58 



Malvern rocks. He detailed the results of a series of carefully- 

 conducted experiments on the rocks in question, from whence he had 

 been led to the conclusion that water had far more to do with the 

 formation of the "Traps" and "Sienites" of the Malvern range 

 than fire. 



This subject of Chemical Geology is one which has at all times 

 occupied a large share of attention ; and has of late assumed greater 

 prominence from the experiments carried on, principally by French 

 and German Chemists, with a view to ascertain the share borne by 

 aqueous and igneous action in the production of crystalline and 

 so-called " metamorphic " rocks. Mr. Leonard Horner, in his 

 Presidential Address to the Geological Society, read on the 15th of 

 February last, and published in the " Quarterly Journal" for May 

 of that year, goes at considerable length into a comparison of the 

 latest views promulgated upon the subject. And though he hesitates 

 to come to any distinct conclusion upon the matter, beyond urging the 

 importance of continued experiments, he adduces a large body of 

 experimental evidence showing the important part which water has 

 probably borne in bringing about the phenomena known as " meta- 

 morphism" in rocks. One experimentalist, M. Delesse, seems to 

 advocate views very similar to those put forward by Mr. Timins, 

 affirming that " the agencies in general metamorphism must have 

 been heat, water, and pressure ;" and further attributing the forma- 

 tiom of the traps of the Giants' Causeway, in Ireland, and of 

 Meissner, near Cassel, " rather to an aqueous than an igneous 

 action." 



It is certainly not a little surprising that we should see revived 

 at this time of day, the questions which, under the names of 

 Wernerian and Huttonian, so agitated the world of Mineralogists and 

 Geologists more than half a century ago. But in problems of so 

 intricate and complex a nature, in which forces and agencies have to 

 be dealt with upon a scale, and under circumstances so difficult 

 to calculate, it is not wonderful that a certain oscillation of opinion 

 should be manifested, which a long series of carefully conducted 

 experiments can alone serve to set at rest. 



At this meeting, two rare wild plants were exhibited, the localities 

 of which are deserving of notice. " Lathyrus palustris," the Marsh 

 Vetchling, from Longdon Marsh; and " Turritis glabra," the Smooth 

 Tower Mustard, from an old wall at Bromsberrow. 



Wednesday, Uth August.— The Club met at Beckford Inn, in the 

 Vale of Evesham, for the examination of the Upper Lias Fish-bed 

 at Alderton and Dumbleton Hills. This stratum, which in Somerset- 



