Geological Society. 135 



ing through eight months, in which not only the temperature of the 

 body is noticed, but also the frequency of the pulse and of respira- 

 tion, and the temperature of the air. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Feb, 26, 1845. — A paper was read by Mr. Lyell, *' On the 

 Miocene Tertiary Strata of Maryland a^d Virginia, and North and 

 South Carolina." 



These rocks of the middle tertiary period are chiefly exhibited 

 between the hill countiy and the Atlantic, and form a band of low 

 and nearly level country, almost 150 miles wide, and not 100 feet 

 high. They are assumed to belong to this period, because they are 

 seen resting on the eocene deposits, and exhibit about the same pro- 

 portion of recent species. The United States miocene beds consist 

 chiefly of incoherent sand and clay, and the sandy beds, otherwise 

 barren, have often been fertilized by the use of shell marl. In the 

 suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, there is however a remarkable bed 

 of siliceous sand, derived from the cases of infusorial animalcules. 

 The paper was accompanied by comparative tables and lists of the 

 fossils. 



A paper, also by Mr. Lyell, *' On the White Limestone and 

 other Eocene Tertiary Formations of Virginia, South Csu-olina and 

 Georgia." 



The eocene beds extend chiefly to the south of the miocenes de- 

 scribed in the foregoing paper, and are very widely spread in the 

 Southern States on the shores of the Atlantic. The mineral character 

 of the beds in the north is so like that of the cretaceous series, that 

 were it not for the fossils, they might readily be mistaken ; but to- 

 wards the south a new mineral type is put on, and the rocks consist 

 of highly calcareous white marl and white limestone. In point of 

 fact, there seems to be as great a chasm between the cretaceous rocks 

 and the tertiaries in America as in Europe. 



A second part of Mr. LyelFs paper gave an account of a series of 

 rocks, called in America the Burr-stone, a siliceous rock, ccmtaining 

 fossil sponges, and belonging, it would seem, to the upper division of 

 the eocene period. 



March 12. — A communication was read by Prof. Sedgwick, "On 

 the Comparative Classification of the Fossiliferous Slates of North 

 "Wales, with the corresponding deposits of Cumberland, Westmore- 

 land and Lancashire." 



The object of the author in this memoir was to give a general ac- 

 count of the Silurian rocks of the lake district of the North of En- 

 gland, comparing them with those of North Wales, so far as he had 

 hitherto investigated the subject. In both there appears to be a se- 

 ries extending through the various members of the Silurian rocks. 

 In the lake district, the Lower Silurian rocks are imperfectly seen, 

 and are not more than 300 or 400 feet thick, the Ash Gill beds being 

 the highest ; but the Upper Silurians are admirably shown, and con- 

 tain characteristic fossils. Of these latter, the Coniston limestone 



