near Villanuéva, and the other from the banks of the lake at Las
Aveiras. Both these skeletons were accompanied by a thick osseous
covering, or shell, considerable portions of which were preserved, and
orm part of the collection sent to Engiand by Mr. Parish.

The preceding history of the discovery of the bones of the Mega-
therium, was succeeded by an enumeration and description of them,
by Mr. Clift; from which it appears that the parts of the skeleton
brought to England by Mr. Parish, although comparatively much
less numerous and complete than those in the specimen preserved in
the Royal Cabinet at Madrid, fortunately include several essential
parts which are deficient in that specimen; and that consequently from
the discovery of these remains, the history of the animal will be much
improved. Of the hitherto undescribed parts, the structure of the
teeth,—the existence of the pubis and ischium,—and a large propor-
tion of the caudal vertebre, are the most important and essential
additions to our previous knowledge of this most singular and
stupendous creature.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
1832-1833. No. 28.

Nov. 7, 1832.—The Society assembled this evening for the session.

Woodbine Parish, Jun. Esq. F.R.S. of Upper Harley Street ; Henry
Trollope, Esq. of Harrow ; Whitlock Nichol, M.D. F.R.S. & L.S. of
Curzon Street Mayfair ; and Herbert Mayo, Esq. F.R.S. Professor of
Anatomy in King’s College, London, were elected Fellows of this
Society.

A paper was first read, ‘‘ On some Intersections of Mineral Veins
in Cornwall,” ina letter to Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. F.G.S. F.R.S.
&e., by William John Henwood, Esq. F.G.S.

The chief object of this communication is to lay before the reader
particular facts bearing upon certain theories respecting the disloca-
tion of veins ; and the author in pursuance of his intention first states
the theory as a question, and then adduces his facts. ‘The following
are the principal propositions.

1. When one vein is dislocated by another, 1 is it to be found on the
side of the smaller or larger angle ?

At Bulls, in the Herland mine, two veins are heaved by a cross-
course ; and one of them was rediscovered on the side of the smaller
angle, and the other on the side of the larger angle.

2. When one vein dislocates several others, are all the latter to be
found on the same hand ?

In the Weeth mine, two cross-courses are traversed by the same
E. and W. lode. One of them is heaved to the left, the other to the
right, but both to the side of the larger angle.

3. When the same vein is dislocated by several others, do they all
heave it to the side of the greater, or all to the side of the smaller
angle?

In Huel Friendship mine, a lode has been heaved by three cross-
courses, in each instance to fine left ; but in two, on the side of the
smaller, and one on the side of the greater angle.

4. When a vein is dislocated by several others, do they all heave it
to the right, or all to the left ; or some one way, some the other ?

In Carharrack mine the lode is heaved by two cross-courses, and
by both of them to the side of the larger angle ; but in one instance
to the left, and in the other to the right.

5. When a vein is thrown or dislocated by a slide, is it to be redis-
covered on the side of the greater or smaller angle?

In South Huel Towan mine, the vein was rediscovered on the side
of the smaller angle; but at Bulls on that of the larger angle.

406

6. When the same lode is dislocated by various slides, do all the
latter throw it to the side of the greater angle, or all towards that of
the smaller; or some to one, and some to the other ?

In Huel Peever mine are two lodes and two slides ; both the lodes
are thrown down by one of the slides, and towards the greater angle ;
but one of the lodes,(a) on coming in contact with the other lode (6)
is thrown upwards or towards the smaller angle, and the same lode
(a) on meeting the slide (d)is again thrown upwards or to the smaller
angle.

7. When various veins are thrown by the same slide, does it throw
them all upwards or all downwards, or some upward and some
downward?

in Huel Trevaunance mine some of the veins on coming in contact
with others are thrown down ; but one of the veins (a) on coming in
contact with the vein (f) is thrown upwards; and the vein (6) on
coming in contact with the vein (f) is also thrown upwards, as is the
vein (f) on coming in contact with the vein (e).

The author having thus ‘ compared the general rules, which are so
frequently discussed ,with facts,” says, ‘‘ Notwithstanding there are nu-
merous exceptions, it may be assumed that where across vein is found
to have heaved two or three lodes towards one hand, the miner will not
often be very far wrong if he excavate in the same direction to recover
a dislocated portion of a fourth ;”’ and the author further observes,
that he shall not be surprised if a different rule be found to prevail in
the districts where tin abounds, from that which obtains in a copper
country. He next proceeds to combat the received opinion, that all
interruptions or intersections in mineral veins are the effects of dis-
turbances, and that the order of intersection of the various veins is
the index of their relative age.

He states that the only extraneous evidence of motion in veins is
the existence of slickensides ; but he says, that in Huel Robert mine
the slickensides traverse the substance of the vein in every direction,
and in almost every possible variety of form ; that in many other
instances he has seen on the plane surface very considerable promi-
nences ; that the strize were marked not only on the plane surface, but
also on the elevated portions ; that many of the striz on the walls of
the veins are converging, and that in numerous instances on opposite
sides of the same vein they dip different ways.

The author then enters upon the inquiry whether the phenomena
of intersections and dislocations are explicable on the assumption of
motion. He states that horizontal motion will not account for a vein
being heaved to the right by one vein and to the left by another, or even
both the same way but to different distances. With respect to oblique
motion he says, that there are many instances of a lode being heaved
towards one hand at one depth and to the opposite at another depth ;
and lastly, with respect to vertical motion he says, that if two lodes,
dipping the same way, be dislocated by the same cross-course, they
will be heaved towards the same hand, but if they dip different ways
they will be heaved to opposite hands ; he, however, states, that at
Huel Trenwitn mine two veins dipping different ways are trayersed by

407

a cross-course, but are both heaved towards the right or to the same
hand.

A Notice of a Submarine Forest in Cardigan Bay, by the Rey James
Yates, M.A. F.G.S. and U.S. was afterwards read.

This forest extends along the coast of Merionethshire and Cardi-
ganshire, being divided into two parts by the estuary of the river
Dovey, which separates those counties. It is bounded on the land
side by a sandy beach and a wall of shingles. Beyond this wall is a
tract of bog and marsh formed by streams of water which are partially
discharged by oozing through the sand and shingles. The author ar-
gues that, as the position of the wall is liable to change, it may have
inclosed the part which is now submarine, and that it is not necessary
to suppose a subsidence effected by subterranean agency.

The remains of the forest are covered by a bed of peat, and are
distinguished by an abundance of Pholas candida and Teredo navalis.

Among the trees of which the forest consisted is the Pinus sylvestris,
or Scotch fir; and it is shown that this tree abounded anciently in
several northern counties of England. The natural order of Coni-

fere may thus be traced from the period of the independent coal
formation to the middle of the seventeenth century, although the
Scotch fir is now excluded from the native Flora.

‘The amentaceous wood presents matter for reflection, in consequence
of the perfect preservation of its vascular structure, while the con-
tents of the vessels are entirely dissipated.

This tract-is known to the Welsh under the name of Cantrev
Gwaelod, i. e. the Lowland Hundred. The author refers to the Triads
of Baia. and to other ancient Welch testimonies, which prove that
it was submerged about A.D. 520, and ascribe the disaster to the
folly of “ Seitheryn, the Drunkard, who in his drink let the sea over
the Cantrev Gwaelod.”’

A paper entitled “‘ Notices on the Geology of the North-west of the
Counties of Mayo and Sligo,” by the Venerable Archdeacon Vers-
choyle,and communicated by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S.
was also begun.

Nov. 21.—George Wilbraham, Esq, M.P., Upper Seymour Street ;
Francis Jervoise Ellis, Esq. B.A. of King’s Bench Walk, Temple ;
George Bentham, Esq.° F.L.S. and Sec. Hort. S.; and Jedediah S.
Tucker, Esq. of Tremarton Castle, Cornwall, and Pump Court,
Temple; were elected Fellows of this Society.

The reading of Archdeacon Verschoyle’s paper, begun at the meet-
ing held on the 7th of November, was concluded.

The author divides his memoir into two parts ; in the first he gives
a topographical description of the country, and in the second a detailed
account of the different formations of which it is composed.

I. The district described is situated in the western part of the pro-
vince of Connaught, and is bounded on the N. and W. by the Atlantic.
Through the eastern portion a primary chain, called the Ox moun-
tains, having a mean height of 1300 feet, extends in a N.E. and S.W,
direction. The north side of the chain rises at a considerable angle,
and terminates in aseries of abrupt, rocky peaks ; but the plane which
forms the southern declivity is much more gradual in its inclination.

4.08

The principal passes are at Colloony, Lough Talt, and Foxford. The
formations of which the mountains consist are mica-slate, hornblende-
slate, and quartz rock. Their bases are covered by a conglomerate
which the author considers to be the representative of the old red
sandstone; and on it reposes alternating strata of sandstone, and shale,
succeeded by carboniferous limestone. On the south of the chain
the limestone stretches towards Roscommon and Galway, joining the
great limestone field of Ireland; and on the N.W. it forms a plain,
extending from Sligo to the barony of Erris, where the Nephin group
rises from beneath it, being the commencement of the primary tract
reaching northward and westward to the ocean. Immense ridges of
water-worn pebbles occur in every portion of the district. ;The coast
presents for the greater part bold, abrupt precipices, formed of gneiss,
mica-slate, quartz-rock, and mountain limestone ; but in some places
it is low, and composed of a succession of sand hills.

II. In describing the formations comprising the district, the
author arranges them in the following descending order,—Carbo-
niferous limestone with beds of oolite, calcareous shale and grit,
old red sandstone or conglomerate, quartz-rock, gneiss, mica-slate
hornblende-slate, granite, trap-rocks, porphyry, and basalt.

1. Carboniferous limestone with beds of oolite—This is the pre-
vailing rock on the north and south sides of the Ox mountains. Ben-
bulben, 1700 feet, Knocknodie, 1025, and Knocknashee, 980 feet
high, are entirely composed of it. The lower beds contain black
chert, in angular nodules, and it frequently invests the organic re-
mains. The limestone varies in texture from compact to crystalline,
and in colour from grey to greyish brown. Arragonite, fluor spar,
brown spar, pyrites, and quartz crystals are sometimes found in it.
The mineral veins have been almost entirely neglected, only one near
Ballisadere, containing galenaand blende, having been wrought. The
organic remains are numerous, the principal genera being Caryo-
phyllia, Productus, and Spirifer. In the hill of Skreen, among the
lower beds, are thin layers of quartz pebbles, cemented by lime;
but beneath them are other strata without pebbles.

The oolitic strata occur only between Moyne and Rathrea,
and are stated to lie below the limestone. They afford a durable
building material, take a tolerable polish, and contain comminuted
fragments of marine exuviz, and also (though rarely ) carbonized
vegetable remains. Nodules of black shale, inclosing particles of
pitch coal, are likewise found in these strata, and between the beds
are partings of brown shale.

2. Calcareous grit and shale.—This formation succeeds immedi-
ately either the carboniferous limestone or the oolitic strata, and
graduates at its lower extremity, where the conglomerate is wanting,
into quartz-rock; but it is stated that at Glenlassera the position of the
calcareous grit and the quartz-rock is unconformable to each other.
Sectional lists are given, to show the order in which the grit and
shale are associated ; and from one of these lists it appears that beds
of limestone are connected with them. ‘The surface of the sandy
strata in some of the quarries presents waved ripple-marks.

3. Old red sandstone.—This term is applied to the conglomerate

409

which occurs at the lower part of the north and south declivities of
the Ox mountains. The pebbles consist of quartz and jasper :
they are stated not to exceed an egg in size, and the imbedding
cement is a stiff, ferruginous clay. No organic remains were ob-
served. On the south side of the mountains, where the conglome-
tate rests upon quartz-rock, it is said to graduate into that forma-
tion ; but on the north side, where the quartz-rock is wanting, the
conglomerate rests unconformably on mica-slate.

4. Quartz-rock.—This formation occurs in many parts of the di-
strict, viz. on the south flank of the Ox mountains; in the Nephin and
Birreen Cove mountains; at the headlands east and west of Broad-
haven ; on the south shore of Carramore lake; and on the south
coast between Portarlin and Conoghrea. In its simplest state it
consists of finely grained white quartz-sand, the beds having a
schistose structure; but in some localities it contains white felspar
and mica, when it graduates into gneiss.

5. Hornblende-slate, mica-slate, and gneiss.—No new details are
given respecting the characters of these formations. Gneiss occurs
principally in the peninsula of Erris, and in the mountains above
Coolany, at Mullinashie; and the hornblende-slate and mica-slate
in the Ox chain and the Erris group of mountains.

6. Granite.—This rock is found only at the southern extremity
of Erris, and penetrates in veins the mica-slate which rests upon it.

7. Trap.—Under this head the author gives a detailed account of
the composition, range, and effects of eleven parallel basaltic and
amygdaloidal dykes, which traverse the northern part of the district
in a nearly east and west direction, and cut through all the forma-
tions from gneiss to the carboniferous limestone. One of these
dykes he traced between 60 and 70 miles, and was induced to con-
clude, from information which he received, that it might be followed
much further to the eastward. The distance between the northern
and southern dyke is only 114 miles. Two of the dykes are said
to be traversed by others having a north and south direction. A
detailed account is also given of an extensive bed of trap, which
overlies the mountain limestone and the sandstone and shale on
the east and west sides of the Bay of Killala. Finally, the author
offers a series of general observations on the origin of the different
formations, and on the probable extension into England of the trap
dykes of Mayo and Sligo. j

A communication was then read from the Rev. Adam Sedgwick,
V.P.G.S., and Woodwardian Professor in the University of Cam-
bridge, respecting certain fossil shells overlying the London clay
in the Isle of Sheppey.

Mr. Sedgwick, in examining a series of fossils from the Isle of
Sheppey, lately presented to him, found several specimens differing
from the rest, both in their specific characters and state of preser-
vation. These shells were derived by Mr. Crow of Christ College,
Cambridge, from a bed in Warder Cliff, about 15 feet below the
surface of the ground, and had lately been laid bare by a small
land-slip. ‘The bed in question is from § to 12 inches thick, and

4:10

the part exposed is not more than 20 feet n length, though there
can be little doubt that it extends considerably further. It rests al-
most immediately on the clays, containing the well-known suite of
pyritous fossils with which the Isle so much abounds, and its level
above the beach isstated to be about 140 feet. The specimens be-
long to the well-known English shells,—Ostrea edulis, Cardium
edule, Buccinum undatum, Fusus antiquus, and Turlo littoreus.

Dec. 5.—The Rev. J. C. Stapleton, of Highclere, Hants, and
Grosvenor-square, London ; and John Forbes Royle, Esq., of the
Bengal Medical Establishment, and lately Superintendant of the
Hon. Company’s Botanic Garden at Saharanpore, were elected Fel-
lows of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled ‘‘Observations on the Remains of the
Iguanodon, and other fossil Reptiles, of the Strata of Tilgate Forest
in Sussex,” by Gideon Mantell, Esq., F.G.S. R.S. and L.S.

The author, having noticed the various memoirs and works which
have appeared on the organic remains of the fossil reptiles of Sus-
sex, proceeded to give a summary account of all that was known
upon the subject, and to add descriptions of the various interesting
fossils which subsequent discoveries had brought to light. He ob-
served that the strata of Sussex, with the exception of diluvial and
tertiary deposits, were referrible to two series of formations only,—
one, marine, including the chalk and green-sands ; the other, fresh-
water, the Wealden: the former, containing fishes, zoophytes, and
marine shells; the latter, herbivorous saurians, turtles, terrestrial
plants, and fresh-water shells. He then described the teeth and
other bones of the Crocodile, Megalosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Igua-
nodon, and Phytosaurus cylindricodon. The head, jaws, and teeth
of the last animal were stated to have been found in the Keuper
of Germany, and the teeth in the Tilgate beds of Sussex. On
the Iguanodon the author offered many new anatomical details:
he particularly noticed,—an ungual bone, a clavicle of a most ex-
traordinary form, and the thigh- and both leg-bones of the same
limb, which exhibited enormous dimensions. He then gave a state-
ment of the results of a careful comparison of six different portions
of the skeleton of the recent Iguana and the Iguanodon, and stated
that from this investigation it appeared the length of the animal
was 70 feet, the tail forming about two thirds of the whole. A
new fossil reptile was then described, of which a considerable por-
tion of the skeleton of the trunk had been lately discovered. The
block of stone in which the bones were imbedded was 44 feet by
2} feet. It exhibited a chain of 5 cervical and 5 dorsal vertebre,
with corresponding ribs ; and four other vertebrz detached from
the column and lying on other parts of the stone. The coracoids
and omoplates of both sides were visible, and exhibited a structure
so peculiar as to warrant the separation of this new reptile from all
recent and fossil genera. With the coracoids of a Lizard, it had
the omoplates of a Crocodile. A still more extraordinary pecu-
liarity of osteological structure was exhibited in a series of spinous
beny apophyses, which, varying in size from 3 to 17 inches in

411

length, and from 14 to 7 in width at the base, maintained a certain
parallelism with the vertebral column, as if they had been placed in
a line along the back. This circumstance, together with other
reasons, induced the author to suggest that they might be the re-
mains of a dermal fringe, with which, as in some recent species of
Iguana, the back of the animal was armed ; but at the same time he
mentioned many anatomical peculiarities, which led him to hesitate
in determining positively that these bones had formed such appen-
dages. He next entered upon a careful examination of the reasons
why they could not be processes of the vertebra. Many dermal
bones, which served to support the large scales, were discovered
by the author in the stone. The author proposed forming a new
genus for this animal, the characters of which would depend on the
peculiarity of the sternal apparatus and the spinous processes ; and
he suggested the name of Hylosaurus, or Forest-Lizard, to indicate
its locality, the Forest of Tilgate. Inthe conclusion of this memoir,
the author made some observations on the character of the district
at the Iguanodon era. From the condition of the organic remains,
which, with the exception of the beds of shells, and the vegetable
stems of the fossil Eguzseta Lyelliz, bore marks of transport, he
contended that the river which had formed the ancient delta, the
Wealden of geologists, must have had its source far distant from
the beds which it had formed; and from the state of some of the
specimens (and he instanced particularly that of the Hyleosaurus),
he inferred, that the bones of the reptiles must have been broken :
and dislocated while covered with muscles and integuments, other-
wise the broken parts and the displaced bones could not have main-
tained the relative situation in regard to each other which they
are now found to maintain. He concluded with an eulogium on
the late illustrious naturalist Baron Cuvier, many of whose observa-
tions, from his correspondence with the author, were introduced in
various parts of the memoir.

PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1822-1833. No. 29.

Dec. 19, !832.—Richard Griffith Killaly, Esq., of Trinity College,
Dublin, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled ‘‘ Report of a Survey of the Oolitic
Formations of Gloucestershire.” By William Lonsdale, F.G.S.

‘This survey was made in censequence of a resolution of the Coun-
cil, confirmed by the Annual General Meeting of 1832, that one
year's dividends of the Wollaston Fund should be applied to the
continuing, northwards from Bath, the survey of the oolitic formations
commenced by the author of the Report in the year 1827.

The district examined is bounded on the west by the escarpment
of the oolitic hills from Toghill, 45 miles N.W. of Bath, to Meon
Hill, near Chipping Campden; and on the east by the foot of the
coral-rag-hills, from the neighbourhood of Chippenham to Farring-
don, and thence by a straight line passing from Burford to Stow-on-
the-Wold and Shipston-on-Stour. The formations examined are the
marlstone, inferior oolite, Fuller’s earth, great oolite, forest marble,
and cornbrash,

The geologists to whose labours the author acknowledges himself
much indebted, are, Mr. Smith, Mr. Cumberland, Mr. Weaver, the
Rev. William Conybeare, Mr. De la Beche, Mr. Murchison, and
Mr. Greenough : he also notices the great advantage which he pos-
sessed in having the Ordnance Maps for the base of his survey.

Marlstone.—This formation was originally established by Mr. Smith,
and its geological position, as a member of the lias formation, has
been subsequently proved by Mr. Phillips, in his valuable work cn
Yorkshire. In Gloucestershire, the formation consists of about 150
feet of marl and sand, containing, towards the lower part, a bed of
calcareous or ferruginous sandstone, abounding with organic remains;
and its superior stratum consists of blue micaceous marl, the repre-
sentative of the alum shale of Yorkshire. The most characteristic
fossils are Gryphe@a gigantea and Pecten equivalvis. ‘The marlstone
is co-extensive with the escarpment, and may be traced within it
wherever the beds subjacent to the inferior oolite have been denu-
dated,

Inferior oolite.—In the South of Gloucestershire this formation con-
sists of nearly equal divisions of soft oolite and slightly calcareous
sand ; but in the northern portion of the county, the latter, for the

414

greater part, is replaced by a yellow sandy limestone. The freestone
beds, which are not to be lithologically distinguished from those of the
great oolite, gradually increase in number and thickness, from the
neighbourhood of Bath to the Cotteswolds, east of Cheltenham, where
they constitute the whole of the escarpment. This vertical importance
is retained through the north of the country examined; but to the
eastward of the valley ranging from Stow-on-the-Wold to Barrington,
near Burford, a change takes place, both-in the structure and thick-
ness of the formation. The freestone beds are there replaced by
strata of nodular coarse oolite, containing numerous specimens of
Clypeus sinuatus : the sandy portion consists of only a thin bed, and
the thickness of the whole formation is diminished from 150 feet to
about 50. The most characteristic fossils which were noticed by the
author, are Clypeus sinuatus, Terebratula fimbria, Modiola plicata,
Pholadomya fidicula, Trigonia costata, Gryphea columba (Sowerby),
Lima proboscidea, and Ammonites corrugatus. °

The formation occupies, in Gloucestershire, a much greater super-
ficial importance than has been hitherto assigned to it. Besides form-
ing the upper part of the escarpment, it constitutes, to the south of
Cheltenham, the inclined plane which ranges between the crest of the
hills and the ridge of Fuller’s earth and great oolite, and, to the north
of that town, the summit of the whole of the hills, with the exception
of an occasional capping of great volite.

Fuller’s earth.—This argillaceous deposit is of much less importance
in the district surveyed than in the neighbourhood of Bath. The
mineral to which it owes its designation is wanting, or is represented
by only an occasional bed of impure, useless Fuller's earth. Its greatest
thickness in Gloucestershire is estimated not to exceed fifty feet : in
the Cotteswolds it was found to be not more than twenty-five ; and
the deposit was ascertained to thin out to the north-east of a line
passing from the neighbourhood of Winchomb to Burford.

Great oolite.—The threefold arrangement of upper rags, fine free-
stone, and lower rags, into which this formation was divided near
Bath, does not prevail through the whole of the district examined.
The upper rags, consisting of soft freestone and hard shelly oolite,
were traced to Cirencester ; but to the north-east of that town they
are replaced by a rubbly white argillaceous limestone. In the middle
division, fine workable freestone is of partial occurrence ; and the
greater number of the beds are composed of hard oolitic limestone.
The lower rags, consisting of coarse shelly oolites, resting upon
closely-grained or crystalline limestone, extend from Bath to Wotton
Underedge ; but in the neighbourhood of that town a change occurs,
and their position is occupied by beds of fissile calcareous limestone.
These strata were traced through the whole of the north-east of Glou-
cestershire, and to the neighbourhood of Burford. ‘They are exten-
sively worked as a tile-stone ; possess the lithological character of
the Stonesfield slate ; have their fissile property developed by exposure
to atmospheric agency ; contain Trigonia impressa, the characteristic
fossil of Stonesfield ; and, on comparing the strata of Burford with
those which rest at Stonesfield on the slaty beds, it was found that

415

an almost perfect identity of character and order of position prevailed
at the two localities *.

The author, in alluding to the fossils of the great oolite, remarks
on the important changes which are effected by removing the Stones-
field slate from the forest marble to the bottom of the great oolite.

Forest marble.—The Bradford clay, which separates the great oolite
from the forest marble in Wiltshire, was observed only in the most
southern part of Gloucestershire. Of the forest marble itself, the
survey afforded no new. characters. It was found to consist of a thick
stratum of laminated shelly oolite, interposed between beds of sandy
clay, containing lamine of grit; and to have, from Bath to near
Fairford, for its uppermost stratum, a deposit of loose sand, contain-
ing large masses of calcareous grit.

Cornbrash.—This formation consists, through nearly the whole of
its range, of a thin deposit of rubbly, hard, compact limestone; but
in the neighbourhood of Malmsbury it is composed of thick strata of
crystalline limestone, alternating at their lower extremity with beds
of sand, and surmounted by a stratum of sandy clay, containing la-
mine of grit.

The author, in conclusion, notices four faults which affect all the
strata from the lias to the forest marble: they occur at Stow-on-the-
Wold; Clapton, near Bourton-on-the-Water; Brookhampton, near
Cheltenham ; and between Tetbury and Cirencester.

January 9, 1833.—Mr. Justice Bosanquet was elected a Fellow of
this Society.

An Essay, entitled “ Observations on Coal,” by W. Hutton, Esq.
F.G.S. was first read.

The author was led to the observations contained in this essay by
pursuing the method of microscopic examination which has been so
successfully employed by Mr. Witham. On examining, with the mi-
croscope, one of the thin slices of coal in which Mr. Witham lately
discovered a distinct vegetable texture, the attention of the author
was excited by the remarkable appearance of several cells in that
part of the coal where the texture of the original plant could not be
distinguished. Tempted to extend the inquiry, he procured an exten-

* The following table contains Dr. Fitton’s accurate enumeration of the
beds of Stonesfield (see Zoological Journal, vol. iii.), and a list of those
wrought at the Windrush quarries near Burford.

Burford. Stonesfield.
Tor. Rubbly limestone ...... 1 foot. | Top. Rubbly limestone.
Brownish marlstone ... 6 feet. Clay.
Rubbly limestone ...... 4 feet. Limestone.
Pale sandy marl......... 3 feet. Blue clay.
Rubbly marlstone ...... § foot. Oolite.
Light-coloured clay ... 3 foot. Blue clay.
Rag and freestone...... 15 feet. Rag, oolitic limestone.
Sandy laminated grit. Sandy bed, containing the slate.

The author states that he was indebted to Mr. Greenough for the first
suggestion that the slate of Gloucestershire would prove to be the equiva-
lent of the slate of Stonesfield.

416

sive series of slices, taken from the several varieties of coal found at
Newcastle and the contiguous district.

The coal of the Newcastle district is considered by the author to be
of three kinds. The first, which is the greatest in quantity and the
best in quality, is the rich caking coal so generally esteemed ; the
second is Cannel or Parrot coal (Splent coal of the miners); and the
third, the slate coal of Jameson, consists of the two former, arranged
in thin alternate layers, and has, consequently, a slaty structure. In
these varieties of coal, even in samples taken indiscriminately, more
or less of the vegetable texture could always be discovered ; thus
affording the fullest evidence, if any such proof were wanting, of the
vegetable origin of coal.

Each of these three kinds of coal, besides the fine distinct reticula-
tion of the original vegetable texture, exhibits other cells, which are
filled with a light wine-yellow-coloured matter, apparently of a bitu-
minous nature, and which is so volatile as to be entirely expelled by
heat before any change is effected in the other constituents of the
coal. The number and appearance of these cells vary with each
variety of coal. In caking coal, the cells are comparatively few, and
those which do exist are highly elongated. Their original form the
author believes to have been circular ; and he attributes their present
figure to the distention of gas confined in a somewhat yielding mate-
rial, subject to perpendicular pressure. In the finest portions of this
coal, where the crystalline structure, as indicated by the rhomboidal
form of its fragments, is most developed, the ceils are completely
obliterated. In such parts the texture is uniform and compact : the
crystalline arrangement indicates a more perfect union of the consti-
tuents, and a more entire destruction of the original texture of the
plant.

The slate-coal, or the third variety above mentioned, contains two
kinds of cells, both of which are filled with yellow bituminous matter.
One kind is that already noticed in caking coal; while the other kind
of cells constitutes groups of smaller cells of an elongated circular
figure.

In those varieties which go under the name of Cannel, Parrot, and
Splent Coal, the crystalline structure, so conspicuous in fine caking
coal, is wholly wanting, the first kind of cells are rarely seen, and the
whole surface displays an almost uniform series of the second class
of cells, filled with bituminous matter, and separated from each other
by thin fibrous divisions.

After describing these appearances, and illustrating them by draw-
ings, the author proceeds to speculate on the origin of the cells in
Cannel coal. He considers it highly probable that they are derived
from the reticular texture of the parent plant, rounded and confused
by the enormous pressure to which the vegetable matter has been
subject.

The author next states, that though the crystalline and uncrystal-
line, or, in other terms, perfectly and imperfectly developed, varieties
of coal generally occur in distinct strata, yet it 1s easy to find speci-
mens which in the compass of a single square inch contain both ya-

417

vieties. From this fact, as also from the exact similarity of position
which they occupy in the mine, the differences in different varieties
of coal are ascribed to original difference in the plants from which
they were derived.

The author next adverts to the escape of inflammable gas from
coal, and cites various interesting facts, principally from the authority
of Sir H. Davy and Mr. Buddle, in proof of the existence of inflam-
mable gas ready formed in coal while contained in the mine ; of the
immense quantity which is sometimes emitted by blowers, indicating
a free communication between the reservoirs in which it resides; and
of the great pressure to which it is there subject. He ingeniously
shows the probability of the gas existing within the coal in so com-
pressed a state as to be liquid. A consideration of these circumstances
induced the author, while engaged in his microscopic inquiries, to
search for a structure in coal capable of containing gas ; and he
accordingly discovered a system of cells, different from any before
mentioned, and apparently adapted for that purpose. These supposed
gas cells are found empty, are generally of a circular form, occur in
groups which communicate with each other, and each cavity has in its
centre a small pellet of carbonaceous matter. The author establishes
a clear distinction between these gas cells and those above described
as being filled with bituminous matter ; for the anthracite of South
Wales contains the former, but is quite free from the latter. He also
States, on the authority of Mr. F. Foster, that the anthracite of South
Wales affords a free disengagement of inflammable gas when first
exposed to the air.

A communication ‘On Ophiura found at Child’s Hill, to the N.W.
of Hampstead,” by Nathaniel Thomas Wetherell, Esq. F.G.S. was
then read.

After noticing the rare occurrence of Ophiura, and that in England
they had hitherto been observed only in the chalk and the lower di-
vision of the oolitic series, the author states, that he discovered, in
1829, several specimens of a species of Ophiura in the septaria of the
London clay of Child’s Hill; that they were associated with some of
the most characteristic shells of that formation ; and that he had
found fragments of the same Ophiura in a septarium from the High-
gate Archway.

Jan. 23.—Herman Merivale, Esq. of Woburn Place, Russell
Square; the Rev. Robert Hankinson, of Bilney Lodge, Lynn; and
Charles Atticus Monck, Esq. of the Coldstream Guards ; were elect-
ed Fellows of this Society.

A Geological Memoir was read “ On a portion of Dukhun, East
Indies,” by Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sykes, F.G.S. F.L.S. &c.

The author describes his track as bounded on the west by the range
of mountains usually called the Ghauts by Europeans, from a mis-
conception of the term Ghaut, which simply means a pass, the proper
name being the Syhadree; on the north by the Mool river, on the
east by the Seena river ; on the south by a line drawn from the city
of Beejapoor to the town of Meeruj, continued up the Krishna and
Quina rivers to the hill fort of Wassota in the Ghauts; comprising

418

an area of about 26,000 square miles, and lying between the paral-
lels of north latitude 16° 45! and 19° 27’, and east longitude 73° 30!
and 75° 53’.

The whole of this tract, whether at the level of the sea or at the
elevation of 4500 feet, is composed of distinctly stratified, horizontal,
-alternating beds of basalt and amygdaloids, without the intervention
of the rocks of any other formation. Similar stratification and struc-
ture is instanced in Malwa, and in the Vindhya, Gawelghur, and
Chandore ranges of mountains.

The Dukhun (the mean elevation of the valleys and table-land of
which is about 1800 feet above the sea) is described as rising very
abruptly by terraces from the country at its base: to the eastward it
declines by terraces ; but these being low, and occurring at long in-
tervals, excite little remark. On the top of the Ghauts there are
numerous spurs or ranges of mountains extending to the E. and S.E,
The valleys between them are either narrow, tortuous and fissure-
like, or wide and flat ; both ends being of nearly equal width. A
river runs through each valley, having its source at the western end.
The author does not think it physically possible for the present rivers
to have excavated any of these valleys. Those of a fissure-like
character might be referred to a period when the country was heaved
up from below the sea, if such ever took place ; but this explanation
would not account for the broad fiat valleys margined by scarped
mountains,

The author notices successively the extensive occurrence of co-
lumnar basalt, and instances numerous localities of basaltic pave-
ments of pentangular slabs; being, in fact, the terminal planes of
basaltic columns. He also notices singular insulated heaps of rocks
and stones, the loose parts of which manifest a disposition to geo-
metrical forms. He witnessed repeated occurrences of nodular ba-
salt, or basalt en boules; of stupendous escarpments ; of dykes of
great length, in some instances crossing each other; of strata of
ferruginous clay under compact basalt, which, in different localities,
pass from friable to jaspery; the occurrence of pulverulent lime
in seams; and minute nodular limestone on the surface and in the
banks of rivers. Crystallized lime was noticed as an imbedded
mineral only. He observed numerous veins of quartz and chalce-
dony traversing the basaltic strata, and supplying the major part of
the siliceous minerals abundantly strewn over the country, such as,
agates, Jaspers, hornstones, heliotrope, semiopal, stilbite, heulandite,
mesotype, ichthyophthalmite, pseudomorphous quartz, &c. &c.; and
he mentions the occurrence of muriate and carbonate of soda, of the
ores of iron which are worked into the celebrated wootz steel, and
of thermal springs. The author did not observe any conformation of
the mountains resembling the craters of extinct volcanoes, nor did he
find organic remains of any kind.

The paper concludes with some general observations (limiting their
application to the 25th degree of north latitude) on the amazing extent
of the trap, laterite, nodular limestone, granite and gneiss formations
in the peninsula of India. From the geological papers of Capt. Dan-

419

gerfield, Capt. Coulthard, Major Franklin, Dr.Voysey, and Mr. Calder,
the continuous trap region would appear to occupy an area of from
200,000 to 250,000 square miles; and from the observations of
the Rev. Mr. Everest, Mr. Royle, Mr. Babington, Mr. Calder, and
Dr. Voysey, it may ultimately be found that the ramifications extend
eastward to the Rajmahl trap-hills on the Ganges, and southward
through Mysore to the extremity of the peninsula. With respect to
the age of this formation, Major Franklin states, that in Bundelkhund
it rests on a sandstone which he considers identical with the new red
sandstone of Europe: the trap would therefore be posterior to the
carboniferous series, and belong to the supermedial order. But the
Rev. Mr. Everest adduces valid reasons for questioning the correct-
ness of Major Franklin’s opinion, and it would consequently be idle
to speculate on an era without sufficient data to assist in determining
the question. The author suggests the manner of the formation of
the horizontal beds of basalt and amygdaloids, with their parallel,
superior, and inferior planes and vertical edges, as a subject of curious
and interesting speculation.

From the observations of Mr. Calder, the Rev. Mr. Everest, Mr.
Stirling, Dr. Davy, and the author, the laterite formation is found to
extend for several hundred miles, with few interruptions, along both
shores of the peninsula, and into Ceylon. Ample evidence is given
of the occurrence of nodular and pulverulent lime all over Dukhun
and Hindoostan. With respect to granite and gneiss, Dr. Voysey
collected facts which led him to believe that these rocks constituted
the basis of the whole peninsula, and, on this belief, must occupy an
area, roughly calculated, of about 700,000 square miles.

The author is not aware of the occurrence of sedimentary rocks in
Western India south of Baroach, excepting such as may have resulted
from the consolidation of comparatively recent alluvium.

Finally, the author considers the characteristic geological features
of the peninsula to consist in the amazing extent of the trap, and
the horizontal position of its stratified beds ; in the granitic basis of
the whole country ; in the existence of trap veins in granite; the
absence, as far as is at present known, of that uniform series of rocks
constituting the formations of Europe; in the extended and peculiar
nodular limestone and laterite formations; the occurrence of pulve-
rulent lime in seams; and in the non-discovery hitherto of the fossil
remains of extinct animals.

The memoir was accompanied by a coloured map, two sections of
the country, several sketches of its physical features, and numerous
rock and mineral specimens.

A letter was afterwards read, addressed to the Rev. Prof. Buckland,
D.D. V.P.G.S. by Joshua Trimmer, Esq. F.G.S., respecting the dis-
covery of marine shells of existing species on the left bank of the
river Mersey, and above the level of high-water mark.

Mr. Trimmer, in a recent visit to Runcorn, discovered, in a low
tract of country on the bank of the Mersey, a section about twenty
feet thick, which presented the followmg series of beds :—

420

Top—l. Yellow coarse sand, containing a few pebbies, but no
shells, three to six feet.

2. A layer of decayed vegetable matter, varying in thickness from
half an inch to three inches.

3. A bed fourteen feet thick to high-water mark, composed, in the
upper part, chiefly of sand, and in the lower of clay. It contains a
few fragments of the new red sandstone of the adjacent district, and
numerous erratic pebbles of granite, syenite, greenstone, limestone,
grauwacke, quartz-rock and sandstone. These pebbles vary in size
from half an inch to six inches in diameter: associated with them
are a few blocks, some of which are estimated to weigh a quarter of
a ton each. It is in this bed, but particularly in the lower part, that
the author found the marine remains, which he describes as belonging
to the genera Cardium, Turritella, and Buccinum ; but he observes,
that they occur only as fragments, agreeing, in their state of preser-
vation, with those which he discovered on a former occasion at Moel
Tryfan, on the flank of Snowdon.

These data the author considers afford proofs of three distinct
operations :

Ist, An irruption of the sea bringing with it fragments of sea-shells
and of rocks not existing im situ in the neighbourhood.

2ndly, The deposition of the layer of peat. And

3rdly, The accumulation of the bed of sand forming the upper por-
tion of the section.

The author, in pursuing his inquiries, found, on the top of the
sandstone quarries at Weston, near the locality above described, and
at a height exceeding 100 feet above the level of high-water mark,
a bed of sandy loam, containing simiiar erratic pebbles ; but he was
not able to discover in it any marine remains.

Feb. 6.—John Taylor, jun. Esq., of Coed-ddu, Flintshire; Richard
Taylor, Esq., of Perran, Arworthal; Richard Davey, Esq., of Red-
ruth, Cornwall; Henry Enfield, Esq., of Raymond Buildings, Gray’s
Inn ; and P. J. Martin, Esq., of Pulborough ; were elected Fellows
of this Society.

A paper was read, entitled -“‘ Notes’ to. accompany a Map of the
Forest of Dean and the Country adjacent, coloured geologically,” by
Henry Maclauchlan, Esq. F.G.S., employed in the Ordnance Survey.

Tie author commences his memoir by acknowledging the aid which
he received from his colleagues employed in the Ordnance Survey,
Messrs. J.and R.Wright and Mr. Carrington ; and the valuable assist-
ance afforded him by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, Dr. Buckland, Mr. De
la Beche, Mr. Mushet, Mr. H. James, Mr. Bathurst, Mr. Ormerod,
Mr. M. Teague, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Hale.

The district coloured by the author comprises an area of about 1000
square miles. Its western boundary is defined by a line passing from
Gold Cliff, near Newport, to Preston on the Wye, eight miles N.W.
of Hereford ; and its eastern by another ranging from Didmarton to
Stroud, Gloucester, and Hanley Castle, four miles E. of Maivern.

The author first describes the band of transition limestone which

421

extends, with little interruption, from Shucknell Hill, four miles and
a half N.E. of Hereford, to Flaxley, near Westbury-on-Severn. He
shows that the formation consists of beds of limestone and shale, rest-
ing at May Hill on a central ridge of greywacke, and along its
western boundary underlying the old red sandstone ; but that along its
eastern, it is overlaid by that formation, the Newent coal-field, and
the new red sandstone. He also states that great irregularity occurs
in the dip of the beds.

Old red sandstone.—This formation is shown to occupy a very great
part of southern Herefordshire and the district bordering on the Forest
of Dean. It is stated to consist of beds of sandstone, conglomerate,
nodular limestone, and clay; the limestone occurring in the lower
part of the formation, and the conglomerate principally in the middle.

The next deposit described is the carboniferous limestone. It is
shown to surround the coal-field of the Forest of Dean, with the ex-
ception of a district near the south-eastern extremity of the basin,
where if is cut off by a fault. The lower beds are said to be of a
crystalline texture, and separated from the upper or argillaceous and
sandy beds by a stratum of iron ore. From the southern extremity
of the coal-field, the limestone extends in a south-west direction by
Chepstow and Caerwent to Magor.

Coal-measures.—The author then enters into a minute detail of the
beds composing the coal-field of the Forest of Dean. They are stated
to be divisible into two series; the lower characterized by the seams
of coal being separated from each other by strata of coarse sandstone ;
and the upper, by the seams of coal being separated by strata of ar-
gillaceous shale. ‘The field, it is said, rests upon the mountain lime-
stone. ‘The author next describes the Newent coal-basin, and shows
that it differs in geological position from that of the Forest of Dean,
by resting along its western and southern edges upon the transition
strata, and along its north-western upon the old red sandstone ; and
that it is overlaid at its eastern boundary by a conglomerate belong-
ing to the new red sandstone. Two outliers of the Forest of Dean
coal-field are also alluded to, and shown to occur at Howl Hill and
Tidenham Chase.

New red sandstone.—In describing this deposit, the author acknow-
ledges the great difficulty he experienced in endeavouring to separate
it from the old red sandstone, when in contact with that formation.
He states, that the only characters on which he could rely, were the
absence of beds of conglomerate, of flagstone and of gray clay con-
taining nodules of cornstone; the presence, near Tidenham, of the
conglomerate belonging to the magnesian limestone ; and the occa-
sionally well-defined unconformity in the dip of the strata in the
older and newer deposits.

The author then shows that extensive beds of superficial gravel
occur in the neighbourhood of Hereford, and along the valley of the
Wye as far as Ross. The boundaries of these accumulations are
accurately defined upon the map; and he is of opinion, that the

422

drainage of the country around Hereford was effected by the opening
of the valley of the Wye.

Fauits.—In conclusion, the author gives a detailed account of the
fault which occurs near the S. E. extremity of the coal-field of the
Forest of Dean: and in the course of the memoir, allusion is also
made to the fault which has disturbed the coal-measures at Lidbrook

valley.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1833. No. 30.

AT THE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
15th February 1833,

The following Report from the Council was read :—

It is gratifying to the Council that they are able to give a most
satisfactory Report of the affairs of the Society. Ample donations cf
Books and Specimens have been received since the last Anniversary,
whereby the value and usefulness of the Library and Museum are
inaterially increased. ‘The large accession of new Members since the
last annual Report, amounting to 44, affords a gratifying proof of the
unabated interest which is taken in this Society, and of the growing
taste for geological pursuits. The state of the funds is equally satis-
factory ; since, after paying all debts, there remains a balance in hand
of nearly 9001.

The Second Part of the Third Volume of the Transactions, announced °
as ready for publication at the last Anniversary, has since been pub-
lished; and the Supplement to that volume, together with the First

_Part of the Fourth Volume, is preparing for publication.

In pursuance of the Resolution of a Council held on the 18th of
January 1832, one year’s dividend of the Wollaston Fund has been
paid to Mr. Lonsdale, for continuing during the then ensuing summer
a survey of the oolitic series of England northwards from the neigh-
bourhood of Calne ; and the Council cannot suffer this opportunity
to pass, without expressing their entire approbation of the masterly
manner in which the work has been done and recorded in the Memoir
read before this Society.

The annexed Reports comprehend a full statement of the affairs of
the Society.

REPORT of the Committee appointed to examine and report on the
state of the Museums.

In consequence of the absence of the Curator in fulfilment of the
Resolution of the Council of the 18th January 1832, directing that
one year’s dividend of the Wollaston Fund should be paid to Mr. Lons-
dale, for continuing, during the summer then ensuing, asurvey of the
oolitic series of England northwards from the neighbourhood of Calne,
the Committee are not able to report any progress in the arrange-

424

ment of the collections. The greater part of last summer was neces-
sarily spent by the Curator in the field, and the fruits of his industry
and perspicuity are too well known to the Society, through the medium
of his admirable Memoir, to require any further observation on this
head.

The principal Donations which the Committee are called upon to
notice are the extensive suite of specimens from the formations on
the border counties of England and Wales, collected during the last
vacation by Mr. Murchison, who has also presented the skeleton of a
Dugong, specimens of Draco volans, and other Saurians.

The Rev. T. T. Lewes, Mr. Proctor, and Mr. Jones have enriched
the English collection by extensive series of fossils from the Transi-
tion-beds of Herefordshire.

To Francis Chantrey, Nsq. the Society are indebted for acast of the
noble specimen of Plesiosaurus Dolichodeirus in the collection of the
Duke of Buckingham; to Viscount Cole for a cast of his fine Plesio-
saurus Macrocephalus ; andto Mr. Thomas Hawkins for a cast of his
small, but beautifully perfect Plesiosaurus Dolichodeirus.

The value of the Irish collection has been considerably augmented
by donations collected in the ceunty of Fermanagh, by Viscount
Cole and Sir Philip Egerton, and presented by them to the Society.

The Honourable Board of Directors of the East India Company
have contributed specimens of recent Palms and Cycadez ; and the
Asiatic Society of Calcutta have presented many cases of collections
from various parts of India.

The Committee have the pleasure of reporting that the Library has
received, during the past year, many important additions, upwards of
one hundred volumes and pamphlets having been added to the cata-
logue,—and recommend that additional book-shelves be provided, the
number at present fixed not being sufficient for the works in the So-
ciety’s possession.

The rapid increase of the collections demands equivalent deposi-
tories; and the Committee recommend that one set of cabinets be
added to those in the Foreign Museum, and two sets to those in the
English Museum, and that these additions should correspond with
the cabinets already in use in each department.

WM. HENRY FITTON, V.P.
W. SOMERVILLE. j
W. J. BRODERIP.
Geological Society’s Apartments,
Feb. 6th, 1833.

4.25

Comparative Statement of the number of the Society, at the close

of the years 1851—1832.
Fesruary 15th, 1833.

Fellows. 31st Dec. 1831. 31st Dec. 1832.
Having compounded.......... CAIN T oe 70
Contributine y Meese atrial UO ot eoe 210
Non-residents) .. er tseeien oF 2885. WANs oN, 306

539 586

FHONOLATY co. yee era eee DORMS ates 48

Foreron) Membersiony- an) 1. 0 DOSER oF tier 57

Personages of Royal Blood. .... Se as ht ea 3

650 694

The following Persons were elected Fellows of this Society during the
Year 1832.

January 18th.—Nathaniel T. Wetherell, Esq. of Highgate, Midd!e-
sex; Capt. T. E. Sampson, 22nd Regiment of the Bengal Native
Infantry ; and the Hon. and Very Reverend the Dean ef Windsor.

February 29th.—The Earl of Kerry, of Lansdowne House ; and Wil-
liam Smith, Esq. of Blandford-square.

March 14th.—William Ogilby, Esq. of York-street, Portman-square ;
Francis Boott, M.D. of Gower-street ; James Bowerbank, Esq. of
Sun-street, Bishopsgate-street; Lieut.-Col. Sykes, of the Bombay
Hstablishment; Peter Stafford Carey, Esq. of St. John’s College,
Oxford ; and John Fisher, Esq. of, Highbury Park, Middlesex.

March 28th.—Col. the Earl of Munster, of Belgrave-street ; Robert
Daun, M.D. of Brompton-square ; J. Robinson Wright, Esq. and
Henry Maclauchlan, Esq. of the Trigonometrical Survey ; the Hon.
William Charles W. Fitzwilliam, of Trinity College, Cambridge ;
Joshua Trimmer, Esq. of Bangor; Rev. Frederick W. Hope, of
Christchurch, Oxford ; John Cotterell Powell, Esq. of Jesus Col-
lege, Cambridge, and Upper Harley-street, London ; Rebert Hun-
ter, Esq. of Burton Crescent; Mr. Sergeant Taddy, of Sergeant's
Inn, Chancery-lane; Thomas Bodley, Esq. of Brighton; and
Capt. Alexander Robe, R.E. of Park Road, Regent's Park.

April 11th.—Peter Frederick Robinson, Esq. of Lower Brook-street ;
and the name of John Buddle, Esq. was removed by ballot from
the Honorary to the Ordinary List of Fellows.

May 2nd.—Thomas Baker, Esq. of Wilton-place ; and Capt. Jones,
R.N. M.P. of Curzon-street.

May 16th.—James Mitchell, Esq. of New Broad-street.

June 13th.—William Henry Egerton, Esq. of Oulton Park, Cheshire ;
Bridgeman Moore, Esq. of Lindley Hall, Shropshire ; George Mer-
cer, Esq. of Queen Ann-street, West; Thomas Hawkins, Esq.

pn @

Ps =

426

of Street, near Glastonbury ; Thomas Watson, M.D. late Fellow
of St. John’s College, Cambridge ; Lieut.-Col. Hugh Montgomery ;
and Edward Hussey, Esq. of Park-street, Grosvenor-square.

November 7th.—Woodbine Parish, jun. Esq. of Upper Harley-street,
His Majesty's Consul-General at Buenos Ayres ; Henry Trollope,
Esq. of Harrow ; Whitlock Nichol, M.D. of Curzon-street; and Her-
bert Mayo, Esq. Professor of Anatomy in King’s College, London.

Nov. 21st.—J. F. Ellis, Esq. of Dover-street; G. Wilbraham, Esq.
M.P. of Upper Seymour-street; George Bentham, Esq. of Glou-
cester-street, Portman-square, and S. Jedediah Tucker, Esq. of
Trematon Castle, Cornwall.

December 5th.—J. F. Royle, Esq. of the Bengal Medical Establish-
ment; Rev. J.C. Stapleton, of Grosvenor-square ; and Robert Hud-
son, Esq. of Clapham Common.

December | 9th.—Richard G. Killaly, Esq. of Trinity College, Dublin.

The Names of the Fellows and Foreign and Honorary Members
deceased, within the past year, are as follows :—
Compounders, (None.)—Residents, (None.)—Non-resident, Sa-
muel Galton, Esq.—Foreign, Baron Cuvier.—Honorary, Rev.
Benjamin Richardson.

The Museum has received many Donations since the last Anniver-
sary, among which are included the following :-—

British and Irish Specimens.

Corals from the Mountain Limestone of Ireland; a slab of Fossil
Wood, from Sheppey ; casts of the Plesiosaurus Macrocephalus,
and of a Tooth of the gigantic Tapir; also a specimen of crystal-
lized Magnesian Carbonate of Lime; presented by Viscount Cole,
M.P. F.G.S.

Minerals from Devonshire and Cornwall ; and specimens of Syenite from
Charnwood Forest; presented by T. H. Holdsworth, Esq. F.G.S.
Tusk of a Mammoth, found in the gravel near Nine Elms, Surrey ;

presented by Charles Larkin Francis, Esq. F.G.S.

Chalk Flints, from Hemel Hempstead ; presented by H. C. White,
Esq. F.G.S. :

Cast of the Head of a Crocodile, found in the London Clay, Sheppey ;
presented by Edward Spencer, Esq. F.G.S.

An Agate from the Trap of Edinburgh ; and Fossils from the neigh-
bourhood of Bath; presented by Ashurst Majendie, Esq. F.G.S.

Chalk Flints from the neighbourhood of Salisbury; presented by the
Rev. C. Watkins.

Casts of two Toe-bones from Cuckfield ; presented by Rebert Trotter,
Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from the neighbourhood of Cheltenham ; and from the
fossiliferous Grauwacke on the borders of Wales and England ; also
a specimen of Murchisonite; presented by Roderick Impey Mur-
chison, Esq. P.G.S.

427

Fossils from the Oolite of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire ; and a
portion of the Fossil Tree found at Craigleith Quarry; presented
by Henry Maclauchlan, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens of Sulphate of Strontia, and of Hematite, from the neigh-
bourhood of Bristol; presented by Frederick Page, Esq. F.G.S.

A collection of Fossils found at Highgate ; and specimens of Ophiura
from the London Clay, near Hampstead; presented by Nathaniel
Thomas Wetherell, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens of Semiopal from Dartmoor, and of Granite Veins from
Devonshire and Cornwall; presented by J. H. Deacon, Esq. F.G.S.

Fossil Testacea from the Lias of Rugby ; presented by George Fox,
Esq. F.G.S.

Cast of the Remains of Fossil Fishes from the Coal Measures, near
Leeds ; presented by the Council of the Leeds Philosophical Society.

A Specimen of Dudley Limestone; presented by John Bostock,
M.D. F.G.S.

Cast of the Duke of Buckingham’s Plesiosawrus dolicodetrus ; pre-
sented by Francis Chantrey, Esq. F.G.S.

Casts of Asterias from the Chalk; presented by 8. Woodward, Esq.

A Specimen of Fresh-water Sponge, and Fossils from the Chalk ;
presented by the Rev. Henry Engleheart, F.G.S.

Fossils from the Weald Clay and Hastings Sand; presented by
Gideon Mantell, Esq. F.G.S.

Recent Shells from the Coast of Devonshire ; presented by Mrs. Lane.

Tusk of an Elephant found at Erith, in Kent ; presented by Messrs.
Munn, Elston, and Clarke.

A Bone from the Peat at Woolhampton, between Reading and New-
bury ; presented by Robert Hunter, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens of Forest Marble from the neighbourhood of Castlecombe ;
presented by Poulett Scrope, Esq. F.G.S.

Quartz Crystals from Monmouthshire; presented by Mrs. Taddy
and Miss Morris.

A Specimen of Chalcedonic Flint from Ridgeway, near Weymouth,
and recent Corals and Serpule ; presented by Miss Warne.

Specimens of Ludlow Rock ; presented by Mr. Jones.

Specimens of Ludlow Rock; presented by Proctor, Esq.

Fossils from the Transition Limestone of Herefordshire ; presented
by the Rev. T. T. Lewis, A.M.

Cast of a Fossil Plant from the Coal Measures ; presented by Lewis
Gower, Esq.

Specimen of Fossil Wood from the Lower Green-sand, Aspley Wood,
near Woburn ; presented by #. Crocker, Esq.

Foreign Specimens.
Fossil Fish from Mansfield; presented by R. G. Killaly, Esq. F.G.S.
The Skeleton of a Dugong, and Specimens of Draco volans, and other
Saurians ; presented by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S.
A Specimen of the Volcanic Island thrown up in the Mediterranean
in 1831; presented by Baron Field, Esq.
A Specimen of Leucite from Vesuvius ; presented by J. Kenyon, Esq.

io)

A Specimen of Leucitic Lava from Civita Castellana; presented by
Ashurst Majendie, Esq. F.G.S.

Minerals and Fossils from North America; presented by Dr. Macauley.

Indian Palms and Cycadee ; presented by the Honourable Directors
of the East India Company.

Specimens from the neighbourhood of Lisbon and Oporto; presented
by Daniel Sharpe, Esq. F.G.S.

Casts of Scaphites Cuvieri from the marl of Deiaware, and of a
Tooth of a Mosasaurus from the marl of North Jersey; presented
by Dr. Morton.

Fossils from the Transition Formations on the Banks of the Rhine ;
presented by John Willimott, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from Italy; presented by Alexander Logan, Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens from Peten in Mexico ; presented by Lieut. Col. Galindo.

Specimens from the Gold Mines of North Carolina ; presented by
John Taylor, Esq. Treas. GS.

Specimens from Ceylon ; presented by Dr. Sibbald.

Specimens from the neighbourhood of Swan River; presented by
Capt. Mangles, R.N.

Silver and other Ores from the provinces of La Plata and Potosi; also
specimens of opalized Wood and Pebbles from the Uruguay, and of
the Acatama Iron ; presented by Woodbine Parish, jun. Esq. F.G.S.

Specimens collected by Capt. Coulthard in Bundelcund; presented
by the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

Specimens illustrative of the Trap districts of the Deccan; presented
by Lieut.-Col. Sykes, F.GS.

The Ligrary has been increased by the Donation of above one
hundred volumes and pamphlets.

The First Part of the Fourth Volume of the New Series of the
Transactions has been put to press, and it is hoped that it will be
published during the ensuing summer.

The following Lisr contains the Names of all the Persons and
Societies from whom Donations to the Library and Museums have
been received during the past year.

Academy of Science of Palermo. | Boubée, M. Nerée.

Adam, Walter, M.D. Brewster, Sir David, F.G.S.

Alger, F. Esq. Bristol Institution.

American Philosophical Society, | British Association.
Philadelphia. Broderip, W. J. Esq. F.G.S.

Anti-Slavery Society. Brongniart, M. Alex., For. Mem.

Asiatic Society of Calcutta. G.S.

Auldjo, John, Esq. F.G.S. Brooke, Henry, Esq. F.G.S.

Buch, M. Leopold de, For. Mem.

Babbage, Charles, Esq. G.S.

Bischoff, James, Esq. Buckland, Rev. William, D.D.

Black, Young, and Young. V.P.GS.

Bostock, John, M.D. F.G.S. Burton, Decimus, Esq. F.G.S.

Cacciatore, Nicholao.

Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Chantrey, Francis, Esq. F.G.S.

Clerget, M.

Cole, Viscount, M.P. F.G.S.

College of Surgeons.

Committee of the Atheneum
Club.

Committee of the Oriental Trans-
lation Fund.

Conrad, T. Esq.

Coxe, Leonard T. Esq. F.G.S.

Crocker, E. Esq.

Daubeny, Charles, M.D. F.G.S.
Deacon, James H. Esq. F.G.S.
Dela Beche, HenryT. Esq. F.G.S.
Desnoyers, M. Jules.

Donati, M.

Kast India Company.
Kditor of the Atheneum.
Engleheart, Rev. Henry, F.G.S.

Faraday, Michael, Esq. F.G.S.
Featherstonhaugh,
Esq. F.G.S.
Field, Baron, Esq.
Fitton, William Henry, M.D.

V.P.G.S.
Fox, G. T. Esq. F.G.S.
Francis, Chas. L. Esq. F.G.S.

Gairdner, Meredith, M.D.
Galindo, Lieut. Col.

Geological Society of Dublin.
Geological Society of France.
Goodhall, Henry H. Esq. F.G.S.
Gordon, Alexander, Esq.
Gower, Lewis, Esq.

Greenough, G. B. Esq. F.G.S.

Hall, Mr. Elias.
Harlan, R. M.D.
Harrison, Mr. J.

Hausmann, M. John F. L. For.

Mem. G:S.
Herschel, Sir John F. F.G.S.
Hibbert, Samuel, M.D. F.G:S.
Holdsworth, T. H. Esq. F.G.S.

George W.

429

Humboldt, Baron Alex. For
Mem. G.S
Hunter, Robert, Esq. F.G.S.

Hutton, William, Esq. F.G.S.

Jackson, C. T. Esq.
Jones, Mr.

Kent, Samuel Luck, Esq. F.G.S.
Kenyon, John, Esq.
Killaly, R. G. Esq. F.G.S.

Lane, Mrs. »

Lea, Isaac, Esq.

Leeds Philosophical Society.
Lewis, Rev. T.T.

Lindley, John, Esq. F.G.S.
Logan, Alexander, Esq. F.G.S.
Loudon, John C. Esq. F.G.S.
Lyell, Charles, For. Sec. G.S.

Macauley, , M.D.

Maclauchlan, Henry, Esq. F.G.S.

Majendie, Ashurst, Esq. F.G.S.

Mangles, Capt. R.N.

Mantell, Gideon, Esq. F.G.S.

Master General and Board of
Ordnance.

Meyer, Hermann von.

Morris, Miss.

Morton, S. G. M.D.

Mudie, Robert, Esq.

Munn, Elston, and Clarke.

Murchison, Rod. Imp. Esq.P.G.S.

Natural Hist. Soc. of Geneva.
Necker, M. L. A. For. Mem.G.S.
Northampton, Marquis of, F.G.S.

Page, Frederick, Esq. F.G.S.
Parish, Woodbine, jun.
F.G.S.
Paxton, Mr. Joseph.
Pettiward, Rev. Daniel, F.G.S.
Phillips, Richard, Esq. F.G.S.
Prevost, M. C. For. Mem. G.S.
Proctor, , Esq.

Esq.

Royal Academy of Science of
France.

450

Royal Asiatic Society of Great
Britain and freland.

Royal Geographical Society of
London.

Royal Leopold Society of Bonn.

Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Royal Society of Literature.

Royal Society of London.

Scharfe, Mr. G.

Scrope, G. P. Esq. F.G.S.

Sharpe, Daniel, Esq. F.G.S.

Sibbald, ,M.De

Silliman, Benjamin, M.D. For.
Mem. G.S.

Smythe, Capt. R.N¢

Society of Arts and Sciences.

Spencer, Edward, Esq. F.G.S.

Sykes, Lieut. Col. F.G.S.

Taddy, Mrs.

‘Taylor, John, Esq. Treas. G.S.
Taylor, Richard, Esq. F.G.S.
‘Trotter, Edward, Esq. F.G.S.

Turner, Edward, M.D. Sec.G.S.
Vandermaclen, M,

Wallich, N. M.D. F.G.S.
Warne, Miss.
Watkins, Rev. C. :
Weatherhead, George, M.D.
Weiss, Professor, For. Mem.G.S.
Wetherell, Nathaniel Thomas,
Esq. F.G.S.
Whewell, Rev. William, F.G.S.
White, Henry C. Esq. F.G.S.
Willimott, John, Esq. F.G.S.
Wilson, H. H. Esq.
Witham, Henry, Esq. F.G.S.
Wood, William, Esq. F.G.S.
Woodward, Samuel, Esq.
Wright, J. R. Esq.

Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

Zoological Society of London.

List of Pavers read since the last Annual Meeting, Feb. 17th, 1832.

March 14.—On the Structure of the Cotteswold Hills and Country
around Cheltenham; and on the occurrence of stems of Fossil
Plants, in vertical positions, in the Sandstone of the Inferior Oolite
of the Cleveland Hills; by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S.
F_R.S.

March 28.—A Sketch of the Geology of Pulo Pinang and the neigh-
bouring Islands; by J. W. Ward, M.D. Assistant Surgeon of the
Madras Establishment, and communicated by the President.

- An Attempt to bring under general Geological Laws the
relative Position of Metalliferous Deposits, with regard to the Rock
Formations of which the Crust of the Earth is formed; by M. Albert
Louis Necker, For. Mem. G.S.

April 11.—A Letter from George Gordon, Esq. addressed to Roderick
impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S. noticing the existence of Lias on
the southern side of the Murray Firth.

- On the Strata of the immediate neighbourhood of Lisbon

and Oporto; by Daniel Sharpe, Esq. F.G.S. :

———. An Essay on the Curvilinear Structure of Lava; by Signor
Monticelli, For. Mem. GS.

May 2.—On the Geological Structure of the North-eastern part of
the County of Antrim; by James Bryce, jun. Esq. M.A. Member
of the Belfast Natural History Society, &c., and communicated by
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Pres. G.S.

May 16.—On the Geological Relations of the stratified and unstra-
tified groups of Rocks composing the Cumbrian Mountains; by
the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, V.P.G.S. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor
in the University of Cambridge.

May 30.—On the Basalt of the Titterstone Clee Hill, Shropshire ;
being the concluding part of a Memoir on the Ludlow district, laid
before the Society on the 29th of February; by J. RobinsonWright,
Esq. F.G.S. employed on the Trigonometrical Survey.

On a large Boulder Stone on the shore of Appin, Argyle-
shire; by James Maxwell, Esq., and communicated by William
Smith, Esq. F.G.S.

On the Discovery of Bones of the Rhinoceros and a Hyena
in one of the Cefn Caves, situated in the Vale of Cyffredan, Den-
bighshire ; by the Rev. Edward Stanley, F.G.S.

June 13.—Observations on the London Clay of the Highgate Arch-
way ; by Nathaniel Thomas Wethereli, Esq. F.G:S.

On the Discovery of portions of three Skeletons of the
Megatherium, in the province of Buenos Ayres in South America ;
by Woodbine Parish, jun. Esq. ; followed by a Description of the
Bones ; by William Clift, Esq. F.G.S.

November 7.—On some intersections ef Mineral Veins in Cornwall,
in a Letter to Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. F.G.S.; by W. J. Hen-
wood, Esq. F.G.S.

—— An Account of a Sub-marine Forest in Cardigan Bay ;
by the Rev. James Yates, F.G.S.

November 21.—On the Geology of the North Coast of the Counties
of Mayo and Sligo ; by the Venerable Archdeacon Verschoyle.

— A Communication from the Rev. Adam Sedgwick,
V.P.G.S., respecting certain Fossil Shells overlying the London
Clay in the Isle of Sheppey.

December 5—On the Remains of the Iguanodon, and other Fossil
Reptiles of the strata of Tilgate Forest in Sussex ; by Gideon Man-
tell, Esq. F.G.S.

———-— 19.—Report of a Survey of the Oolitic Formations of
Gloucestershire; by William Lonsdale, F.G.S.

January 9, 1833.— Observations on Coal; by W. Hutton, Esq.F.G.S.

————— A Communication “ On Ophiura found at Child’s Hill,
to the north-west of Hampstead ;”’ by Nathaniel Thomas Wethe-
rell, Esq. F.G.S.

January 23.—On a portion of the Deccan, East Indies; by Lieut.-
Col. W. H. Sykes, F.G.S.

—_————— — A Letter addressed to the Rev. Professor Buckland,
D.D. V.P.G.S. by Joshua Trimmer, Esq. F.G.S. respecting the
Discovery of Marine Shells of existing species on the left bank of
the Mersey, and above the level of the high-water mark.

432

Sums actually Recevved and Expended,

ReEcEIPTs.
Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1832: BEA, Shiela ease cle
Banker (including 71/. 17s. 8d. Wol-
laston ound). Coe ete een 4p a2.
ANCCOUNTANT cee she cccmiiic dvs vowdchienecereveere 40 0 O
ee 497 2 8
Arrears : 289 Gs @
AGMISSTONNEICES, tah pols: Soe s.we sie Wek del ones 98 14 0
Annual Contributions ............ HO thy @
——_ 199 15 O
Ordinary Income : 255) 05 > ah
Annual Contributions ............ 464 18 6
Admission Fees: Les. ee
Residents ........ 182 14 0O

Non-Residents. .... 84 0 0

———_—— 266 14 0

—— 731 12 6
Compositions, (sixjsc) ciel ces ae eae Leone 189 0 O
Sols ASM iidh. Usha stew
Mransactionss-y ee eee 124 5 O
Ditto, due from Messrs. Treuttel
and Co. for copies sold during
LSS eer waren rate uaese OU lat
; —-—— ]61 17 4
Proceedings: .../5 tsetse ey. em piotae s cLteiaee By O
— 164 19 4
NWWollastomal and ity. i cies Giscceoesies cote is tome tenemos 32 10) 4

£1814 19 10

433

during the Year ending December 31, 1832.

PAYMENTS.
Bills outstanding Jan. 1, 1832: Sea Sade, com Sauk
SAR CS EY ik aia avaiNte wo averaiaye fede cual sn eE eRe 14 5 O
Cas COUT, S 555900060050 000 000008000000 7 4 6
Curators) Salanyeaerma scene a cerita 50 0 O
SHAHOWOAY . 5 oc000065adc0009 coD000de000000 O15 7
Scientific) Expenditures.) ee Ge eee eae: 714 0
79 19 1
General Expenditure : ES Ge Gb
Household Furniture.......... 719 O
Repairs of House............. 5% &
House Expenses.............. 190 14 9%
Maxessyaxochiallserersys/fyteleteiare 25 5 O
a ye KINGS) ose eee he ee ae 5211 4
Insurances yaya cre erties 6 0 O
287 17 64
Salaries and Wages : oaueSey Oe
Curators Seger es Pestle bet 150 0 0
Barter) acne cieine so ecte eels 1) © O
220 0 0
Scientific Expenditure........ 29 oid
Stationery and Miscellaneous
AUIS ALS ARAL Bye Oe Bn 35 16 4
— 6419 6
Heaton MeeLinas. 1, wy yee ite is oe taiee 42 13 23
: HG 0) 3
Cost of Publications : SU os
PransactlOnsexs cs acsearle cerita oe eine ras 161 12 2
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= AUD) NES
Balances in hand Jan. 1, 1833: eS SotGlo
Banker (including 1041. 8s. Wollaston Fund).. 878 17 4
ENGEOUNEING Gop oon000GC Oooo He DeDOOD OOOO OODS 40 1 0
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£1814 19 10

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436

The Reports having been read, it was Resolved :—

1. That these Reports be received ; and that such parts of them as
the Council shall think fit, be printed and distributed among the Fel-
lows of the Society.

2. That the thanks of the Society be given to Roderick Impey
Murchison, Esq., retiring from the office of President.

4. That the thanks of the Society be given to the Rev. Professor
Buckland, D.D., and the Rev.William Daniel Conybeare, respectively,
retiring from the office of Vice Presidents.

4, That the thanks of the Society be given to William Clift, Esq.,
Robert Edmund Grant, M.D., Capt. Basil Hall, R.N., Charles
Stokes, Esq., and the Rev. William Whewell, retiring from the
Council.

OFFICERS.

PRESIDENT. ;
George Bellas Greenough, Esq. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S. M.R.A.S.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

William John Broderip, Esq. B.A. F.R.S. & L.S.

Henry Thomas De la Beche, Esq. F.R.S.& LS.

William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. & L.S.

Rev. Adam Sedgwick, M.A. F.R.S. Woodwardian Professor in the
University of Cambridge.

SECRETARIES.

Edward Turner, M.D. F.R.S. L. & E. Professor of Chemistry in the
University of London.
William John Hamilton, Esq.

FOREIGN SECRETARY.
Charles Lyell, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S. Professor of Geology in King’s
College, London.
TREASURER.
John Taylor, Esq. F.R.S,

COUNCIL.

George William Aylmer, Esq.

Rev. William Buckland, D.D.
F.R.S. & LS. Professor of
Geology and Mineralogy in
the University of Oxford.

Francis Chantrey, Esg. D.C.L.
F.R.S. S.A. & HS.

Rev. William Daniel Conybeare,
M.A. F.R.S.

Viscount Cole, M.P. F.R.S.

Charles Daubeny, M.D. F.R.S.

Sir Philip Egerton, Bart. F.R.S.

Right Hon. Earl Fitzwilliam,
F.R.S.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.A. F.R.S.
S.A. L.S. & H.S. Hon. Mem.
R.S. Ed. M.R.LA.

R. I. Murchison, Esq. F.R.S.L.S.

J. W. Pringle, Esq. Capt. R.E.

W. Somerville, M.D. F.R.S. L.
& E. & F.L.S.

Henry Warburton, Esq. M.P.
F.R.S. L.S. & HS.

Rey. James Yates, M.A. F.L.S.

438

Address to the Geological Soctety, delivered on the Evening of the 1ith
of February 1833, by Ropericx Impry Moxcnison, Esq. F.R.S.
L.S. &c., on retiring from the President’s Chair.

SNTLEMEN,

Twenty-Five years only have elapsed since this Society was first
formed under the auspices of Mr. Greenough and a few zealous
naturalists. —In the year 1826, when your Charter was obtained, the
number of Members had already reached 476, and since that period
a still more rapid increase has taken place, which has now swelled our
list to 694. ‘Vhis remarkable yet steady augmentation of our forces
is the best proof of the estimation in which your labours are held,
and it further shows, that the pursuits of the geologist are no longer
viewed as purely speculative, but are at length considered as essen-
tially connected with the development of the national resources.

The past Session has been fatally marked by the decease of three
distinguished geologists.

The Rev. Benjamin Richardson, of Farley near Bath, one of the
earliest Members of this Society, was a man of great singleness of
character and generosity of disposition, and, as a cultivator of science,
he was distinguished by the extent of his knowledge,—not drawn
from books, but from an examination of Nature in her own domains.
In the pursuit of geology he was well instructed from his own re-
searches ; but he was ever delighted to tell that he owed his first
clear ideas of the subject to William Smith ; and his latter days were
gladdened by knowing that the merits of his friend had been ac-
knowledged by this Society. To his generosity of disposition our
museum, and those of many local institutions, are deeply indebted.
He collected only that he might give away; and, regardless of all
personal fame, he never failed, when a discovery was made, to call
around him those who could profit by it. Thus, though he was never
seen among us, and though his name was rarely heard, he was steadily
labouring in our cause, and silently, but effectually, urging it on.

I have next the painful duty to record the death of the venerable
Sir James Hall, one of that bright constellation of philosophers which
arose in Scotland towards the end of the last century.

The intimate friend of Hutton and of Playfair, he eagerly imbibed
the opinions of these celebrated men, and satisfied himself of the
leading truths in the Huttonian theory by extended and patient ex-
aminations of geological phenomena,—not merely amongst the British
Isles, but in the Alps, in Italy, and in Sicily. The result of these
observations was communicated in a series of Memoirs read before
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which distinguished body he was
for many years the President. In alluding to these Memoirs, I at
once remind you how materially he assisted in demonstrating that a
certain class of granitic veins had been injected into the overlying
deposits posterior to their consolidation. He endeavoured to explain

439

experimentally the contortions of certain strata, and the manner in
which the phenomena had been effected by upheaving ferces acting
under compression. He subjected various rocks of igneous origin
to chemical analysis, and succeeded in establishing their relative de-
grees of fusibility. He gave an original and perspicuous account of
the true mode of formation of volcanic cones; and whilst he pointed
out that Monte Somma was simply the segment of a vast volcano,
from the flank of which the present Vesuvius had arisen, he showed
the intimate analogy between the dykes of lava of the former and the
ancient trap-dykes of our continents. If, in tracing the revolutions
of the surface of the earth, he was led to attribute too much to the
influence of one great diluvial current, we must recollect that in this,
his only dereliction from the principles of Hutton, his conclusions were
founded on a striking class of phenomena first observed by himself ;
and that the diluvial theory (though in a modified sense) has still the
support of many of our most eminent geologists. To a mind so ac-
customed to speculate upon the intense energy of volcanic pheno-
mena, 1t was a natural inference that the fractures and dislocations
of mountain-masses have been produced by paroxysmal efforts of na-
ture,—in short, by mighty earthquakes, and their accompanying ele-
vations, depressions, and eruptions.

Much, however, as we owe to him for his many accurate observa-
tions of nature, our debt of gratitude must specially be acknowledged
for his successful application of chemistry to geology, without which,
one essential condition of the theory of Hutton would not have been
established, as it now is, upon an immovable basis. The important
discovery of carbonic acid by Black, which was destined to lead
to the solution of many occult terrestrial phenomena, was at first
cited by the Wernerians as destructive of the very basis of the theory
of the igneous consolidation of the strata of the earth, it appearing
impossible to explain the formation of crystalline marble from earthy
carbonate of lime, by the very agent which drives off the gaseous con-
stituent in every lime-kiln. To obviate this difficulty, the founder of
the new theory propounded, that the heat by which rocks had been
solidified was applied under enormous pressure ; that in consequence
effects had taken place entirely differing from those which manifest
themselves under the mere pressure of our atmosphere; and that
under such circumstances carbonate of lime might have been reduced
to a state of fusion without calcination. Though the genius of Hutton
had thus divined the true cause of the phenomena in dispute, that
great man shrunk from the prosecution of experiments which might
prove the truth of his hypothesis, being persuaded that the immensity
of natural objects was far beyond the reach of man’s imitation. It
was reserved for Hall to have the glory of demonstrating the truth of
the doctrine of his friend ;—‘‘ the conjectures of genius,” as he tells
us, “‘at length ceased to appear extravagant; the mist which ob-
scured the objects being dissipated by degrees, they appeared in their
true colours, and a distant prospect opened to his view of scenes be-
fore unsuspected.’’ To his ardent mind the realization, upon the
surface of the earth, of that which had occurred below the deep abyss

B :

440

of the ocean, was not a hopeless effort, and he commenced a series
of experiments which occupied a long period of his life, —were con-
ducted with undaunted perseverance, and with a surprising fertility of
invention, until he completely triumphed in fusing earthy carbonate
of lime under vast pressure, producing from it a pure and crystalline
marble. In establishing this fact, he turned the weapons of his oppo-
nents against themselves, and paved the way for the reception,
among all the philosophers of Europe, of the leading doctrines which
he advocated.

The gradual decay attendant upon advanced age, had prepared us
in some measure for the other losses we have sustained ; but Cuvier
has been snatched from us when his comprehensive intellect was in
its fullest vigour, and without any of those warnings by which both
body and mind, are wont to announce that their mortal race is nearly
run.

The death of such a man has called forth deep lamentations from
every land upon whose children the rays of science have shed their
light, and the eulogies poured forth in his honour are heard in al-
most every language of the civilized globe. How are we tolimit our
praise of one whose ample mind was matched only by the benevolence
of his heart, and whose whole life was passed in unremitting exertions
to enlarge the domain of science by blending it with civil polity, and
by infusing it into the principles of education? With an almost in-
credible knowledge of the structure and functions of every part of
organic nature, he possessed a power above that of every other man
of emancipating himself from mere details, and of ascending to lofty
generalizations. which were ever recommended by him with all the
charms of eloquence; so that in his hands natural history became
adorned, for the first time, with the highest attributes of pure philo-
sophy. ‘To him we owe the most important of the laws which have
regulated the distribution of the animal kingdom, and by the applica-
tion of which we have been made to comprehend many of the muta-
tions of the surface of our planet. He it was who, removing from
geology the incumbrance of errors and conceits heaped on it by cos-
mogonists, contributed more than any individual of this century to
raise it to the place which it is assuming amongst the exacter sciences.
Unlike our precursors, we no longer have to wade through the
doubts and perplexities which retarded their acquaintance with the
lost types of creation ; to his skill we are indebted for a knowledge of
their analogies with existing races; and he it was who, from their
scattered bones, remodelled the skeletons of those wondrous originals
which have successively passed away from the surface of our planet.

Those among us who have enjoyed the honour and delight of so-
cial intercourse with this great man will ever remember his suavity
of manner,—his lucid power of exposition,—in short, that intellec-
tual bearing which served to impress all listeners with the feeling,
that every province of natural truth was within the grasp of his mighty
thought.

The extent to which English geologists have profited by his in-

44)

structions is recorded in the volumes of your Transactions, anda
mere recapitulation of such of his writings as illustrate our subject is
uncalled for on this occasion ; but I cannot avoid remarking, that a
Memoir on Zootomy, lately read before us, has proved a posthumous
tribute to his fame. Ofall the comparisons which he had instituted
in his Ossemens Fossiles between the lost and living species, no one
showed more ingenuity, and deep acquaintance with the laws of ani-
mal ceconomy, than that in which he pointed out the close analogy
subsisting between the gigantic Megatherium of South America, and
the existing tribe of Sloths.

Well, therefore, may English geologists rejoice, that the discovery
of another individual of this species has enabled one of our Fellows,
eminent for his skill in comparative anatomy, to confirm the views of
our great zoological master.

Thus, Gentlemen, the name of Cuvier, associated, as it has been,
with discoveries forming the true basis of geology, is also interwoven
with the most recent advances of this Society; and, as an appeal is
now made to the naturalists of all nations to unite in a tribute to his
memory, may those who have reaped such fruits of his genius, and
are so justly proud of having sympathized in his living fame, hasten
to record their obligations on the pedestal of that monument which is
to be erected on the field of his greatest glory.

I now proceed to lay before you a sketch of the progress of geology
in our own country during the past year. Deviating from the chrono-
logical order in which the different memoirs were considered at the
last anniversary, I shall on this occasion, for the sake of greater per-
spicuity, class them under scientific heads: in so doing, I shall en-
deavour to connect our advances with the general progress of geology
upon the continent, by passing allusions to such works of foreigners
as the active nature of my own employment has permitted me to
consult.

Recent Deprosirs.—In the class of historic alluvia, the Rev. J.
Yates has described a partially submerged and ancient forest near the
mouth of the river Dovey, chiefly composed of the Pinus sylvestris,
and supposed to have been destroyed by the accidental demolition
of asea-dyke. A similar case of asubmerged wood had previously been
traced on the shores of Hampshire by Mr. C. Harris, who in commu-
nicating the discovery to Mr. Lyell, has proposed a most ingenious
and probable explanation of the cause of these appearances *.

In attempting to account for the existence of large and shady
forests on spots where the coasts are now entirely shorn of vegetation,
we must embrace in our consideration the similar phenomena which
are SO numerous, as almost to form a submarine fringe arourd our
island; and from these we may conclude, that when the whole
country was densely clothed with wood, the forests might have ex-

* Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 274, Second edition.
BZ

A442

tended their limits in full vigour to marine tracts, where single trees
will no longer flourish.

You were last year made acquainted with the existence, at various
places, of accumulations of sand, gravel, and clay, containing existing
species of marine shells, placed at different heights above the sea;
and a subsequent Memeir of Mr. Trimmer on a part of the estuary
of the Mersey describes the presence of fragments of shells of existing
species, in a stratum of sandy clay, containing numerous erratic
pebbles, and a few boulders.

Having myself traced beds with recent sea-shells at considerable
and various heights above the sea, both on our eastern and western
coasts, I am disposed to think that there is already sufficient evidence
of our shores having undergone elevation at periods comparatively
recent, however difficult it may be to explain all such superficial
accumulations upon a similar hypothesis.

If the coasts exhibit testimonies of such elevations, the evidence is
corroborated when we follow the course of those indentations which
penetrate far within the interior of the island. In most of these
we perceive accumulations of shingle and sand on the sides of val-
leys, some of which, by the fine lamination of their beds, indicate
long-continued and tranquil formation; others, by the shivered and
fragmentary condition of their contents, bespeak a more tumultuous
mode of aggregation: the latter, therefore, were probably coincident
with periods of elevation of the land, which throwing up the shores
of the island, have converted former estuaries into existing plains,
bounded by ancient shores of gravel, leaving the rivers to meander
between their widely separated banks.

If such phenomena be still traceable within this island, where the
subterranean energies of nature are now, and have been for so long
a period quiescent, what amount of valuable instruction may we not
hereafter derive from the presence of good observers in those countries
where volcanos and earthquakes, with their accompanying elevations
and depressions, are in frequent activity? You are already aware of
the important services of Mr. Lyell, and how effectually he has at-
tracted attention to this. branch of inquiry. I would further remind
you of the discoveries of M. de Boblaye, who has placed the succes-
sive elevations of land in a remarkably clear light, by showing the
existence in the Morea of four or five distinct ranges of ancient sea
cliffs, marked at different levels in the limestone escarpments by litho-
domous perforations, lines of littoral and sea-worn caverns, and other
striking proofs of former tidal action.

The description of a large granitic boulder, by Mr. Maxwell,
resting on the slaty shores of Appin, in Argyleshire, leads me to
observe, that the numerous detached masses of rock, foreign to the
districts in which they are scattered through Northern Germany and
Westphalia, have met with an additional expositor of their origin in
Professor Hausmann, of Gottingen, who, coinciding in the views of
M. Brongniart and others, is of opinion that these fragments have
been derived from the mountains of Sweden.

M. A. De Luc has again come before the public, with a Memoir on

443

the gravel and other transported materials of the basin of Geneva;
being a second part of his former essay on the same subject. He in-
dicates the localities in which the fragments of different rocks have
originated, showing that although some have been drifted from the
east, and others from the west, many of them are probably rem-
nants of those calcareous mountains which were shattered on the
spot, at that period of dislocation, when by the expulsion of their
debris, that great cavity was formed, which 1s now occupied by the
lake. The superficial sediments of the basin are said to vary much
in their composition ; whilst their beds are inclined in all directions,
thereby indicating the effects of numerous and conflicting currents
of water, which in some cases have hurled down large boulders of
primary rock from the higher Alps, and in others have heaped up the
finer alluvia derived from the adjacent secondary formations. All
these phenomena are supposed by the author to have been caused
by debacles incident to lengthened periods in which the surrounding
mountains were forcibly and violently elevated.

From these and other writings of the present day, we perceive
that correct observations have now established, that the diluvial and
transported detritus of each great geographical division of Europe,
when viewed on a great scale, can for the most part, be traced to
an axis of elevation within that region ; so that as each great mountain-
chain has been the source of the detritus covering the adjacent low
country, we can no longer attribute such drifts of sedimentary
matter to one particular diluvial current, which has acted in any given
direction.

However indisposed, therefore, the diluvialists may be to adopt as
a full and satisfactory explanation of these appearances the modi-
fied view of the theory of diurnal action of Hutton, as put forth by
Mr. Lyell, the dispassionate reasoner must admit, that the question
between the diluvialist and the advocate of existing causes is fast
resolving itself into one of amount or intensity of forces. Hach party
has now recourse to modern analogies in referring changes between
the levels of sea and land to eruptions from beneath; and he who is
unwilling to quit a path of induction pointed out, as he believes, by .
nature, invokes only repeated shocks of earthquakes, elevations, and
depressions, in preference to a limited number of stupendous cata-
strophes insisted upon by his antagonist.

Tertiary Depositrs.—In the illustration of tertiary geology, I may
announce to you, that the last pages of the Third Volume of the Prin-
ciples of Geology, by Professor Lyell, are in the press. In this volume,
which I have perused, the author successfully applies to the tertiary
formations the principles laid down in the two first volumes. He
subdivides these younger deposits into four natural epochs, founded
upon a mass of zoological evidence infinitely more comprehensive, and
yet more precise than any which has ever been brought before us. In
treating chronologically of alluvial, fresh-water, marine, and volcanic
phenomena, a wide range is afforded for the development of his exten-
sive knowledge and observation ; enabling him to ground his rea-

444

sonings on countries visited by himself, and to interpret the hand-
writing which Nature has left upon the walls of her geological monu-
ments, in such a manner as not only to expound her ancient records,
but to connect them with the history of our present races.

Although this volume is devoted chiefly to the description of the
younger formations, as more intimately connected with the main
object of the author, the secondary and primary rocks are reviewed
so far as was necessary to show their connexion with his theory,
and to indicate how well their structure can be accounted for by
causes, which he supposes to be still in full and undiminished opera-
tion. The powerful effects produced upor the public mind by the
first and second volumes of this work will, I may venture to say, be
highly augmented by a perusal of this concluding part; and even
those geologists who may differ from the author on a few theoretical
points, will gladly eulogize the efforts of one who has so greatly ad-
vanced their knowledge.

Fossiz Zootocy.—The Session has been fertile in communications
upon fossil zoology. The splendid specimens of Megatherium, &c.
brought to this country by Mr. Woodbine Parish have, in the hands
of Mr. Clift, afforded us much curious instruction. The tribute which
these remains enabled Mr. Clift to pay to his great master in compa-
rative anatomy, has already been adverted to; but we must not forget
that they also elicited brilliant lectures from Dr. Buckland, both within
these walls, and on the occasion of the late scientific festival at Oxford.

The Rev. Mr. Stanley has given a lively description of the caves
of Cefn, in Flintshire, one of which, like that of Kirkdale, is supposed
to have been the inhabited den of hyznas ; whilst another and larger
cavern, situated at a lower level on the side of the same mountain,
contained only the remains of recent animals. From the distinct
nature of the upper and lower layers of alluvia collected within the
inhabited cave, and arranged above and below the floor of fossil bones,
the author speculates on layers as evidences of different periods of
aqueous debacle.

Mr. Mantell, whose energies seem to expand in each succeeding
year, notwithstanding the limited field to which his researches are
-necessarily confined, has presented us with an account of an unde-
scribed and singular species of Saurian, to which he assigns the name
of Hyle@o-saurus. This fortunate exhumation has, I am happy to say,
encouraged the enterprising ranger of Tilgate Forest to make it the
nucleus of a new and comprehensive work, in which he will not only
describe all the vertebrated animals in his rich domain, the Wealds of
Sussex, but will embrace in it a geological description of his own,
and of the adjoining counties.

The bright example of Mr. Mantell is meeting with worthy imitators
in other parts of England, in the persons of other zealous young
members of the same profession, among whom may be mentioned
Mr. Chaning Pearce of Bradford, and Mr. T. Hawkins of Glaston-
bury;—the first of whom has collected and arranged a vast number of
new species of the organic remains in his neighbourhood; the latter,

445

within the short space of two years, has disinterred numerous fine
Saurians from the lias: among these we recognise a Plesiosaurus,
so perfect, that it serves to commemorate the skill of Mr. Conybeare,
whose elaborate restoration of the skeleton from one imperfect spe-
cimen is now amply confirmed.

A recent discovery of Miss Mary Anning, that indefatigable pur-
veyor to the store-houses of our science, has furnished Mr. T. Haw-
kins with the disjointed fragments of an animal, which upon being
reintegrated, proves to be the largest individual of the Ichthyosaurus
platyodon ever yet found entire upon our shores.

Two Members of your Council, Viscount Cole and Sir Philip
Egerton, have for some years entered zealously into the pursuit of
fossil zoology, and have reaped a rich harvest, both on the continent
and at home, having with their own hands brought to light some
osseous relics unknown even to Cuvier.

If these are among the latest fruits of fossil zoology in England,
our coadjutors on the continent have not relaxed their efforts. I had
formerly occasion to direct your attention to that invaluable work,
the Conchological Classifications of M. Deshayes ; and I ought at the
same time to have noticed a most useful and clear production of the
same author, entitled Coquilles Caractéristiques des Terreins.

The ‘* Mémoires Palaontologiques” of M. Boué, which embraces
memoirs from all countries, may, it is to be hoped, in great measure
supply the loss which must have been deeply felt by every practical
geologist, in the cessation of that most useful periodical the Bulletin
Universel des Sciences.

M. Pentland, from the examination of a collection of fossil bones
which had been consigned to his deceased friend, Baron Cuvier, has
enlarged our acquaintance with the Fauna of Australia, by the addi-
tion of several new and undescribed species of animals, principally
marsupial.

The ‘ Palzologica’’ of M. Hermann Von Meyer, of Frankfort,
brings together, in a synoptical form, all our present stock of know-
ledge of extinct vertebrated animals ; and being a compendious index
to all the works written upon this subject, must be considered a ne-
cessary portion of every geological library.

Our distinguished Foreign Associate Von Buch has just produced
a work upon Ammonites, which is intended to simplify the natural
arrangement of this obscure class of fossil bodies.

A blank in fossil zoology is about to be filled up by Dr. Agassiz,
of Neufchatel, whose work on “ Fossil Fishes” will furnish us with
materials which we looked for from the pen of the lamented Cuvier.
Precise anatomical distinctions, even to the minutest forms of the
scales, will be so considered in this work, that the learned Professor
hopes to realize the application of the system of his great in-
structor, and from the forms of parts to enable us to decide upon
the specific character of the entire fish to which they belonged. ‘The
short sketch* by this author of the fishes of Ciningen and of the

* Jahr. Buch, 1832, Dritter Jahrgang Zweites Quartal-Heft.

446

lias, may lead us to a favourable anticipation of the success of his
forthcoming volumes,—and to hope that fossil ichthyology may here-

after serve our cause as efficiently as other branches of zoological
evidence.

Fossrz PLanrs.—The early experiments of Hall and Hatchett, am-
plified and illustrated by MacCulloch, had nearly produced conviction
that all the varieties of carbonaceous matter, from the ill-consolidated
surturbrand, through every stage of brown coal to pure jet; andin our
older strata from anthracite to bituminous coal, were the products
of vegetables. Botanists have since corroborated the soundness of
these views, by developing the Flora of the associated strata ; and one
of our body has enabled us torefer many of these plants to their natural
families in living nature, by an ingenious method of exhibiting polished
sections of their stems : but it has been reserved to Mr. W. Hutton in
pursuing this line of inquiry, to complete the solution of the problem
by demonstrating the vegetable structure in coal itself. The Memoir
of Mr. W. Hutton is further of high and practical utility in describing
the source of those enormous volumes of imprisoned gases, which
upon admixture with our atmosphere become explosive, and occasion
such disastrous results to our miners.

As a slight contribution towards a knowledge of the condition of
the surface of the earth during one of the periods in the formation of
the oolitic series, which is marked by its vegetation, I offered to you
a few remarks on the vertical position of the stems of Equiseti,
in a sandstone of the eastern Moorlands of Yorkshire. This pheno-
menon extending over a large area is analogous to that observed
in the Isle of Portland by Dr. Buckland and Mr. de la Beche; from
which however it differs, as it appeared to me, in requiring for its
explanation the desiccation of submarine sediments, so as to leave a
stagnant marsh for the place of growth of these plants ; which, after
this marsh had been gradually silted up, were submerged by a fresh
irruption of the sea, accumulating above them the deposits of the
middle and upper oolite.

Genera Geotocy anp Puysican Gzocrapuy.—Geologists have
long felt that a period would arrive, when every geographer would
seek to obtain a competent acquaintance with what may be termed
the anatomy of his subject; and it is therefore gratifying to remark,
that the past vear has been prolific in works explanatory of the in-

timate association of geology with the physical geography of Great
Britain.

Eneianp.—The encouragement which, at the suggestion of Colonel
Colby, the Board of Ordnance has afforded to all the surveyors who,
during their labours in the field, have kept a register of the mineral
changes accompanying variations of outline in the land, is now pro-
ducing the happiest results.

Mr.Wright has already given us ample proof of this, in the geological

447

delineation of a tract of country around Ludlow, which, from repeated
personal examination, I can testify to be a model of accuracy.

Mr. Maclauchlan, another of our Fellows, attached to the Ord-
nance Survey, has with equal success illuminated a much larger
surface of the Ordnance maps, comprehending the Forest of Dean, and
the central parts of Herefordshire. His details respecting the rich
coal-field in the Forest of Dean are of singular value, being de-
rived from the observations of so experienced a miner as Mr.
Mushett.

Our Society has further been most advantageously connected with
the Ordnance Survey, by the appointment of Mr. De la Beche to
affix geological colours to the maps of Devonshire, and portions of
Somerset, Dorset, and Cornwall. From our acquaintance with the
skill of this geologist, and from his long practice in the districts which
he has undertaken to represent, it is certain that he will furnish many
striking examples of the value of well-defined phvsical features, in
enabling the geologist to explain the relation of the present outline
of the land to ancient subterranean movements.

The adoption of a fixed scale of colours by all English geologists
is still an essential desideratum in this department; and I am happy
to have it in my power to state, that a systematic arrangement
will shortly be submitted to you, after it has undergone the super-
vision of our Council, and shall have met with the approval of the
Beard of Ordnance. ‘This scale, being founded on the principle of
employing such colours only as are fixed and distinct from each other,
has been suggested by our valued member Mr. Chantrey, who, by
this highly useful appropriation of his leisure moments, has aug-
mented those claims upon our gratitude which he had established by
many acts of good fellowship, and the devotion of his time and talents
to our cause.

Through the early investigations of William Smith, the oolitic series
was divided into sub-formations ; ; and, by the subsequent adoption of
these subdivisions by Conybeare, their provincial names have become
classic throughout Europe, and have ‘served to commemorate the
discernment of him who first taught us to identify strata by their
organic remains.

At the last anniversary it was announced that, with entire confi-
dence in his qualifications, your Council had fixed upon Mr. Lons-
dale to commence a task, the prosecution of which they conceived
to be strictly consonant to the spirit of the bequest of the lamented
Wollaston; by which we are endowed with the means of rewarding
those who enlarge the circle of geclogical knowledge. Mr. Lonsdale
has presented us with the result of his labours, having laid down upon
maps of the Ordnance Survey the range of different members of the
oolite, from the neighbourhood of Bath, where he had previously de-
veloped their relations, to the southern limits of Warwickshire and
Oxfordshire. The success attendant upon this undertaking has already
been made apparent in the maps, sections, and remarks of our Curator.
By these you will perceive he has already demonstrated that the upper
shale and marl-stone of the lias, which are only visible as mere beds

448

in the neighbourhood of Bath, swell out rapidly in their north-eastern
course, and soon assume the same characters which Mr. Phillips has
assigned to themin Yorkshire. He next establishes that the whole
of the fine-grained white oolite in the escarpment of the Cotteswold
Hills, although lithologically undistinguishable from the great oolite
of Bath, is only an expansion of the inferior oolite. It is then made
apparent that the Fuller’s earth disappears entirely to the north of
Gloucestershire; and the highest degree of interest is added to these
groups, by determining, for the first time, the true position of the
Stonesfield slate, which he shows to be the base of the great oolite;
thus removing it from the geological horizon, in which, from the
obscure sections at Stonesfield, it had before been placed. Such
are a few of the evidences of the good already derived from the re-
vision of this series of our formations by a geologist like Mr.
Lonsdale, who, to the eye of an unerring observer, adds the rare
qualifications of a thorough acquaintance with specific distinctions in
organic remains.

But the value of such a work is not to be measured by reference
to English geology alone ; for, if itbe now ascertained that the oolitic
groups are made up of members which inosculate with each other,
expanding to vast thicknesses, or thinning out entirely, within the
limited range of two counties ; and that even its principal formations
cannot be followed into Yorkshire, still less to Brora and the Hebrides,
without exhibiting great changes in their mineral and fossil contents ;
we can scarcely hope to identify each subordinate member of our own
country with the subdivisions of the series on the continent of Europe.
I willingly express this opinion, although it may seem tobe slightly at
variance with a surmise I ventured to advance last. year respecting the
age of the lithographic stone of Solenhofen. That comparison was
intended simply to afford the English geologist an approximate idea
of the age of a rock, which, by some of my countrymen, had been
considered as of- tertiary origin, by others, as belonging to the green-
sand; so that if my rough estimate should prove less accurate than
that of a distinguished Prussian *, who has since compared it with the
coral rag, I shall still feel satisfied in having first pointed out to the
English inquirer, that the Solenhofen slate is a member of the Ju-
rassic or oolitic system, and that, from the general similarity of many
of the organic remains, such as Pterodactyli, Crustacez, and certain
plants, it is probably the equivalent of the Stonesfield slate, or one
of the central and slaty members of this complex series. On a broad
scale, however, I feel persuaded, that a simple division into “ upper”
and “ lower’ oolitic systems is the full extent to which we can bring
continental and British formations of this age under comparison.

To Dr. Fitton we are indebted for his ‘‘ Notes on the Progress of
Geology,” in which the relative merits of the founders of the science
in England are well put forth ; and also for his ‘‘ Geological Sketch
of the Vicinity of Hastings,” a most valuable addition to those local
monographs which contribute so largely to the diffusion of precise

* Von Buch.

449

information. I rejoice to see this powerful geologist once more be-
fore us as an author, and still more when it is announced, in this last
useful work, that a series of figures, including all the undescribed
species of the shells of the Wealden formations, will appear in the
volume of the Geological Transactions now in the press, with a com-
prehensive Memoir upon the formations between the chalk and the
oolites, the publication of which has been so loudly called for by fo-
reign and native geologists.

The results of my own observations during the last two summers
are about to be offered to you, in a detailed description of the upper
fossiliferous grauwacke, and its relations to the overlying deposits,
with descriptions of the intrusive rocks by which the series has been
penetrated. The zone examined, comprehends the western parts of
Shropshire and Herefordshire, and passing to the south-west, through
Radnor and the wildest tracts of Brecknockshire, terminates in the
mouth of the Towey in Caermarthenshire. As considerable spaces
within this zone have not yet been laid down for publication in the
Ordnance map, it is obvious that without the extraordinary aid, which
has been so cheerfully afforded me by Capt. Robe, and other officers
of His Majesty’s Map-office, and also by that excellent field surveyor
Mr. Budgin, little progress could have been made in the performance
of a work, which, when completed, will I trust meet with your appro-
bation *.

In the communication explanatory of these coloured maps, [ hope
to prove that the old red sandstone, with few exceptions, passes
down into, and is conformable to, those rocks, to which we have been
accustomed to apply the term ‘Transition ;”’ and that, throughout great
areas, the old red sandstone is equally conformable to the overlying
carboniferous limestone as to the underlying grauwacke ;—that the
fossiliferous grauwacke is divided into a number of large natural for-
mations or groups, charged with a variety of organic remains, for the
most part undescribed. In tracing the lines of disturbance which
have affected these deposits, flexures upon a gigantic scale will be
pointed out, whereby the old red sandstone has been thrown into
basins of elevation, and, by a reversed inclination, extended to the
westward, far within the escarpment of the grauwacke; and these lines
of disturbance and elevation will then be delineated, and their re-
lation traced to ridges of intrusive rocks.

Whatever merit these observations may possess, they cannot but
derive value from being linked with the contemporaneous investigations
of Professor Sedgwick, amid the adjoining regions of grauwacke,
slate, and older rocks of the Welsh mountains.

This will become evident when the Professor shall exhibit to you

* This memoir owes the most valuable portion of its zoological illustra-
tions to the Rev. T. Lewis of Aymestrey. Colonel Wingfield, Dr. Dugard,
the Rev. I. Rocke, Mr. Jones, and Dr. Lloyd, have also contributed to throw
light on the structure of their respective neighbourhood in Shropshire. The
last gentleman has been fortunate enough to discover the remains of Tri-
lobites in the old red sandstone.

450

the directions of those extensive anticlinal and synclinal lines which
he has determined with much personal labour, though unaided by
good geographical data. It will then be shown by him at what pe-
riods igneous action has been in operation within these older rocks ;
whilst it will be my province to point out how these outbursts have
been succeeded, on the eastern frontiers of the principality, by other
linear, submarine eruptions, and to describe the effects produced by
them upon the different sedimentary strata.

These results must, however, only be viewed as the first attempts,
on the part of Professor Sedgwick and myself, to reduce to chrono-
logical order a vast succession of ancient deposits, which have hitherto
been much neglected in this country, on account, as we may suppose,
of the alleged obscurity of their organic remains, and still more, per-
haps, in consequence of their altered condition, due to the numerous
convulsions to which they have been subjected.

IrELanD.—We have been favoured with two communications upon
the geological structure of parts of the north of Ireland, illustrated by
excellent maps, constructed by the authors. In one of these, Mr. A.
Bryce, of Belfast, describes the north-eastern portion of Antrim, in
which he points out a much larger extent of mica schist than had
been noticed by former observers. These primary rocks are succeeded,
in ascending order, by ancient red conglomerates, partial carbonife-
rous deposits, new red sandstone, lias, greensand, and chalk. He
mentions porphyry as only associated with the older red sandstone;
and basalt, as overlying the chalk, all the important peculiarities of
which have been so well detailed by Conybeare and Buckland.

The other Memoir upon Ireland is from the pen of Archdeacon
Verschoyle, and is much more comprehensive, describing the north-
west coast of Mayo and Sligo. The accompanying map is of consi-
derable value, the geographical features having been obtained from
the Ordnance surveyors ; chiefly, I believe, through the intervention
of Capt. Portlock, R.E.

The Archdeacon shows that this region has for its mineralogical
axis a mountainous range of mica schist, and other primary rocks,
the overlying deposits consisting of partial conglomerates, succeeded
by the carboniferous limestone and unproductive coal measures,—the
former containing, as in many parts of England, a lower limestone
shale and an oolitic limestone. In describing the rocks of intrusive
character, this author is to be much commended for having traced,
with precision, the course of no less than eleven basaltic dykes, within
a zone of eleven miles in breadth; which are parallel to each other,
trending nearly W. to E., and striking through all the rocks of the di-
strict—one of them being observable for the distance of 60 to 70
miles.

With such works as these before us, we may feel assured that the
day is not far distant, when a manual of the structure of the whole
of our sister kingdom may be compiled. This useful work will doubt-
less be achieved by the efforts of the members of the new Geological

Ars

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451

Society of Ireland, who in the mean time will, it is hoped, extend
their discoveries to Galway, and such tracts as have not been ex-
amined by Weaver, Griffiths, and other good observers.

Rocks or Ia¢nsous Or1e1n.—Two of our Foreign Members have,
in the past year, favoured us with communications, both of which
relate to igneous action.

Signor Monticelli, of Naples, has noticed, in one of the largest and
most ancient currents of Vesuvius, called La Scala, that besides the
appearances of regular stratification which the lava possesses, as for-
merly observed by Breislac, it presents, when still more deeply cut
into, a curvilinear arrangement, proving that these masses have been
formed in concentric layers around an elliptical nucleus.

Professor Necker of Geneva, reviving and extending an ingenious
hypothesis of Dr. Boué, has led the way in attempting to bring under
a general law the relation of metalliferous veins and deposits to those
crystalline rocks which, by the great majority of modern geologists,
are considered to have been produced by fire.

Humboldt had indeed already expressed his belief that the mines
on the flanks of the Oural, being associated with porphyritic and
granitoid rocks, have resulted from former volcanic agency ; and
Professor Necker now cites many additional authorities, to show si-
milar juxta-positions in other parts of the world. Whether the doc-
trine of sublimation, suggested by the author as the best explanation
of this problem, can be sustained, is very doubtful; since the case
which first led him to a contemplation of these general views,—a
deposition of specular iron on the surface of a stream of Vesuvian
lava, is one which, having taken place under the terrestrial atmo-
sphere, may have been due to a cause which could scarcely have
been co-existent with submarine or deeply-seated subterranean phe-
nomena. Such difficulties, however, instead of checking, ought rather
to stimulate us to pursue with vigour this animating train of inquiry,
by gathering together data responding to the queries of M. Necker,
and by pointing out with equal fidelity all those districts which come
within the application of his theory, as well as those great metal-
liferous tracts, in which as yet no trace of contiguous, unstratified
rock has been observed. Why are we to shrink from the supposition,
that in this, as in the production of other phenomena, nature may
not have employed various means, when it is known that a distin-
guished French chemist *, imitating her energies, has succeeded in
producing simple minerals by the direct union of their constituents.
If, therefore, the ingenuity of a second Hall should demonstrate the
very manner in which voleanic forces, under great pressure, may
have produced effects analogous to those of sublimation beneath
the common atmosphere, there are still wide fields for experiment.
For who can venture to expound all the possible effects of those

* Berthier.

452

changes depending upon the laws of electro-magnetism, which must
have been evolved by the varied actions of the elements, brought
into play during those movements by which the land and sea have
changed their places ?

In the mean time, the Essay of M. Necker must be regarded as an
excellent stimulant to research ; and judging from my own limited
experience, and particularly from facts observed in the mining dis-
tricts of the west of Shropshire during the last summer, I should infer,
that England wiil not be found deficient in phenomena amply corrobo-
rative of the views of Humboldt, Boué, and Necker:—Mr. Henwood has
long been engaged in an inquiry, the objects of which cannot be too
much commended ; and you have already heard the result of a con-
siderable number of his most laborious investigations. It would appear
from these that he has already ascertained that the phenomena of the
mineral veins of Cornwall, do not come under those general laws to
which they have been referred by the native miners. As, however,
his labours are still in progress, it would be premature to speak of
the consequences to which they point, before the whole of them are
given to the public.

I am here naturally led to speak of a work upon the Geology of
Cornwall, by Dr. Boase, composed of two parts, the former of which
contains most instructive and valuable detail, collected with inde-
fatigable industry, and is a most important addition to our previous
knowledge of the structure of that portion of ourisland. The Second
Part, though supported by arguments conducted with skill, and tending
consistently to one leading object, is directly opposed to the opinions
of nearly all modern geologists. Dr. Boase differs from previous ob-
servers, who conceived that certain granitic veins which ramify through
the slates have been injected into the latter; and supposes, since many
of these veins are made up of the same ingredients as the surrounding
slate, that the whole is of common and contemporaneous origin, the
veins being merely crystalline segregations. Now, without denying
the existence of many contemporaneous and segregated veins in
Cornwall as in other countries, surely no one can at this day resist
the accumulated mass of evidence adduced by Allan, Sedgwick,
Dechen, Oeynhausen, and a host of geologists, which indicates the
posterior intrusion of such veins as branch upwards from large
bodies of granite, and ramify in thin filaments through the overlying
killas. If, however, granitic veins be formed by segregation, and
if the masses of schist within a granite vein are but portions of that
vein under a different state of development, by what happy accident,
we would ask, do the angles of the entangled fragments accord with
each other, or with those of the wall of the vein itself? Concre-
tions with some approximation to regular forms, may have sepa-
rated themselves chemically from mineral masses to which they are
subordinate: but no mode of chemical action can offer us an intel-
ligible explanation of the angular fragments of killas imbedded in the
granite veins of Trewavas Head and other parts of Cornwall. They
can be explained rationally only on the supposition of the mechanical

453

protrusion of the vein itself into the mass of the pre-existing slate-
rock. But Dr. Boase extends the horizon of his speculations : he will
not even concede that the dykes of porphyry and elvan in Cornwall
afford any proofs of igneous origin or of subsequent intrusion ; and
rising with his favourite hypothesis into hostility to every operation
of fire, he at length avows himself sceptical as to the volcanic origin
of all trappzean rocks. Whatever may be the value of the arguments
applied to Cornwall, they must be seriously weakened by a mode of
reasoning which compels the author to deny the existence of pha-
nomena which may really be considered as mathematically demon-
strated, and which are now registered among the fixed principles of
the science. If Cornwall does not offer clear proofs of the igneous
origin of any of its rocks to the eye of Dr. Boase, why does he not
seek to verify or reject his theoretical inductions by an appeal to
countries where the evidences are clearer? Let him visit Scotland,
and inspect all those appearances of intrusive granite, which have
long since been recorded by the approving testimonies of Hutton, Hall,
Playfair, and Seymour; and let him follow MacCulloch through the
Hebrides, and then inform us whether he has not been led to a modi-
fication of his views. But if these evidences should not produce the
expected result, I would urge him to travel into central France, where
in one limited district is seen a succession of epochs of igneous
intensity, from the oldest trappean rocks to modern basaltic lavas,
demonstrating that all these have originated in asuccession of similar
volcanic causes. Notwithstanding, however, the discrepancy between
the views of Dr. Boase and those of most modern observers, I repeat
that his work being the result of long-continued examination, is well
worthy of your study from the valuable facts which it presents.

In the mean time, permit me to notice how the evidences of for-
mer volcanic agencies have lately been operating upon the minds of
observers in distant parts of the world. In a recent work by Messrs,
Jackson and Alger upon the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia,
the authors acknowledge that in the commencement of their survey
they were biassed in favour of the Wernerian theory ; but when they
met with repeated instances of sedimentary deposits, suddenly al-
tered and rendered crystalline, and of vegetable remains charred
when in contact with trappean rocks; and when they also found
these latter rocks possessing all the intrusive characters assigned to
them in Europe,—they became satisfied of the insufficiency of the
aqueous system, and upon conviction, embraced the igneous theory
as affording the only satisfactory solution of such phenomena.

The student who seeks for further evidence upon this subject,
may advantageously consult the Synopsis lately published by Profes-
sor Leonhardt of Heidelberg, in which many of the well-authenticated
phznomena attesting the effects of igneous action have been grouped
in so clear a manner as to leave no escape from the inferences upon
which I have been insisting.

Colonel Sykes, after a long residence in Hindostan, has presented
us with a circumstantial account of the structure of the Deccan or
hilly region of the Peninsula to the east of Bombay. This tract,

494

it appears, is very similar to the other extremity of the vast trap
region which was described by Major Franklin, being exclusively
composed of trappean rocks, which offer many varieties in mineral
composition. These rocks rise in tabular forms from Jow terraces
upon the coast, until they attain heights from 4000 to 6000 feet in
the interior: the profound chasms by which they are fissured are
occupied by the rivers, and their hardest and loftiest protuberances
afford those strong natural defences of the natives, known to Euro-
peans under the name of Hill Forts. In these step-like table-lands
are the remnants of volcanic outbursts of successive periods, pre-
senting further analogies to known igneous productions in dykes of
columnar basalt which have been injected vertically through the ho-
rizontal currents. According to the observations of Colonel Sykes
and of his precursors Capt. Dangerfield and Dr. Voysey, these igneous
phenomena extend over 250,000 square miles ; so that the mind is
almost lost in the contemplation of their grandeur : unfortunately, the
relative age of these eruptions must remain for the present undeter-
mined, no vestiges of secondary or tertiary formations having been
detected within the region described.

Although that interesting small tract of extinct volcanos the
“« Hifel,”” had been partially made known to the English reader by Dr.
Daubeny and Mr. Poulett Scrope, an adequate knowledge of it could
be obtained only by consulting the works of several German writers*.
Our learned associate Dr. Hibbert has now presented us with an
account of the same district, under the title of “‘ History of the Ex-
tinct Volcanoes of the Basin of Neuwied,” to complete which he has
devoted two years of assiduous, personal exertion. In recommending
this volume to your study, I may express my regret that the author
should not have first distinctly laid before us a clear view of the
mineral constitution and physical features of the district, and after-
wards have deduced therefrom his ingenious theoretical views ;—
the more so, as his inferences are interwoven with theories of the
earth, which, whether in respect to parallelism and consequent syn-
chronism of mountain-chains, or their divergence and necessary
diversity of age, are still subjects of contention among leading geo-
logists.

Dr. Hibbert has, however, done essential service in delineating the
topography and true features of this disturbed region. He has further
laboured hard to impress upon us a cenception of those vivid
images which he has established in his own mind, as the true land-
scapes which this district and its environs must have successively
offered to view, as well in the various periods of volcanic eruption
and violence, as in those of quiescence, during which lacustrine, es-
tuary, and terrestrial accumulations were formed. In accounting for

* While these pages are passing through the press, I learn that Professor
Hoffmann, having, on his return from Sicily, studied the relations of the
marble of Carrara, has communicated to the Academy at Berlin his opinion,
that this marble is of the age of the oolitic series (Jura or Alpine lime-
stone), and has been changed by igneous cperations similar to those
which altered the chalk of Antrim, the lias limestone of Skye, &c. &e,

455

the production of trachyte, which is so intimately connected with
these ancient lake-craters, he has direct recourse to the analogies of
modern volcanos, and also attempts the reconstruction of those more
recent currents of basaltic lava, of which there are now left such im-
perfect evidences. If Dr. Hibbert has succeeded in proving the relative
age of the outbursts of the various volcanic products of the Eifel from
trachyte to the most modern basaltic ejections, he has accomplished a
task from which his precursors have shrunk; their great difficulty
consisting in the comparative absence or obscurity of all strata of se-
condary or tertiary age, which, if they contained distinct evidences in
their organic remains, might have been deemed true historical re-
cords. In Auvergne and in the Cantal, where no such deficiencies
exist, but where, on the contrary, the sedimentary strata have been
elevated into mountain-masses teeming with the remains of organic
life ; the precise relative periods at which the intensity of volcanic
action has been renewed, or suspended, is demonstrable by alternate
dislocations and regularities of the associated strata. But in the
Eifel, if we except the fossils of that very ancient group of rocks the
grauwacke, the evidences to be gathered from organic remains in the
subsequent epochs are deplorably deficient, being merely observable
in thin patches of brown coal and tertiary clay, a few only of which
are connected with the volcanic phenomena of this district.

That brown coal is associated with tertiary deposits of various
ages is well known to those who have explored Germany and the
flanks of the Alps ; and the greater part of this mineral in the basin
of the Lower Rhine has been referred to an early period in the ter-
tiary series. This subject has recently been freed from much of its
obscurity by the observations of our valued fellow-labourer Mr. Leo-
nard Horner, on the Geology of the Environs of Bonn*. From this
very able Memoir we learn, that notwithstanding the difficulty of
assigning a precise geological age to this deposit, on account
of the almost entire absence of shelly remains, yet from the im-
bedded fishes, frogs, and plants, which though essentially differing
from, bear a strong analogy to existing species, the brown coal of
the Rhine is probably of the age of the lacustrine limestone of
Aix en Provence.

Mr. Horner further throws new light upon the period of the tra-
chytic and basaltic eruptions of the Sieben-gebirge, which, like many
volcanic hills in central France, he supposes to have burst forth
from beneath an ancient lake ; and whilst he indicates that this ridge
has been elevated posterior to the formation of the associated brown
coal, he shows that one of the lake-craters on the opposite bank of
the Rhine, the Rodderberg, was formed during a more recent period,
probably contemporaneous with the accumulation of the loess or loamy
alluvium.

We are here naturally led to reflect upon that exciting theoretical
question concerning craters of elevation, which now divides the geo-

* M. Mitscherlich is also, I am rejoiced to learn, now engaged in writing

a Memoir upon this district.
c

456

logists of France and Germany. In France, De Beaumont, Dufrénoy,
and others, contend for the establishment of the views of Von Buch
and Humboldt, which refer the crateriform cavities to simple expan-
sion of the earth’s crust, caused by intumescence from within; whilst
Cordier and Constant Prevost maintain that all these ancient cones
and craters present in their structure a direct analogy to the products
of modern volcanic agency, and have been similarly formed.

M. Constant Prevost is preparing an account of his late voyage in
the Mediterranean, by which he hopes to convince us, that all the
most ancient geological phenomena, of igneous characters, can alone
be rationally explained by an appeal to existing evidences, thus har-
monizing in his speculative views with our countryman Mr. Lyell,
who, from an examination of the same districts, had before arrived
at similar conclusions, and who had been among the first to combat
the theory of elevation craters as applied to the Cantal and Mont
D'Or*. | must fora second time allude to the forthcoming volume of
this author, in which you will find descriptions of those interesting
tracts, the Eifel, and of Olot in Catalonia, coupled with an abun-
dance of striking and original observations respecting the volcanic
ejections of Etna, which absolutely demonstrate, that many of our
older trappean currents must have had a similar origin.

In concluding this review of works illustrative of volcanic pheno-
mena, I announce with delight that our secretary Dr. Turner, in co-
operation with Mr. De la Beche, has commenced a series of experi-
ments to determine the effects of heat upon various rocks, both crystal-
line and sedimentary, for the purpose of elucidating the modes in which
some may have been formed, and others altered. The inquirywill after-
wards be extended to the production of simple minerals, and will also
lead to the repetition of some of the experiments of Sir J. Hall, ina
field nearly abandoned in Great Britain since his successful career, al-
though France and Germany have to boast of the important discoveries
of Berthier and of Mitscherlich.

Having adverted to those works, of the past year, which may be con-
veniently classed under separate scientific heads, I will now briefly
allude to a few Memoirs relating to foreign countries, which possess
a general character, and yet bear upon our own Proceedings.

Spain anp Porruaau.—We have hitherto acquired but limited
knowledge of the geology of Spain and Portugal. In anticipation of
further information from Colonel Silvertop, who has lately revisited
the southern provinces, and a promised Memoir of Capt. Cook, R.N.
we have before us the first geological sketch, which has been at-
tempted, of the general structure of the Peninsula from the pen of Pro-
fessor Hausmann, in a work entitled ‘“‘Hispanie de Constitutione
Geognostica,”’ which, founded on the personal examination of its elo-
quent author, conveys a very clear idea of the simplicity of structure
which characterizes a large portion of that country.

* Principles of Geology, vol. 1. p. 386, &c.

457

Mr. D. Sharpe has read before this Society an account of parts of
Portugal. He acquaints us that the rocks around Oporto consist of
granite succeeded by gneiss and mica schist, which are overlaid by
conglomerates containing anthracite, and by blue clay. Between
Oporto and Lisbon he points out trappean rocks and an ancient
secondary sandstone overlaid by a limestone with belemnites. The
estuary of the T'agus is stated to exhibit on its shores a tertiary series
separable into three divisions. The lowest of these is a fossiliferous
blue clay ; the intermediate and most extensive group is made up of
sand and arenaceous limestone, which, judging from their fossil con-
tents, are probably of the Sub-Apennine age. Organic remains have
not yet been observed in the uppermost group, although we may
incline to the belief, that in a country so convulsed by earthquakes
within the term of history, these superficial beds of sand may prove
of the same age as the youngest shelly deposits which have been
raised upon the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Bririsu Coronres.—l expressed, ona former occasion, the hope that
our East Indian possessions might soon be rendered more interesting
to us by an exposition of their geological relations, and particularly
by descriptions of the carbonaceous and other deposits of the Peninsula.
We have in the mean time received an account of the structure of
Pulo Pinang, and its adjacent islets, drawn up by Dr. Ward, an able
and zealous naturalist, at the suggestion of the East India Company’s
Resident, Mr. Kenneth Murchison. Although we may regret that the
Malayan Archipelago offers no other than primary rocks, here and there
covered with their disintegrated materials, we must hold up as highly
worthy of imitation that good spirit which prompted the Resident to
take all the means at his disposal to obtain for us this amount of natu-'
ralknowledge; as it is obvious, that similar efforts on the part of the
chief officers in our numerous distant colonies would prove oi inap-
preciable value. And here I would point your attention to the short
“Instructions for Young Geologists,’ which were prepared for dis-
tribution in the colonies ; and [ would request you in circulating these
Instructions, to urge upon your friends in the West Indies the real
service they may perform by sending home suites of specimens, to
afford us the means of instituting a comparison between the silicified
zoophytes of those parts, and the existing corals of the adjoining seas.

ContinenraL Wrirers.—The Discourse of the President of this
Society must, from its brevity, be chiefly devoted to the review of the
discoveries and proceedings of the English school ; for so numerous are
the European observers, that a volume would scarcely suffice to eluci-
date their annual productions. In this place, therefore, I can simply
allude to a few of those writings which, from their comprehensive
nature, will best acquaint you with the recent pursuits of our coad-
jutors in various parts of the continent.

M. Boué, in his ‘‘ Considérations générales sur la Nature et I’ Ori-
gine des Terrains de l'Europe,” brings inte discussion every great
general and theoretical question, with reference to the origin of each

458

formation, in the tone which peculiarly marks the present develop-
ment of the science. To the enlightened Reports of the Geological
Society of France, by the same learned author, | have made honour-
able allusion on a former occasion; and I have now to notice the
last Report upon the progress of geology in France, by M. Desnoyers,
where the subjects that have occupied geologists are treated of under
distinct heads, in each of which the various matters are synthetically
grouped, their connexion clearly pointed out, and their cumulative
bearing on the science admirably stated. In short, this Report of
M. Desnoyers is conclusive evidence of the advantages which have
already flowed from the establishment of the Geological Society of
France, in giving a full view of the practical labours of all the geolo-
gists of that country, whose works without such an organ of commu-
nication would not have been understood or duly appreciated by the
scientific world.

The unabated vigour of research which animates the geologists of
Prussia, is the natural effect of the examples of Humboldt and Von
Buch. Although your attention has already been drawn to several
individuals of this nation, whose discoveries had reference to the
topics contained in this address, a work of deep utility still remains
unnoticed, in the German translation of the Manual of Mr. De la Beche,
by M. Von Dechen, who in thus communicating to his countrymen
the essence of the practical geology of England, with which he is so
thoroughly acquainted, has further transfused through this volume all
the spirit and knowledge ot the modern school of Germany.

It is deeply to be regretted, that England is so ill supplied with
information of the proceedings of the geologists of Italy. In announ-
cing that we may soon look for the appearance of a map of the southern
flanks of the Alps, embracing all the sub-alpine regions, delineated
by three such competent geologists as the Marquis Pareto of Genoa,
M. Cristoforis of Milan, and M. Pasini of Schio, I may briefly remind
you, that the land which was the cradle of geology, still contains within
it men endowed with the intelligence and enterprise requisite to com-
plete those illustrations, which are essential accompaniments of the
present condition of the science*.

* T have abstained, on this occasion, from noticing a recent Memoir of
M. Pasini, in which, supporting the theory of the Count Marzari Pencati,
and opposing the views of Von Buch, Boué, De Beaumont, and others, who
contend for the elevation of the secondary limestone of the Alps, he contro-
verts a sketch of my own upon the“ Relations of the Tertiary to the Se-
condary Rocks in the neighbourhood of Bassano.”—(Phil. Mag. and Ann.
vol. lv. June 1829.) At some future day I may point out the extent to
which M. Pasini has misunderstood the facts I have explained; probably

‘from his rigorous interpretation of a hastily drawn section, This slight
‘sketch was simply intended to show, that within a very limited district on
the southern flank of the Alps, the tertiary strata were highly inclined in
conformity with the scaglia or chalk, as clearly exhibited in the bed of the
Brenta. Of the dolomite of that region, it was not my intention to have
spoken; and I regret that the few words relating to the disrupted masses
of that rock in the defiles of the Brenta should have been thought worthy
ef so much criticism on the part of the ingenious author.

459

Unirep Srates.—Though this be not the occasion on which I may
dilate upon the productions and discoveries of our foreign contempo-
raries inGermany, Italy, and France, still I may offer a few brief re-
marks on the strides which have been recently made by our coadjutors
in the Western hemisphere, connected as they are with us by commu-
nity of origin and language.

In the United States of America our science, cultivated upon
true principles, rises steadily in public estimation. A “Geological
Society is formed at Philadelphia, which commencing energetically
in the collection of specimens, and inviting descriptive sections
from all parts of Pennsylvania, shows how effectually the intelligence
and public spirit of this State have been drawn to our subject,—an
effect chiefly due to the writings and lectures of our zealous Associate,
Mr. Featherstonhaugh.

Another of our Fellows, Mr. R. C. Taylor, has begun to apply his
acquaintance with English geology, in describing a large bituminous
coal-field on the flank of the Alleghany Mountains, which seems to
bear a striking resemblance to the carboniferous districts of Great
Britain.

To Dr. Haerlam, already known by his valuable contributions to the
works of Cuvier, we owe several important recent additions to fossil
zoology.

Dr. Morton, Corresponding Secretary of the Academy of Sciences
of Philadelphia, who had illustrated the organic remains of the ferru-
ginous sandstone of Pennsylvania, has also formed an instructive and
rich collection of the tertiary shells of that State, which have met
with an excellent expositor in Mr. Conrad. The First Number of a
work, long desired by every European geologist, has just appeared,
entitled “‘ Fossil Shells of the Tertiary Formations of North America,”
by this author ; and I may confidently recommend it asa most instruc-
tive performance, the continuation of which will at length enable us
to speculate with confidence upon one important class of the deposits
of that vast continent. Some inaccuracies of comparison seem to be
owing to the author’s unacquaintance with those conchological di-
stinctions which have been so very recently applied to the tertiary
groups by Desnoyers, Lyell, and Deshayes. Without entering upon
the nature of the vast alluvial and diluvia! accumulations of North
America, which upon minute and careful examination will probably
be found to offer all the subdivisions they are capable of in Europe,
I must remark, that in the triple classification of the tertiary forma-
tions, the author errs in supposing that the shells of our crag, which
he identifies with his upper marine, are all of existing species; it
being ascertained that the crag contains only about 45 per cent. of
shells identical with those now living.

Nor can the middle tertiary formation of Mr. Conrad be positively
identified with the ‘‘ calcaire grossier,” until we are supplied with
lists of the relative numbers of the existing and extinct species. The
lower tertiary formation, it is evident, cannot be classed with the “ ar-
gile plastique” of M. Brongniart, upon the test of lignite alone; since
that substance is no longer deemed characteristic of one particular pe-

460

riod, but occurs in tertiary groups of all ages: in truth, the plastic clay
occupies no longer a place in the list of Huropean formations, being
simply the occasional substratum of certain tertiary basins, in many
of which itzis inseparable from the overlying clay. These errors of
comparison and geological classification are, however, quite excusable
on the part of a naturalist, who strives to arrange his subject after
models he has been taught to consider classical, but which inevitably
have partaken of such defects as characterize the broad generali-
zations of the early geologists of all countries. Such defects are,
however, of little moment, and can soon be obviated. The high merits
of the undertaking of Mr. Conrad are to be found in an accurate de-
lineation of the organic remains, and in his faithful account of the
manner in which the strata containing them have succeeded to each
other. By his description we now learn, for the first time, that the
whole line of coast of North America has been elevated after the
creation of existing mollusca, and that the highest or youngest of
these fossil groups is spread over a zone of land of 150 miles in
breadth! Judging from the information before us in the first fasciculus
of this interesting work, it may be inferred that these upper shelly
sands and marls are synchronous with those modern elevated groups
in the Mediterranean, by some geologists termed Quaternary, which
Mr. Lyell classes in the group of newer Pliocene. I have now to ex-
press my hope that Mr. Conrad may meet with such encouragement,
that he may complete not only the illustration of these younger and
tertiary shells, but succeed also in his laudable ambition of describing
the remains of the secondary and older formations of North America.

That geology is pursued with vigour in other States of the Union,
we have abundant proof in the Journal of Professor Silliman.

Professor Hitchcock has published a well-digested and circumstan-
tial Report upon the Mineral Structure of Massachusetts, accompa-
nied by an illustrative map. That part of the work which shows the
value of an acquaintance with mineral masses in their application to
the agriculture and commerce of the state, has alone appeared; but
the materials, therein collected, bear testimony to so much ability and
research, that some good geological induction may be looked for in
the second volume. a

This author wil!, however, pardon me if I suggest some caution in
the identification of those great tracts of red sandstone in America
with the new red sandstone of England ; since it is obvious that in
countries where the coal measures are wanting, itis difficult to arrive
at safe conclusions. We now begin to perceive, that even in England
strata of similar red colours reappear at intervals throughout the
descending order, from the base. of the lias to vast depths within the
grauwacke series. Still less is a red sandstone to be identified with
the new red sandstone by the presence of salt ; since it is now demon-
strated that this substance occurs in formations of all ages, from the
youngest tertiary to the oldest transition rocks.

Bririsn AssociaT1on FoR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.—We
may now revert to the consideration of the general state of our native

461

geology. Connected, as our progress must be, with the advancement
of other branches of science, I am sure you will unite with me in re-
joicing that so much success attended the second assembly of the
British Association, held last year at Oxford. The cordial reception
its Members met with from that distinguished University, has been
the means of making known its objects, and advancing its interests ;
and its continued success is secured by the invitation of the sister
University to hold the ensuing meeting at Cambridge.

A volume about to appear, containing the original Reports read at
Oxford, will sustain the high reputation of their respective authors ;
and the cultivators of our science will gladly see that the recent pro-
gress and present state of geology found an able and eloquent expo-
sitor in our Vice-President Mr. Conybeare. .

I would further request your attention to the numerous important
queries, suggested by the Geological Committee of this body, which
will explain how intimately its objects are connected with our own.
If, indeed, it be essential to our progress to secure the zealous co-
operation of our friends in other departments of science, where can we
so well make known our wants, where can we better gather data for
the extension of our inquiries, or where find so good a solution of
our difficulties, as in a general Congress, which embodies men of
distinction from all parts of the British Isles ?

But to you, Gentlemen, it is needless to expatiate on such obvious
advantages ; for already by your hearty cooperation you have striven
to uphold the merits of the British Association for the Advancement
of Science. So highly indeed have these efforts been valued, that
this great Institution has done honour to us, in selecting for their
last and their succeeding Presidents the geological leader of each

University,—men already enshrined in the hearts of all whom I now
address.

Groroeicat DesipErava.—The amount of geological labours per-
formed in Great Britain within the past year, indicates, I hope, a
continuance of exertion as vigorous as that of any former year; but
notwithstanding the good ends which have been realized, I feel that
there still remains a duty for me to perform before I quit this chair, by
placing before you a few of the essential desiderata at home, which
must be supplied betore we shall have completed the sketch of the
geological structure of the whole kingdom.

Muchas has been written upon parts of Scotland, no comprehensive
work has yet appeared in the English language descriptive of the
whole of that country; although Dr. Boué and Professor Necker have
long since explained to their countrymen the general relations of its
rocks. It must be granted that the northern portion of Scotland has
received more than its fair proportion of attention ; for besides the
eminent geologists of the school of Hutton, who sought in it for the
proofs of the truth of the theory of their master, the crystalline and
trappean rocks of those parts have met with ample and able com-
mentators in Jameson, Allan, Mackenzie, Hibbert, MacCulloch,
and other living authors; the nature of its sedimentary deposits

462

has been partly recorded in your Transactions by Professor Sedg-
wick and myself. In the central and southern division of Scotland,
however, and in the coal-fields particularly, we yet require many de-
scriptions of large tracts, and some general work, which, embracing
all the country between the borders of England and the rise of the
Grampian chain, shall inform us whether the regular coal-measures
are based upon mountain limestone, or descend, as it is stated they
do, in northern Northumberland and in Berwickshire, into the old red
sandstone.

The Reverend Dr. Fleming has, I learn, obtained a clear knowledge
of the complicated and disturbed coal-field of Fifeshire, and has ex-
tended his researches to the south-eastern flanks of the Grampians:
we may, therefore, look with confidence to the result of his observa-
tions, while we express our wishes that this able naturalist may further
have it in his power to describe the relations of the great trappean
range of the Ochills.

If, however, we are led to anticipate some correct views of the
northern edges of this great vale, we shall still be strikingly deficient
in data concerning its southern division. Although Nithsdale has
been described by Mr. Monteith, the older chain of the Lead Hills, and
all the surrounding groups of the transition series, still require much
detailed examination. Let us, therefore, hope that Profes: or Jameson,
who has laboured to such good effect in the department of the un-
stratified and trappean rocks, may, by his own efforts, and those of his
pupils, fill up these blanks in the secondary geology of his native
country.

It is not, however, on the north side of the Tweed alone that defi-
ciencies exist. The English side of the Scottish border calls equally
for exploration; since we are still without any good account of the
porphyritic ridges of the Cheviots, although we may, I believe, expect
one from the pen of Mr. Culley.

In England and Wales the difficulties attending the development
of the oldest sedimentary formations are, as you have seen, fast va-
nishing ; thanks to Professor Sedgwick, ‘who, having fairly grappled
with this obscure yet indispensable branch of our subject, will shor tly
lay before you the final results of many years of anxious labour. I have
endeavoured to extend, in the ascending order, these labours of my
friend, into the younger and more fossiliferous tracts upon the borders
of Wales, —to point out the formations into which they are divided,—
and to connect these with the oid red sandstone and overlying depo-
sits. To the termination of this work I look with pleasure in the en-
suing summer.

If we turn from these hitherto neglected western regions and
transport ourselves to the eastern shores, who does not perceive that
we are there without any complete history of the crag and younger
deposits ? The works of Mr. R. C.Taylor and others, though excellent
in their respective districts, are not of general application ; and inge-
nious as are the views of Professor Lyell, they are only drawn from
those parts of the coast which have fallen under his own observation.

Let me, therefore, entreat you to wipe away this imperfection from

463

our system, and to endeavour to establish demarcations as clear as
our fellow-labourers in France have done for the deposits of this
age, by working out the whole extent of the crag, and the precise na-
ture of its upper limits : also by showing the relative ages of gravel
beds with existing species of shells, and the numerous lacustrine and
terrestrial accumulations which abound along our east coast, from
the north bank of the Humber to the mouth of the Thames.

The most essential, however, of all our scientific wants is a perfect
history of the coal-fields; for, connected as these are with the ex-
istence of England as a manufacturing nation, the call for information
upon this point cannot be too frequently repeated, nor its importance
too warmly inculcated.

Some addition to our knowledge of carboniferous tracts has re-
cently been made by that excellent geologist Mr. J. Phillips, in a
short Memoir upon the Ganister, or Lower Coal-field of Yorkshire,
a full account of which will Suey appear in the Second Volume on
the Geology of that county *.

I hope soon to lay before you a succinct view of those unde-
scribed and thin fields of coal in Shropshire, which have been accu-
mulated in ancient bays, covering the edges of the grauwacke forma-
tions, or resting upon the old red sandstone and mountain limestone.
As these fields are carried under the great trough of northern
Salop and Cheshire, may we not reasonably infer, that at some future
day a vast emporium of deeply seated coal may be discovered and
worked beneath the new red sandstone of that district ?

But to how many other parts of this island may we not apply simi-
lar speculations? How many and how vast are these carboniferous
fields, with the true details of which we are entirely unacquainted ?

If, Gentlemen, I specially invoke your continued exertions in this
depar tment, it should be borne in mind that the results must essen-
tially benefit our fellow- creatures; and] am thereforeconfident that the
time is come, when, duly estimating our labours, the whole country
will proclaim, that “ Geology is a pursuit of the deepest national im-
portance.” With this feeling it is that our lists are already adorned
with some of the most honoured names in the land ; and the only
boon which we demand in return for our gratuitous efforts i is, that the
landed proprietors of England will enrich our archives with sections
and illustrations of their several neighbourhoods.

In thus adverting to the practical uses of geology, and in asserting
that our advances have been firmly secured, by patiently working out
the evidences offered by the fossil world; we must at the same “time
allow, that our progress has been occasionally checked by the pro-
mulgation of captivating but untenable theories.

Persuaded as we are that there is no royal road to the truths we
are in search of, let us guard against hastily conceived speculations,

* T am informed that Mr. E. Hall, of Manchester, has made an addition
to our local carboniferous geology, by the completion of a MS. map of South
Lancashire coal tract.

464

which none can form more readily than those who have least laboured
in our vocation; recollecting that theories are only to be tolerated
so far as they accord with Nature’s laws and positive observations.

Let us not cease to weed out from the school ef English geology
the schemes of those who would seek to grasp the conclusion of the
problem before the very data have been fully placed before them.
Acting on the maxims of the great father of modern philosophy, and
proceeding steadily from the known to the unknown, let us not be ap-
palled by the magnitude of the difficulties we have yet to vanquish,—
but let each of us strive to bring annually to these halls, fruits earned
by the sweat of his brow; conscious, if any laurels be decreed by
posterity to the geologists of this age, that those will have the largest
share, who by their own discoveries have best contributed to lay ‘the
true foundations of the science.

In a science like our own, receiving the perpetual accession of new
discoveries which limit or extend our previous conclusions, it is obvious
that few geological memoirs can be perfect, when they first pro-
ceed from the author’s pen, however experienced in observation.
The ordeal, therefore, our writings have to pass through in the
animating discussions which they elicit within these walls, may be
considered the true safeguard of our scientific reputation. This
excellent practice, sanctioned by long experience and your approval,
not only ameliorates your transactions, by calling forth and embodying
the unrestrained opinions of practised observers ; but it further ope-
rates in cementing us into a community of good feeling, and gives to
our assemblies that stamp of energy and friendship which has long
characterized this Society.

The term of my services, Gentlemen, is now expired ; and I bid
you farewell, with heartfelt thanks for the countless proofs of kind
cooperation you have given me, and which, more than I can ex-
press, have bound me to your interests and welfare. My gratifi-
cation is this day complete, in having to record, that among the
numerous acts of which you may be proud, there is no one more
creditable to your feelings, or better devised to consolidate the pro-
sperity of this Institution, than the last expression of your will, by
which you have transferr ed the power from my hands to those of one,
whose life has been devoted to your cause, and who may justly glory

in having been the first President of the Geological Society of
Londone

PRINTED BY R. TAYLOR, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

1833. No. #1.

February 27.—William Henry Booth, Esq., of Old Square, Lin-
coln’s Inn; and Chaning Pearce, Esq., of Bradford, Wilts; were
elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper, commenced during the last Session, entitled « Descrip-
tion of Parts of the Kingdoms of Valencia, Murcia, and Granada, in
the South of Spain,” by Capt. Cook, R.N. F.G.S., was concluded.

The district described in this memoir is stated to comprise the
mountainous country which intervenes between the southern
boundary of the plains of La Mancha and the Mediterranean. The
formations of which it is composed are divided by the author into
primary, secondary, tertiary, and volcanic.

The primary rocks are said to consist chiefly of granite, mica-
slate, and clay-slate, with occasional beds of limestone, talcose
and chlorite slate, and serpentine. ‘These primary formations con-
stitute the mountain ranges of the Sierra Morena, Sierra Nevada,
Sierra Filabres, the Lomo de Vaca, and some minor hills near Velez
Malaga, the river Almazora, and the valley of Almazarron.

The secondary deposits are stated to consist almost entirely of
compact, dolomitic limestone, generally destitute of organic re=
mains, and resting on the primary slates; but on the flank of the
Sierra Morena, and in the neighbourhood of Granada, a red sand-
stone is said to be interposed between the limestone and the older
formations. The principal districts composed of this limestone are
the hills which range between the plains of La Mancha and the Me-
diterranean, the Sierra de Segura, the Sierra de Gador, celebrated
for its lead mines, and the rock of Gibraltar. .

The tertiary formations are stated to consist chiefly of conglo-
merates, sand, marl with gypsum and salt, and coarse friable lime-
stone, containing organic remains. They are said to form low hills,
and to occupy the plains and the valleys, surrounded by the ridges
of secondary limestone. ‘The principal localities, mentioned by the
author, are the plains of Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Carthagena,
Aguilas, and Granada; the valleys of the Segura, Lorca, Almeira,
and the Guadilquivir. Allusion is also made to the basins of Baza
and Alhama, described by Col. Silvertop in a memoir laid before
the Society during a former Session.

The igneous or volcanic rocks are but briefly noticed: the lo-
calities cited are Almazarron and Cape de Gata.

466

A paper entitled ‘‘Observations relative to the Structure and
Origin of the Diamond,” by Sir David Brewster, K.C.H. LL.D.
F.G.S. &c., was then read.

In the year 1820, the author communicated to the Royal Society
of Edinburgh a singular fact relative to the structure of the dia-
mond, accompanied with some conjectures respecting the origin of
this remarkable gem :—the present essay may be viewed as a con-
tinuation and extension of the same inquiry.

The author refers to the remark of Newton, that amber and the
diamond have a refractive power three times greater in respect of
their densities than several other substances ; and he quotes New.
ton’s conjecture, founded on that remark, of the diamond being
probably, like amber, an unctuous substance coagulated. In proof
of the intimate relation between the inflammability and absolute
refractive power of bodies, Sir D. Brewster adds the facts, that
sulphur and phosphorus exceed even the diamond in absolute power
of refraction, and that these three inflammables stand before all
solid and fluid substances in their absolute action upon light.

Another close analogy between the diamond and amber, inde-
pendently of their like locality and carbonaceous nature, was traced
by the author in their polarizing structure. Both of these minerals
contain within their substance small cells or cavities, filled with air,
the expansive force of which has communicated a polarizing struc-
ture to the parts in immediate contact with the air. The descrip-
tion of this structure, which is displayed from sectors of polarized
light encircling the globule of air, is illustrated by drawings.

The author contends that the peculiar polarizing power around
the cavities in amber and in the diamond must have been occa-
sioned by the expansive force of the confined substance, supposed
to be gaseous, compressing the sides of the cells, while the sub-
stance of the minerals was in a soft and yielding condition. A
similar structure may be produced in glass, or in gelatinous masses,
by a compressing force, propagated circularly from a point.

Having thus shown that the diamond was at one time in a soft or
pasty state, the author argues that this state was not produced by
igneous fusion. For in his laborious examination of the cavities in
crystals, both natural and artificial, such as topaz, quartz, amethyst,
chrysoberyl, &c., and in salts, he observed the condition of many
thousand cavities; but in no case, neither in crystals formed by
means of igneous fusion nor by aqueous solution, did he observe
a single cavity in which the expansible fluid within had communi-
cated a polarizing structure, similar to that around the cavities in
the diamond. He believes, therefore, that the softness must have
been that of semi-indurated gum; and that the diamond was de-
rived from the decomposition of vegetable matter, as is admitted to
have been the case with amber. The crystallized condition of the
diamond. is not to be considered as decisive against this inference,
since the mineral called mellite has a distinct crystallized form,
while its composition and locality attest a vegetable origin.

A notice “On the Occurrence of the Bones of Animals in a

—

467 J

Coal-mine in Styria,” by Professor Anker, of Joanneum in Gratz,
was then read.

The bones referred to by the author, were found in a range of
hills near Gratz in Styria, extending in a southerly direction from
the foot of the Schwamberg mountains to Scheimeck on the Weiss.
These hills consist of molasse, alternating with beds of brown coal
from 2 to 2: feet in thickness, which closely resembles black coal
in appearance, and can be distinguished from it only by geological
position, and by the occasional occurrence of the woody texture.
Associated with the coal are beds of bituminous shale, and a grey,
bituminous, marly, slaty sandstone, in which are occasionally inter-
spersed pebbles of primary rocks.

The bones were found in the coal itself, in layers from 2 to 24
inches thick, They were for the most part so much shattered, that
no notion could be formed of the genus of animal to which they be-
longed ; but from their great number, they appear to have been
derived from many different animals; and after long-continued
search a jaw-bone with teeth was discovered. This specimen is pre-
served at Joanneum; but from the inspection of a drawing of it sent
with this notice, Mr. Clift considers that it belonged to a hyena.

Bones were first found in this mine in the year 1826, in the Jo-
seph adit, 50 fathoms from its mouth. They have been often met
with since that period in the same adit; and in 1831 bones were
also discovered in the Caroline adit of the same mine, 3 fathoms to
the south of the former. Among them was a tooth like that of a
shark, together with fragments of bones similar to those from the
Joseph adit ; but they were principally found in the strata adjacent
to the coal.

March 13.—James Harfield, Esq., of Queen-square Place, West-
minster; and the Rev. William Otter, Principal of King’s College,
London; were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper, entitled ‘Geology ofthe Environs of Bonn,” by Leonard
Horner, Esq. F.G.S. F.R.S. &c., was read.

The district described by the author lies on both sides of the
Rhine,—the Siebengebirge, or Seven Mountains, constitute the
chief feature; and the highest point in the group, the Oelberg, is
1369 English feet above the level of the sea. It possesses peculiar
interest to the geologists of England, as being the nearest point
where volcanic phenomena, approaching in character to those of
modern times, can be seen.

The lowest stratified rock is grauwacke, which seems to belong
to the later ages of that deposit, and to approach in character, in
some parts of the district, to the old red sandstone. There are
no associated beds of limestone. ‘The strata are in general highly
inclined, but they are found at all angles; and there is neither uni-
formity in the strike nor in the dip; the strike is most usually N.E.
and S.W., the dip more frequently S. than N. In the immediate
neighbourhood of the Siebengebirge, the strata are thrown up in all
directions, evidently by the eruption of the volcanic matter.

The whole of the Jater secondary series is wanting, and the

468

grauwacke strata are covered, nnconformably, by a tertiary deposit,
consisting of beds of sand, sandstone, clays, and lignites, which col-
lectively constitute a brown coal formation. This is covered by an
extensive bed of gravel, and above the gravel is a loosely coherent,
sandy loam, containing land shells of existing species, and called
in the Rhine valley, Loess. From under the grauwacke there have
burst forth a variety of unstratified rocks, consisting of various
modifications of trachyte, trachytic tuff, basalt, and other modifi-
cations of trap. The main body of the Siedengebirge is composed
of these volcanic rocks.

There are many varieties of the trachyte, from a highly crystalline
rock, with separate crystals of felspar of great size, very like a large-
grained granite, to a compact stone of uniform structure, like com-
pact felspar or phonolite. The trachytic tuff also assumes various
appearances, from that of a coarse conglomerate to a white earthy
substance, scarcely distinguishable from chalk. ‘There is no evi-
dence of the trachyte having flowed in a stream, and the author saw
it only in one place in the form of a dyke. There are several
varieties of trap, but the most common is a compact black basalt,
in many places in perfect columns. ‘There are numerous dykes
of basalt. A remarkable eruption of trap tuff, penetrated by ba-
saltic dykes, occurs at Siegburg, where three cones, of about 200 feet
in height, rise abruptly in the midst of an alluvial plain, nearly on a
level with the Rhine.

The author points out the affinity which Von Buch has shown to
exist between the mineral composition of all the unstratified rocks,
and how a series of insensible gradations could be formed, through
trachyte and the trap family, from granite to modern lava. He shows
that a suite of specimens could be collected in the Siebengebirge,
passing insensibly from large-grained white trachyte to compact black
basalt ; and that these hills afford many interesting facts corroborative
of the opinion advanced by M. Gustave Rose respecting the identity
of hornblende and augite. Notwithstanding, however, this connexion
between the several volcanic rocks, the author points out distinct
evidence of different epochs of formation among them. He is of opi-
nion that the greater part of the trachytic tuff was the. first ejected;
that it was similar to those showers of scoriz and ashes which fre-
quently precede the eruptions of streams of lava; and that it is not,
as some previous writers have supposed, a rock recomposed from the
disintegration of pre-existing trachyte. He saw the trachytic tuff
traversed in one place by a dyke of trachyte, and it contains numerous
balls, like volcanic bombs, of varieties of trachyte, quite distinct in
character from any found en masse. It is traversed in many places
by trap dykes; and as these last are also found traversing solid tra-
chyte, the subsequent eruption of the trap is demonstrated. He
discovered no instance of the recurrence of trachyte after basalt had
begun to flow. There is on the side of the Rhine, opposite to the
Siebengebirge, an extinct volcano, of comparatively modern date,
the Rodderberg, composed of cinders and scorified rocks. The cra-
ter is about a quarter of a mile in diameter, and a hundred feet

469

deep: a farm-house, surrounded by corn-fields, stands in the middle
of it.

The brown coal formation is composed of beds of loose sand,
sandstone, and compact siliceous conglomerate, which often, in mi-
neral structure, cannot be distinguished from many varieties of grau-
wacke; of clay, abounding with balls and layers of clay ironstone ;
and of many varieties of lignite, from the state of a light brown earth,
to a black compact shining mass, or jet. All of these are frequently
met with in thick beds, and the lignite is most extensively worked for
fuel. They contain numerous impressions of leaves, and stems of
trees are very abundant. With the exception of casts of Lymncea and
Planorbis, in an opake white chert, of very limited extent, no shells,
fresh-water or marine, nor any remains of mammalia or birds, have
been found in any part of the formation; but in some beds of the
lignite, impressions of fresh-water fishes, the Leuciscus papyraceus of
Agassiz, are found in great abundance, and there have also been found
extinct species of frog, salamander, and triton, together with remains
of insects, which Professor Goldfuss considers tc belong to the genera
Lucanus, Cerambyx, Anthrax, Cantharis, and eight others.

The author submitted the specimens which contain impressions of
eaves, to the examination of Professor Lindley. Most of them are in
too imperfect a state to admit of any accurate determination, but
they consist generally of casts of portions of dicotyledonous leaves ;
and among them are two species, the existence of which is suffi-
cient to determine the relative age of the formation, and, with great
probability, the then warm climate of the North of Germany, viz.
Cinnamomum dulce and Podocarpus Macrophylla: there are besides
impressions of leaves very clearly belonging to the Palm. It is re-
markable, however, that a recent examination by Professor Nogge-
rath of Bonn, and M. Cotta of Heidelberg, of an extensive suite of the
woods found in this brown coal formation, did not disclose a single in-
stance of a monocotyledonous tree.

A vast deposit of gravel, chiefly composed of quartz, but containing
also a few fragments of basalt, trachyte, transition limestone, and
bunter sandstein, lies over the brown coal formation, sometimes
being only a thin covering, at others attaining a thickness of 125
feet. It is very distinct in character from the gravel now forming the
bed of the Rhine, and is older than some of the volcanic eruptions,
for a patch of it rests on the edge of the crater of the Rodderberg,
covered by volcanic ashes.

The author next proceeds to point out what he considers the rela-
tive age of this brown coal formation, a task extremely difficult, from
the almost total absence of shells, and the imperfect state of the
means of determining an epoch of formation by fossil plants. By
previous writers it has been assigned to the plastic clay of the Paris
basin ; but it appears to the author to possess no other character of
identity than the mineral composition of some of the beds, and the
occurrence of lignite, which prove nothing as to age. The amphi-
bious animal remains resemble those of the great fresh-water deposit
of Giningen ; but the few shells which occur, and the plants, are

470

identical in species with many of those occurring in the older fresh-
water beds of Aix in Provence. It seems to be very clear, that it is
an exclusively lacustrine deposit, and the organic remains, the only
evidence of age to be relied on where there is none from superpo-
sition of other beds, imperfect as they are, would seem to indicate a
more modern date than the plastic clay. The author states that a
distinguished geologist of Bonn has expressed his belief that it is
even older than the chalk ; but that although the opinions of that
experienced observer are entitled to great respect, he cannot recon-
cile the phenomena described with anything known respecting the
secondary rocks.

The determination of the age of this brown coal formation is of the
highest importance, as fixing the periods of eruption of the extinct vol-
canos of the Lower Rhine; for the author of this paper shows, that the
trachytic tuff contains leaves of plants identical with those found in
the clay and sandstone deposits ; that extensive layers of trachytic
tuff are interstratified with the beds of the formation in many places ;
and that in one situation a mass of basalt, thirty feet thick, lies upon
beds of coal thirteen feet in thickness. ‘The conclusions which the
facts appear to the author to justify, are, that there existed a vast
fresh-water lake, in which the brown coal beds were deposited ; that
during that deposition volcanos burst forth at the bottom of the lake,
as they do now at the bottom of the sea; and that a continuance of
volcanic action, or of elevatory. force, raised the Siebengebirge after
the deposit had ceased,—perhaps at the very time when the basalt or
trap eruptions took place, since near the summit of the Mandeberg,
a columnar basaltic cone, there is a patch of brown coal beds at the
height of nine hundred feet above the surface of the Rhine.

The last great formation, if it may be so termed, of this district,
lying upon the gravel in which the present bed of the Rhine is cut,
is that most remarkable deposit the Loess, a friable sandy loam, full
of existing species of land shells, without river shells, and without
plants, but containing bones of the Elephas primigenius and Rhino-
ceros tichorinus. It is found in detached masses, of vast thickness,
but without any signs of stratification, and sometimes at a height of
600 feet above the Rhine, and may be traced with scarcely any inter-
ruption from Bonn to Basle, a distance of 250 miles. The author
states that all the facts yet observed with respect to it, lead him to
conjecture that its origin may have been owing to the sudden burst-
ing of an extensive lake situated somewhere between Constance and
Basle, and that subsequent denuding causes have carried away the
enormous mass of matter deposited by this sea of mud, leaving only
detached portions as monuments of the passing of the mighty torrent.

March 27.—Robert Williams, jun. Esq., was elected a Fellow.

The first part of a memoir ‘On the sedimentary deposits which oc-
cupy the western parts of Shropshire and Herefordshire, and are
prolonged from N.E. to S.W., through Radnor, Brecknock, and
Caermarthenshires, with descriptions of the accompanying rocks of
intrusive or igneous characters,” by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq.
F.G.S. F.R.S. &c., was read.

471

After adverting to the want of definite knowledge of the erder of
succession, and of the fossiliferous characters of those great deposits
anterier to the old red sandstone, and commonly called transition
rocks (fossiliferous grauwacke, De la Beche), the author states that
the task of attempting to separate them into distinct formations, was
first suggested to him by the very clear and perfect exhibition of their
details in the country under review.

The present work has already occupied large portions of the two
last summers, and has for its basis the maps of the Ordnance survey,
coloured geologically by the author. To the Master General of the
Ordnance, to Col. Colby, Capt. Robe, and the Officers of His Majesty’s
Map-office, for their assistance in supplying him with good geogra-
phical data, and also to Mr. Budgin, one of the Field-Surveyors of
the Ordnance, the author acknowledges his obligations. He next ad-
verts to the unpublished yet valuable observations of Mr. Arthur Aikin,
made many years ago in the north-eastern portion of the country de-
scribed ; and he further expresses his sincere thanks to many resident
gentlemen who assisted him in his observations.

The memoir is divided into three parts. The first contains an ac-
count of the overlying deposits of new red sandstone, coal measures,
mountain limestone, and old red sandstone, each of which is in con-
tact with, or contiguous to, the transition rocks (grauwacke series) in
some portion of the region described. ‘The second and most exten-
Sive part explains the subdivisions and relations of the grauwacke se-
ries as exhibited’ within a zone of country extending from the Wrekin
near Shrewsbury on the N.E., to the mouth of the Towey, near Caer-
marthen, on the S.W.; and the third part is to be devoted chiefly to
the consideration of the rocks of intrusive or igneous characters, and
their effects upon the associated strata.

Part I. On the New Red Sandstone, Coal Measures, Mountain
Limestone, and Old Red Sandstone.

1. New red sandstone.—This is the youngest secondary formation
in contact with the transition rocks, and is exhibited on both sides of
the Severn, near Shrewsbury, being superposed to coal measures, to
various members of the grauwacke series, and to trap rocks of diffe-
rent characters, in all of which situations it is undisturbed.

The oldest strata of this formation are compared with the rothe-
todte-liegende of Germany, or the older new red of the North of En-
gland, and are shown to underlie a dolomitic conglomerate at Alber-
bury and Cardeston. The superior members on the north bank of
the Severn, consist of fine-grained sandstones, for the most part red,
but offering at Grinshill, 7 miles N.E. of Shrewsbury, a subordinate,
white building-stone, of excellent quality. Small quantities of the
ores of copper and cobalt, are mentioned as occurring in the forma-
tion near Grinshill and Hawkstone, &c. Much sulphate of barytes
and decomposed pyrites are diffused through the mass of these rocks.
No organic remains have yet been discovered in them.

2. Coal Measures. a. Coal field of Coalbrookdate.—This coal-field
is stated to rest at Steeraways and near Little Wenlock, on a thin
band of limestone, which, from its fossils, is shown to be true moun-

472

tain limestone ; whilst in the contiguous extension of this field, the
carboniferous strata overlie, unconformably, various members of the
grauwacke series, with one of which, the transition limestone of Wen-
lock Edge, they are brought into conformable apposition at Lincoln
Hill, on the Severn. The complicated relations of the deposits within
this small and disturbed district, east of the Wrekin, are referred to
the protrusion of basalt and green-stone, which occasionally tilt the
strata at high angles, and sometimes occupy the seats of faults.

b. Coal-fields in the immediate vicinity of Shrewsbury.—Of these,
the most important is a curvilinear zone extending from the north-
eastern flank of the Brythin Hills to Wellbatch, near Shrewsbury,
the carboniferous strata reposing on the inclined edges of the grau-
wacke rocks, and dipping towards a common centre beneath the new
red sandstone. Detached portions of the same zone are again
found at Sutton and at Uffington; and they also follow the sinuous
outline of grauwacke on the northern flanks of the Longmynd and
Caer Caradoc. At Pitchford, the whole carboniferous series is re-
presented by a bituminous breccia of a few feet in thickness.

Three thin beds of coal are, for the most part, observable, and
the deposit is distinguished by an included band of limestone, simi-
lar in mineral aspect to the lacustrine limestones of Central France,
and containing minute shells referrible to freshwater genera. The
vegetable remains of the associated shales are chiefly analogous to
the plants of other coal-basins; but those of Le Botwood are rich in
the new species, Neuropteris cordata, whilst the shale of Pontesbury
has offered a beautiful example of Pecopteris blechnoides in fructifi-
cation.

After demonstrating the slight commercial value which can be
attached to the thin deposits of this age, the author speculates on
the probable importance of the outer zone or Pontesbury-field, which
he presumes may expand to a great thickness in its passage beneath
the new red sandstone of N. Shropshire and Cheshire.

c. Coal fields in the Clee Hills—These fields are thrown up to
considerable heights above the adjoining country of old red sand-
stone, both in the Brown Clee, and the itterstone Clee Hills, the
coal being for the most part covered with basalt.

The Brown Clee is distinguished by two tabular summits of black
basalt (Jewstone), the highest of which is 1806 feet above the sea.
The coal-bearing strata have for their base a hard sandstone occa-
sionally conglomeritic, the equivalent of the millstone grit. On
three sides of this ridge, these very thin and poor coal measures
repose on old red sandstone, which to the west is a coarse conglo-
merate ; but on the fourth or south-eastern side, there is inter-
posed between the old red and the lower coal grits, a thin zone of
limestone, which the author, therefore, refers to the age of the
mountain limestone. Several faults are mentioned as traversing
this coal tract from S.W. to N.E., one of which has been the source
of eruption of much basaltic matter.

The Titterstone Clee Hill is next described; and details are pre-
sented of those parts only which were unnoticed in Mr. R. Wright's

473

memoir. The most important of these relate to the Knowlbury field,
which, from its juxta-position to the larger field of Coalbrook, the
author terms a parasitic basin, and shows that it contains five seams
of coal and some bands of ironstone. ‘The strata around the verge
of this basin are highly inclined, the dip diminishing as it approaches
towards a common centre. Sections across this small basin exhibit
considerable faults, which always occur as upcasts towards the higher
sides of the hills, where the basaltic matter has found vent: coal, in-
cluded between two of these upcasts, is described as much thickened
and in the state of cannel coal.

Many fossil plants of new species from the Knowlbury and Gut-
ter Works are described by Professor Lindley. Recent investiga-
tions of Mr. Lewis are mentioned, which prove the existence of a
central dyke or funnel of basalt, thereby confirming the opinion
formerly expressed by Mr. Bakewell; and a complete transverse
section of these hills shows, that some beds of coal have been car-
ried up on the top of the basalt, and that this rock has flowed late-
rally so as also to overlie the coal. Although these coal measures
test, in the greater part of their circumference, on the old red
sandstone, the existence of an interpolated band of true mountain
limestone is pointed out, which from the thickness of a few feet near
Bennett’s-end, extends to a maximum developement of about 60
feet beneath one part of the Cornbrook field, where it contains sub-
ordinate beds of fine oolite, marl of various colours, abundance of
characteristic organic remains, and is much contorted and dislo-
cated.

At Orelton, near the north-eastern extremity of this range, and
thus connecting it with the more eastern coal-fields, is a tortuous
range of oolitic mountain limestone, which rests upon the old red
sandstone and, exhibiting some extraordinary fractures and dislo-
Cations, passes beneath the unproductive or lower coal grits.

3. Old red sandstone——In the vast formation comprehended
under the term old red sandstone, the author includes all the red or
green marls, conglomerates, sandstones, limestones, or flagstones,
the youngest or highest beds of which pass immediately beneath the
mountain limestone or carboniferous strata, and the lowest overlie
and graduate into, the superior members of the grauwacke series.
The author gives a geographical sketch of the western side of
the great trough in which this formation is deposited in Shropshire,
Herefordshire, and Brecknockshire; the prevailing strike of which
is shown to be from N.E. to S.W., and the usual inclination to be
tothe S.E. The upper beds of the formation, near the Brown Clee,
and partially near the Titterstone Clee Hills, expose a thin band of
conglomerate; then follow, in descending order, red or green marls,
with two or more zones of impure limestone calied cornstone. To
these succeed micaceous flagstones and thin-bedded building stones,
with other strata of marls and cornstone. Massive varieties of con-
cretionary limestone, termed ball-stones, range along the western
foot of the Brown Clee. They are sometimes from 18 to 20 feet
thick, and are very dissimilar in quality and in appearance from the

AT4

thin and conglomeritic bands of the rock. Alternations of red and
green marls again succeed beneath the cornstones, and the base of
the whole formation is usually marked, particularly in its ccurse
from Kington to Caermarthenshire, by highly micaceous greenish
and reddish tile stones associated with marl. Thick-bedded, fine-
grained building stones of excellent quality are worked near Hay in
Herefordshire, overlying the tile stone division. No workable seam
of coal has ever been discovered in the old red sandstone. Dr. Lloyd
has recently discovered near Leominster and Ludlow, in the central
and calcareous sandstone beds of the formation, fossils which are
chiefly referrible to undescribed species of the family of Trilobites,
and with them a few fragments of plants apparently terrestrial.

An expansion upon a large scale is pointed out in the old red sand-
stone, which, from a narrow tongue, is described as extending all
over the forest of Mynidd Eppint, on the western side of which it
reposes conformably and at high angles, upon the uppermost strata
of grauwacke, at the chief escarpment of that rock. Many trans-
verse sections trom the grauwacke formations to the edge of the Gla-
morganshire coal-basin are given by the author, and they exhibit a
perfect conformability between the upper beds of the old red and the
lower members of the mountain limestone, as well as a gradual pas-
sage from the old red into the grauwacke. He, however, insists
that there are no two formations of the English series which can be
better separated from each other for purposes of geological illustra-
tion, than the old red sandstone and the uppermost grauwacke; the
former being as poor as the latter is rich in organic remains, whilst
the colours and mineral characters of the two formations are also
very distinct. The maximum thickness of the formation is not easily
defined with accuracy, but the author has no hesitation in saying
that it exceeds 4.000 feet.

In the latitudes of Llandovery and Llandilo, the whole formation
is thrown so much on edge, that it necessarily occupies a very small
superficial breadth, whilst the very slight inclination and the undu-
lation of the beds in Herefordshire and Brecknockshire account for
its vast expansion in these counties.

Detached tracts covered with this formation are pointed out as
occurring far within the frontier of the grauwacke rocks; and they
are considered to be true basins of elevation which have been formed
on the western sides of certain anticlinal lines, along which the in-
ferior sediments have a reversed dip.

April 17th.—Thomas Colbeck, Esq., Maddox-street, Regent-
street, was elected a Fellow of this Society. f

The second part of a memoir, commenced on the 27th of March,
and entitled, ‘‘On the sedimentary deposits which occupy the west-
ern parts of Shropshire and Herefordshire, and are prolonged from
N.E. to §.W., through Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, and Caermar-
thenshire, with descriptions of the accompanying rocks of intrusive
or igneous characters,” by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.G.S.
F.R.S. &c., was read,

In this part of the memoir the author separates into distinct for-

475

mations by the evidences of fossils and the order of superposition,.
the upper portions of those vast sedimentary accumulations, which .
have hitherto been known only under the common terms of transi-

tion rocks, and grauwacke. Commencing at the base of the old red

sandstone, which formation he had described in the previous part of
the memoir, he proceeds to give an account of the underlying de-

posits as they succeed to each other in descending order in Shrop-

shire and Herefordshire.

I. Upper Ludlow Rock.—¥quivalent, Grauwacke Sandstone of
Tortworth, &c.

This group, so named because the Castle of Ludlow stands upon
it, is as eminently characterized by the presence of organic remains
as the old red sandstone is by their deficiency. Amid a profusion
of fossils, the upper beds are characterized threughout the whole
range of the formation by two species of Strophomena or Leptaena,
an Orbicula, a plicated Terebratula, &c. all of undescribed species.
The middle beds contain many species of Orthocerata; Serpulze? of
great size, &c.; and the lower strata are charged with a profusion of
small Terebratulz having a gryphoid form. ‘Trilobites of the genera
Homonolotus andCalymene occur. The group has a maximum thick-
ness of about 1000 feet, is for the most part a thin-bedded sandstone,
often highly calcareous, and at other times argillaceous, and in Shrop-
shire frequently occupies distinct lofty ridges interposed conforma-
bly between the old red sandstone and the inferior limestone.

II. Wenlock Limestone. —Equivalents, Dudley Limestone, Transi-
tion Limestone, &c.
On the banks of the Severn near Wenlock, and in the Wenlock
Edge, this group is particularly abundant in corals and Encrinites,
nearly all the species of which, as well as of certain Mollusca, are
found in the well-known limestone of Dudley. The exact position,
therefore, which the latter occupies in the geological series of En-

gland, is thus for the first time determined.

The upper beds rising from beneath the Ludlow rock are thin-
bedded and lenticular, and the lower beds in Wenlock Edge con-.
tain many concretions of very great size and of highly crystalline
structure. Throughout its course in the district included between
the rivers Oney and Lug, this limestone is chiefly characterized by
the abundance of one species of Pentamerus, and at Aymestrey it
is rich in that and other fossils*. 100 feet are considered to be about
the thickness of this calcareous zone.

IIf. Lower Ludlow Rock.—Kquivalent, “ Die Earth.”

This group is chiefly made up of incoherent, greyish, argillaceous
schist, seldom micaceous. The higher strata are in some places
charged with many Orthocerata of new and undescribed species,
Lituites, Asaphus caudatus, &c. Other beds are locally distinguished

* The author cannot allude to the fossils of this district without ex-
pressing his deep obligation to the Rev. T. Lewis of Aymestrey, whose un-
ceasing researches have contributed very essentially towards the zoological
illustration of this memoir.

476

by concretions of argillaceous limestone, formed around corals and
other organic bodies; and towards the base of this deposit a thin
calcareous zone is observable in Shropshire, containing the Penta-
merus levis and a new species of that bivalve, both differing from the
species noted in the overlying group 2._ The thickness is supposed
to exceed 2000 feet.

The dislocations and faults on the Severn are described, by which
this unproductive shale or “‘Die Earth” is brought in one point into
unconformable contact with, and in another passes conformably be-
neath, the coal fields of Madeley and Brosely.

IV. Shelly Sandstones.—Equivalent,

Red and green colours predominate in these sandstones, although
purple and white are also frequently observed; by which charac-
ters, as well as by the nature of the stone and the specific differences
in the organic remains, this formation is clearly distinguished from
any of the overlying groups. Associated with the sandy strata are
calcareous bands, almost made up of Producte, Leptenz, and Spi-
riteri, with crinoidal remains, all differing from those in the superior
deposits. In Shropshire this formation rises at low angles from the
valleys of lower Ludlow rock or Die Earth, and occupies separate
ridges on the south-eastern flanks of the Wrekin and the Caer Cara-
doc. By a rough estimate 1500 to 1800 feet are assigned to the
depth of the deposit. :

V. “ Black Trilobite Flagstone,” &c.—Equivalent, —___—?

The prevailing Trilobite in this formation is the large Asaphus
Buchii, which with the other associated species is never seen in
any of the overlying groups. In the mountain called the Long-
mynd, this flagstone is made up of black schists, hard and dark-
coloured grauwacke sandstone, &c., in which Trilobites have not
yet been observed, although they are abundantly characteristic of
the same zone in its prolongation through Radnor, Brecknock, and
Caermarthen shires, where these fossils occur in black limestone and
calcareous flagstone and grit. The thickness of this formation pro-
bably exceeds that of any one of the superior groups.

VI. Red Conglomerate, Sandstone, and Slaty Schast.

This is a vast deposit of several thousand teet in thickness, con-
sisting of very coarse, quartzose conglomerates, which alternate with
some schistose beds and much purple-coloured sandstone (Com-
pound Sandstone of Townson), the strata of which in Haughmond,
Pulverbatch, and Linley Hills, Shropshire, are highly inclined or
vertical, in conformity with those of the preceding formation. No
organic remains have been observed, by which, and by its very pe-
culiar mineral structure, this formation is shown to be entirely distinct
from the preceding groups.

The above six deposits are all exhibited in Shropshire, trending
from N.E. to S.W., and occupying distinct ridges and valleys. In
their further prolongation to the S.W. the upper Ludlow rock is
uniformly persistent. Strata lithologically similar and containing
the same fossils are found invariably to rise from beneath the old red
sandstone in the counties of Hereford, Radnor, Brecknock, and Caer-

477

marthen; sometimes at very low angles of inclination, while at others,
as in the promontories near Ludlow and Brecon, they are thrown up
into saddles, and at the south-western limit of Brecknock and Caer-
marthen shires they are vertical or very highly inclined.

The second deposit, or Wenlock (Dudley) limestone, thins out a
little to the S.W. of Aymestrey, and the groups 1 and 3 being brought
together, generally occupy the same lofty escarpment in their course
through S. Wales. Hence the author suggests the term Ludlow for-
mation (the upper and lower Ludlow rock being subordinate mem-
bers), as applicable to all the higher portion of this series which has
a tripartite character in Saiop and Hereford, due to the interpola-
tion of the Wenlock and Aymestrey limestone.

The deposits 4, 5, and 6, are three separate formations, entirely
differing from each other, and from the Ludlow formation, in their
characters, mineral and fossil, and in the distinctness of their phy-
sical demarcations. They are not, however, to be traced continu-
ously in their course from Shropshire on the N.E. to Caermarthen-
shire on the S.W.; though they reappear at intervals on that strike,
preserving their relative places in the geological series.

In those districts where parallel ridges of all these formations are
brought to day within a zone of small breadth, rocks of trappean
or igneous origin are usual accompaniments, as in the neighbour-
hoods of the Wrekin and Caer Caradoc, in Shropshire ; and again,
after a long interval, in the environs of Old Radnor, Builth and
Llandegley. In the intervening and featureless tracts of Clun,
Knuckless and Radnor forests, where such intrusive rocks are ab-
sent, the Ludlow formation alone is spread out in undulating masses,
and upon its surface are frequently found detached and elevated
basins of old red sandstone.

The heights of the different groups above the sea-level vary from
500 to 2000 feet.

The author reserves for the third part of his memoir, which he
proposes to communicate on a future occasion, the description of
the numerous trappean and porphyritic rocks, which, in penetrating
through these grauwacke deposits, have produced changes in their
mineral aspect and structure. On that occasion the question of the
parallelism of these sedimentary groups will be reviewed in reference
to the direction of the outbursts of rocks of igneous origin. The
quartz rock on the flanks of the Wrekin and Caer Caradoc, and also
in the singular ridge of the Stiper Stones, will be described under
the head of «‘ Altered Rocks.” The relations of the formations on
the eastern side of Herefordshire will also be explained, with the
view of determining whether deposits of the same age and charac-
ter rise from beneath the old red sandstone in the flanks of the
Malvern Hills, &c., as have been shown to exist on the opposite or
western side of the great field of old red sandstone.

May 1.—Robert Scarlett, Esq., of Park Street, Westminster ;
Rev. R. W. Browne, B.A., Fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford ;
George Silvertop, Esq., of Minster Acres, Northumberland; An-
drew Martin, Esq., of Suffoik Place, Pall Mall East; Henry Dar-

478

win Rogers, Esq., of Philadelphia; and John Lewis Prevost, Esq.,
His Majesty’ s Consul-gener al for Switzerland, of Suffolk Place,
Pall Mall East ; were elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper was first read, entitled, “‘ Notice of a Machine for regu-
lating high temperatures, invented by the late Sir James Hall, Bart. .
F.GS.,” and drawn up by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., F.G.S. &c.

Sir James Hall, in his experiments on the fusion of granite and
other rocks, and on the effects subsequently produced upon the fused
mass by gradual cooling, conceived that the experimenter required
the power of regulating the temperature in such a manner as best to
imitate nature; and for this purpose he invented the machine de-
scribed by Captain Basil Hall.

The principle of the machine is such, that when any change of
temperature takes place in that part of the furnace in which the
material under experiment is placed, a corresponding change is
made in the current of air which maintains the heat.

The furnace was about 3 feet long, 18 inches wide, and 2% feet
deep. From side to side extended a muffle, one end of which was
closed with a plug, furnished with a small disk of mica, through
which the subject of the experiment could be viewed; and at the
opposite end of the mufiie was placed the machine.

This instrument consists of a spiral spring coiled in a vertical
plane, and facing the muffle. The spring is formed on the principle
of Harrison’s balance in chronometer, of two metals jomed together,
but of different degrees of expansibility, so that the spring will either
curl or uncurl, according as the heat is raised or depressed. The
outer part of the coil is fixed, while the inner end is united to an
axle, which, being free, turns round as the spiral winds or unwinds;
or as the heat, radiating from the interior of the muffle, is raised or
depressed.

To the further end of the axle is bitted a wheel, around the cir-
cumference of which is wound a string, carrying at its extremity a
small weight, which consequently rises or falls as the spiral curls or
uncurls. Under the weight is a little cup, forming one end of
a lever, to the opposite end of which a metal disk is suspended,
immediately over an aperture of rather smaller dimensions, and
near the end of along iron channel, through which alone air was
supplied to the furnace. Directly under this aperture is another
of similar size, as well as another disk united to the upper disk by
a rod of metal, equal in length to the distance between the two open-
ings. The object of having two apertures is to secure the same
amount of current of air both above and below. If there were
only one opening, and one disk to close it, the air rushing in would
force it down and keep it closed; but by this contrivance the rush
of air at the lower opening striking on the under surface of the
lower disk, exactly counterbalances that from above which strikes
upon the upper surface of the superior disk. To render the points
of contact perfect, and to prevent the interference of small particles
of dirt, the disks, when closed, rest upon circular knife-edges.
~ Besides the wheel, around which the cord carrying the small

479

weight is wound, the axle connected with the spiral is furnished
with a long hand, like that of a clock, reaching to a large graduated
circle in the same plane with the first wheel, but lying beyond it.
This hand is capable of being attached to the wheel carrying the
weight, and consequently of indicating changes of temperature with
great rapidity.

To preserve uniformity of temperature, the spiral, and as much
of the apparatus as possible, were inclosed in a tin case, filled with
water kept constantly boiling ; so that the only change to which the
spiral was subjected, was the heat radiating from the muflle.

The action of the instrument is simply this. The heat of the
furnace having been raised to the required pitch, a change in the
radiant heat from the muffle effects a change in the action of the
spiral, and the string supporting the weight is consequently either
lengthened or shortened. If the change in the radiant heat be an
increase, then the string is shortened, the weight is removed from
the cup at one end of the lever, and the disks at the other end con-
sequently falling, the current of air is checked, and the heat within
the furnace is checked also. If, on the contrary, the change in the
radiant heat be a diminution, then a reversed operation takes place,
and the current of air being increased, the temperature of the fur-
nace is also increased.

A letter was afterwards read from Mr. Telfair to Sir Alexander
Johnstone, V.P.R.A.S., accompanying a specimen of recent con-
glomerate rock, from the Island of Madagascar, containing frag-
ments of a tusk, and part of a molar tooth of a hippopotamus; and
communicated by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. F.G.S,

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PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
1833. No. 32.

May 15.—George Wareing Ormerod, Esq., B.A., of Brasenose
College, Oxford, and of Ardwick, Lancashire; Viscount Borringdon,
of Kent House, Knightsbridge; James Garth Marshall, Esq., Head-
ingley near Leeds; Samuel Chartres, Esq., Capt. Royal Artillery,
Bath; Damiano Floresi, Esq., Commissioner of the Bolafos and
Vetu Grande Mines in Mexico; and Joseph Prestwich, jun. Esq., of
the Lawn, South Lambeth, were elected Fellows of tis Society.

A paper was first read entitled ‘“‘ Observations on the Cliffs in the
Neighbourhood of Harwich, made in December 1832,” by James
Mitchell, Esq., LL.D., F.G.S.

The principal object of this paper is to give a detailed de-
scription of the beds of London clay, as they appeared in the
Harwich cliffs at the time the author visited the spot. After point-
ing out the physical features of the line of coast, the effects which
the sea has produced upon the cliffs, and the means which have
been taken to defend them, he proceeds te give an enumera-
tion of the beds presented in a cliff which begins about 300 yards
to the south of the lighthouse, and extends for rather more than a
mile. The greatest height of the cliff is stated to be 35 feet, and
the escarpment, where examined by the author, to present the fol-
lowing details :—

Mesetable:soiliir at ci chen sty Ber ONL elias

Clay containing numerous chalk flints and rolled

(OCS) OSI 5 cy PRN rae Onl DAN MOR OR SRR RSS 1 foot.

Red clay separated into beds by whitish or greenish

Streaks ADOUL ca clers ety alae ce Cee and cme 20 feet.
Cement mar! or indurated marl, two strata separated

by! a bedvofcclaye i ime yea aon im .
Cement; stone) sere ey ane eae ken acu ee Ue 10 inches,

apouts see SEER ON Nae PMU 2 REG Us JAR Nt BA 7 feet,

The lines of stratification are stated to be not horizontal at this
point, but to have a gentle anticlinal dip.

In the prolongation of the cliff to the south, the face of the escarp-
ment is said to be divided into only four thick horizontal beds.

Two strata of the cement stone are stated to occur in the neigh-

452

bourhood of Harwich, separated from each other by about 20 feet
of clay: and the author mentions that in sinking wells in the town,
the chalk has been found at the depth of sixty feet.

Iron pyrites, occur in great abundance at the foot of the clifis,
and lignite, but sparingly. Fossils are said to be procured chiefly
from the cement stone, and a species of Venus to be the most
abundant.

The author next gives a description of the cement stone; the
history of its first discovery by the late Rev. Dr. Parker in the year
1796; a list of the localities where it is found in the greatest abund-
ance; then points out the difference between the cement stone of
Harwich and Sheppey, and lastly, advances an opinion on the pro-
bable period at which the supply will fail.

«‘A Memoir on the Valley of the River Medway and the adjacent
Country,” by R. Dadd, Esq., and communicated by James Mitchell,
Esq., F.G.S., was then read.

The country described by the author lies in the immediate vicinity
of Chatham and Rochester, and is characterized by the passage of
the river Medway through a narrow, winding gorge bounded by
chalk hills. It exhibits six different deposits, viz.—

. Lower chalk.
- Upper chalk.
. Plastic clay.
. London clay.
. Diluvium.

- Alluvium.

1. On the right bank of the Medway the lower chalk is very little
exposed, appearing principally at Burham, where it is extensively
quarried, in the form of low downs covered in many places by dilu-
vium. On the left bank it is much more extensive, forming higher
and bolder hills, and reaching from the entrance of the gorge to
Whornes Place, with a breadth varying from a mile to half a mile.
Its fossils are abundant, but not various, being chiefly Ammonites,
Terebratulz, Inocerami, Pectens, and remains of Fishes and Saurians.

2. The upper or flinty chalk is extensive on both sides of the
river, forms most of the high land of the district, and is the basis on
which the newer deposits rest. Into these strata all the deep wells
penetrate. In its mineralogical and fossil characters it is similar to
the upper chalk beds of other localities. Its surface is hollowed
and uneven, and is often covered, even at considerabie elevations,
with patches of diluvial matter.

3. The plastic clay and its accompanying sands appear, at a for-
mer period, to have extended over the whole district; for their re-
mains are found in every valley, and on every hill patches of it
remain undisturbed by the phenomena which attended their eleva-
tion, This formation extends from Cuxton valley through Strood
to Frindsbury Hill; as also from Whitewall Creek over and be-
hind Barrow Hill, through Upnor, along the banks of the river to
near Cockham Wood Fort. An instructive section has been formed

> TS OO bh

483

at the latter locality by the operations of the workmen in digging
brick earth. Fossils, chiefly belonging to the genera Ostrea, Cyclas,
and Cerithium, occur most in one particular part of the deposit
called the clay and shell bed: it consists of a bluish black, tenacious
clay alternating with shells which are tender and chalky.

4, The London clay is of very small extent in the district de-
scribed by the author, but possesses the same characters as at
Shooter’s Hill. It merely caps the hill below Upnor, and extends to
Hoo, with a breadth of less than 4 of a mile, and a length of 24
miles.

5. The diluvium is met with on the slopes and tops of the hills,
as well as in the valleys. Inthe latter its average thickness is 6
feet, but in some situations it considerably exceeds 20 feet. On
the former it varies from 1 foot to 20 feet in thickness, with an
average of 2 feet. In situations not exposed to the action of
running water, as on the summits of the hills, it consists in the
lower part of water-worn chalk, mingled with displaced but unrolled
flints, which are often so friable as to fall to pieces when moved.
Above these lies a mixture of stiff red clay and flints, with occa-
sional seams of sand. The fossil remains discovered in this deposit
are the bones and teeth of the Elephant, Deer, Rhinoceros, and of
an unknown animal.

6. The alluvial matter deposited by the present stream con-
sists of gravel and rolled pebbles, covered by dark blue clay and
vegetable remains, having a depth of ten feet or upwards. Its ex-
tent on both sides of the river proves that the Medway formerly
occupied a much greater breadth than at present; and the large
marshes below Chatham attest its tendency to accumulate. In fact,
the river is said to have perceptibly shallowed within the last forty
years.

A memoir was afterwards read “On a Fossil in the Bristol Mu-
seum, and discovered in the Lias at Lyme Regis,” by Dr. Riley,
and communicated by Charles Stokes, Esq., F.G.S., &c.

After stating the different opinions which had been given by those
naturalists who had seen the specimen, and alluding to their apparent
incorrectness, the author states that he is induced to consider the
fossil as the remains of a cartilaginous fish, having many points of
resemblance to the Rays, but differing from them in several im-
portant characters. He then proceeds to give a minute description
of the anatomical structure of the fossil, commencing with the head.
He states that the jaws are very much elongated; that he could dis-
cover in the upper no traces of respiratory canals or openings; that
it appears to have fitted into a central groove in the lower jaw; that
there are no signs of any cavities for the reception of teeth; but that
there are lying near the jaws many spines with radiate bases similar to
the spines of rays and other cartilaginous fishes. The orbits are stated
to be of immense size, surrounded by an elevated edge or ridge,
and the space on each side of the median line and within these ridges
and corresponding to the parietal and frontal bones, to be flat and
depressed not unlike that of a Saurian; but the author considers

484

that this depression between the orbits may be better accounted for
by the fact of this part of the cranium being nothing more than a
thin membrane, as in some of the Chondropterygii.

The vertebral column is said to be less injured than the other
parts of the animal. The processes have disappeared, but the bodies
of the vertebra are perfect; they are circular and very numerous,
amounting to about 260, 28 of which are cervical, 143 dorsal, and
90 caudal. From the slight groove for the reception of the spinal
marrow, and the separated condition of the cervical vertebra, the
author is inclined to consider the spine as having a nearer resem-
blance to that of a Squalus than of any other of the cartilaginous
fishes.

The thoracic and pelvic members are stated to be greatly injured;
but from the characters which they present, it is inferred, that
they afford additional proofs that the fossil belonged to a cartila-
ginous fish.

In conclusion, the author conceives himself justified in considering
the specimen as the type of a new genus, and therefore assigns to
it the appellation of Squalo-raza Dolichognathos.

May 29th.—Richard Grantham, Esq., of Limerick, and James
Hardie, Esq., of the Bengal Medical Establishment, F.A.S. Cal.,
were elected Fellows.

A paper “ On the Oolitic Formation and its Contents, as occurring
ina Quarry at Bearfield, near Bradford, Wilts,” by J. Chaning Pearce,
Esq., F.G.S., was first read.

The principal object of the author is to describe the organic re-
mains which he found in a quarry situated at the summit of the hill
to the north-west of the town of Bradford in Wilts, and in the same
range of hills with that called Farleigh Down, near Bath. The fol-
lowing is a section of the beds, in descending order :—

Ft. In.

NG), Clay, above thevoolite (ko) eins aes 10 0
Bis Debris otshells2o:c8 Oooh a oe eee 0 6
Ca RIGESLONE Ws toured tiicie) chan ti evae vest oer ieiteh Lcnens 15 O
REPEC AS selon ce hecote bere) siecle topatol islets ee te wien eee 30 0
Be Mellow clay, cee pct ciel Ee SE La Ly wl)
HE SOLE PREESLONE Guia ccceiepe ce rceriie ease: Nh)
Go -Rubblyitreestonen icra. reer eee ree

The organic remains are found principally in two of the strata,
namely, in the shelly bed B, which lies directly on the surface of
the great oolite (C. &c.), and in the yellow clay, marked E, which lies
within the oolite. The fossils of the bed B, are Avicule in
abundance, numerous species of Terebratule and Ostree, with
several other species of univalve and bivalve shells, Corals, Asterize,
Kchini, vertebre and teeth of fishes, Crustacez, Pentacrinus vulgaris,
Eugeniacrinites pyriformis (Goldfuss), and three species of Apio-
crinites, viz. Apiocrinites globosus, A. intermedius, and A. elongatus.
The author observes that where the undulations of the great oolite
rise above the level of half a foot, the debris of shells are wanting.

485

He also remarks that the columns of the Apiocrinites are never found
erect, but appear to have been thrown into their present, horizontal
position by the superincumbent weight of clay at the moment of
deposition. He supports this opinion by the fact that the columns,
though in general separated from the roots, have their terminations
almost invariably directed towards them, —an arrangement which he
believes could not have occurred, had they been broken off and
swept from their pedicles by a strong current.

The fossils contained in the yellow clay bed E, are Terebratulz,
Ostreze, Echini, palatal bones, numerous small corals, and the three
species of Apiocrinites already mentioned. The remains of the latter
are abundant, but in this bed, as in the stratum B, the Apzocrinites
elongatus is the most rare.

The author next proceeds to draw the distinctive characters of
the genus Apiocrinites, and afterwards those of the three species
above enumerated. The memoir was illustrated by drawings and
very fine specimens of the fossils.

“‘A paper upon some tertiary deposits in the province of Granada,
and part of that of Sevilla, and along the line of coast from Maiaga
to Cartagena, in the South of Spain,” by Col. Charles Silvertop,
F.G.S., was then read.

The province of Granada is bounded on the south by the Medi-
terranean and on the north by the Sierra Morena, embracing a
district of about 120 miles in breadth. The distance from Malaga
to Cartagena is equal to about 250 English miles. Parallel to the
Mediterranean and not far distant from its shores, the district is
traversed by a ridge of mountains to which the author applies the
name of the Sierra Nevada, though this appellation refers properly
only to the highest portion of the chain.

After briefly alluding to the primary and transition formations
which constitute the central ridge of the Sierras, to the secondary
sandstone and limestone on their flanks, and to the igneous or
trappean rocks which appear in various partsof the country examined,
the author enters into a minute description of the tertiary formations.
These deposits he divides into two distinct districts, one bordering
the shore of the Mediterranean and situated between it and the
southern foot of the Sierra Nevada, and the other occupying por-
tions of the district, between this chain of mountains and the south-
ern base of the Sierra Morena.

Thetertiary beds ranging along the coast from Malagato Cartagena,
with occasional interruptions, are stated to consist of clay, sand, coarse
sandstone, conglomerate, sandy loam and marl, and friable limestone,
containing various shells and corais. In the neighbourhood of Ma-
laga they are divided into two groups distinguished by their fossil
contents, and stated, on the authority of M. Deshayes, to belong
to the Pliocene period of Mr. Lyell.

The relative heights at which the beds occur are said to differ
considerably, being in some places almost on a Jevel with the shore,
but at others at nearly 1000 feet above it. This difference the au-
thor conceives may have been produced by the protrusion of the

436

volcanic rocks, which abound near the locality where the elevation
is greatest.

The tertiary formations between the Sierra Nevada and the
Sierra Morena, are divided into three districts, called by the
author after the names of the principal towns situated in them, viz.,
Alhama, Antequera, and Alcala la Real. The principal strata are
composed of calcareous sandstone and friable limestone, containing
numerous fragments of corals and shells. The fossils are stated to
differ from those found in the deposits along the shore of the Medi-
terranean, and to be characteristic of the middle or Miocene period
of Mr. Lyell. The strata are described as occupying very different
levels, varying from 1000 to 1500 feet above the sea, and as being
vccasionally inclined at considerable angles.

Besides these three principal deposits, several others of minor
extent and situated in the province of Sevilla are noticed; and in
concluding his paper, the author alludes to the proofs afforded by
these widely scattered remnants of tertiary formations, of the great
extent of an ancient sea in this southern portion of the Peninsula,
and of the violent manner in which the deposits have been acted
upon by igneous and aqueous agents.

June 12.—Stephen Woolryche, Esq., Inspector General of Hos-
pitals, Heath Farm, Cashiobury, Hertfordshire ; Rev. Edward De-
nison, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford; Philip Pusey, Esq., of
Pusey, near Faringdon; Richard Westmacott, jun., Esq., of Wilton
Place; and Abel Lewis Gower, Esq., of Finsbury Square, were
elected Fellows of this Society.

A paper entitled “A Notice on some Specimens from the Coal
Shale of Kulkeagh, and the subjacent Limestone in the County of
Fermanagh,” by Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart., F.G.S.,
was first read.

After alluding, in terms of commendation, to Mr. Griffith’s account
of the Connaught coal-field, the author states that his principal ob-
ject is to describe the organic remains which he obtained, in con-
junction with Lord Cole, from the beds of shale forming part of the
lowest division of the coal series. ‘This shale deposit is stated to be
600 feet thick; to be covered by 70 feet of sandstone, and to be
separated, in the northern division of the district, from the subjacent
or mountain limestone by another system of sandstone strata about
40 feet thick. It is described as being composed principally of fre-
quent alternations of beds of shale, more or Jess indurated, and of
clay-ironstone. In the upper part of the series, several beds of black
argillaceous limestone and a thin stratum of micaceous sandstone
are stated to occur, and in the lower a bed of finely grained ferru-
ginous sandstone. ‘The shale is said to differ considerably in aspect,
colour and structure at the superior and inferior portions of the
deposit, but that the distinctive characters pass into each other by
insensible gradations. The whole of the beds are stated to be re-
plete with organic remains, entirely different from those found in the
subjacent limestone. In the upper strata the prevailing fossils enu-
merated in the Memoir, are Ammonites and Orthocerata, associated,

487

though in less abundance, with Producta and Calamites; and in the
lower, crinoidal remains and corals of the genus Calamopora.

The authorthen describes the subjacent sandstone ; the phenomena
which accompany the streams engulfed by the mountain limestone,
and the fossils he procured from that formation; and lastly, he details
the characters of a bed of shale which occurs at the bottom of the
limestone system, and abounds with fossils, some of which are stated
to be peculiar to it.

A paper ‘on the Osseous Cave of Santo Ciro, about two miles to
the S.E. of Palermo,” by Samuel Peace Pratt, Esq., F.G.S., F.L.S.,
was then read *.

The author first describes the circumstances which led to the
discovery of the bones, and then the position of the cave and the
phenomena it presents. He states that it is situated rather more
than a mile from the sea, in a projecting hill, forming part of the
ridge of secondary limestone, which nearly traverses the northern
portion of Sicily, and about 50 feet above the foot of the promontory.
A gently inclined plain extends from the base of the ridge to the
shore, and is composed of nearly horizontal strata of limestone and
sand, containing shells analogous to those now inhabiting the Me-
diterranean. -When discovered, the cave was filled to the level of
the entrance with bones, more or less rolled, and in different states
of decay, but cemented together by carbonate of lime. Associated
with them, though in much less quantity, were pebbles and fragments
of limestone. The bones which have been found, belong principally
to the Hippopotamus; but tusks and teeth of the Elephant, as well
as teeth of a large carnivorous animal, have been discovered. An
osseous breccia extends around the mouth of the cave to the distance
of many yards but differs from that within, in the greater abundance
of fragments of limestone and pebbles, and in the bones having
undergone greater attrition. The cave has been excavated to the
depth of 20 feet, and its irregular sides appear to have been worn by
water into polished hollows, perforated by the Lithodomus. Marks
of the action of water, though to less extent, are visible much higher
than the mouth of the cave, but the labours of the Lithodomus appear
to have been confined to the surface below its level. The bottom of
the cave was found to be covered with comminuted shells mixed
with numerous well preserved specimens. Four other caves are
mentioned as occurring at higher levels in the face of the hill. No
bones havebeen discovered in them, though they bear the same proofs
of the action of water, and their walls are perforated in the same
manner. In conclusion, the author infers, from the evidence presented
by the caves, and the known habits of the Lithodomus, that this part
of the coast of Sicily was successively elevated to its present level,
subsequently to the Mediterranean being inhabited by the existing
species of Testacea, and he speculates on the changes which may

* When the author of this paper made his observations, he was not
aware of the Memoir on Sicily by Dr. Turnbull Christie, read before the
Society in Neyember 1831, See p. 333.

488

have been produced at the same time in the physical outline of the
country.

A communication from Capt. Colquhoun, and addressed to
Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq., F.G.S., descriptive of masses of
meteoric iron found in Mexico and Potosi, was next read.

The mass of iron principally noticed in this communication was
formerly in the street of San Domingo, at Zacatecas in Mexico. It
was about 43 feet long and 15 broad. On one side it was marked
with deep indentations. The other masses were found at Charcas
and Pablazon near Catorce.

A letter was lastly read, from Mr. Gardner, Geographer, to Ro-
derick Impey Murchison, Esq., F.G.S., ‘On the relative position of
land and water with respect to the Antipodes.”

This letter was accompanied by a map of the world, on which
was delineated, by colours; the antipodes of the existing dry land:
and the writer of it states that he had ascertained by measurement
that only .*, part of the present continents and islands has land op-
posite to it; that the antipodes of the eastern hemisphere are
confined to South America, with the exception of about the ,,> part,
situated principally in New Zealand; and that the reciprocal
antipodes of the western hemisphere fall on part of China and the
Eastern Archipelago.

ee ee

Ny D) Exe

AGATES, account of, in the dolo-
mitic strata of the Mendip Hills, 149.

Aix en Provence, on the tertiary fresh-
water formations of, 150.

Aix-la-Chapelle, on the geology of the
neighbourhood of, 161; on the chalk
of, 162; on the green-sand of, 163.

Alcala la Real, notice of the tertiary
deposit of, 486.

Alhama, on the tertiary basin of, 234,
486.

Allgau, green-sand of, described, 226.

Alluvial deposits, on the formation of,
237.

Alpine chain south of the tertiary basin
of Bavaria, description of, by Dr.
Boué, 226.

Alpine limestone, Dr. Boué on the, of
Austria, 223; occupies a large por-
tion of Moravia and Western Hun-
gary, 241.

Anniversary Address of the President,
1828, 50; 1829, 112; 1830, 187;
1831, 281; 1832, 362; 1833, 438.

Anker ( Prof.), onthe bonesfound in the
coal near Gratz, 466.

Anoplotherium, on the existence of, at
Binstead, near Ryde, 239.

Antequera, notice of the tertiary de-
posit of, 486.

Antipodes, relative position of land and
water with respect to the, 488.

Antrim, on the north-eastern part of,
397; on the mica slate of 397; old
red sandstone of, 397; porphyry of,
398; carboniferous limestone of, 398 ;
coal measures of, 398; new red sand-
stone of, 398 ; lias of, 398; mulatto
of, 398 ; chalk of, 399; trap of, 399.

Appin, on a large boulder on the shore
of, 402.

Arran, on the relations of the secondary
strata in the Isle of, 41.

Astronomical causes which may influ-

ence geological phenomena, on the, -

244.

Atmosphere, on some of the effects of,
in wasting the surfaces of buildings
and rocks, 323.

Auditors’ Report to the General Meet-
ing, 1827, 13; 1828, 44; 1829, 102;

1830, 182; 1831, 266; 1882, 356;
1833, 432.

Austria, Dr. Boué on the structure of
the Archduchy of, 223; on the low-
est tertiary formations of, 225.

Austrian Alps, Prof. Sedgwick and
Mr. Murchison on the general struc-
ture of, 227; on the primary rocks

_ forming the central axis of, 227, 250;
notice of the transition rocks of, 250;
on the crystalline rocks containing
calcareous beds, with traces of orga-
nic remains of, 227; magnesian lime-
stone of, 250; the red and varie-
gated sandstones, &c., of, 228, 250;
the older Alpine limestone of, 228,
250; the limestone with subordi-
nate saliferous marls of, 229, 251;
the younger Alpine limestone of,
229, 251; description of the Grés de
Vienne, of, 251; of the tertiary
formations of, 252; Mr. Murchi-
son’s supplementary observations on,
249;

Aylesbury, notice of freshwater shells
in beds below the green-sand, in
the vicinity of, 27; succession of
beds near, similar to that in the Vale
of Wardour, 27.

Babbacombe Bay, on the geology of,
31.

Banniskirk, notice of fossil fishes found
at, 12.

Basalt, on the stratiform basalt of the
North of England, 341.

Bassano, on the tertiary and secondary
rocks forming the southern flank of
the Tyrolese Alps, near, 137.

Basterot (Mr. de) on the neighbourhood
of Folkstone, 6.

Bath oolite, wanting in Dorsetshire,
LUO,

Bavaria, Dr. Ami Boué on the struc-
ture of the south of, 225; on the al-
luvial accumulations of the tertiary
basin of, 226.

Bavaria, Prof. Sedgwick and Mr.
Morchison on the tertiary forma-
tions of, 157.

Bavarian Alps, Prof. Sedgwick and
Mr. Murchison on the tertiary for-

490 INDEX.

mations, which range along the flanks
of, £55; notice of the upper Alpine
limestone of, 229.

Baza, on the lacustrine basin of, 216.

Beliemi, on the bone-caves of, near
Palermo, 335.

Bell (T. Esq.), on the fossil Chelydra
of Géningen, 342.

Bengal, notice respecting some remains
of animals in the N.E. of, 76.

Ben Nevis, observations on, 94.

Bezoar stones, fossil, on the composi-
tion of, 139, 142.

Bigsby (Dr. ), on the geology of Quebec
and its vicinity, 37; on the fixed
rocks in the valley of the St. Law-
rence, 23.

Bland (W. Esq.), on the influence of
season over the depth of water in
wells, 339.

Boase (Dr.), remarks on his work on
Cornwall, 452.

Boghelcund, on the geology of, 82. °

Bohemia, age of the red conglomerate
of, 240; on the primary chain of
southern, 223.

Bohnerz of Ratisbon, to be distin-
guished from the Bohnerz in alluvial
accumulations, 226.

Bonn, geology of the environs of, 467;
grauwacke of, 467; secondary for-
mations wanting, 467; brown coal
of, 468, 469; trachytic formations of,
468; the Loess of, 470.

Boué (Dr. Ami), explanatory sketch
of a geological map of Moravia
and the west of Hungary, 239; of
Transylvania, 242; of the Archduchy
of Austria, 225; of the southof Bava-
ria, 225 Wayearcnee of views between,
and Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Mur-
chison respecting certain portions of
the Alps, 230.

Bradford, Wilts, Mr. C. Pearce on the
oolitic formations and their fossil
contents near, 484.

Bregenz, structure of the hills in the
neighbourhood of, 158.

Breunner (Count), notice of his de-
scription of the human skulls found
near Krems, 225.

Brewster (Sir David), on the structure
and origin of the diamond, 466.

Brill, Portland oolite occurs at, 27.

British Association, remarks on the,
460.

British colonies, the attention of geo-
logists called to the investigation of,
457.

Brocchi(M.), notice of, in the obituary
of the President’s Address 1828,
51.

Broderip (W. J. Esq.), notice of his
paper on the jaw of the Didelphis,
found at Stonesfield, 127.

Brora, on the coal-field of, 10.

Brown Clee Hill, Mr. Murchison on
the structure of the, 472, 473.

Brussels, sands near, contain fossils of
the London clay, 162.

Bryce (James, Esq.), on the N.E. part
of Antrim, 397.

Buckingham (Duke of), notice of a
letter from, giving an account of an
eruption of Vesuvius, 86.

Buckland (Rev. Dr.), on the bones of
hyznas and other animals in the
cavern of Lunel near Montpelier,

and in the adjacent strata of marine ~

formation, 3; on the discovery of
fossil bones of bears in the Grotto
of Osselles or Quingey, near Besan-
con in France, 21; on vegetable and
animal remains, and rocks from the
Burmese country, 71; on the Cyca-
deoidez of the Isle of Portland, 80;
on the geology of Nice, 94; on the
discovery of a new species of Ptero-
dactyle; of the feeces of the Ichthy-
Osaurus; and of a black substance
resembling sepia, in the lias at Lyme
Regis, 96; additional remarks on

* coprolites and fossil sepia, 142; on
the occurrence of agates in the dolo-
mitic strata of the new red sandstone

‘in the Mendip Hills, 149; on the
discovery of bones of the Iguanodon
and other large reptiles in the Isle

~ of Wight and Isle of Purbeck, 159.

Buckland (Rev. Dr.) and De la Beche
(Mr.), on the geology of Weymouth,
-and the adjacent parts of the coast of
Dorsetshire, 217.

Bundelcund, on the geology of, 82.

Burmese country, account of vegetable
and animal remains, and rocks from,
71.

Burton (Decimus, Esq.), vote of thanks
to, 112.

Caithness, general structure of, 78
structure of the Ord of, 33; fossil
fish of the secondary deposits of, 78,
245; old red conglomerates of, 77,
345.

Caldcleugh (A. Esq.), on Juan Fer-
nandez, 256.

Campi Phlegrei, on the structure of, 18.

Cantal, on the tertiary deposits of, and
their relation to the primary and vol-
canic rocks, 140.

Capo Corvo, coastsection described, 166.

Capo di Monte, tufa of, contains shells
of existing species, 18.

Carbonate of strontian, occurs in the

INDEX.

lead measures at Fallowfield near
Hexham, 40.

Carboniferous chain between Penigent
and Kirkby Stephen, description of a
portion of, 318.

Carboniferous limestone, notice of, in
Tor and Babbacombe Bays, 32; in
the north-east of Antrim, 398.

Carboniferous series of Clare, structure
of, 234,

Cardigan Bay, notice of a submarine
forest in, 407.

Carpathian sandstone, notice of, 241.

Carrara marble, resembles that of
Porto Venere, 166.

Cassel, sands on the summit of the hill
of, contain London clay fossils, 162.

Cefn caves, on the discovery of bones
of rhinoceros and hyzna in one of
the, 402.

Chalk, account of an excavation in,
near Norwich, 35; of the Nether-
lands described, 162; not in the Car-
pathians, 241; of Cracow referred to
the Upper Jurassic limestone, 241 ;
occurs in Poland, Eastern Gallicia,
Pedolia, Volhynia and Southern
Russia, 241 ; notice of, in north-east
of Antrim, 399.

Chaudoir (Baron S.), on the geological
structure of the Crimea, 342.

Cheltenham, My. Murchison on the
neighbourhood of, 390; on the mi-
neral waters of, 390.

Chelydra, on a fossil species of, found
at Giningen, 342.

Chlorophezite, on the occurrence of, in
basaltic dykesin Northumberland, 40.

Christie (Dr. Turnbull), on certain
younger deposits in Sicily, and on
the phenomena accompanying their
elevation, 333.

Clare, on the carboniferous series of, 234.

Cleveland Hills, on the occurrence of
fossil plants in vertical positions in
the, 391.

Clift (W. Esq.), on the remains of the
Mastodon, and other vertebrated ani-
mals, found on the left bank of the
Trawadi, 69 ; description of bones of
the Megatherium found in the pro-
vince of Buenos Ayres, 404.

Coal, on the vegetable structure of,
415; on the escape of inflammable
gas from, 417; on bones of animals
found in the, of Gratz, 466.

Coal plants, notice of, from Northum-
berland and Durham, 40, 151.

Coalbrook Dale, on the coal-field of,
471.

Colquhoun (Capt.), account of the Za-
catecas iron, 488.

491

Comparative statement of the number
of the Fellows and Foreign and
Honorary Members at the Anniver.
saries of 1826 and 1827, 12; 1827
and 1828, 43; at the close of the years
1828, 101; 1828 and 1829, 176;
1829 and 1830, 259; 1830 and 1831,
350; 1831 and 1832, 425.

Constance, section through the hills at
the east end o7 the lake of, 158.

Continental writers, remarks on works
produced by, during 1832, 457.

Conybeare (Rev. W.), on the hydro-
graphical basin of the Thames, with
a view more especially to investigate
the causes which have operated in
the formation of the valleys of that
river, and its tributary streams,
145.

Cooch Behar, account of fossil bones
found in, 76.

Cook (Capt. E.), on the southern pro-
vinces of Spain, 465.

Cooper Colliery, on a whin dyke in,
23.

Coprolites, on the discovery of, 97; ad-
ditional remarks on, 142.

Cork, on the metalliferous relations in,
233.

Cornwall, Mr. Henwood on some in-
tersections of mineral veins in, 405.
Cotteswold Hills, Mr. Murchison on
the structure of the, 388; on the

dislocations in the, 390.

Council, Resolution of the, to publish
an account of the Proceedings of the
Society, 1; Report of, tothe Annual
General Meeting 1829, 111; 1830,
173; 1881, 257; 1832, $47; 1833,
473.

Council and Officers elected at the
Annual General Meeting 1827, 16;
1828, 62; 1829, 135; 1830, 186;
1831, 250; 1832, 360; 1833, 436.

Cracow, chalk of, assigued by Dr. Boné
to the upper Jurassic limestone, 241.

Crag, complete account of, a desidera-
tum, 1165 noticed as occurring be-
tween Calais and Cape Blanc-Nez,
near, Antwerp, Tongres, &c., 161.

Crimea, Baron S. Chaudoir on the
geological structure of the, 342.

Cromer, Mr. Woodward on some fos-
sils found near, 93.

Culiey (M. Esq.), instances of the
power which running water exerts in
removing heavy bodies, 149.

Cumberland, Dr. Fitton on the analogy
in the geological structure of Cum-
berland, Wales, Devon and Corn-
wall, 122; Prof. Sedgwick on the
deposits overlying the carboniferous

492

series on the north-western coast of,
343.

Cumbrian Mountains, Prof. Sedgwick
on the geological relations of the
stratified and unstratified rocks com-
posing the, 399; on the successive
stratified groups of the, 400.

Cunningham (Peter, Esq.), notes on
the interior of New South Wales, 255.

Curtis (J. Esq. ), on the fossil insects cf
Aix en Provence, 151; on the fossil
insects of the lacustrine deposit of
(iningen, 169.

Cuttle-fish, bony rings of, stated to be
found in the lias at Lyme Regis, 142.

Cuvier (Baron), notice of, in the obi-
tuary of the President's Address
1833, 440.

Cycadeoidex, account of, found at
Portland, 80.

Dadd (R. Esq.), on the valley of the
Medway and adjacent country, 482.

Danube, Mr. Murchison on the valley
of, 254; on the tertiary strata of,
254; on the tegel of, 254; on the
leitha-kalk of, 254.

Dechen (M. von) and Oeynhausen
(M.von), observations on Ben Nevis,
OAs

De la Beche (H. T. Esq.), on the geo-
logy of Tor and Babbacombe Bays,
Devon, 31; of Nice, 87; of the
shores of the gulf of La Spezia, 164.

De la Beche (H. T. Esq.) and Buck-
land ( Dr.), on the geology of Wey-
mouth, and the adjacent parts of the
coast of Dorsetshire, 217.

Diamond, on the structure and origin
of, 4€6.

Dirt bed of the Isle of Portland, de-
scription of, 218.

Donations, list of the principal, between
the Anniversaries of 1826 and 1827,
15; 1827 and 1828, 47; 1828 and
1829, 106; 1829 and 1830, 177;
1830 and 1831, 260; 1831 and 1832,
351; 1832 and 1833, 426.

Donors, list of, to the Museum and
Library between the Anniversaries
of 1827 and 1828, 49; 1828 and 1829,
108 ; 1829 and 1830, 180; 1820 and
1831, 262; 1831 and 1832, 353;

- 1833 and 1884, 428.

Duke of York, meeting postponed in
consequence of the death of, 10.

Dukhun (Deccan), Col. Sykes on a
portion of the, 417.

Dunn (J. Esq.), on a large species of
Plesivosaurus in the Scarborough
Museum, 336.

Eaton (Mr.), table of his system of
North American rocks, 92.

INDEX.

KEchini, Mr. Stokes on three drawings
of, 86.

Eden, Prof. Sedgwick on the deposits
overlying the carboniferous series of
the valley of the, 343.

Egerton (Sir Philip), on the coal shale
of Kulkeagh, and on the subjacent
limestone, 486.

Ehrenhausen, conglomerate and coral
limestone and marl of, 214.

Hibeswald, textiary formations in the
neighbourhood of, 213; between,
and Radkersberg, 213.

England, memoirs on the geology of,
noticed in the President’s Address
1833, 446.

Estimates for the year 1828, 46; 1829,
105; 1830, 185; 1831, 269; 1839,
359; 1833, 435.

Evenings of meeting, notice of change
from Friday to Wednesday, 237; to
terminate with the first evening in
June, 256.

Fauxbourg St. Dominique, Montpe-
lier, on the remains of the Elephant,
Rhinoceros, &c., in a very recent
marine deposit at the, 5; the remains
of the Elephant, &c., found in the
Sub- Apennine hills, Crag of Suffolk,
Upper Val d’ Arno, the osseous bree-
cia of Gibraltar, &c., and the caves
of Germany, England and France,
referred to the same epoch, 5.

Featherstonhaugh (G. W. Esq.),on the
series of rocks in the United States,
91; remarks on an excavation in the
chalk near Norwich, 35.

Fellows and Foreign Members elected
in 1828, 99; 1829, 176; 1830, 259;
1831, 350; 1832, 425.

Fellows and Foreign and Honorary
Members deceased in 1827, 43;
1828, 101; 1829, 177; 1830, 260;
1831, $51; 1832, 426.

Fitton (Dr.), additional notes on part
of the opposite coasts of France and
England, including some account of
the Lower Boulonnois, 6; compara-
tive table of the formations from the
chalk to the mountain limestone in
England and the Boulonnois, 7 ; let-
ter to C. Lyell, Esq., on some of the
strata between the chalk and the
Kimmeridge clay inthe South-east of
England, 26; observations on part of
the Low Countries and the North of
France, principally near Maestricht
and Aix-la-Chapelle, 161; on the
chief points of difference between the
secondary formations in the Low _
Countries and their equivalents in
France, 164;. observations on the

INDEX.

specimens sent home by Capt. King,
R.N., from the Straits of Magellan,
ele)

Anniversary Address 1828, 50; no-
tice of M. Brocchi’s geological works,
51; remarks on the importance

- ef the Ordnance Surveys, with refer-
ence to geology, 51; on the benefit
to geology which may be derived
from the establishment of the Zoolo-
gical Society, 53; on the necessity of
cultivating the study of fossil botany,
53; on the universal adoption of a
modified volcanic theory, 55; on the
influence which the publication of
“the Outlines of England and
Wales” have had on geology, 57;
on the facilities for study afforded
by the structure of the British Isles,
58; the value of zoological charac-
ters in identifying formations, illus-
trated by a comparison of the Brora
coal-field with the oolites of En-
gland, 59; on the benefits which Fel-
lows resident in the country may
confer, 59; importance of geology to
landed proprietors, 60; remarks on
the spirit which pervades the discus-
sions of the ordinary meetings, 61.

Anniversary Address 1829, 112;
notice of Fellows deceased during the
year 1828, Mr. Wm. Phillips, 113;
Dr. Wollaston, 113; review of me-
moirs read before the Society during
the past year, 115, &c. ; want of con-
formity, in position, of the strata
resting upon the coal measures in
some districts, conceived to be an ex-
ception to a general, conformable ar-
rangement, 119; the reason why se-
condary formations are more studied
in England than primary, 121; com-
parative view of the formations of
Cumberland, Wales and Cornwall,
122; notice of Mr. J. Taylor’s “ Re-
cords of Mining,” 123; notice of
Memoirs on foreign geology, 125;
on fossil zoology, 127 ; fossi) botany,
129; tabular arrangement of Mr.
R. C. Taylor’s list of British fossils,
128; remarks on the igneous origin
of pitchstone, &c., 131; on wantof
acquaintance with German and Ita-
lian works on geology, 132; geolo-
gical revolutions compared to astro-
nomical cycles, 194.

Folkstone, B. de:Basterot, Esq., on the
neighbourhood of, 6 ; Dr. Fitton on
the geology of, 8.

Foreign Members elected in 1827, 43,
1828, 99: 1829, 177; 1830; 260;
1831, 251.

493

Forest of Dean, geology of, and adja-
cent country, 420.

Fossil fox ef CEningen, notice of Mr.
Mantell’s osteological description of,
168.

Franklin (Capt. James), on the geo-
logy of Bundelcund, Boghelcund,
Saugor and Jabalpoor in central
India, 8¢.

Franklin (Capt., R.N.),extract froma
letter addressed to Dr. Fitton, dated
Fort Franklin, 5th Nov. 1825, 2.

Fuveau, on the tertiary coal-field of,
150.

Gallicia, direction of the rivers in Dr.
Boueé’s map of, 240 ; tertiary deposit
of, supposed to have been formed in
part of the great basin of Northern
Europe, 241.

Gardner (Mr.), on the relative position
of land and water with respect to the
antipodes, 488.

Garsington, Portland stone occurs at,
ifs

Geological desiderata, enumeration of,
as respects the British Isles, 58, 200,
461.

Georges Gemiind, on the lacustrine
deposit of, 330.

Gesenke, on the structure of the. hilly
region of, 240; separated from the
Carpathians by the valleys of the
Upper Oder, 240.

Gigantic bones, account of some, 85.

Gilbert (D. Esq.), vote of thanks to,
74.

Gleichenberg, on the structure of the
volcanic hills of, 215.

Glennie (Wm. Esq.), account of an
ascent to the summit of Popocata-
petl, 75.

Gnaess, shelly strata alternate with
volcanic rocks in the hill of, 215.

Gordon (George, Esq.), on the exist-
ence of lias on the southern side of
the Murray Firth, $94.

Gosau, Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Mur-
chison on the tertiary deposits of, 153,
230, 253 ; assigned by Dr. Boué to
the lower green-sand, 224.

Gratz, Prof, Sedgwick and Mr. Mur-
chison on the age of the tertiary de-
posits of, 230; Professor Anker on
the bones found in the coal near, 466.

Grauwacke of Westerland, Devon, no-
ticed by Mr. De la Beche, 32.

Green-sand formation of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, Dusseldorf, &c., 163.

Grés de Vienne, description of, 251,

Griinbach, description of, 253.

Hainfeldt on the Raab, volcanic rocks
of, range towards Radkersberg, 214,

494

Hall (Capt. B.), notice of a machine
for regulating high temperatures,
invented by the late Sir James Hall,
478.

Hall (Sir James), notice of, in the obi-
tuary of the President's Address
1833, 438.

Hiring, tertiary deposits of, described
by Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Mur-
chison, 157, 230; considered by Dr.
Boué to be of freshwater origin, 225.

Harwich, notice on the cliffs of, 481.

Hastings sand, notice of, by Mr. Man-
tell, 10.

Hebrides, Mr. Murchison on the struc-
ture of, 12, 34.

Hennah (Rev. R.), additional remarks
on the limestone and slate of the
neighbourhood of Plymouth, 1; on
the fossils found in the transition
limestone of Plymouth, 169.

Henwood (W. J. Esq.), on some inter-
sections of mineral veins in. Corn-
wall, 405.

Herschel (Sir John), on the cause of
the subterranean sounds heard at
Nakoos, in Arabia, 388; on the
astronomical causes which may in-
fluence geolcgical phenomena, 244.

Hibbert (Dr.), remarks on his work
on the Eifel, 454.

Highgate Archway, Mr. Wetherell on
the London clay of, 403.

Hippurite rock of Sicily considered to
be of the age of the chalk and green-
sand of other parts of Europe, 334.

Holme (Rev. J.), notice of, in the
obituary of the President’s Address
1830, 188.

Horner (L. Esq.), on the volcanic is-
land raised in 1831 off the coast of
Sicily, 338; on the environs of Bonn,
467.

Hungary, direction of the rivers in
Dr. Boué’s map of, £40.

Hungary, West of, explanatory sketch
of a geological map of, by Dr. Boué,
239.

Hutton (Wm. Esq.), notices of plants

’ from the Northumberland and Dur-
ham coal-field, 40, 151; on the oc-
currence of chlorophzite in basaltic
dykes in Northumberland, 40; of
carbonate of strontian in the lead
measures at Fallowfield near Hex-
ham, 40; on the stratiform basalt
associated with the carboniferous
formation of the North of England,
841; observations on coal,415; onthe
escape of inflammable gas from, 417.

Hylzosaurus, Mr, Mantell’s descrip-
tion of, 410,

INDEX.

Ichthyosaurus, on the feces of, in the
lias of Lyme Regis, 96, 142.

Ichthyosaurus grandipes, new species,
described by Mr. Sharpe, 221.

Tguanodon, Dr. Buckland on the dis-
covery of the bones of, in the Isle of
Wight and Isle of Purbeck, 159;
Mr. Mantell on the remainsof, found
in Tilgate Forest, 410.

Inn, tertiary deposits in the valley of
the, 157.

Jrawadi, Dr. Buckland on the vegeta-
ble and animal remains, and rocks
from the banks of the, 71; Mr. Clift
on the remains of the Mastodon and
other vertebrated animals found on
the left bank of the, 69.

Ireland, Mr. Weaver on the geological
relations of the South of, 231.

Ischia, Mr. Scrope on the structure of,
17.

Isle Budche, remarks on the geology
of, 321.

Jabalpore, on the geology of, 82.

Jarrow and Felling collieries, Mr. Hut-
ton’s notice of plants from, 40.

Juan Fernandez, Mr. Caldcleugh’s
notes on the structure of, 256.

Jura, German, Dr. Boué on the struc-
ture of, 225.

Jurassic and Alpine limestone, occupy
a large portion of Moravia and West-.
ern Hungary, 241.

Kerry, on the metalliferous relations
in the county of, 233.

_ King (Capt. P. P., R.N.), extract

from a letter accompanying speci-
mens from the Straits of Magellan,
29:

Kirkby Stephen, on the carboniferous
chain between Penigent and, 318.
Klein-Spawen, fossils of, include shells
of calcaire grossier and crag, 161.
Krems, on the human skulls found

near, 225.

Kressenberg, structure of, 156; num-
mulitic iron ores of, 252. Li

Kulkeagh, on the coal shale and sub-
jacent limestone of, 486.

Lacustrine formations, notice of, at Aix
en Provence, 150; Alhama, 234;
Baza, 216; Binstead, 239; Bonn,
468 ; the Cantal, 140; Fuveau, 150;
Georges Gemund, 330; La Gineta,
236; Montesa, 236; Ocana, 236;
Giningen, 167; Partaloba, 236;
Scheineck, 213; Terruel, 238.

La Gineta, notice of the freshwater
limestone of, 236.

Lake of Constance, section through

' the hills to the east of, 158.

Lakes of Upper Canada, on the struc-

INDEX.

ture of the banks of, 23; viz. Lake
Huron, 24, 25; Ontario, 23, 25;
Erie, 23, 25; Simcoe, 24, 25; Chat,
25; Superior, 24, 25; Crew, 25;
Chaucliere, 25.

Lake mountains, Prof. Sedgwick on
the structure of, 247.

Lancashire, on the deposits overlying
the carboniferous series on the north-
western coast of, 34S.

La Scala, Vesuvius, on the curvilinear
structure of lava of, 396.

La Spezia, on the geology of the
shores of the gulf of, 164.

Laterite, range of, in the peninsula of
India, 419.

Lava, on the curvilinear structure of,
396.

Lindley (John, Esq.), account of a
fossil plant in the coal formation of
Yorkshire, 137; on the fossil plants
of Giningen, 169; of the tertiary
formation near Bonn, 469.

Lisbon, Mr. Sharpe on the formations
in the neighbourhood of, 395.

List of papers read at the ordinary
Meetings, between the Anniversaries
of 1826 and 1827, 15; 1827 and 1828,
48, 1828 and 1829, 107; 1829 and
1830, 179; 1830 and 1831, 264;
1831 and 1832, 354; 1832 and 1833,
430.

Logan (Dr.), account of some gigantic
bones, 85.

London clay, on the, of Highgate
Archway, 403.

Lonsdale (Wim.), on the oolitie district
of Bath, 98 ; on the oolitic formations
ef Gloucestershire, 412.

Loss of Austria, Mr. Murchison’s ac-
count of, 255; of the Rhine, Mr.
Horner’s account of, 470.

- Lower Boulonnois, on the geology of,
8; comparative table of its forma-
tions with those on the opposite coast
of England, 7.

Lower Styria, on the tertiary deposits
of, 213; formations which they re-
present, 215.

Ludlow, J. R. Wright, Esq., on the se-
condary formations in the neigh-
bourhood of, 387.

Lune and Warfe, Mr. Phillips on a
group of rocks between the rivers, 38.

Lunel, near Montpelier, on the bones
of hyenas and other animals found
in the cavern of, 3.

Lyell (Charles, Esq.), on some fossil
bones of the elephant and other ani-
mals found near Salisbury, 25.

Lyell (C. Esq.) and Murchison (R. J.
Esq. ), on the excavation of valleys,

495

as illustrated by the volcanic rocks
of Central France, 89; on the ter-
tiary deposits of the Cantal, and
their relation to the primary and vol-
canic rocks, 140; on the tertiary
formations of Aix en Provence, in-
cluding the coal-field of Fuveau, 150.

Macigno, description of the sandstones
called, 165.

Maclauchlan (H. Esq.), on the Forest
of Dean and adjacent country, 420.
Madagascar, notice of a conglomerate
containing fragments of the tusk of

a hippopotamus, 479.

Maestricht stratum, Dr. Fitton on the,
162. i

Magellan, notice of the specimens col-
lected by Captain King at the Straits
of, 29.

Magnesian limestone, Prof. Sedgwick
on some beds associated with the,
and on some fossil fishes found in
them, 2; on the geological relations
and internal structure of, 63; on its
subdivisions, viz. the lower red sand-
stone, 64, 345; variegated mar]s with
shelly limestone, 64; marl slate and
compact limestone, 64; yellow lime-
stone, 64; lower red marl, 65; up-
per thin-bedded grey limestone, 65;
on the, of the Austrian Alps, 250.

Malaga, notice of the tertiary forma-
tion of, 485; between Malaga and
Cartagena, 485.

Mantell, (G. Esq.), notice on the
FHiastings sand, 10; observations
accompanying a list of Sussex
fossils, 81; osteological description
of the fossil fox of Ciningen, 168 ;
on the remains of the Iguanodon and
other reptiles of Tilgate Forest, 410.

Marlstone, Mr. Murchison’s account
of, near Cheltenham, 389; Mr.
Lonsdale on the, of Gloucestershire,
413. A

Martin (P. J. Esq.), on the geology of
the vicinity of Pulborough, 19.

Mastodon elephantvides and M. latidens,
Mr. Clift’s description of, 70.

Maxwell'(J. Esq.), on a large boulder-
stone on the shore of Appin, 402.

Mayo, onthe geology of the North-west
of, 407; on the carboniferous lime-
stone of, 408; calcareous grit and
shale of, 408; old red sandstone
of, 408; quartz rock of, 409; horn-
blende slate, mica slate, and gneiss
of, 409; granite of, 409; trap of,
409.

Medway, on the valley of the, 482.

Megatherium, Mr. Parish on the dis-
covery of, in Buenos Ayres, 403;

496 INDEX.

Mr. Clift’s account of the bones,
404.

Mersey, Mr. ‘Tritnmer on the discovery
of recent marine shells on the left
bank of, 419.

Metalliferous deposits, M. Necker’s at-
tempt to bring them under general
laws with respect to rock formations,
392.

Miller (Mr.), first suggested by, that
certain bones found in the Stonesfield
slate belong to Pterodactyles, 97.

Mineral waters, on the, of Chelten-
ham, 390.

Mitchell (Ir.), on the Harwich cliffs,
481,

Mitchell (Major T.), on the limestone
caves of Wellington Valley, New
South Wales, $21.

Moel Tryfane, on the discovery of ma-
rine shells in the sand and gravel on
the summit of, 331.

Montesa, notice by Col. Silvertop of
the freshwater limestone of, 236.

Monticelli (Signor), on the curvilinear
structure of lava of Vesuvius, 396.

Montlosier (Count de), on the ancient
and present state of Vesuvius, 337.

Montmorency, on the structure of the
falls of, 24, 38.

Montpelier, on the cause of Lunel
near, 3; the tertiary marine sand-
stone of, 5.

Moravia, explanatory sketch of a geo-
logical map of, by Dr. Boué, 239; di-
rection of the ancient and longitu-
dinal valleys of, 240; on the tertiary
beds of, 241; considered to have been
formed in an arm of a sea, 241.

Mulatto, of Antrim, notice of, 398.

Mur, formations on the banks of, to
the east of Ehrenhausen, 214.

Murchison (R. I. Esq.), on the coal-
field of Brora in Sutherlandshire,
and some other stratified deposits of
the North of Scotland, 10; notice of
the occurrence of lias on the coast
near the Sutors of Cromarty, 12;
notice of fossil fishes found at Ban-
niskirk, 12; supplementary remarks
on the strata of the oolitic series,
and the rocks associated with them
in Sutherland, Ross and the Hebri-
des, 33; on the connexion of the
primary rocks with the secondary de-
posits on the east coast of Sutherland
and Ross, 33; on the denudation of
Braambury and Hare Hills, 34; on
the Hebrides and mainland of the
west coast of Scotland, 34; on the
tertiary and secondary rocks forming
the southern flank of the Tyrolese

Alps near Bassano, 137; on the
bituminous schist and fossil fishes of
Seefeld in the Tyrol, 189; on the
fossil fox of Giningen, with an ac-
count of the lacustrine deposit in
which it was found, 167; supple-
mentary observations on the struc-
ture of the Austrian and Bavarian
Alps, 249; on the Cotteswold Hills,
and country around Cheltenham,
388; on the occurrence of fossil
plants in vertical positions in the
Cleveland Hills, 391; notes on the
secondary formations of Germany
as compared with those of En-
gland, viz. on Hoffmann’s grouping
of the rothe-todte-liegende, 325 ; on
the new red sandstone series, 326 ;
muschelkalk, 326; keuper, 326 ;
lias, 227; inferior oolite, $27; mid-
dle oolite, $28; Solenhofen slate,
328; green-sand, 329; chalk, $29;
tertiary formations, 329; memoir on
the sedimentary deposits of the west-
ern parts of Shropshire and Here-
fordshire, and of Radnor-, Breck-
nock- and Caermarthen-shires,—viz.
on new red sandst one, 471 ; coal mea-
sures, 471; old red sandstone, 473;
Ludlow rock, 475 ; Wenlock lime-
stone, 475; shelly sandstones, 476;
black trilobite flags, 476; red con-
glomerate, san dstone, &c., 476.
Anniversary Address 1832, 362,—
observations on ripple marks, 363;
on the Whin Sill of Northumberland,
365; ontheoccu rrence of existing ma-
rine shells in th esandsof Lancashire,
366; on the Ichthyosauri and Pte-
rodactyli found at Banz, 367; on Dr.
Daubeny’s th eory of thermal springs,
370; on the voicanic island formed in
the Mediterranean, 371; on Dr.
Buckland’s account of the Mammalia
found in Escholtz Bay, $72; on fossil
botany, 372; notice of Miss Benett’s
Catalogue of Wiltshire fossils, 373;
of Mr. De la Beche’s Manual of Geo-
logy, 373 ; of the second volume of
Mr. Lyel ?s Principles of Geology,
373; of Dr. Macculloch’s System
of Geol®gy, S76; observations on
Province ia! Institutions, 377 ; on the
first volume of the Transactions of
the Natural History Society at New-
castle-on- Tyne, $79; on Mr. Bald’s
map of Mayo, 380; on M. Des-
hayes’ list of tertiary shells, 381; on
M. Eliede Beaumont’s theory of ele-
vation, 381; on Baron de Humboldt’s
Fragmens Asiatiques, 382; on the
structure of the steppes of the Black

INDEX.

Seaand Seaof Azof, $83; on M. Bob-
laye’s observations in Greece, 384.
Anniversary Address 1833,—no-
tice of Fellows deceased during the
year 1832; Rev. B. Richardson,
438; Sir James Hall, 438; Baron
Cuvier, 440; remarks on the former
existence of forests on sea-shores,
441; on the occurrence of recent sea
shells at various heights on the east-
ern and western coasts of England,
442; on beds of shingle and sand on
the sides of valleys, 442; on M. de
Luc’s memoir on the gravel of the
basin of Geneva, 442; on Mr. Lyell’s
third volume of the Principles of
Geology, 443; on M. Agassiz’s
work on Fossil Fishes, 445; on
the position of the Solenhofen slate,
448; on the connexion of metallic
deposits with igneous rocks, 451 ;
on Dr. Boase’s work on Cornwall,
452; on Dr. Hibbert’s work on the
Extinct Volcanos of Neuwied, 454 ;
on Dr. Boué’s Memoir on the origin
of European formations, 457; on M.
Desnoyer’s Report on the progress
of geology in France, 458; on Mr.
Conrad’s Essay on the tertiary shells
of North America, 459; on Professor
Hitchcock’s report upon the mineral
structure of Massachusetts, 460;
geological desiderata, 461.
Murchison (R. I. Esq.) and Lyell (C.
Esq.), on the excavation of valleys,
as illustrated by the volcanic rocks
of Central France, 89; on the ter-
tiary deposits of the Cantal, and their
relation to the primary and volcanic
rocks, 140; on the tertiary formations
of Aix en Provence, including the
coal-field of Fuveau, 150.
Murchison (R. I. Esq.) and Sedgwick
(Prof.), on the geological relations
of the secondary strata in the Isle of
Arran, 41; on the old conglomerates,
and other secondary deposits on the
north coast of Scotland, 77; on the
tertiary deposits of the valley of
Gosau, 153; on the tertiary forma-
tions which range along the flanks cf
the Salzburg and, Bavarian Alps,
155; on the tertiary deposits of
Lower Styria, 213; sketch of the
structure of the Austrian Alps, 227.
Mureck on the Mur, on the white con-
cretionary limestone of, 214.
Murray Firth, old red conglomerates
on the shore of, 77; secondary de-
posits on the shores of, 79; Mir.
Gordon on the existence of lias on
the southern side of, 394.

497

Muschelkalk occurs in Upper Silesia
and Poland, 241.

Museum Committee, Report of, 1830,
173; 1831, 257; 1832, 347; 1833, 423.

Nakoos, Sir J. Herschel on the cause
of the subterranean sounds heard at,
388.

Naples, Mr. Scrope on the volcanic di-
strict of, 17.

Necker, M. Albert L., attempt to bring
under general laws the relative posi-
tion of metalliferous deposits, with
regard to rock formations, 392.

Nesselwang, section of, 157.

New red sandstone series, Prof. Sedg-
wick on the lower portions of, in the
North of England, 63, 65; distri-
bution of, in the North-west of
Cumberland, 344 ; conglomerate of,
in Devonshire, 21.

New South Wales, Mr. Cunningham’s
notes on the interior of, 255.

Niagara, on the structure of the Falls
of, 24.

Nice, Mr. De la Beche on the geology
of, 87; on the breccia of, 87; ter-
tiary rocks of, 88 ; secondary forma-
tions of, 88; Dr. Buckland on the
geology of, 94.

Ocana, notice by Col. Silvertop of: the
freshwater limestone of, 236.

Oder, coal deposits in the basin of the,
240.

(Einingen, Mr. Murchison on the la-
custrine deposit of, 167; Mr. Man-
tell on the fossil fox of, 168; Mr.
Bell on the fossil Chelydra of, 342 ;
Mr. Samouelle and Mr. Curtis on
the fossil insects of, 169; Mr. Lind-
ley on the fossil plants of, 169.

Oeynhausen (M. von.) and Dechen
(M.von), observations on Ben Nevis,
94.

Old red sandstone of ‘Tor Bay, 32; in
the Nortb-east of Anirim, 597.

Oolitic district of Bath, notice of the,
98; of the oolitic formations of
Gloucestershire, 413.

Ophiura, Mr. Wetherell on the dis-
covery of, in the London clay, 417. -

Oporto, Mr. Sharpe on the formations
in the neighbourhood of, 395.

Ord of Caithness, structure of, 33.

Osselles or Quingey, Dr. Buckland
on the discovery of the remains of
bears in the cave of, 21.

Ottawa river, Upper Canada, bed of,
situated in primitive limestone, 25.
Oxford clay, thickness near Weymouth,

QO.

Palzotherium, on the existence of, at

Binstead near Ryde, 239,

498 INDEX.

Palermo, notice of the osseous caves
near, by Dr. Christie, 335; by Mr.
Pratt, 487.

Palmaria, Isle of, composed of the lime-
stone system of Porto Venere, 166.

Parish (Woodbine, Esq.), on the disco-
very of portions of three skeletons of
the Megatherium in the province of
Buenos Ayres, 403.

Partaloba, notice of a freshwater lime-
stone near, 236.

Pearce (C. Esq. ), on the oolitic forma-
tions near Bradford, Wilts, and on
Apiocrinites, 484.

Pembrokeshire, Mr. Alfred Thomas
on the geology of, 216.

Penigent, on the carboniferous chain
between Kirkby Stephen and, 318.
Pentland (J. B. Esq.), on the fossil re-
mains of some animals from the
north-east border of Bengal, 76 ; on
the remains of quadrupeds discovered
in the marine and freshwater forma-
tions of the peninsula of Italy (read

in part), 137.

Phillips (J. Esq.), on a group of slate
rocks in Yorkshire, between the rivers
Lune and Warfe, from near Kirkby
Lonsdale to near Malham, 38; on
some effects of the atmosphere in
wasting the surfaces of buildings and
rocks, 323.

Phillips (Wm. Esq.), notice of, in the
obituary of the President’s Address
1829, 113.

Plesiosaurus, Mr. Dunn on a large
species of, in the Scarborough Mu-
seum, 336.

Plymouth, Rev. R. Hennah’s additional
remarks on the geology of the neigh-
bourhood of, 1; on the animal re-
mains found in the transition lime-
stone of, 169.

Popocatapetl, Mr. Glennie’s account of
his ascent of, 75.

Poppendorf, structure of the hill of, 215,

Portland (Kimmeridge) sand, notice
of, near Weymouth, 219.

Porto Venere marble, description of,
165.

Portugal, memoirs on, noticed in the
President’s Address 1833, 457.

Pratt (S. P. Esq.), remarks on the ex-
istence of the Anoplotherium and the
Palzotherium in the freshwater for-
mation at Binstead near Ryde, 239 ;
on the osseous caves near Palermo,
487.

Pringle (Capt.), tract to assist survey-
ors in making geological observa-
tions, noticed in the President’s Ad-
dress 1828, 52.

Prout (Dr.), on the fossil bezoar stones
of Lyme Regis and Westbury on
Severn, 139, 142.

Pterodactyle, on the discovery of a new
species of, at Lyme Regis, 96.

Pulborough, Mr. Martin on the geo-
logy of the vicinity of, 19.

Pulo Pinang, on the geology of, 392.

Quebec, on the geology of the vicinity
of, 37.

Radkersberg, tertiary sands, marls and
grits of, 214; tertiary formations
between Eibeswald and, 213; sec-
tion from, to Riegersberg, 214.

Report from the Council to the Annual
General Meeting 1827, 12; 1828,
43; 1829, 101; 1830, 173; 1821,
257; 1832, 347; 1833, 423.

Richardson (Rev. B.), letter to Prof.
Sedgwick on the Wollaston medal
being awarded to Mr. Smith, 275;
notice of, in the obituary of the Pre-
sident’s Address 1833, 438.

Richardson (Dr.), extract from a letter
addressed to Dr. Fitton, dated Fort
Franklin, 5th ef November 1825, 2;
topographical and geological notices,
from information collected during
the expedition to the north-west coast
of America under the command of
Capt. Franklin, R.N., 66.

Riegersberg, section from Radkersberg
to, 214.

Riley (Dr.), on the Squalo-raia in the
Bristol Museum, 483.

Ripple marks of the forest marble, Mr.
Scrope’s remarks on, 317.

Ross-shire, notice of the red sandstone
and conglomerate series on the north-
west coast of, 79.

Royal Society, thanks voted to D.
Gilbert, Esq., President of, for co-
operation in procuring apartments
in Somerset House, 74.

Salisbury, Mr. Lyell on bones of the
elephant and other animals found
near, 25.

Salzburg, section of, 155.

Salzburg Alps, Prof. Sedgwick and
Mr. Murchison on the tertiary for-
mations which range along the flanks
of the, 155, 252.

Samouelle (Mr.), on the fossil insects
of Giningen, 169.

St. Bee’s Head, description of the coast
section of, 344.

St. Kunegund, building stone of, re-
sembles the Cambridgeshire chalk-
marl, 214.

St. Lawrence, Dr. Bigsby on the fixed
rocks in the valley of the, 23.

St. Polten, structure of the basin of, 223.

INDEX.

Santa Egida, concretionary limestone
and marl of, 214.

Santo Ciro, remarks on the osseous
cave of, by Dr. T. Christie, 335;
by Mr. Pratt, 487.

Saugor, on the geology of, 82.

Sausal, notice of the conglomerate and
sandstone of, 214.

Scheineck, account of the tertiary coal
of, 213; supposed to be equivalent
in age to the coal of Cadibuona, 213.

Scotland, on the old conglomerate and
other secondary deposits on the north
coast of, 77.

Scott (Rev. Archdeacon), remarks on
the vicinity of Swan River and Isle
Buache, 320.

Scrope (G. P. Esq.), on the volcanic
district of Naples, 17; on the gra-
dual excavation ef the valleys in
which the Meuse, the Moselle, and
some other rivers flow, 170; on rip-
ple marks and foottracks in the forest
marble near Castle Comb, 317.

Sedgwick (Prof.), on some beds as-
sociated with the magnesian lime-
stone, and onsome fossil fishes found
in them, 2; on the geological rela-
tions and internal structure of the
magnesian limestone ; and the lower
portions of the new red sandstone
series in their range through North-
amptonshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire
and Durham, 63; on the general
structure of the lake mountains of the
North of England, and on the great
dislocations which have separated
them from the neighbouring chains,
247; on the dislocations which affect
the English coal-fields, 248; on the
carboniferous chain of the North of
England, 249 ; on the carboniferous
chain between Penigent and Kirkby
Stephen, 318; on the deposits over-
lying the carboniferous series in the
valley of the Eden, and on the north-
western coasts of Cumberland and
Lancashire, 343;’conclusions drawn
from them, 345; on the geological
relations of the stratified and unstra-
tified rocks of the Cumbrian moun-
tains, 399; on recent shells found at
Sheppey, 409.

" Anniversary Address 1830, 187,—
Notice of the members deceased
during the year 1829, Mr. Holme,
188; M. Vauquelin, 188; observa-
tions on the drainage of a coun-
try, 191; on the excavation of val-
leys, 191; on tertiary formations,
192—199; desideratain English geo-
logy, 200; on the value of organic

499

remains in practical geology, 204;
on the interruption of continuity in
England in the series between the
coal measures and the lias, 205; sup-
plied on the Continent, 206; obser-
vations on the error of connecting
natural phenomena with the moral
destinies of man, 207; remarks on
Dr. Ure’s new system of geology,
208 ; no evidences of returning cy-
cles of geological phenomena, 211;
geology cannot rise to the rank of
an exact science, 212; it is connect-
ed with all the kingdoms of nature
and the business of life, 212.
Anniversary Address 1831, 281,—
remarks on metalliferous deposits and
veins of segregation, 283; on the
dislocations which affect the lake
mountains and on the mean bearing
of the principal mountain chains of
Great Britain, 284; on the changes
in the carboniferous deposits from
the Bristol Channel to the Tweed,
286; on the deposits of the Isle of
Wight above the London clay, 294 ;
on the value of organic remains, 295;
on river courses, 296 ; on the original
fluidity of the earth, 298; on its
change of temperature, 298; re-
marks on Mr. Herschel’s paper on
the astronomical causes which mayin-
fluence geological phenomena, 299;
primary modes of material action
immutable, 300; on volcanic forces,
301 ; geological phenomena are not,
like celestial, dependent on a few
simple and unchangeable mechani-
cal elements, 301; remarks on Mr.
Lyell’s first volume of the Principles
of Geology, 302, 311; on the degra-
dation of continents and the anta-
gonist powers, 303; existing physical
operations not the measure of inten-
sity of physical powers at all anterior
periods, 301, 304; organic remains
prove that the existing order of nature
is not the last of an uninterrupted
succession of mere physical events
derived from laws nowin daily opera-
tion, 306 ; proofs of violation of con-
tinuity in the series of geological
formations, 306; on transported
blocks, 306; observations on M. Elie
de Beaumont’s theory of mountain
chains, 307; on diluvial gravel, 312;
the historic deluge not proved by
geological phenomena, but certain
geological phznomena are capable
of accounting for vast inundations,
314; geology not opposed to moral
truth, 314; geology lends a great

200

and unexpected aid to final causes,
Sas

Address on presenting the Wollas-
ton medal to Mr. William Smith, 270.

Sedgwick (Prof.) and Murchison
(Mr.), on the geological relations of
the secondary strata in the Isle of
Arran, 41 ; on the old conglomerates
and other secondary deposits on the
north coast of Scotland, 77; on the
tertiary deposits of Gosau in the
Salzburg Alps, 153, 280; on the ter-
tiary formations along the flanks of
the Salzburg and Bavarian Alps,
155;. on the tertiary deposits of
Lower Styria, 213; sketch of the
structure of the Austrian Alps, 227.

Seefeld, on the bituminous schist and
fossil fishes of, 139.

Sepia, on a substance resembling, in
the lias at Lyme Regis, 96.

Sharpe (D. Esq.), on a new species of
Ichthyosaurus, 221 ; on the strata in
the vicinity of Lisbon and Oporto,
ao.

Sheppey, on recent shells found in the
cliffs of, 409.

Shotover Hill, nodular masses of, re-
ferred by Dr. Fitton to a group of
beds below the Portland stone in
Buckinghamshire and the Lower
Boulonnois, 27.

Shrewsbury, on the coal-fields in the
vicinity of, 472.

Sicily, on certain younger deposits in,
and the phenomena accompanying
their elevation, 333.

Silesian or Sudeten mountains, struc-
ture of, 240.

Silvertop (Col. Charles), on the lacus-
trine basins of Baza and Alhama,
in the province of Granada, and on
similar deposits in other parts of
Spain, 216, 234; on some tertiary
deposits in the provinces of Granada
and Sevilla, and along the coast be-
tween Malaga and Cartagena, 485.

Sky, MM. Von Oeynhausen and Von
Dechen, observations on, 96; Mr.

Murchison on the occurrence of

- members of the oolitic series in, 12;
first noticed by Dr. Macculloch, 12.

Sligo, on the geology of the North-west
of, 407.

Smith (Mr. Wm.), minute of Council
awarding the first Wollaston Prize
to, 271; Professor Sedgwick’s Ad-
dress on presenting the prize, 270.

Solfatara of Puzzuoli, Mr. Scrope on
the structure of, 18.

Sommering, death of, noticed in the
President’s Address for 1832, 362..

INDEX.

Sonthofen iron ores, considered by Dr.
Ami Boué, Count Munster, and Prof,
Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison, to be
secondary, 224 note, 230, 252.

Spain, Capt. Cooke on the southern
provinces of, 4€5; Col. Silvertop on
some tertiary deposits in the South
of, 216, 234, 485.

Special General Meeting on the grant
of apartments in Somerset House,
74; to elect a member of the Council,
a secretary and a foreign secretary,
74; notice of a, to change the even-
ings of meeting, 237; to terminate
the future sessions on the first even-
ing of meeting in June, 256.

Squalo-raia, Dr. Riley’s account of,
483.

Stanley (Rev. Edward), on the disco-
very of bones of a rhinoceros and a
hyzena in one of the Cefn caves, 402.

Stauffenberg, section from the, through
the Kachelstein and the Kressenberg
towards the plains of Bavaria, 156.

Stokes (C. Esq.), letter addressed to
W. J. Broderip, Esq., explanatory of
three drawings of Echini, 86.

Stonesfield slate shown to be the lowest
member of the great oolite, 414.

Straden, shelly sands eapped by basaltic
lava occur at, 215.

Submarine forest, account of one in
Cardigan Bay, 407.

Subscription for repair of apartments
in:Somerset House resolved upon, at
a Special General Meeting, 74,

Sussex, letter of Mr. Mantell accompa-
nying a list of the fossils of, 81.

Sutherland, red sandstone and conglo-
merate series on the north-west coast
of, 79.

Sutors of Cromarty, Mr. Murchison on
the occurrence of lias near the, 12;
consist principally of felspathic
gneiss, 34.

Swan River, remarks on the vicinity of,
320.

Sykes (Lieut. Col.), ona portion of the
Dukhun, 417.

Taylor (John, Esq.), notice of his Re-
cords of Mining, 123.

Taylor (R. C., Esq.), Dr. Fitton’s ta-
bular arrangement of his list of Bri

’ tish fossils, 128. &

Tegel of Vienna, description of the,
254.

Telfair (Mr.), notice of a conglomerate
from Madagascar, containing frag-
ments of the tusk of a hippopotamus,
479.

Terruel, notice by Col. Silvertop of the
lacustrine basin of, 236.

INDEX.

Tertiary formations, notice of, in
Austria, 153, 157, 225, 230, 252;
Bavaria, 157, $30; near Bonn, 468;
in England, 239, 403, 481; France,
5, 140, 150, 161; Gallicia, 241; on
the banks of the Irawadi, 72; in
Italy, 137; near La Spezia, 165; in
the Low Countries, 161; in Tower
Styria, 213, 230,466; Moravia, 241;
near Nice, 88; at Giningen, 167;
in Portugal, 395; the South of
Spain, 465, 485.

Thames, Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the
hydrographical basin of the, 145.
Thomas (A. Esq.), on the geology of

Pembrokeshire, 216,

Tino, Isle of, composed of the lime-
stone system of Porto Venere, 166.
Titterstone-Clee-Hill, Mr. J. R.
Wright’s notice of the structure of,
387; on the basalt of, 401; Mr. Mur-
chison on the structure of, 472, 473.

Tor Bay, Mr. De ia 28k on the geo-
logy of, 31.

Transition series, sills Ireland, on
the structure of, 232.

Transylvania, Dr. Boué’s explanatory.
sketch of a geological map of, 242 ;
description of the tertiary basin of,
249; of the tr. achytes of, 243.

Trap, vast range of, in the peninsula
of India, 419.

Trap of Babbacombe and Tor Bays, no-
tice of, 33.

Traun, on the age of the tertiary de-
posits of, 230, 252.

Traunsee, section at the foot of, 155.

Treasury, Lords Commissioners of His
Majesty’s, thanks of the Society
voted to, for the grant of apartments
in Somerset House, 74.

Trevelyan (W. C., Esq.), on a whin
dyke in Cooper Colliery near Blythe,
Northumberland, 23.

Trimmer (J. Esq.), on the diluvial de-
posits of Caernarvonshire, between
the Snowdon chain and the Menai
Strait, and on the discovery of marine
shells in sand and gravel on the sum-
mit of Moel Tryfane, 331; on the
discovery of recent marine shells on
the left bank of the Mersey, 419.

United States, Mr. Featherstonhaugh
on the series of rocks in the, 91.

Untersberg, section from, to the plains
north-east of Richenhall, 156, 252.

Ure (Dr.), Prof. Sedgwick’s remarks
on the new system of geology of,
208.

Vale of Bredy, structure of, 218.

Valley of Weymouth, structure of,
218. 's

o01

Valleys, Mr. Scrope on the gradual
excavation of, 170; Prof. Sedgwick
on the excavation of, 191; Mr. Lyell
and Mr. Murchison on the excava-
tion of, as illustrated by the volcanic
rocks of Central France, 89.

Valuation of Society’s property, Dec.
3st 1826, 14; 1827, 45 ; 1828, 104;
1829, 184; 1830, 268; 1831, 358:
1832, 434.

Vauquelin (M.), notice of, in the obi-
tuary of the President’s Address
1830, 188.

Verschoyle (the Venerable Archdea-
con), on the geology of the north-
west of Mayo and Sligo, 407.

Vesuvius, Count de Montlosier on the
ancient and present state of, 337;
Monticelli on the curvilinear struc-
ture of lava of, 396.

Vienna sandstone, description of, by

Dr. Boué, 924,

“Volcanic island raised off the coast of

Sicily i in 1831, account of, 338.
Volcanic rocks of Central France, Mr.

Lyell | and Mr. Murchison on the

excavation of valleys, as illustrated

- Votes of thanks to retiring i. te

dents, Officers and Members of the
Council 1827, 16; 1828, 50, 74;
1829, 112; 1830, 186*; 1831, 270;
1822, 360; 1833, 436.

Wand, structure of the, 253.

Ward (Dr. ), sketch of the geology of
Pulo Pinang and the neighbouring
islands, 392.

Wardour, Dr. Fitton on the geological
structure of the Vale of, 27.

Weaver (Thomas, Esq. ), on the geolo-
gical relations of the South of Tre-
land, 231; on its transition series,
232; on the metalliferous relations in
Kerry and Cork, 233; the carbo-
niferous series of Clare, 234; the
distribution of the diluvial matter,
234.

Well water, on the influence of season
over the depth of, 339.

Wellington Valley, Major Mitchell on
the limestone caves of, 321.

Wetherell (N. T., Esq.), on the disco-
very of Ophiura in the London clay,
417; on the London clay of High-
gate Archway, 403.

Weymouth, on the geology of the neigh-
bourhood of, 217; structure of the
valley of, 218; on the succession of
changes indicated by the formations
in the neighbourhood of, 220.

Whin dyke in Cooper Colliery, de-
scribed by Mr. Trevelyan, £3.

502 |

Wieliczka, salt formation of, consi-
dered by Dr. Boué to be tertiary,
241.

Wildon on the Mur, conglomerate,

- coral limestone and marl of, 214.

Windischgarsten, on the valley of, con-
taining lowest part of the Gosau de-
posit, 253.

Wollaston (Dr. ), notice of, in the obi-
tuary of the President’s Address
1829, 113.

Wollaston Donation Fund, announce-
ment of, at the Annual General
Meeting 1829, 110; award of, for the
year 1831, 271; 1832, 362.

Wollaston Medal, Prof. Sedgwick’s Ad-
dress on announcing the award of
the first, te Mr. W. Smith, 270.

Woodward (Samuel, Esq. ), extract from

= &

INDEX.

a letter respecting some fossils found
near Cromer in Norfolk, 93.

Wright (J. R., Esq.), on the secon-
dary formations in the neighbour-

hood of Ludlow, 387; on the basalt —

of the Titterstone Clee Hills, 401.
Yates (Rev. James), notice of a sub-
marine forest in Cardigan Bay, 407 ;
remarks on the formation of alluvial
deposits, 237.
Zacatecas, on the native iron of, 488.
Zechstein, stated by Dr. Boué to be
wanting in Moravia and the West
of Hungary, 240; by Mr. Murchi-
son to occur in the Eastern Alps,
G50. :
Zirknitz-thal, fossils found in the, 214.
Zlam, tertiary deposit of, noticed by
Mr. Murchison, 253.

ad oe

oe 4 $e

THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. |

LONDON:
PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

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Full text of "Proceedings of the Geological Society of London"

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