Notes and Comments. 213 



EVOLUTION OF GEOLOGICAL MAPS. 



At a recent meeting of the Geological Society of London, 

 Mr. T. Sheppard, M.Sc, F.G.S., gave a lecture on ' British 

 Geological Maps as a Record of the Advance of Geology.' 

 The author pointed out that it often happened changes were 

 indicated upon old topographical maps ; consequently, though 

 not strictly ' geological ' maps, many old plans and charts 

 were of use in connection with geological enquiry. Examples 

 of maps of the Humber area, dating from Elizabethan times, 

 were exhibited, and showed that great geological changes had 

 taken place ; on the one hand, large tracts of land had been 

 denuded and many towns and villages had disappeared, while 

 on the other, new land had been formed, and where once was 

 water, were now large areas of reclaimed land. 



EARLY REFERENCES TO GEOLOGY. 



It was shown that so long ago as 1595, writers were familiar 

 with the differences in the geological structure of the country, 

 and in 1683 Martin Lister read a paper to the Royal Society, 

 in which he definitely outlined a scheme for ' the mapping of 

 soils and rocks,' mentioning the various kinds occurring in York- 

 shire ; but his plan was not actually carried out until over a 

 century later. The remarkable sections and plans of Strachey 

 (1719) and Packe (1743) were also described. The first 

 systematic series of maps illustrating the geological features 

 of the counties, was issued in the Reports of the old ' Board of 

 Agriculture,' dating from 1793 to 1822. 



SOIL MAPS. 



These reports usually contained ' soil maps ' of the 

 countries described, upon which chalk, sandstone, limestone, 

 peat, marl, gravel, etc., were shown by colours or shading. 

 These Agricultural Surveys were certainly familiar to William 

 Smith, and doubtless he drew from them information to assist 

 him in his great map of the Geology of the British Islands 

 issued in 1815. One of the earliest serious attempts to prepare 

 geological maps was by Prof. Jameson, who read a paper, in 

 1805, ' On Colouring Geognostical Maps ' (Wernerian Nat. 

 Hist. Soc., Vol. I., published 1811), but the enormous number 

 of complicated signs and symbols which he suggested proved 

 unsuitable for practical mapping, though his colour scheme 

 had many good points in its favour. 



THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL MAP. 



The first strictly geological map was apparently that in 

 the Society's possession, which was made by W. Smith in 1799, 

 and showed the geological structure of the Bath district. Mr. 

 Sheppard was able to show that this was coloured on a plan 

 originally issued in ' The New Bath Guide ' of 1799, which he 

 had succeeded in tracing. The first geological map of England 

 and Wales was a small one, also by Smith, which was presented 



1917 July 1. 



