% Jf^faj #bserbiitiaus an l^oral 

 atrfcia antr ^lubxtgraxintr Springs 

 anb tfyxx BiixxmnViuQ Strata* 



By H. W. PEARSON, M. Inst. C.E., M.I.M.E. 



{Bead May 4th, 1897.) 



L) EFORE I commence my few remarks I think a word 

 ^■*— ^ of explanation is due from me for appearing before 

 you to-night, as my subject is not purely one in which 

 your Society takes most interest ; but perhaps I may be 

 excused for so doing when I say that it was at the invita- 

 tion of the President of the Bristol Microscopical Society, Mr. 

 Stoddart (while having a chat with him upon Water ques- 

 tions), that I undertook to put on paper a few remarks, 

 and as the charter of an engineer is defined as one who 

 " directs the power and sources of nature for the use and 

 convenience of man," I am therefore in that capacity some- 

 what closely connected with Nature's many wonderful and 

 instructive subjects. 



The subject of my paper is not, as you will gather, so 

 closely connected with the more beautiful and charming 

 in nature compared with the subjects you are in the habit 

 of discussing ; but in its connection with geology and 

 the opening out of the resources of nature for man's study, 

 enjoyment, and convenience, it may, perhaps, be con- 



167 



