62 



Owing to his time having been much occupied in pre- 

 paring a paper for the Geological Society in London, Mr. 

 Moore apologised for his inability on the present occasion 

 to give a detailed description of the geology of the 

 immediate neighbourhood (this he promised to give at some 

 fixture time) ; his present remarks would be restricted to 

 the physical geology of the ilendip Hills, and their former 

 continuation into South Wales. These hills formed a 

 very important feature in, and had influenced the geology 

 of, a very wide tract of country. The whole of Somerset, 

 even a large portion of the district across the Channel, 

 to say nothing of the physical features of the district around 

 Bath, had been more or less affected by the great disturb- 

 ing force which had caused their present form and eleva- 

 tion. Proceeding to describe their structure, Mr. Moore 

 said that the " backbone " of the Mendips, corresponding to 

 what is now called the " Ridgeway," consisted of old red sand- 

 stone, and extended from Shepton Mallet on the east to 

 Whatley on the west. Against this " saddle back " rested the 

 Carboniferous Limestone at a great angle, in some places 

 almost vertical, and to this latter formation succeeded 

 the Coal Measures, at the same angle, with numerous " faults " 

 running throucrh them ; the New Red Sandstone, the Rhoetic 

 and Liassic beds, having been successively deposited horizon- 

 tally upon the upturned edges of the Limestone. The mighty 

 agent which had been the cause of this disturbance, uplifting 

 these formations some 20,000 feet, and in one place upheaving 

 and doubling back the Coal Measures upon themselves, so 

 that the coal is worked beneath the Carboniferous Limestone, 

 Mr. Moore had the pleasure of discovering and pointing out 

 to the Members of the Club daring one of their late Excur- 

 sions. In a field near Stoke Lane, a volcanic dyke crops 

 up, and can be traced immediately beneath the turf in several 

 localities; to this he attributed the disturbances and dis- 



