106 -W. WHITAKER AIiBaESS : GEOLOGICAL 



A powerful centrifugal pump was fixed in order to pump water 

 out of the spring as much as possible and to clean out the basin, 

 a process that should be watched with interest. 



The basin is artificialized to such an extent that one cannot get 

 a section of the beds passed through by it ; but a cutting in the 

 conduit near by, made for building a permanent sluice, showed 

 2 J feet of made ground and then alluvial silt, partly peaty, to the 

 depth of 7 feet, this bed not being pierced at that depth. 



I imagine that the various water-channels of the neighbourbood, 

 including, let us hope, that of the Hertford sewage, are pretty well 

 puddled, so that water does not leak out of them. 



Soon after our visit Mr. Francis and Mr. Hopkinson successively 

 visited Arklcy Hole, where they found a somewhat similar state of 

 things. The water in the spring was about 2^ feet below the 

 outlet, so that there was no flow. The part of the basin above the 

 present water-level was thickly covered with mud, as at Chadwell. 

 It is to be hoped that we may have other records of exceptional 

 water-levels following on the past dry season. 



It has occurred to me that it may be well for a Society like ours 

 at times to take stock of what has been done for our county outside 

 our own body. I have, therefore, looked back for a few years 

 through such scientific literature as was easily accessible, so as to 

 notice papers referring to Hertfordshire. That the result is almost 

 wholly expressed in geologic terms is only natural, as the literature 

 of other sciences comes more rarely before me : nor is this a dis- 

 advantage, for, were I to ramble over a wide field of science, 

 I should need to go on addressing you for too long a time. More- 

 over, it is only fair to the disciples of other sciences that they 

 should be left to preach on their own particular matters of faith. 



It was needful, too, that I should fix a time-limit to my 

 retrogression, and the year 1890 was chosen, for three not very 

 good reasons : that one must begin somewhere, that it seems 

 convenient to restrict ourselves to the Nineties, and that thereby 

 I avoid having to notice a somewhat bulky work of my own, which 

 was born in 1889. There are four papers wdiich need not be noticed, 

 as three of them have been reprinted in our 'Transactions,'* and 

 the other has been brought to our notice by Mr. Gibbs. f 



* Evans, Sir J.: "An Ancient British Coin found near Watford" 

 (' Transactions,' Vol. IX, Pt. 4, pp. 1.33, 134) ; and " Some Koman Coins found 

 at Brickendonbury " ('Transactions,' Vol. IX, Pt. 5, pp. 169-174, PI. IV). 

 Reid, C. : " Palieolithic Deposits at Hitchin " ('Transactions,' Vol. X, Pt. 1, 

 pp. 14-22). 



t Christy: " Frimitla elafior in Britain: Its Distribution, Peculiarities, 

 Hybrids, and Allies" (' Journ. Linn. Soc.,' vol. xxxiii, no. 229, p. 172, 

 pi ii, 1897). 



