450 



NATURE 



{_Sept. 9, i8So 



Note on the Range of the Lower Terliaries of East Stif'olk, by 

 Mr. W. H. Dalton, was read by Mr. Whitaker. — Describes 

 sections obtained in deep wells and borings through the drift. 

 One at Yarmouth proved the chalk to be 500 feet from the 

 surface ; between the drift and the chalk there being no les'^ than 

 300 feet of Lower Tertiaries. These wells also prove the surface 

 of the chalk to be an inclined plane beneath the Tertiarie?, and 

 the surface of the Tertiaries beneath the drift also obeys the same 

 law. At Ijrandfield the chalk was found at 48 feet belov, the 

 mean sea-level. 



Proof of the Organic Nature of Eozoon Canadense, by Mr. 

 Charles ^Ioore. — Refers to the opinion of Prof. Moebius, of Kiel, 

 of specimens supplied him by Dr. Carpenter, that the eozoonal 

 structure is referable to the mineral kingdom, which view is also 

 taken by Dr. Otto Ilann of Ruthlengen, and describes his own 

 examination of a specimen of Laurentian rock from Canada, 

 suppUed him by Dr. Carpenter, and of others by Mr. J. Hind. 

 A specimen weighing twenty grains was decalcified and placed in 

 stoppered bottles in water filtered through asbestos ; thiswhen mag- 

 nified was found to reveal a clear siliceous-looking fibroid grow tli of 

 organic btracture of black gum and olive colours. These curled 

 fibres can only be compared to a bit of polished golden wire. 

 They are formed of tliree round golden close-set columns. It is 

 not a parasitic shell, for when dry it is rigid ; but when moist, 

 curved and curled specimens are flexible. They are not unlike the 

 pedicle to which the capsule of some Rhizopoda are attached ; 

 but in such a case they must have been devoured by the 

 eozoon, which is not probable. In addition there is anotlier 

 organic ^rtructure, not thicker than a spider's web, like mycelium 

 growth of the present day, and also anomalous bodies, possibly 

 the ova, or gemmules of forams. Refers to a similar mycelium 

 growth, as in Eozoon found on nummalites ; also similar struc- 

 tures in the Globigerina of the Challenger dredgings from the 

 bottom of the Atlantic. 



On the Post-Tertiary and Glacial Deposits of Kashmir, by 

 Lieut.-Col. Godwin- Austen. —Refers to the work done by Mr. 

 F. Drew. The author is of opinion that certain deposits contain- 

 ing human remains were deposed by a lake, still existing, I'Ut 

 formerly of larger dimensions. Refers the older beds to the 

 age of the upper conglomerates of the Upper Sewaliks. He 

 referred to the deposits at different heights on the banks of the 

 Indus, extending up to eighty feet above the river, forming cliffs 

 or blufls with anyular, probably glacial, deposits. The next 

 terraces occurred at 120 feet, and these again had still higher 

 beds above them, and the author believes the whole of the series 

 reach not less than 1,000 feet in thickness. 



On the Fault-Systems of Central and IVeit Cornwall, by J. II. 

 Collins. — Fifteen distinct fault-.systems, and possibly far more ; 

 the older system is newer than the Carboniferous ; wlien tlie 

 earliest was produced, the country was much the same as it is 

 now. The granite juction-faults are always filled up with 

 schist ; these oldest faults are succeeded by the elvan veins ; 

 these cut a fissure in the slate rock, which has been bent and 

 distorted, and often faulted ; these are nearly all of precisely the 

 same age. The tin-lodes are the next, followed by a second 

 system, crossing the older in an oblique direction. Of siiU 

 newer date are the east and west copper veins. The eighth 

 system is also copper, known as the Caunta copper lodes. Then 

 followed the ninth system, or cross-courses, running north and 

 south, generally only containing oxide of copper and quartz. 

 The later lodes never contained tin ; in the last only quartz. 

 The fifteenth set are the "alluvial faults ;" the ancient alluvial 

 tin gravels are traversed by them. 



On the Geology of the Balearic Islands, by Dr. Phene. — Refers 

 to the cave deposits in the grottos of Antiparos and of the almost 

 mountainous dimensions of the external deposits called Pambuk 

 Kalesi at llierapolis, in Anatolia. He describes the superb 

 caverns near Art.a, la Cueva de la Hermita, in Majorca. The 

 southern portion of the island is Miocene, the more northern 

 begins on the east with a sea-coast of Devonian, followed by 

 Triassic and Jurassic deposits, again succeeded by Devonian. 

 The cave occurs in a fragment of Miocene cliffs. In its vast 

 size and its magnificent columns of uniform thickness it may 

 be compared with the proportions of Westminster Abbey ; its 

 dimensions are exceedingly vast, and its lines resemble Gothic 

 and Moorish architecture in their delicate traceries. 



On some Pre- Cambrian Rocks in the Harlech Mountains, by Dr. 

 Hicks. — Describes the Cambrian area of the Harlech Mountains, 

 where he considers rocks occur equivalent to the felsitic group 

 of Bangor of preCambrian age, and he believes the Harlech 



rocks of Prof. Sedg^vick rest on these ancient rocks, which form 

 a part of a very ancient anticlinal, the conglomerates at the base 

 of the Harlech group being derived from the felsitic pre-Cambrian 

 rocks beneath. 



On the Action of Carbonic Acid on the Limestone, by Prof. 

 Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. — Caves in the limestone are to be looked 

 upon as subterranean watercourses, which are produced partly 

 by the dissolving action of the carbonic acid in the rainwater, 

 and partly by the mechanical action of the streams flowing 

 through them. The insoluble carbonate of lime in the rock is 

 changed into the soluble bi-carbonate and carried away in solu- 

 tion. The additional atom of carbonic acid, however, is in a 

 condition of unstable chemical combination, and if it be removed 

 either by evaporation or by the action of the free current of air, 

 the insoluble carbonate of lime is at once deposited. Hence it 

 is that some caverns have their walls covered with a drapery of 

 stalagtite and the little straw-like pendants from the roof formed 

 round the edges of each drop gradually become developed into 

 columns of v.arious sizes. The stalagmitic pedestals also rise 

 from the floor where a line of drops falls from the roof and 

 ultimately unite with the column let down from above. On the 

 surface, too, of the pools an ice-like sheet of stalagmite gradually 

 shoots across from the sides, and sometimes where the water is 

 still covers the whole surface. Admirable illustrations of all these 

 processes are to be seen in the caves of Pembrokeshire, and 

 especially in the Fairy Cave on Caldy Island. 



The rate of the accumulation of carbon.ate of lime depending 

 primarily upon the access of water and the free access of air, 

 both being variable, varies in different places. .Sometimes it is 

 very swift, as for example in the Ingleborough Cave, where a 

 series of observations by Prof. Phillips, Mr. Farrar, and the author 

 extending over the years from 1845 '° '873 give the annual rate 

 at "2946 inch. It is obvious therefore that all speculation as to 

 theaniiquity of deposits in cases which are based on the view that 

 the accumulation is veiy slow is without value. 



The mountain limestone ravines and passes are to be viewed 

 in the main as caverns formed in the manner above stated, 

 which have lost their roofs by the various sub-aerial agents which 

 are ever at work attacking the surface of the limestone. If any 

 of the^e be examined, it will be seen that the tributary caves 

 open on their sides, and in some cases the ravine itself is 

 abruptly terminated by a cavern. 



On a Raised Beach with Diluvial Drift in Rhos Sili Bay. 

 Gower, by Prof. Prestwich. — This beach is coextensive with a 

 cliff I \ mile in length, at the south-west corner of the peninsula 

 of Gower. The cliff is 50 to So feet in height, sloping from the 

 top to the parallel range of Old Red .Sandstone, consisting of red 

 sandstones and quartz conglomerate. The cliff consist of len- 

 ticular, rudely stratified, re-arranged material 40 to 50 feet in 

 thickness ; contains neither shells nor bones, and rests on a well- 

 rolled raised beach, with pebble from the Carboniferous lime - 

 stone, coal meaures, and other measures, its average thickness 

 8 to 10 feet, but occasionally it is piled up much higher ; it 

 contains shell of Littorinus, purpura lapiUus, Turritehr tenbra. 



Prof. Prestwich also read a paper On the Geological Evidence 

 of the Submergence of the South- IFest 0/ Europe during the Early 

 Iduman Period. — Refers to the residual deposits, consisting of 

 gravel, fragments of rock, exhibiting little or no bedding ; of this 

 group is the " Warp " of the Rev. Mr. Trimmer, the "Trail " of 

 Rev. O. Fisher, the result of great cold and weathering ; " Head," 

 by Mr. Godwin- Austen, derived from cliffs during severe climate ; 

 others have referred it to the denudating action of ice and snow, 

 rain action, and to "waves of translation." All these groups 

 the author correlates ; in early days all superficial deposits were 

 referred to the " diluvial theory " of Dr.[Buckland. Refers to old 

 river terraces proving the gradual wearing away of the valleys ; 

 but the author would revive a portion of the old "diluvial 

 theory" for certain other deposits. He groups the Loess, warp, 

 head, trail, and alluvial deposits occupying the centres of broad 

 valleys, into one group, produced by a flood caused by a great 

 temporary submergence of the land and its subsequent re-eleva- 

 tion, which spread material without rounding the fragments. 

 Coarse di'bris always to be traced from higher to lower levels ; 

 shells are rare, dM>ris is local, and these beds cover all others, at 

 all levels. Refers to the "warp" of the Thames, as difficult to- 

 distinguish from London clay, gradually becoming more gravelly 

 on the low er slopes, and merging into the ordinary valley gravels. 

 The trail lying on the gault of Maidstone was then described, 

 capping the hill, and following down the slope of the hill with 

 an increasing thickness on the lower slopes. 



