254 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
The Committee have remarked that the presentation of the results of observations 
of radiation are seldom put in such a form as to be applicable to meteorological prob- 
lems ; they are of opinion that the definite balance sheet of receipt and loss at the 
earth’s surface and in the atmosphere might be attempted. In the meantime, they 
have learned that observations already exist at Oxford of the coefficient of reflexion of 
the infra-red light from the surface of sea-water, and they hope that the information 
may be published. 
The investigation of atmospheric impurity by the Owens dust-counter has been 
taken up in many countries. In the United States the investigation has been extended 
to the upper air. The results are included in the report of the Meteorological Section 
of the U.G.G.I. 
Finally, the Committee are of opinion that many of the geophysical questions of 
vital importance to meteorology are quite suitable for investigation in the laboratories 
which form an ordinary part of the establishment of British Universities, and they 
desire that an effort should be made to enlist the co-operation of the universities in 
the study of these subjects. They are assured, for example, that the determination of 
the amount of hydrogen in the atmosphere, as desired by the Committee in 1921, 
could be carried to one part in a million parts of air by the cyrogenic apparatus of the 
Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford. 
They are further encouraged to look for assistance from existing laboratories by 
learning that frequent observations of the amount of ozone in the upper atmosphere 
are made at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, under Dr. Dobson’s superintendence, 
by the spectroscopic measurement of the absorption in the ultra-violet region. The 
absorption appears to be in direct relation with the pressure of the atmosphere at the 
level of about 10 kilometres. 
The Committee accordingly ask for reappointment with the addition of the names 
of Dr. G. M. B. Dobson, Commander L. G. Garbett, and Dr. H. Knox Shaw. 
They ask also for a grant of 551. for the purchase of a self-recording radiometer to 
be placed in accordance with arrangements made by the Committee. 
The Stratigraphical Sequence and Paleontology of the Old 
Red Sandstone of the Bristol District.— Report of Committee 
(Dr. H. Botton, Chairman; Dr. F. 8S. Watts, Secretary; Miss 
Epita Botton, Prof. A. H. Cox, Mr. D. E. I. Innus, Prof. C. Luoyp 
Morean, Prof. 8. H. Reynoups, and Mr. H. W. Turner). 
Introduction.—This year the Old Red Sandstone occurring in the area enclosed by 
the horse-shoe shaped ridge of Carboniferous rocks extending from Penpole Point 
through Westbury to Durdham Down has been examined in great detail. Much of 
this area is covered by Dolomitic Conglomerate, and evidence is accumulating to prove 
that the structure is not a simple denuded anticline, but that extensive faults are 
responsible for outliers of Avonian rocks, within the district. 
Vertical sections have been prepared from the exposures at St. Monica’s, Durdham 
Down : the railway sections north of the Durdham tunnel, the large cutting on the 
new road between Shirehampton and Sea Mills, and its continuation on the railway in 
the Horseshoe Bend. 
All the beds are very lenticular, and no correlation has been possible between 
these exposures. The junction with the Carboniferous is well seen at St. Monica’s, 
and this exposure has been described in Proc. B.N.S., 4.8.,Vol. VI., Part 2, pp. 179-182. 
Lithology.—Lithologically every gradation between the following types can be 
traced—coarse and fine-grained sandstone, conglomeratic sandstone, quartzite, 
calcareous conglomerate, sandy shales and sandstones with small scattered pebbles 
of vein-quartz and lenticles or pellets of a fine-grained sandy micaceous shale. Current 
bedding is common in the more massive sandstone beds. 
In many of the sandy shales contraction during desiccation has resulted in the 
rock being traversed by a series of cracks. The major cracks are approximately at 
right angles to the bedding planes, whilst a minor set, ranged at right angles to the 
first series, divides the rock into a number of roughly cubical pieces, some 1-2 ems. in 
length. The resultant rock may be termed a ‘ brecciated shale.’ In some instances 
these cracks have been filled with calcite and the margins of the cubical pieces have 
also, to some extent, been impregnated with the same mineral ; on a weathered surface 
this rock has a concretionary appearance. Both these types are very distinctive in 
the field and occur at various levels. 
