TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 637 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 21. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. On the Discovery of the South-Eastern Coal-field. 

 Bjj Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, F.B.S. 



The author pointed out that although the physical identity of the South- 

 Western coal-fields with those of Northern France and Belgium was recognised 

 hy Buckland and Conybeare as far back as 1826, it was reserved for Godwin- 

 Austen to point out the possibility (in 1855) and the probability (in 1858) of the 

 extension of the coal measures under the secondary rocks of South-Eastern, 

 These views were ratified by Prestwich, before the Coal Commission in 1866. 

 After referring to the sub-wealden boring, abandoned when carried to a depth 

 of 1,904 feet, the author stated that in 1886 he recommended to Sir E. Watkin 

 that a boring should be made on the site of the Channel Tunnel works, almost 

 in sight of Calais, where the coal measures had been reached at 1,104 feet, and 

 near the spot where about four hundredweight of bituminous material, possibly 

 derived from the coal measures below, had been found in the chalk. Professor 

 Prestwich had pointed out in 1873 the possibility of tunnelling across the 

 Channel in the older rocks, and Mr. Whitaker had also pointed out in 1886 the 

 desirability of making trial for coal at Dover. 



A shaft was sunk on the west side of Shakespeare's Cliif to a depth of 44 feet, 

 and from the bottom of this a bore-hole was carried to a depth of 1,500 feet, 

 through the following strata : Cretaceous, 500 feet ; Jurassic, 613 feet ; Coal 

 measures, 387 feet. The first seam of coal was struck at 1,140 feet, and five 

 other seams were met with at intervals down to 1,500 feet, giving, according to 

 Mr. Biady, 10 feet of workable coal in all. These coal measures dipped gently af) 

 an angle of 2 degrees to the smrth, and are clearly within the limits at which] O 

 mining can be carried on at a profit, for the British coal-fields are worked ta 

 depths of 3,000 feet, those of Belgium to 4,000 feet, and year by year the improved 

 means of ventilation carry the limit downwards. 



The coal is bright and blazing, with cleat shghtly lozenge-shaped, and, although 

 with marks of crushing in two seams, is much less injured in this respect than the 

 coals of the Boulonnais. Comparison with the Westphalian coal-field, which has 

 294 feet of workable coal, that of Liege with 212 feet, that of Mons with 250 feet, 

 and that of Somerset with 98 feet, suggests that the discovery of other and thicker 

 seams is merely a question of sinking deeper. 



In conclusion, the author pointed out the importance of a new coal industry 

 in the south-east of England, carrying in its train many other industries, and not 

 improbably reviving under more favourable conditions the ancient wealden iron- 

 field, while he also indicated the important bearing of these discoveries on the 

 question of the durability of our coal supply. 



The Geology of Petroleum and Natural Gas. 

 By W. ToPEEY, F.B.8., Assoc.Inst.G.E. 



The object of this paper is to give a summary of some of the more important 

 facts as to the geological conditions under which petroleum and natural gas are 

 found in various parts of the world, noting the geological ages of the rocks in 

 which they occur, and the influence of geological structure in determining this 

 occurrence. 



Few cases are known in which petroleum ■ occurs in rocks older than the Silu- 

 rian, and none where the amount is. of any importance.. 



Petroleum occurs, but not in large quantity, in a trachyte-breccia at Taranaki, 

 New Zealand. In N. W. Hungary it is .found in a trachytic tuff of Sliocene age, 

 and in some other areas email indications of petroleum are found in volcanic 



