328 Reports and Froceedings— Geological Societij of London. 



I. — The Geological Society of London. 



L— May 27th, 1903.— Edwin Tulley Newton, Esq., F.R.S., Vice- 

 President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read a letter from the President, expressing his 

 regret that he would be unable to preside at the remaining meetings 

 of the Session, as, in obedience to the orders of his doctor, he was 

 obliged to take a complete holiday from all work for the next few 

 weeks. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " An Experiment in Mountain-Building." By the Eight Hon. 

 the Lord Avebury, P.O., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



Various observers have endeavoured to throw light on the origin 

 of mountains by compressing pieces of cloth, etc. In these cases, 

 however, the pressure was only in one direction. The author 

 wished to obtain a method of obtaining compression in two 

 directions at right angles to one another; and, accordingly, he had 

 an apparatus constructed, consisting of four beams of wood, which 

 could be approximated by means of screws. In the space, 2 feet 

 across and 9 inches in depth, were placed pieces of carpet-baize 

 and layers of sand, each about 1^ inches deep. The beams were 

 then caused to approach one another until the sand rose in the 

 centre into contact with the glass cover, against which it was 

 flattened out. Casts were made of the surfaces of the different 

 baize-layers, and it was found that in the lower layers the ridges 

 were narrower, shorter, more precipitous, and more broken up 

 than in the higher layers. A second series of casts was exhibited, 

 with the sand and baize having been arranged as before, but with 

 the weight placed on one side. The ridges followed the edges, 

 though not closely, leaving a central hollow. There was a difference 

 between the higher and lower layers, similar to that seen in the 

 first experiment. 



2. "The Toarcian of Bredon Hill (Worcestershire), and a Com- 

 parison with Deposits elsewhere." By S. S. Buckman, Esq., F.G.S. 



The Upper Lias (G 3) of Bredon Hill is shown on the Geological 

 Survey map as more than 300 feet thick, whereas at Wotton-under- 

 Edge it is said to be only 10 feet thick. But at the former locality 

 the Inferior Oolite is represented as resting directly on Upper 

 Lias, while at the latter the ' Mid ford Sands ' intervene. It is 

 shown that this ' Upper Lias ' at Bredon contains strata of the 

 following hemerse : — Lilli, Variabilis, Striichmanni, Dispansi, Dumor- 

 tierice, and Moorei, in addition to those of the hemerge Falciferi 

 and Bifrontis, which at Wotton have been called Upper Lias, where 

 the rest have been mapped as the ' Midford Sand.' These sands 

 are 210 feet thick, and hence the Toarcian strata of the two places 

 are 220 and 380 feet thick respectively. Thus the so-called 



