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The Geology of Devizes. 
By A. J. Juxes-Browng, B.A., F.G.S. 
Part I.—Dzscriprion oF THE STRATA AND THEIR PECULIARITIES 
OF STRUCTURE. 
‘ PAPER on the geology of any town or district is often a 
, very dry-as-dust affair, consisting chiefly of descriptions of 
rocks, with a scattering of technical terms and names of fossils that 
convey little meaning to ordinary ears. That kind of paper is not 
at all suitable for delivery to a general audience, and should only be 
read to an assembly of geologists. There are, however, certain facts 
in the geology of any district, and in the structure of its rocks, 
which may be explained and made interesting to people who have 
little or no acquaintance with the science of geology. It is these 
portions of the subject which are dealt with in the first part of this 
paper, the more technical questions of nomenclature and classification 
being left to form the second part. 
Professor Huxley once gave a lecture on a piece of Chalk, and 
found a great deal to say about it, both as to the peculiar structure 
of the material and as to the manner in which it was made. Some 
people may imagine they know all about Chalk when they know 
that it is composed of carbonate of lime, but the microscope tells us 
that there are as many different kinds of Chalk as there are different 
kinds of Clay or Sandstone ; it shows us also that the number of tiny 
fossils and organic remains in a crumb of Chalk is as large as the 
number of live animals in a drop of pond-water. Some of you may 
have seen the magnified reflection of such a drop of water thrown on 
a screen by means of the oxyhydrogen lantern, and will remember 
the lively scene it exhibited. In some pieces of Chalk the remains 
of minute animals are nearly as numerous, but before entering on 
EE STS: SOE Ae I RES 
*,* The Society is indebted to Mr. Jukes-Browne’s kindness for two-thirds 
of the cost of the illustrations of his paper. 
Z2 
