82 Reports and Proceedings. 



Society; read a paper " On the Position of the Public Wells for the 

 Supply of Water in the Neighbourhood of Liverpool." The intro- 

 ductory portion of the paper referred to the conditions under which 

 water exists in the rocks beneath the surface, with especial reference 

 to the Triassic strata around Liverpool, which yield an abundance of 

 pure water. The author described, by means of diagrams, the way 

 in which water sinks through porous strata, and accumulates so as 

 to form great subterranean reservoirs, that overiiow into the ocean 

 above the 'tidal range. He also explained the means employed to 

 raise it to the surface. 



Whatever opinion may be entertained regarding the great porosity 

 of the Triassic strata, and their universally containing large 

 quantities of water, the intimate connection of the faults and 

 subdivisions of the rocks must of necessity always have an important 

 bearing on any attempt to obtain it by artiiicial means. Sections 

 through the strata, showing the position of the wells, indicate how 

 far these petrological conditions have been studied, while the 

 quantity of water ultimately obtained must tend to show the value 

 of such considerations in selecting the site of any future well. To 

 the Geologist, the examination of the respective sections, with the 

 position of the various public wells indicated thereon, is of sufficient 

 interest, withoiit any application to the water supply of the district. 

 From data in his possession, it appeared that the well at Green-lane 

 was the last that was sunk (1845-6), and that it was completed 

 eight years before the Geological Survey of tlie district, and several 

 years before Mr. Edward Hull, F.G.S., had described the succession 

 of the Triassic rocks of Cheshire. In 1845 the order of the 

 stratification in this district was unknown, the occurrence of the 

 most important faults unsuspected, and the supposed j)Osition of the 

 beds so confused, that beyond the mere dip of the strata, and the 

 contour of the surface, there was nothing to guide the engineer in 

 selecting a proper site for a well. The whole of the strata around 

 Liverpool was considered to be the Bunter Sandstone, and it was 

 said to consist of three subdivisions, — the Lower Red, the Middle 

 Yellow, and the Upper Eed, — and the district was said to be broken 

 up by a network of fractures and dislocations at right angles to each 

 other. Later investigations, principally by Mr. Hull, proved the 

 opinions then held to be very incorrect. On consulting the Geo- 

 logical Maps of the Government Geological Survey, and several 

 sections published more recently by the author, we find, that instead 

 of the whole of the sandstone in the neighbourhood belonging to the 

 Bunter, a part belongs to the Keuper formation, and that the Yellow 

 Sandstone of the latter constitutes a higher portion of the series than 

 the Red beds of the Bunter, instead of being a central band or sub- 

 division. Besides this great error, there was then entire ignorance 

 of every important fault in the district bounded by the Trias on both 

 sides. A regular succession of the strata was supposed to occur 

 where nothing of the kind exists, and there was no suspicion of the 

 great dislocations which traverse the district from north to south. 

 Under these circumstances, it was by mere chance if a well was 



