358 



GEOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



COSMO JOHNS, M.I.Mech.E., F.G.S. 



Rarely have the various sections of the British Association, 

 been so centrally housed as was the case in Sheffield. Section C 

 had the Victoria Hall, where there was ample accommodation for 

 Sectional and Committee meetings. Mr. Bernard Hobson was 

 unwearying in his efforts to facilitate the work of the Section. 

 His arrangements for the various excursions were admirably 

 conceived, and the smoothness with which they worked will 

 leave many pleasant recollections in the minds of the geologists 

 who were present. 



As the President of the Association was the Rev. Dr. Bonney^ 

 the opening address was on a geological subject. The veteran 

 geologist, who was warmly received by the brilliant audience, 

 undertook a critical survey of the glacial problem, and the many 

 hypotheses that have been put forward. In the course of the 

 address, he discussed the drift deposits of north-western Europe, 

 and pointed out the inadequacy of the land-ice and submergence 

 theories, and of the lake hypothesis of Carvil Lewis, to explain 

 the facts. His opinion, however, that the ' overflow channels '' 

 of the Cleveland Hills more closely resembled remnants of ancient 

 river systems rather than the overflow channels of ice-dammed 

 lakes, would not find support among Yorkshire geologists familiar 

 with the ground. In his final summing up, he declared that 

 neither the land-ice nor the submergence hypothesis had been 

 completely established, and his closing counsel was to work on 

 in the hope of clearing up the many remaining perplexities. 



There was a departure in the opening proceedings of Section 

 ' C,' for the President, Professor Coleman, did not give his 

 address until several papers had been read. The present 

 writer commenced with an account of the stratigraphical and 

 faunal evidence on which he based his conclusion that the 

 equivalence of the Yoredale and Pendleside series had been 

 established, and correlating the Posidonomya becheri beds of 

 Germany, North Devon, South Wales, and Pendle Hill; with 

 the base of the Yoredale Series of north-west Yorkshire. 



In the discussion which followed, the most striking feature 

 was that, while the suggested correlation was generally accepted, 

 most of the speakers referred to the indebtedness of workers 

 in Carboniferous geology to Dr. Wheelton Hind. Dr. Marr 

 followed with an account of the Palseozoic Rocks of Cautley, 

 and thus prepared the way for a discussion of the graptolitic 



Naturalist, 



