IS 



and local geology, begin in a well-known spot. Supposing we 

 draw a section across Pendle Hill, starting from Clitheroe. I 

 draw it at the top and I must ask you to imagine that this hori- 

 zontal line is intended to represent the sea line. In the first 

 instance, in the neighbourhood of Clitheroe, and especially at 

 the point where the Kibble runs at the bottom of the valley 

 there is a thick accumulation of limestone— carboniferous hme- 

 stone. I shall not detain you with any particulars regarding it ; 

 I would merely direct your attention to the fact of its enormous 

 thickness. We have there a supposed thickness of 3,250 feet. 

 I say supposed, because we have not got to the bottom of these 

 beds, and if you wanted to see the bottom of the beds you would 

 have to go all the way to the district of Ingleborough. Above 

 that we have an enormously thick mass of sandstones and shale. 

 Coming from the neighbourhood of Clitheroe up the slopes of 

 Pendle you will come over a set of mud banks and sandbanks 

 and petrified deep-sea accumulations, and ultimately, when you 

 get to the top of Pendle, you are standing upon an ancient series 

 of sandstones containing large pebbles in some places. The 

 thickness of these beds is 4,675 feet, representing a vertical depth 

 from the top to the bottom. This is the massive sandstone 

 forming the top of Pendle. Now then we come to the group 

 immediately above. These objects are what I have called the 

 Yoredale beds, and, hke the mountain limestone, they are purely 

 marine ; and, as you know perfectly well from the economics of 

 this district, there is no coal to be found in one or the other. 

 Some ingenious person 25 years ago, amused others, not himself, 

 by sinking for coals in this spot. This is a very good illustration 

 of the proverb, " a little learning is a dangerous thing," and also 

 shows that a practical man is sometimes able to make a mistake. 

 Here we have a set of sandstones and shales, and sandstones 

 constituting the ranges which gradually descend into the direction 

 of Burnley. These belong to that series of deposits known as 

 millstone grits. Then above that we have the coal-field of 

 Burnley— the enormously valuable coal-field of Bm-nley— in 

 thickness, even m its present condition, 3,217 feet, while the 

 thickness of the millstone grit is a thickness which is perfectly 

 unrivalled in any other part of the world so far as I know. This 

 enormous accumulation of petrified sand banks and mud banks 

 is no less than 5,500 feet thick. You see then that in deaUng 

 with the most extraordinarily thick series of deposits, for we are 

 actually standing in a spot, I may say, where these lower de- 

 posits—millstone grits and Yoredale shales— are far thicker than 

 they are to be seen anywhere else. I shall, first of all then, 

 consider the physical geography of this country during the time 

 that all the rocks from the top of Pendle northwards were being 

 deposited from the carboniferous limestone upwards. This cal- 



