11 E P R T S 



ON 



THE STATE OE SCIENCE. 



Eleventh Report of the Committee for Exploring Kent's Cavern, Devon- 

 shire — the Committee consisting of Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., 

 John Evans, F.R.S., Edward Vivian, M.A., George Busk, 

 F.R.S., William Boyd Dav^kins, F.R.S., William Ayshford 

 Sanford, F.G.S., John Edward Lee, F.G.S., and William Pen- 

 GELLY, F.R.S. {Reporter). 



The Committee have again the melancholy duty of reporting that death has 

 deprived them of one of their members. As long ago as 1851), as soon as ho 

 became aware of the importance of the discoveries made in the Windmill- 

 Hill Cavern at Brixham, Sir Charles Lyell expressed a strong desire that 

 Kent's Cavern should also be systematically and thoroughly explored ; and 

 it was with his full concurrence that the proposal to do so was laid before 

 the Committee of the Geological Section of the British Association at Bath 

 in 1864, the day after ho delivered his Presidential Address ; whilst his 

 ardent advocacy, together with that of the late Professor Phillips, secured its 

 ready acceptance by the Committee of Recommendations and the General 

 Committee. At the first meeting of the Cavern Committee, appointed in the 

 year just mentioned, he was unanimously elected Chairman, and ho con- 

 tinued to occupy that post until his lamented decease on 27th February, 

 1875. Though the state of his health prevented him from taking any active 

 part in the exploration, his interest in the work never abated ; he always 

 carefully studied the Monthly Reports of Progress sent him by the Super- 

 intendents, and he made careful arrangements for their preservation. 



The Tenth Report, read to the Geological Section of the Association at the 

 Belfast Meeting, and printed in the annual volume for last year, brought up 

 the work to the end of July 1874. The exploration has been carried on 

 without interruption from that date to the present time, the mode of 

 excavation adopted at the beginning has been uniformly followed, the 

 Superintendents have visited the Cavern daily, the progress of the work 

 has been carefully recorded in the Cavern diary, the workmen have, as 

 heretofore, given complete satisfaction, and 3Ionthly Reports have been 



1875. B 



/ 



