ee a 
—— 
295 
and nothing to induce the belief that a fault of such gigantic 
dimensions existed there. And at the Mells colliery, immediately 
to the north of the patch, where some evidence of the fault theory 
might fairly have been expected I have been unable to learn a 
single fact to establish its accuracy. 
The answer to the fault theory therefore is simply this ; the 
workings of adjacent collieries which partially surround, and in 
some instances even pass beneath the Limestone areas, have failed 
to prove the existence of faults to account for the upheaval. 
IT—Mr. Woodward's combined Fault and Anticlinal Theory.— 
Although I have devoted considerable attention to Mr. Wood- 
ward’s paper, I am afraid I have failed to follow him fully in 
the section by which he has sought to account for the Limestone 
areas under consideration. I have prepared an enlarged copy of 
his section, the chief features of which are a “fan-shaped anti- 
clinal,” and a peculiar combination of faults. 
Mr. Woodward is of opinion that, “by introducing a fold to 
“the north, and by calling faults to our assistance, the position of 
“these Limestone masses may be satisfactorily accounted for— 
“and without resorting to any form of structure which is not 
“ already known in the Mendip area.” 
My remarks on the previous head have, I trust, answered that 
part of Mr. Woodward’s theory which requires the agency of 
faults, and as to the anticlinal, I can only say that with an inti- 
mate knowledge of the distsict, I know of no circumstance to 
bear out the suggestion. On the contrary, the facts proved by 
workings in the Great course and Firestone veins at Mells 
colliery, and by the Catch, Bilboa, Newbury, and Mackintosh 
pits, are directly opposed to such an assumption, and I trust this 
will be made more apparent in considering 
III.—The Overthrow Theory.—Before attempting to explain the 
method by which in my opinion these isolated areas of Mountain 
Limestone are to be accounted for, I would first of all lay before 
