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6,—‘' A FEW STRAY THOUGHTS ABOUT PENDLE HILL.” 
The influences of nature’s wear and tear, silently but surely, 
are making themselves felt on Pendle Hill. It is the parent of 
many an oozy spring, that gushing from the hill make up the 
rivers that circulate at its base. All these streams although 
starting from points widely divergent, are eventually united in 
the Ribble. The springs are slowly reducing the bulk of Pendle. 
It is not the mountain it was centuries ago. Professor Dawkins 
states that at some era of its history Pendle had lost from its 
summit 18,960 feet of rock. For long ages the hill was subject to 
change through external forces, principally from the sea, ice, and 
frost. But lately internal forces have worked the changes. It 
was the internal forces that altered the original shape of Pendle. 
For many centuries the big mountain sucked in the rain and 
mist, held in its pools the water which gradually accumulated in 
its recesses, until, unable to contain it longer, the mountain 
‘‘ burst,” and the yawning chasm of Ogden Clough was formed. 
The amount of earth removed by this catastrophe amounted to 
nearly one eighth of the whole area of the ill. Whether the 
eruptions of Pendle have been characterized by a certain amount 
of regularity must be left to conjecture. In addition to Ogden 
Clough, there are Brast Clough, Ratten Clough, and Churn 
Clough, as well as smaller fissures. The enquiry arises when 
will the hour be ripe for another eruption from this stately hill ? 
A “burst’’ must inevitably come. The last recorded eruption of 
a serious kind was in 1679, when the hollow of Brast Clough 
was carved. It is believed that the eruption mentioned by the 
Antiquary Camden took place about 200 years before that of 
Brast Clough. Are we to expect that at the expiration of another 
two centuries the hill will once more be rent asunder ? 
7.—‘‘ THE REPORTERS.” 
This was a satirical paper dealing with the newspaper 
reporter in the ideal and in reality. Reference was made to 
many very amusing mistakes in the local newspapers. 
HOGHTON TOWER. 
By the Rev. J. SHORTT, M.A., Vicar of Hoghton, 
November 11th, 1884. 
Mr. Shortt began by describing the geological formation of 
the hill on which Hoghton Tower stands. It forms part of the 
Pendle Range. If all the beds of rock that enter into the com- 
position of that range were entire, it would lie on the flank of a 
huge mountain. It is bounded on the east by a remarkable 
