TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 43 



workings, we may form an idea of the use of records by the extent to which they 

 are now needed. Numerous accidents have happened from the want of accurate 

 plans of extinct woi-kings; and yet not less than thirteen mines have been relinquished 

 within the last half-century, all of them in the immediate neighbourhood of Newcastle, 

 and of none of these are such records remaining as to render it possible to discover 

 the exact direction of the old workings. It was urged that there is not only this danger 

 arising from the old workings, but that very often valuable property is lost, when by 

 an improvement in mining processes it might be desirable to re-open some of these 

 deserted mines. The registration of all circumstances attending the relinquishment of 

 mines, will, however, never be undertaken by the owners of the property, who can 

 hardly be expected to put themselves to expense for what they of course suppose to 

 be valueless ; and it is only by some legislative enactment that the result, so desirable 

 and so necessary, can be attained. 



The author then described the regulations enforced in Saxony with regard to this 

 subject, and proceeded to show that the indifference and mutual jealousj', as well as 

 the ignorance, of small mining proprietors, rendered it certain that in most cases 

 nothing short of an act of parliament would be effectual, and that any system that 

 might be devised, must be as a whole imperfect and unsatisfactory, unless compulsory 

 npon all. In conclusion, Professor Ansted dwelt upon the advantage possessed by 

 the British Association, and the weight of the recommendations made at its instance ; 

 and stated', that as in this way scientific men in England can most powerfully assist 

 the government, it was a duty incumbent on them to make some effort with regard to 

 this subject, which was of greater practical importance than any that had come before 

 the notice of the Geological Section. 



On the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of the Isle of Wight. 

 By Prof. E. Forbes, F.L.S., and L. L. Boscawen Ibbetson, F.G.S. Ac- 

 companied by Models of part of the Coast of the Back of the Isle of Wight. 



The models to which this paper related were constructed by Capt. Ibbetson, from 

 trigonometrical survey, in order to illustrate the sections of the cretaceous and tertiary 

 systems on the S.E. coast of the Isle of Wight. They are thi-ee ; the first exhibiting 

 the section of the lower greensand between Blackgang chine and Atherfield point, in 

 which that formation is grouped into three divisions, depending on mineral character 

 and the consequent modifications of the distribution of their organic contents. The 

 details of these had been previously laid before the Geological Society, in a paper 

 written with a view to inquii-e into the Neocomian question, the result of which was 

 to bear testimony to the correctness and prior claim of the important researches of 

 Dr. Fitton. On the first of the models are also displayed the sections of the gault 

 and of the upper greensand at St. Catherine's Down. The second model exhibited 

 the corresponding section of the lower greensand, gault, and upper greensand between 

 Luccomb and Sandown. In this section the beds correspond throughout the lower 

 and middle divisions of the lower gi'eensand, but the uppermost exhibits towards its 

 base zones of Gryphseas and Terebratulas, which are absent at the former locality. 

 Generally speaking, the upper portion of the lower greensand in this section is much 

 more fossiliferous. The third of the models displays the whole of the strata of the 

 cretaceous system, as seen in the Isle of Wight, between Sandown and Whitecliffbay, 

 and the whole of the eocene tertiary at the last-named locality. The strata of the 

 lower greensand in this section correspond to those at Atherfield, but are much thinner, 

 especially the clays of the lower part, and with the exception of the Perna mitlleti 

 bed, much less fossiliferous. The gault is free from fossils. The upper greensand 

 corresponds nearly with the section at St. Catherine's Down, presenting successively 

 sands and clays, under the names of chloride marl, siliceous bands, firestone and free- 

 stone, malm and rag, the malm in a 3-feet bed, highly fossiliferous, surmounted by 

 26 feet of malm and rag passing into chalk marl. The thickness of the gault in this 

 section is about 50 feet, of the upper greensand 100 feet, of the chalk marl and hard 

 chalk 200 feet, and of the chalk with flints, the uppermost portion of which is absent, 

 200 feet. Resting on the denuded surface of tlie chalk, and heaved up almost per- 

 pendicularly, at Whiteclifl' bay are seen the strata of the London clay, consisting, at 

 first, of a succession of marine clays and sands, succeeded bj' clays and sands appa- 

 rently deposited in brackish water, which are divided from the marine by a bed of 



