TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 89 



a mixture of 59 parts water and 1 part muriatic acid. The substances 

 submitted to experiment were limestone and sandstone, mixed and re- 

 duced to fine powder and made into a paste with Avater. This mixture 

 was put in a glass tube half an inch in diameter ; the ends of the tubes 

 were closed by metallic discs united to the connecting wires of the 

 battery ; and thus the mixed sediment was interposed in the line of 

 the electrical currents. The result was a decided appearance of stra- 

 tification, and a strong cementation of the mass. 



In all the subsequent experiments the author endeavoured to imitate 

 nature by a more slow electrical action, and employed only spring water 

 as an exciting fluid. 



In a mixture of limestone and shale the former was invariably re- 

 arranged on the zinc or negative end of the battery, and the shale on 

 the other. In a mixture of limestone, sandstone, and shale, the same 

 result occurred, the sandstone grains remaining in the middle, and 

 being of the three the most consolidated. By adding to the small battery 

 by which limestone and shale had been stratified the influence of 

 another of equal force, the stratification became waved; by adding a 

 greater electrical force, the materials collected at the upper end were 

 seen to be displaced and carried irregularly through the other parts of 

 the mass in thin veniform portions. The author considers these ex- 

 periments strongly confirmatory of his hypothesis. 



Several tubes filled with the substances named, and answering in the 

 arrangement of them to the description given by Mr. Leithart, were 

 exhibited to the geological section, and the author was prepared to re- 

 peat his experiments for the satisfaction of the members. He remarks 

 that discs of tin and silver answer best for closing the glass tubes. 



On Faults, and Anticlinal and Synclinal Axes. By John Leithart. 



It is the opinion of the author, that these remarkable interruptions 

 to the symmetrical arrangement of the earth's strata are not to be ex- 

 plained as the consequence of real changes in level of the surface of 

 the earth, but as the result of electro-dynamic agency in the interior, 

 operating through the mass of the rocks. The truth of this opinion 

 he attempts to demonstrate by comparing the real phenomena of faults 

 and axes of displacement of the strata, with the effects of electrical 

 action predicted upon the following suppositions : — 

 1. — That electrical currents circulate in the earth; 

 2. — That faults, veins, &c. are the chief channels by which the elec- 

 trical equilibrium between the surface and interior of the earth 

 is maintained ; 

 3. — That the stratification of the rocks forming the earth's crust is 



the result of the electro-polar action of these currents ; 

 4. — That each stratum possesses its own peculiar electric condition 

 and currents. 



