G5 



disposed in lamina? occasionally mixed with rounded water- 

 worn pebbles of quartz ; the whole being the production of 

 older rocks that had been subjected, in all probability, to 

 some violent commotion, and at the same time to the 

 abrading effects of water, which transported them to their 

 ultimate points of gravitation, in the manner we may see every 

 day going on around us in the same medium. The po- 

 rosity of the strata is highly favourable to the imbibation 

 of a considerable quantity of water, but the great recep- 

 tacles of it are the fractures and fissures which abound so 

 largely throughout the whole mass of the rock. 



The greatest proportion of the strata, as has been pre- 

 viously stated, is of a red colour; due, I believe, to the 

 presence of iron in a state of per-oxide ; and the 

 mechanical arrangement of the strata, excepting where a 

 bed of clay intervenes, admits of a ready percolation of 

 water through them. It thus appears, that the physical 

 or mechanical structure, and arrangement of the strata, 

 render their condition peculiarly favourable for the col- 

 lection and retention of water. 



Secondly. — The area, from which a supply of water can be 

 obtained for Liverpool, I have shewn on the map before you by 

 a neutral tint colour : and under the first head I have shewn, 

 that in the bed of the Mersey, a fault of from two to three 

 hundred feet exists, and which probably extends through- 

 out the whole length of the bed to Runcorn. This forms 

 the limit of the area for supply by Artesian borings, on that 

 side. In tbe valley from Euncorn through Eoby and 

 Huyton, thence by Maghull and Formby, I have shown 

 that between the new red sand-stone and coal measures, a 

 fault of from 2000 to 3000 feet exists, which forms the 

 limit of the area of supply by the same means on the East 

 side : the sea forms the North-West boundary, and a trans- 

 verse fracture on the South from the mouth of the Weaver, 

 running Easterly by the bluffs or promontories of Weston 

 i 



