1 899 



THE FRESIDHNT'S ADDRESS 



iMcndip Hills to Rome, where it was used during the 

 days of imperial greatness ; and now some of it might be 

 found on the roofs of modern Italian churches. 



After thanking the Corporation of Bath lor their kind- 

 ness in allowing a free inspection of the ruins, and Dr 

 Collins, their genial and attentive representative, the party 

 lunched at Fisher's. 



After luncheon, carriages were taken for Midford, to 

 see the house of William Smith, the father of English 

 geology, and also the sections in the neighbourhood. 



In this journey the Foss Way was crossed, and then 

 the Wansdyke ; about the latter there was a discussion, 

 which a passing shower cut short. 



The Wansdyke is an earth rampart which, it is probable, 

 originally crossed the country from the Thames, near 

 Reading, to the Severn, at Portishead. In Savernake 

 Forest and on Marlborough Downs it is a prominent 

 landmark, and south of Bath its course is in places also 

 clearly marked, sometimes, as at Hampton Down and 

 Maes Knoll, by forming a boundary of camps. Eminent 

 antiquaries have long held that the Wansdyke marks the 

 boundary line of the last conquest of the Belgse. But is 

 the W^ansdyke old enough to have been the boundary of 

 the Belgse ? That prince of excavators. General Pitt- 

 Rivers, has opened a part of the Wansdyke, in Wiltshire, 

 and at the base of the mound he discovered some Roman 

 nails. At that point, therefore, the Wansdyke, instead of 

 being prehistoric, is post-Roman. 



On arrival at Midford the party inspected the famous 

 cutting of Midford Sands, and Mr S. S. Buckman pointed 

 out how they are of later date than the Cotteswold Sands 

 — ^the former being post-striatiihis, and the latter pre- 

 st7'iatuliis in the matter of date of deposition : striatuliis 

 is the name of a distinctive ammonite w^hich marks a 

 very definite horizon across England and on the Continent. 



