president's address. Ixxxvii. 



pressure of gas (as much as 20olb. to the inch) which escaped 

 when liberated at the various bore holes I inspected. The 

 borings commenced low down in the Ash Down sands, traversed 

 the Fairlight clays, and extended into the Purbeck beds to the 

 depth of 400 feet ; the division between the two series being 

 marked by a bed 5ft. in thickness, composed of blue sandy marl 

 rock containing bands of bituminous shale and broken fossils. 

 This bed was followed by a series of shelly rocks which are 

 penetrated to a depth of about 3Sft. The following moUusca 

 have been identified at a depth of 339 to 377 feet in the series of 

 rock samples, namely : — Melania, hydrobia, corbula oblata, 

 cyrena, and ostrea. Nearly every inch contains numerous 

 fossil shells in various stages of growth, and we have only to 

 conceive of such organic deposits of great depth and extent, of 

 their alternate depression and upheaval through successive 

 geological periods, and of their subjection to internal heats, 

 to form an idea of the origin of the vast volumes of this gas 

 now seeking to escape. Of the immense value of these 

 discoveries in supplying a cheap fuel and illuminant for every 

 species of industry, for the manufacture of electricity and the 

 promotion of traction power, there can be little doubt, should 

 the supply be what there is every reason to believe. I will 

 merely content myself by saying, therefore, that the gas recently 

 discovered in Sussex, and probably existing at Kimmeridge, is 

 quite equal to American gas in calorific power and superior to it 

 as an illuminant ! IMay we not reasonably hope, therefore, that 

 its production and utilisation in this county will be an accom- 

 plished fact, and be a source of increased wealth and prosperity 

 to its industries ! 



And now, leaving the scientific progress of the past year, so 

 full of interest in the present and of hope in the future, I should 

 like to refer to matters which more immediately concern the 

 constitution, past history, and objects of this Club. We have 

 been in existence more than a quarter of a century, and I think 

 without exaggeration I may say, that our record is one which we 



