70 REPORT — 1873. 



p. 228, and the ' Chemical News,' vol. xxvii. p. 287, or in the ' Berichte der Deut. 

 Chem. Ges,,' vol. v. p. 1111, and vol. vi. p. 2G8. 



The author again desires to express his thanks to Messrs. Macfarlane and Co., of 

 Edinburgh, for their great kindness and liberality in presenting him with the alka- 

 loids necessary for these researches. 



GEOLOGY. 



Address hy John Phillips, M.A., D.G.L. Oxon., LLB. Camhridge and 



Dublin, F.B.S., F.O.S. 



More than half the life of an octogenarian separates us from the birthday of the 

 British Association in Yorkshire ; and few of those who then helped to inaugurate 

 a new scientific power can be here to-day to estimate the work which it accom- 

 plished, and judge of the plans which it proposes to follow in future. Would that 

 we might still have with us the wise leading of Ilarcourt, and the intrepid advo- 

 cacy of Sedgwick, names dear to Geology and always to be honom'ed in York- 

 shire ! 



The natural sciences in general, and Geology in particular, have derived from the 

 British Association some at least of the advantages so boldly claimed at its origin : 

 some impediments have been removed from their path ; society looks with approba- 

 tion on their efforts ; their progress is hailed among national triumphs, though 

 achieved for the most part b}' voluntary labour ; and the results of their discoveries 

 are written in the prosperous annals of our native industry. 



In most cases scientific truth is established before that practical application is 

 possible which constitutes a commercial revolution and is welcomed with applause 

 by the community. What a change has happened within forty, nay, twenty years, 

 in the ironworks of this country ! But long before the foundations of furnaces were 

 laid at Middlesborough, the ferruginous bands in the Yorkshire cliffs had been 

 often explored by geologists, and waited only for the railway to yield millions of tons 

 of ore. The occurrence of good ironstone in the Liassic strata of England is a source 

 of profit as far to the south as Oxfordshire ; Northamptonshire yields it in abundance 

 at the base of the Oolites, and Lincolnshire above them ; while on the Yorkshire 

 coast, in addition, we have smaller beds in the midst of the Oolites, through nearly 

 the whole range, associated with poor and thin coal. 



To determine the extent of the British coal-fields, and the probable duration of 

 the treasures which they yield, and to discover, if possible, other fields quite un- 

 dreamed of by practical colliers, are problems which geology has been invited to 

 solve ; and much progress has been made in these important inquiries by private re- 

 search and the aid of a public Commission. The questions most interesting to the 

 community — the extent to which known coal-fields spread beneath superior strata, 

 and the situation of other fields having no outcrop to the surface — can often be an- 

 swered on purely geological grounds, within not very wide limits of probability. 



If, for example, we ask how far to the eastward the known coal-strata may extend 

 under the Vale of York, a reasonable answer is furnished by Mr. HuU and the Govern- 

 ment Commission. The whole great coal deposit, extending from Bradford to 

 Nottingham, passes under the Magnesian Limestone, and may be found for at least 

 a few miles in breadth vsdthin attainable depths. It passes under a part of the 

 Vale of York, probably south of the city. But before attempting to give a practical 

 value to this opinion, it may be well to remember that, fully tried, the experiment 

 would be too costly for individual enterprise, while if successful it would benefit 

 more than a county, and that not only a large outlay must be provided for it, but 

 arrangements made for persevering through several years in the face of many diffi- 

 culties and perhaps eventual disappointment. Still, sooner or later, the trial must 

 be made ; and geology must direct the operation. 



Considerations of this kind invest with more than momentary interest the great 



