506 SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



the height of about twelve feet. He did not take the degree of 

 the heat, but from its effects it appears to have been equal to 

 that of boiling. Sulphur rises in vapour through the surround- 

 ing ground, and the water itself is strongly sulphureous. 



My correspondent It. B. has promised a Memoir upon the 

 Theory of Hot Springs and Fountains, which I shall be glad to 

 receive, and particularly that of the two alternately intermitting 

 springs of Iceland, described by Sir G. S, Mackenzie. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



Geological Society. 



March ^th, 1813. 



The Right Hon. the Marquis of Landsdown, 



The Right Hon. Charles Long, M. P. 



"William Clarke, Esq. Trinity College, .Cambridge, 

 were severally elected members of the Society. 



Two letters from Mr. Webster, Draughtsman, and Keeper 

 of the Museum to the Society, addressed to L. Horner, Esq. 

 were read. 



Jn the first, Mr. W. states, that, during a late examination of 

 the Isle of Wight, made by him for Sir H. Englefield, he dis- 

 covered a series of calcareous strata of later formation than the 

 chalk, especially characterized by containing fresh water shells. 

 From this circumstance he was led to suspect a correspondence 

 between this formation and the Calcaire d'eau douce, which 

 has been described by Brugniart and Cuvier as forming some 

 of the strata in the basin of Paris ; which conjecture was con- 

 firmed by a comparison of the fresh water fossils of the Isle of 

 Wight with those of the French strata, which were given by 

 M. Brugniart to the Count de Bournon, and by him have been. 

 deposited in the cabinet of the Geological Society. 



In consequence of this interesting discovery, the attendance 

 of Mr. Webster at the Society's apartments was for a time dis- 

 pensed with, that he might re-examine the Isle o^~ Wight and 

 its vicinity. Accordingly, his second letter is dated from 

 Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, March 3d. In this he 

 states, that he has succeeded in obtaining Some very desirable 

 sections cf the strata, and an abundant collection of specimens. 

 He is inclined to think that there are two freshwater forma- 

 tions, 



