ihi; Moolliopij pttimtli^t^' Jidd ^lui 



MEETING AT HEREFORD FOR WOOLHOPE, 



August 27th, 1867. 



This, the fifth and last field meeting of the year, was appointed to be 

 held in the home country, in order to visit the Woolhope valley of elevation, 

 from which the chib takes its name. Sir Roderick Murchison has given this 

 valley a world-wide repute. Since he first read aright the true position in 

 nature of the Silurian system of rocks, the "Woolhope district has become classic 

 ground in geology. Nowhere, in so short a space, are the upper Siluriaa strata 

 seen to greater advantage. The volcanic power, enormous as it must have been, 

 which broke through the Old Eed Sandstone of Herefordshire and thrust up 

 the rocks beneath, yet seems to have acted in a comparatively limited district, 

 so that a walk of three or four miles will take you completely across this very 

 interesting valley. It is one of the most remarkable geological districts in Great 

 Britain, and it ever will be so. It offers an endless field for study. If the 

 direction of the force which threw them up is known — if that force itself was 

 volcanic— what has become of the Old Ked Sandstone and other, layer upon 

 layer, of rocks which originally covered them ? How have they been removed ? 

 or, in geological terms, what has caused the denudation ? Were the strata 

 thrown off at once by the power which threw up the rocks beneath ? Did the 

 waves of an earthquake sea wash them away, or did huge glaciers carry them 

 off ; or, again, has their removal been the slow and gradual work of countless 

 ages ? These and many similar questions agitate the world of philosophy to 

 this day, and in all probability will long continue to do so. It is a district 

 which must always be interesting to visit, and many of the junior members of 

 the club, who had this season rambled far and wide on previous excursions, 

 looked forward with much pleasure to this meeting. 



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