Eminent Living Geologists — Professor W. W. Watts. 483 



than one occasion in general descriptions of the Shropshire and 

 Birmingham districts, and in excursions of the British and Geologists' 

 Associations to these regions. 



On the Geological Survey, aside from descriptions of igneous and 

 other rocks for the publication of maps, reports, and memoirs, Watts 

 carried out three principal pieces of work. The first was the 

 examination of the large suites of rocks collected by Jukes and others 

 all over Ireland and deposited in the Survey Museum in Dublin. 

 Yery many types were discovered and briefly described in the Museum 

 Guide, and the collections, with others specially made to supplement 

 them, were arranged in the Museum. 



On the English Survey Watts was associated with Mr. Lamplugh's 

 work on the Crush-conglomerates of the Isle of Man, and joined with 

 that geologist in his descriptions of them and of other igneous and 

 metamorphic rocks in the island. He was also charged with the 

 mapping and description of the ancient rocks of Charnwood Forest. 

 He succeeded in supplementing existing knowledge on the succession 

 of the rocks, their tectonic structure, and their place in the sequence; 

 but the more interesting part of his work was to bring out the 

 evidence that the region had stood out as a mountainous archipelago- 

 from the Carboniferous sea and the Permian and Trias lakes, and that 

 the striking landscape of the district was a fossil landscape still 

 preserving the features impressed upon it by the dry denudation and 

 desert sandstorms of Triassic times. 



As early as 1888 Watts had been struck by the importance of 

 photographic records to the geologist, and he took up warmly the 

 work initiated by 0. W. Jeffs at the British Association at Bath. 

 Eventually in 1895 he undertook the joint and afterwards the 

 sole secretaryship of the Geological Photographs Committee, and 

 issued eleven reports on the photographs thus brought together and 

 stored at the Museum of Practical Geology. The quality of geological 

 photography steadily improved, and in 1900 the Committee decided 

 on the publication of sets of prints and slides of typical geological 

 photographs accompanied by descriptions by authorities on the subjects 

 represented. Watts acted as editor and publisher of the series which 

 was completed in 1904, and met with great success. Now "British 

 Geological Photographs " form the basis of teaching-sets all over the 

 world. 



In 1886 Watts became one of the secretaries of Section C of the 

 British Association, in association with W. Topley, whom he succeeded 

 as recorder in 1889. This office he held until 1894, a most valuable 

 experience which brought him into friendly relations with many of 

 the leading English and Foreign geologists. 



He became Chairman of the Conference of Delegates in 1902, and 

 President of Section C in 1903 at Southport, when his address was 

 devoted to geological education and its value to the community. 



It was in 1898 that he undertook the duties, including the 

 abstracting of papers, of Secretary of the Geological Society, and 

 remained in that office till 1909. The chief event of this period was 

 the celebration of the centenary of the Society in 1907, for which he 

 undertook a considerable share of the organization, and in 1909 



