176 Reports and Proceedings. 
piercing of the ears for jewellery, and the barbaric accoutrements of 
our cavalry. The brazen horseshoes that ornament our dray-horses 
were originally crescents, and represent the ‘little moons’ worn by the 
camels of the Midianites three thousand years ago. Those who 
have adopted similar views to Mr. Darwin will carry this argument 
farther, and doubtless find in it the explanation of many other things 
that have puzzled philosophers in all ages to account for. Man is 
an animal still; and the gradual subjugation of the old brute nature 
beneath the influence of the spirit of goodness may surely be traced, 
not only in the general history of mankind, but in the life of every 
individual who ‘battles for the true and just.’ 
REPORTS AND PROCEEDINGS. 
——_——— 
GEOLOGICAL SocrETy oF Lonpon.—I. Feb. 22, 1865.—W. J. 
Hamilton, Esq., President, in the chair. The following communica- 
tions were read :—1. ‘On the Lower Silurian Rocks of the South- 
East of Cumberland, and the North-East of Westmoreland.’ By 
Professor R. Harkness, F.R.S., F.G.S. (See also Grou. Mae., Vol. I. 
p. 287.) The district described in this paper consists of a narrow 
band of country on the western side of the Pennine Chain; it 
possesses external features which indicate a geological structure 
different from that of the Pennine escarpment, and from that of the 
adjacent country on the west, from which it is separated by the 
Pennine fault. Prof. Harkness described the Lower Silurian rocks 
occupying this narrow tract in some detail, and showed them to 
consist of Skiddaw Slates, with interstratified greenstone, porphyry, 
and ash, and a band of fossiliferous shale. He also gave, in illus- 
tration of the structure of the country, a section from Melmerley 
Scar to Romanfell, and one from Milburn to Dunfell, together with 
a geological sketch-map of the narrow Lower Silurian tract in 
question. In conclusion, the author described a fault which brings 
the Skiddaw Slates against the Coniston Limestone, and another, 
which cuts through the Lower Silurian rocks of the district, having 
a course at right angles to the former, and nearly parallel to that of 
the Great Pennine fault. 
2. ‘Note on the Volcanic Tufa of Latacunga, at the foot of Coto- 
paxi; and on the Cangdua, or Volcanic Mud, of the Quitenian 
Andes.’ By R. Spruce, Esq. Communicated by Sir R. I. Murchi- 
son, K.C.B., F.R.S. The Volcanic Tufa described in this paper is 
not only used for building-purposes, but also by the smiths instead 
of charcoal, as when heated to redness it emits considerable heat, 
but very little flame. The author then described the large deposits | 
of Volcanic Mud, called Cangaua, which are met with throughout 
the central valley of the Quitenian Andes. This mud is compact, 
slightly argillaceous, and more or less saline, and occurs in rock- 
like masses, yielding very slowly to atmospheric agency, or even to 
running water. 
