W. Whitaher—Coal in 8.E. of England. 13 



Limestone from the bore-hole, underlying the Magnesian Limestone, 'sample 

 132U ft. depth :- 



Carbonate of lime ... 

 ,, ,, magnesia 

 ,, ,, iron ... 



Silica 



Alumina 



Bituminous matter ... 



100-00 

 Mr. Howse in a paper entitled a " Note on the South Durham 

 Salt Borings, with remarks on the Fossils found in the Maguesian- 

 Limestone Cores, and the Geological Position of the Salt," 1 of 

 which he has kindly sent me a copy, discusses the age of the 

 limestones and underlying salt-bed and marls at the Saltholme 

 boring. He strongly supports the view that they are of Permian 

 age. He examined the cores soon after the boring was completed, 

 and "came to the conclusion that this limestone and marl were 

 identical with the Upper Limestone and Red Marl of Sedgwick, 

 the Brotherton Beds, and Red Marl of Kirkby, as exposed at 

 Knottingly, Brotherton, and other places in the south of Yorkshire ; 

 and that it was also identical with the ' Plattendolomit ' of Geinitz, 

 as seen near Gera, in the outskirts of the Thuringerwald, and many 

 other parts of Germany." 



IV. — Coal in the South East of England. 



By W. Whitaker, B.A , F.R.S., F.G.S. 



" TTTITH regard to the probability of coal under cretaceous 

 W rocks in the South of England it seems hai'dly possible to 

 conceive that the commercial enterprise of Englishmen could have 

 failed to discover it long ago if it had been in existence." 



The above quotation, from a Presidential Address, by Mr. H. 

 Hall, 2 might serve as the text for a short discourse on the com- 

 mercially unenterprising character of one's fellow-countrymen, who 

 have done practically nothing in the matter! 



A deep trial-boring was certainly made some years ago, near 

 Battle: but the Sub-Wealden Boring was not a matter of commer- 

 cial enterprise. Other deep borings have also been made in the 

 South of England, which partake more of the character of work 

 referred to, though only as regards the getting of water, not the 

 least idea of looking for coal having influenced those who made 

 them. It is indeed to the enterprise of corporations, of companies, 

 and of Government, in the search for water, that we owe almost all 

 our direct knowledge of the rocks underlying the Cretaceous beds 

 of the London Basin. 



Just one trial-boring is being made in search for coal, strange to 

 say by a Railway Company ; but, though extraordinary rumours 



1 Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, vol. x. part ii. 



2 Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc. vol. xx. p. 388, and earlier in various weekly 

 newspapers. 



