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There were only three theories as to the origin of the pass 
which were worthy of notice— 
1st.—The chasm theory of the rending asunder of the 
rocks by some sudden convulsion of nature might be dismissed, 
as he felt sure the members of the Cotteswold Club were not 
sufficient catastrophists to entertain it, and a fatal objection, in 
his opinion, was the fact that there was no rent or fissure 
across the bottom. 
2nd.—The theory that these cliffs (and the word “cliff” in 
the popular sense lent some support to the notion) were due to 
the violent action of the sea-waves and strong currents; and 
he adduced several reasons which had been advanced by 
Professor Boyd-Dawkins, and others, in support of this view. 
3rd.—The theory that water, by its slow but continuous 
and effective action, carried on through countless centuries, was 
the agent: not the gradual cutting its way backwards over 
the surface, as in the case of the Niagara ravine—the ravine 
extending as the falls receded—but the dissolving and 
mechanical action of underground water, finding its way 
through the weaker places of the limestone beds, gradually 
working fissures into caverns, and caverns becoming ravines, 
thus in process of time the water flowing away at another 
level, so that the Cheddar Gorge was nothing more than a 
gigantic unroofed cavern. In illustration of this, and to show 
what is actually going on at the present time, he had brought 
them to this cavern, or empty ravine. The process of the 
gradual falling-in of the roof of the cavern was now going on+ 
Indeed, since he had visited it in company with his friend 
Professor Boyd-Dawkins, in 1864, much more material had 
fallen from the roof, and the ravine was gradually and slowly 
extending backwards at the expense of the cavern. 
The President, on behalf of the members, thanked Mr 
Winwood for his paper, and expressed how much they were 
indebted to him for his instructive and able guidance during 
the day. With regard to the formation of the gorge, he sug- 
gested, for his consideration, that if it were admitted that the 
opening of the gorge began, from whatever cause, prior to the 
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