Dr. Fitton's Notes on the History of English Geology. 39 



* with the coincidence of certain parts thereof, and the similar 

 6 nature of its soil and rocks; and particularly with the re- 



* gular beds of lias-limestone in the quarries between Bath 

 *■ and Stowey, an estate of Lady Jones, which I went to sur- 

 ' vey; and was surprised to find the red-marl of that place 



* and High Littleton, — so evidently the same as that of War- 



* wickshire, not similarly used for marling land. Coal was 

 4 worked at High Littleton beneath the red earth. I was de- 



* sired to investigate the collieries, and state the particulars to 

 ' my employer. My subterraneous survey of these coal veins, 

 4 with sections which I drew of the strata sunk through in the 

 4 pit, confirmed my notions of some regularity in the matter 



* of the hills above the red earth, which they were in the ha- 



* bit of sinking through ; — but on this I began to think for 



* myself. 



" My observations on the superposition and continuity of 



* the strata were greatly extended in 1792; and in the following 

 ' year, by taking levels for the proposed Somersetshire canal, 

 ' 1 proved the red-marl, lias, blue-marl, and inferior oolite on 

 ' the tops of the highest hills to be generally inclined towards 

 •"the east: and this notion of a general declination appeared 

 ' to hold through all the varieties of strata in the considerable 



* extent of country before noticed ; and other levels down two 



* parallel valleys in the same strata seemed further to confirm 

 1 the general notion. It then became a consideration how I 

 4 could best represent this order of superposition, — continuity 



* in the course, and general eastern declination, of the strata 



* successively terminating at the surface of the earth. 



" After attending the Somersetshire Coal Bill in Parliament, 



* I was appointed, with two gentlemen of the Committee, to 

 1 go on a tour of observation on canals. Both these gentle- 



* men were coal-owners, and workers thereof, which induced 



* them, as curiosity did me, to keep separate memoranda of all 



* the collieries in our route : but my more eager object was the 

 1 verification of the preconceived order of superposition con- 

 1 tinuity and declination of the strata. I had generally the 

 4 look-out seat in the chaise ; and on a journey of upwards of 



* 900 miles, commenced in August, and extended to New- 



* castle-upon-Tyne by one route, and back by another, I re- 



* turned to Bath the end of September 1791, without com- 

 ' municating to my fellow travellers any of my numerous ob- 



* servations, which confirmed the general principles before 

 4 entertained. 



" For six years I was the resident engineer on the Somerset- 



* shire coal canal, which put my notions of coal stratification 



* to the test of e cavation ; and I generally pointed out to con- 



