TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 69 
been discovered in a Silurian stratum in North America by Mr. Vanuxem, and de- 
scribed by the name of Agelocrinites. They were all provided with stems like the 
Spheronite and Pseudo-crinite, 
On the Polarity of Cleavage Planes, their conducting Power, and their 
Influence on Metalliferous Deposits. By Evan Horxins, C.E., F.G.S. 
The writer states that, taken on a large scale, “ all the primary crystalline rocks, and 
_ the sedimentary beds in contact, have been more or less cloven in a direction approach- 
ing the meridian, and in planes but slightly varying from the perpendicular.” These 
cleavage planes he compares with the structure of the medullary rays of a tree, the 
contortions of the schist he compares with the bending of the grain in the neighbour- 
hood of knots, and the ascending sap is represented by “the polar current and the 
mineral solutions.” An action, commencing in the moist crystalline granite, has 
formed, and still forms, this laminated and fibrous polar structure; the granite is 
transformed into gneiss, the gneiss into micaceous schist, and the termination of 
the crystalline transition into clay-slate. These great cleavage planes are the cause 
of the varying structure of the primary rocks, and give rise to the mistaken idea of 
their being sedimentary rocks subsequently thrown vertically. He says they are 
developed on a gigantic scale in South America; they cut the Isthmus of Panama 
transversely and extend into Mexico and the United States; and that the same 
phznomena have been observed in Scotland, and in fact in all Europe. He then 
compares the effects of the polar force with those produced in the magnetic battery, 
and states that he has seen masses of clay, in old mines and moist rocks, lodged in 
fissures acquire a cleavage identical with that of the bounding rock. He insists 
that cleavage planes must in every instance be developed in the same direction as 
the internal molecular polar current; and that the polar elongation of the crystal- 
line rocks gives rise to tension, and consequently east and west fractures, thus pro- 
ducing mineral and other veins. The subterranean current in the semifluid mass 
always causes, according to the author’s experiments, a westerly deflection of the 
magnetic needle. When sea-water is employed the variation amounts to about 
10°. Hence the direction of the conducting polar structure, or cleavage planes, will 
always be found to run N.E. of the undulating magnetic meridians. After showing 
the important practical bearing of this subject on all questions connected with rocks, 
veins, minerals, dislocations, &c., the author concludes by stating, that ‘“ polarity of 
matter is the key by which we obtain a clue of the cause of the great changes which 
have taken place in the surface of the earth, and is the agent which is silently work- 
ing within the crystalline film on which we exist ; perpetually moving and modifying 
and rendering it suitable to our wants during all ages of transformation, and con- 
stantly providing inexhaustible stores of mineral wealth for successive generations.” 
On the Position of the Chloritic Marl or Phosphate of Lime Bed in the Isle 
of Wight. By Capt. L. L. Boscawen Iszetson, K.R.E., F.GS. 
In this communication the author pointed out the position of the chloritic marl or 
phosphate of lime bed in the Isle of Wight, and called the attention of the proprietors 
and farmers in the island to the importance of knowing the true position of this va- 
Iuable manure. It is a gray marl full of green grains of a silicate of iron and fine 
uartz sand ; it is very fossiliferous (the author appended a list of the fossils found 
init in the Isle of Wight). The upper part of the bed forms in some places a con- 
 glomerate of pebbles and small boulders, and the fossils are broken as if rolled on a 
_ beach. The lower beds contain the fossils whole, and appear to have been formed 
in still water. Ammonites varians, Am. splendens, and Scaphites striatus, are the 
_ most characteristic fossils ; but it also contains abundantly nodules of a coprolitic form, 
_ which Mr. Thomas Hetherington Henry has kindly examined, and finds they contain 
_ a large per-centage of phosphate of lime. : 
Mr. Austen mentions it being found near Guildford, and Mr. Nesbit has found it 
near Fareham, containing in the nodules 28 per cent. of phosphate of lime, and in the 
whole mass 2 to 3 per cent. Mr. Morris and the author have also found the chloritic 
marl very abundant at Chaldon near Lulworth, and also in the railway cutting of the 
