144 Reports & Proceedings — Geologists Association. 



The best of the felsites so far investigated was a sill on the 

 Kincardineshire coast near Cove Bay Railway Station. The rock 

 consists essentially of felspar, quartz, and muscovite, and is entirely 

 free from ferro-magnesian minerals. In chemical composition it 

 I'esembles closely a spar of Grade 3 from Kingle's Quarry, Bedford, 

 N.Y., which is much used in the enamel and glass industries in 

 America. It contains 4*67 per cent of potash and 3-53 per cent 

 of soda. 



Attention was directed to various methods by which potash might 

 be extracted from felspar — in particular to the processes devised by 

 Rodin and Ashcroft — and to the possibility of utilizing felspar as raw 

 material in the Portland cement industry, the potash being recovered 

 as a by-product. 



Promising results had been obtained in recent trials made to test 

 the suitability of Scottish spars for the enamel and pottery industries. 

 There was thus a possibility of reviving what was an old Scottish 

 industry since the Monymusk spar was quarried, ground locally, and 

 shipped to the English potteries in the latter half of the eighteenth 

 and the beginning of the nineteenth century. 



III. — Geologists' Association". 

 The annual general meeting of the Association was held at 

 University College, Gower Street, W.C.I, on February 2, 1918, 

 when the annual report of the Council and the accounts for the year 

 ending December 31, 1917, were presented, and the officers and 

 Council for the year 1918 elected. The President (George Barrow, 

 F.G.S., M.I.M.M.) delivered his address entitled "Some Future 

 Work for the Geologists' Association". The President showed that 

 while the main features of the formations from the Lower Greensand 

 to the Upper Bagshot Beds are fairly well known within the London 

 area there is need for far more accurate knowledge of the occurrence 

 and pebbh^ constituents of the Drifts, especially those north of the 

 River Thames. Even in the Geological Survey maps the colouring 

 and nomenclature are much confused. The Drifts may be divided 

 into two groups — (1) Eastern, (2) Western. Much work remains to 

 be done in tabulating the distribution and origins of the far-travelled 

 materials almost always present in the former group. The Western 

 Drifts, largely of local origin, contain far-travelled mateiials only in 

 their lower and smaller portions. An account was given of these 

 two groups indicating their extension and lines of junction, the 

 evidence they afford of post-Glacial denudation, and of the pre- 

 Glacial form of the district. In considering the significance of the 

 small white quartz pebbles abundantly present in the Western local 

 drifts, emphasis was laid on their common occurrence at heights 

 slightly above 400 O.D. and their derivation from the Lower 

 Greensand, through one or more gaps in the Chalk escarpment, 

 during a period at least late Pliocene in age, when an estuary 

 probably occupied the line of the present lower Thames valley. 

 Brief reference was made to the River Terraces and the associated 

 Brick-earths, and to localities that require special examination. The 

 address was illustrated by lantern slides. 



