13 



Court Road, gave the most important geological results After 

 passmg through 156 feet of the London tertiarics, the Upper 

 Chalk was reached and found to be 440 feet thick ; then came 

 Sand, Chalk, and Chalk Marl, 215 feet; Gault and Upper Green- 

 sand, 190 feet; Neocomian of a peculiar type, 64 feet; beneath 

 this came Upper Devonian Shales, but at a depth of 1 064 feet 

 and containing its characteristic fossils, such as Spmfem disjimcta, 

 Rhymhonella cuboides, etc. This was the first indication 'of the 

 presence of rocks older than the Neocomian East of North 

 Devon, and north of the latitude of London. It clearly showed 

 the extension of Palseozoic rocks from the Western side of 

 England, and extending towards Holland and Belgium. 



No. 4 was a boring at Turnford, 12 miles north of London. 

 Here the London tertiaries were 100 feet thick; Chalk 620 feet • 

 the Upper Greensand, 15 feet; the Gault, 135 feet; the Neoco- 

 mian of the Carr-stone type, about 12 inches. At the depth of 

 940 feet, the characteristic fossils of the dark chocolate coloured 

 Upper Devonian series were found. 



No. 5.— This trial boring was at Ware, east of Hertford 

 and due north of the Turnford boring. It began in the Upper 

 Chalk here 416 feet thick, which is followed by Chalk Marl 

 125 feet; the Upper Greensand, 77 feet, and the Gault, 160 feet • 

 then a trace only of the Neocomian of the Carr-stone type' 

 about 8 inches, resting upon an eroded surface of Upper Silurian 

 Limestone. 



One fact worthy of notice is, that these and other borings 

 sliew that the strata lie at very high angles ; the dip found at 

 lottenham Court Road, being 36«., and at Ware, SO''., and also 

 that the rocks forming the old Palaeozoic ridge are bent into a 

 series of east and west folds. It is among these folds, that Coal 

 If It exists, will be found. It has been suggested, that a point in 

 the southern suburbs of London, such as Svdenham, should 

 be selected as the site for a new trial; so that even if Coal 

 were not found, the Lower Greensand might be met with, which 

 would in all probability afford an abundant supply of excellent 

 water. As we now know that the Palaeozoic ridge lies at 

 dept^is varying from 800 to 1,200 feet below the surface, in the 

 London district, and as Coal is worked at a depth of 2,000 feet 

 there would seem to be no reason on account of depth, why Coal 

 should not be worked under London, when discovered. It would 



