300 Geological Society. 



rad. vect. assume a periodic form ; and as a change of 1° in the 

 long, occasions a change in the lat. ranging from — 55" to 35", 

 another cause must be found for the discrepancy. Now the 

 only considerable part affecting this subject is the term in t, 

 which ranges from — 15"-213 in No. 1, to — 31"-000 in No. 

 21. These extremes agree with the 



nsr. A.i ... _.. Q10 , . . r , 322°.23'\ , 



XG.O.J 1 ' +0 8184/ i sm \ v i + 3]2°.58'J and 



+ 0"-8184 t 2l sm|r) 21 -t 306 o ^ 19 , j- 



be assumed for those equations, i. e. if with the latter 309° 

 and not 349° be the true epoch of M. Hansen's equation. 



S. M. Drach. 

 London, 22nd June, 1843. 



XXXVI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 71-] 



May 4, A letter addressed to the President by Mr. Ick, F.G.S., on 



1842. A some superficial deposits near Birmingham, was first 



read. 



While excavating that part of the New Junction Canal which 

 passes through the valley of the Rea, at Saltley, a mile and a half 

 north-east of Birmingham, the workmen at the depth of five feet 

 came to a deposit of carbonaceous matter, consisting of compact 

 peat, in which were imbedded rounded pebbles of white quartz, 

 and branches as well as prostrated trunks of oaks, hazels and wil- 

 lows, the former being occasionally upwards of six feet in length. 

 The wood exhibited various stages of carbonization, some speci- 

 mens being reduced to a soft state, while others, " consisting of 

 oak, were scarcely so much changed as the timbers of the Royal 

 George." The author did not observe an instance of coniferous 

 structure. About 150 yards from the river the deposit is two feet 

 and a half thick, and contains abundance of hazel-nuts. The horn 

 of a stag, probably of the Cervus elephas, which was found there, 

 measured from the base to the broken tip of the extreme antler one 

 foot seven inches, and eight and a half inches around the base, and 

 the brow antler was nine inches in length. At the distance of 

 twenty yards, where the peat was mingled with gravel, the core of 

 the horn of an ox was found, one foot in circumference at the base, 

 and one foot eight inches long. 



At the bottom of the peat is generally a thin layer composed prin- 

 cipally of angular particles of white quartz, beneath which occurs 



by i (from 4"'981 to 5"-447), and if we assume it = 50-3648, as on the 

 fixed ecliptic of 1800, this diminution would rise to £ (from 9""824 to 

 10"774). 



