XXXviii EIGHTH KEPORT 1838. 



reports that a line has been leveled by Mr. Bunt from Bridgewater to 

 Axmouth, to be thence continued to the Bristol Channel ; and such 

 marks have been left as will allow of repeating or extending the levels, 

 and comparing at a future period the height of the several fixed points. 

 We are thus led to say a few words about Geology, a science which 

 is rapidly advancing to take its permanent station among the more ac-. 

 curate natural sciences. It is now six years since Mr. Conybeare laid 

 before us his eloquent general view of its then existing state ; but the 

 lapse of a much shorter period in a science which is making such vi- 

 gorous shoots, would present sufficient materials for a report which 

 should enumerate and define the latest conquests it has achieved. The 

 fact is, that the very literature of this subject is so vast, that none but 

 the most practised and laborious geologists can keep pace with its pro- 

 gress ; and though the anniversary discourses of the successive Presidents 

 of the Geological Society generally contain a sketch of the works and 

 memoirs which have appeared in the course of the preceding year, still 

 we are convinced, that a condensed retrospect of the progress of geo- 

 logy, which should embrace a somewhat larger period and a wider 

 range, executed from time to time at the request of the Association, 

 would not only be grateful to geologists, but would also tend to com- 

 bine the discoveries and promote the advancement of this science. But 

 besides general rejiorts on geology, this Association will, it is hoped, 

 encourage a continued attention to the consideration of mineral veins, 

 since there is no branch of geology of such direct public interest as 

 the results of the miner's discoveries. In a clear and instructive re- 

 port formerly read by our Treasurer, Mr. John Taylor (himself a most 

 experienced and able miner), he expressed a wish, which we trust to 

 see accomplished, that miners would hereafter not rest satisfied with 

 such observations and knowledge as the mere practice of their art re- 

 quired, but would extend and combine their inquiries in such manner 

 as to make them the foundation of more general and comprehensive 

 views, and would tend to connect more intimately than heretofore the 

 science of geology with practical mining. This subject, so important 

 in its bearing upon the production of our mineral wealth, cannot be 

 too strongly recommended to the attention of the Geological and Me- 

 chanical Sections of the Association. We venture, indeed, to hope 

 that the Newcastle meeting will be pre-eminently marked by the dif- 

 fusion of much sound mining knowledge, flowing as it must from the 

 meeting together of the most experienced Cornish miners with those 

 of Durham and Northumberland. We are further encouraged to in- 

 dulge in this expectation from knowing that this meeting is honoured 

 by the presence of an Austrian nobleman, long valued by English geo- 

 logists, and whose thorough acquaintance with mineral veins, and all 

 their complicated faults and changes, well entitle him to occupy the 



