40 BEPORT — 1842. 



This railway intersects the coal districts for many miles, and is replete with 

 interesting subjects. 



3rd. Plans and sections of the Manchester and Leeds Railway from Man- 

 chester to Normanton, about 50 miles. 



These latter are not quite finished, but will be so before the close of the 

 Meeting. 



Enlarged sections of a considerable portion of the excavations only on this 

 railway, filled up with the geological detail. 



4th. Enlarged sections of the excavations only on the Glasgow, Paisley, and 

 Greenock railway, about 15 miles, with the geological detail. 



5th. Similar sections of the Manchester and Bolton Railway, about 11 miles, 

 containing full details of the strata where the remarkable fossil trees were 

 found, and of the trees also, models of which are in the Exhibition-room at the 

 Royal Institution in Manchester. The liberality of this Company will afford 

 several opportunities for the members of the Association to visit these trees, 

 and the particular profile of the excavation where they were found will remain 

 in the Geological Section, or in the Royal Institution, with the models. 



6th. Similar enlarged sections of the cuttings only on the Hull and Selby 

 Railway, about 20 miles, with the geological detail. 



The whole of these enlarged geological sections were furnished by Mr. 

 Wright ; and others are stated to be preparing for the Committee, but they 

 have not yet come to hand. 



These records, according to the directions of the Association, will be depo- 

 sited in the Museum of CEconomic Geology in London, where they may at all 

 times hereafter be usefully referred to. 



In conclusion the Committee cannot refrain from observing, that the docu- 

 ments thus collected are equally important and interesting to the philosopher, 

 to the geologist, and to the engineer. To the theoretical investigator they 

 present the curious and varying features of the crust of this portion of the globe ; 

 to the practical engineer they offer a memorial of the experience of the pro- 

 fession, whence many a serviceable lesson for future operations may be learned, 

 whereby difficulties and expense may be hereafter avoided and diminished, 

 and from which valuable information may be derived for the appliance of 

 materials in constructions (it being one of the greatest arts of the engineer 

 to avail himself of the most immediate natural resources which he has to dis- 

 place in one instance, and to apply them usefully in another, when in juxta- 

 position). On the other hand, the minute variations of the strata and soil, 

 thus accurately delineated, and referred to well-defined altitudes above the 

 general level of the sea, become of the very highest interest to the geolo- 

 gist, and no less so to the mining engineer; more especially on the lines 

 of railway intersecting the coal and mineral districts, where in so many in- 

 stances labour, directed by science and sustained by commercial enterprise, 

 has laid bare in deep chasms the secrets of nature, and the stores whence 

 this country has derived so many advantages ; and drawn from our mines 

 of coal and rude metallic ores, that abundant wealth and prosperity which 

 the more splendid productions of Potosi and of Mexico have failed to bestow 

 on their possessors. 



Report of the Committee for the Preservation of Animal and 



Vegetable Substances. 



In making a report for the Committee for the preservation of Animal and 



Vegetable Substances, consisting of the Rev. W. L. P. Garnons and myself, I 



