TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 673 



eastward? This seems hardly a wise course, and is certainly a very unenter- 

 prising one. It seems to me rather that the ri<rht thing to be done is to try to 

 find out the real state of things, by means of borings. 



There are of course objectors in this as in other matters. Some may say that 

 it is silly to trj' in Sutt'olk, and that Essex gives a better chance of success. 

 Others again may prefer Norfolk. And yet others may argue that there is no 

 chance of finding Coal Measures in any of those three counties. But I must 

 confess my inability to understand this line of reasoning ; the fact is that the data 

 we have are few and far between, and that we want more. It is really of little 

 use to bandy words, and I do not now mean to take up the matter in detail. We 

 cannot get at the truth except by actiuil work; justification by faith will not hold 

 in this case, still less justification by nnfaitli. 



Let us hark back a little and call to mind what has happened in the past. 

 I remember the time when certain geologists disbelieved in the possibility of the 

 occurrence of Coal Measures anywhere in South-Eastern England, it being argued 

 that the formation thinned out before it could get so far eastward. Then this 

 view was somewhat varied, and it was inferred, from certain observed facts, that 

 even if Coal Measures did reach underground into these benighted parts, they 

 would be without workable coal, and so practically useless. 



Now for some years nothing occurred to upset the prophets of evil, that is to 

 say, no fact came to light. There were not wanting inferences to the contrarj', 

 but it remained practically a matter of opinion. One day, however, the needful 

 fact came, and the first boring made specially to test the question (at Dover) 

 disproved both the above negative theories by finding Coal Measures with 

 workable coal. Let us hope that a like result may happen in East Anglia, and 

 that the pessimists may again be in the wrong. 



We should not, however, fall into the opposite error, that of optimism. We 

 must not expect an immediate success like that at Dover. We are here much 

 further from any known coal-field. Advertisements of various wares sometimes 

 tell us that ' one trial will suffice,' but it is not so in this case. We should not be 

 content until many borings have been made, and we should not be despondent if, 

 after sites have been selected to the best of our judgment, we begin with a set of 

 borings that are unsuccessful in finding coal. 



At the time of writing I cannot say that the Stutton boring is a success or a 

 failure as far as coal is concerned, but I am quite ready to accept the latter 

 without being discouraged. Whatever it is you may know during our meeting ; 

 it is certainly a success in the matter of reaching the old rocks at a depth of less 

 than 1000 feet. We should remember that every boring is almost certain to give 

 us some knowledge that may help in future work. 



There is a further point, however, to be taken into account. A boring that 

 may at first seem to be a faihire, from striking beds older than the Coal Measures, 

 may some day turn out otherwise. The coal-field along the borders of France 

 and Belgium is sometimes aflfected by powerful and peculiar disturbances, by 

 faults of comparatively gentle inclination (far removed from the usual more or less 

 vertical displacements) which have thrown Coal Measures beneath older beds in 

 large tracts. This is no mere theory, though advanced as such at first by some 

 Continental geologists, who have had the great satisfaction of seeing their theory 

 adopted by practical men, and proved to be true, much coal being worked below 

 the older beds that have been pushed above the Coal Measures by the overthrust 

 faults. 



Our trial-work, of course, does not yet lead us to consider such disturbances as 

 those alluded to. We have at first to assume a normal succession of formations, 

 and not to carry on explorations in beds that can be proved to be older than the 

 Coal Measures ; but the time may come when it will be otherwise. 



Another matter to which attention has been drawn by our foreign friends is 

 an apparent general persistence of disturbances along certain lines, or in other 

 words, the recurrence of disturbances in newer beds in those parts where earlier 

 movements had afi'ected older beds ; so that, reasoning backward, where 

 we see marked signs of disturbance for long distances in beds at or near the 



1895. X X 



