36 MR. E. W. BINNEY ON THE ORIGIN OF IRONSTONES. 



bed is the richest, and it is from that part that the specimen 

 analyzed by Dr. Smith was taken. 



There is a well marked line of division between the top of 

 the bed and its roof, but not so broad a line of demarcation 

 between the bottom of the bed and its floor. Every part is 

 more or less laminated, but less so in the middle than other 

 portions. 



On the whole, the chemical composition of the ore resem- 

 bles that of some of the Northamptonshire ironstones from the 

 oolite, especially in the great amount of the carbonates of 

 lime and magnesia that it contains. 



On the Deposits of Ironstone in Lancashire. 



There is little doubt but that beds of ironstone, capable of 

 being profitably wrought, exist in many districts besides that 

 at Ipstones, mentioned in this communication and so lately 

 discovered, and which have not hitherto been noticed, even 

 near to some of our coal fields. 



Looking nearer home than Ipstones, it has always been 

 customary to assume that the coal field of Lancashire is des- 

 titute of beds of ironstone worth working. Although in 

 ancient times doubtless considerable quantities of iron were 

 manufactured from its argillaceous ores, especially those in the 

 lower and middle coal fields* near Burnley, and which occupy 

 the same position as the beds at Low Moor, from which that 

 justly celebrated iron is made, still in modern times there have 

 only been in operation the furnaces of Messrs. Swire and Co., 

 at Dukinfield, in Cheshire, situate just on the verge of Lan- 

 cashire. These were supplied with argillaceous ores procured 

 from the middle coal field, and were not long in operation, 

 having been soon discontinued. Whether this arose from the 

 poor quality of the ore, or the unfavourable position of the 



* For explanation of these divisions, see Paper, by the Author, On the 

 Origin of Coal, printed in Vol. VIII. (Second Series) of the Society's Memoirs, 

 p. KfO, also Vol. X , p. 184. 



