10 



sanguine. On the drill reaching a depth of 800 feet, the oil 

 gushed out in a column 15 feet high. Its source is stated to 

 be a thick deposit of black bituminous shales and limestones, 

 which cover an area of enormous extent. A huge mass of 

 rock, shewn by the arrangement of its fossils to have been 

 inverted, it is assumed by ice action, has been detected at 

 Shenley near Leighton Buzzard. It consists of Gault and 

 Cenomanian strata and is 250 yards long by 150 wide. There 

 seem to have been more notable earthquakes than usual in the 

 past 12 months including one at Milan on September 7th, 

 being the most violent ever known there and causing great 

 destruction over a considerable area. Another destructive 

 earthquake occurred in the isthmus of Tehuantepec on the 

 Gulf of Mexico on February 4th last. On December 16th the 

 seismographs in this country and elsewhere indicated that a 

 great earthquake was taking place in some part of the world. 

 Considerable speculation ensued as to the locality, which 

 was doubtless N.W. China, as a very severe earthquake, 

 affecting an unusually large area, was afterwards reported to 

 have taken place there on that day. On September 10th a 

 slight earthquake occurred on Exmoor, but no damage was 

 done beyond the fall of a chimney. Perceptible earthquakes 

 are however so unusual in this country that I think it worthy 

 of record. 



ASTRONOMY. 



Einstein's theory of Relativity about which I endeavoured 

 to say something in my last address, continues to interest the 

 astronomical mind, but can hardly perhaps yet be looked upon 

 as thoroughly accepted. The third test that I mentioned, 

 namely the slight differences which should according to the 

 theory, occur in the position of lines in the spectrum, between 

 those in light proceeding from the sun and similar light produced 

 on the earth, do occur, but the differences are not what they 

 ought to be according to Einstein's calculations, and they 

 seem moreover to vary according to the part of the sun from 

 which the light is taken, suggesting that there is some other 



