1848 PAPERS AT GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 125 



South Wales. It dealt chiefly with the succession of 

 the stratified rocks which had been worked out in the 

 country to the south and south-east of the Dolgelli 

 and Bala district, and pointed out the clear evidence 

 of the great unconformability and overlap of the Upper 

 Silurian formations. The other paper, entitled * Sketch 

 of the Structure of the Country extending from Cader 

 Idris to Moel Siabod, North Wales, was by Jukes 

 and Selwyn, and showed the relative positions of the 

 various great stratified groups and their intercalated 

 volcanic masses. 



These papers are interesting in the history of 

 British geology, inasmuch as they gave the first pub 

 lished outline of the results up to that time obtained 

 by the Geological Survey in North Wales. As their 

 titles expressed, they were merely sketches ; and even 

 in that form they were printed only in abstract. The 

 Director-General, as told in the last extract from 

 Ramsay s diary, was in a state of alarm as to what 

 might happen as a consequence of the reading of these 

 papers. This fear arose from a certain timidity of 

 nature which, with all his energy and determination, 

 characterised De la Beche. So anxious was he for the 

 ultimate success of all his wide scheme for a great 

 national institute of applied science, that though he 

 could show fight when occasion demanded, he shrank 

 from taking himself, or encouraging on the part of 

 his subordinates, any action which seemed likely to 

 stimulate opposition. He did not greatly favour the 

 communication of papers by his staff to scientific 

 societies giving the results arrived at during the opera 

 tions of the Survey. He contended, and with some 

 show of reason, that these results were obtained by 

 public servants at the cost of the State, and were the 



