no 



The Saline water in this district comes doubtlpss from the vast emporium 

 of salt which was left to impregnate the rooks by the rapid evaporation of 

 huge bodies of sea water lifted up by the same volcanic power which raised 

 the rocks themselves. The general character of the salts of the saline springs 

 throughout England, resembling so closely as they do the residuum of sea water, 

 suggested this origin, and here, as elsewhere in many springs, the celebrated 

 chemist Dr. Daubeny, on searching specially for those peculiar constituents of 

 sea water, Bromine and Iodine, has discovered traces of them. No appreciable 

 change has been observed in the properties of these springs, nor is it likely, 

 says Murchison, that there will be for countless ages, so abundant are the 

 constituents in the rocks from which they issue. 



Let me now proceed to draw your attention to this fine Boulder of 

 conglomerate rock and the numerous others of smaller size scattered about on 

 the common. This large one is still, as you see, a very fine block, and with, 

 the fragments near it, gives a measurement of 1,300 cubic feet, and weighs 

 about 100 tons. Some few years since it was double the size it now is. At that 

 time the roadmakers blasted away a considerable portion for metalling the 

 roads, and they would have used, I am told, still more of it lately but for the 

 timely interferance of the Rev. Mr. Thorsby. It is composed, as you see, 

 of that hard conglomerate rook which is situate immediately above the Old 

 Bed Sandstone, and between it and the Mountain Limestone— of this rook 

 you will remember the club saw many fine specimens in situ at Symond's Yat 

 last year. They occur also at the summit of Pen Cerrig Calch and some other 

 places. It rests, as you see, on the ends of the strata of the Llandeilo tlags as 

 they are thrown up by the trap which has formed the hill into an angle of about 

 40°. The Boulder is entirely different in character to any of the rocks here. 

 There is none of this conglomerate rock in this immediate district, and there is 

 none to the north, from which direction this block must have come, nearer than 

 Flintshire. It could not have been brought here by human agency ; and the 

 question is how it could get here— a question with reference to such boulders 

 that puzzled geologists for many a long year ! Eleven years ago, when this par^ 

 ticular boulder first came under my notice, it was the prevailing opinion of the 

 neighbourhood that the devil kicked it out from his shoe as he passed over the 

 common. If he came here " to drink the waters," as the fashion now prevails, 

 it is to be presumed he would confine himself to the " Saliae Spring," and, in- 

 deed, the very existence of the Sulphur Spring is, by some people, considered 

 sa proof positive that the devil had most certainly been here. Such absurd 

 notions are happily passing off. Without troubling you with all the many 

 theories brought forward by the puzzled geologists to account for the presence 

 of Boulders of a different character to the rocks prevailing in the district 

 where they are placed, I will simply state that it is now universally agreed by 

 geologists and philosophers, that the only explanation, and the true one, is, that 

 they have been transported by ice. This large boulder, then, and all the others, 

 though they now stand G94 feet above the mean level of the sea, have been 



