366 Notices of Memoirs — Geological Society of South Africa. 



A case in point is the supply of Wisbech, together with many 

 villages in the Fens, from a spring that breaks out at the edge of 

 the Fen in the valley of the Nar, at Marhara, some seven miles 

 south-eastward of Lynn. 



Of fairly large supplies got from beds below the Upper Chalk, 

 in the Basin of the Thames, Luton and the Chiltern Hills Water- 

 works (near Tring) may be mentioned. Several smaller towns, too, 

 depend on the same beds, along the northern outcrop of the Chalk. 

 On the south the outcrop of the lower beds is narrower, but various 

 wells have been carried through the Upper Chalk to these beds, as 

 in the case of the Kenley and Caterham Waterworks. Maidstone 

 gets a great part of its supply from Lower Chalk springs, and 

 Folkestone gets the whole. 



As a general rule there is more or less communication downward 

 through the Upper and Middle into the Lower Chalk, so that the 

 water in the Chalk may usually be treated as a whole. Nevertheless 

 there are cases where, from the occurrence of less permeable beds 

 in the Chalk over certain tracts, there may be independent supplies 

 at various depths, and cases in point have been alluded to above, 

 with regard to the Melbourn Rock being underlain by clayey beds, 

 and to the Totternhoe Stone as a local water-bearing bed. There 

 seem, too, to be cases, even in the midst of the Upper Chalk, 

 where, from the occurrence of more compact beds at certain depths, 

 there is some division in the water; and again, where strongly 

 marked joint-planes are of rare occurrence, but fairly open where 

 they occur, we may have lateral division in the water flowing- 

 through the Chalk, and this water may therefore take the form of 

 more or less defined and separate underground streams. 



In conclusion, I would point out that though there are general 

 rules as to water in the Chalk, these must not be taken as universal : 

 we must be ready for exceptions, and sometimes for gi-eat ones. To 

 give what may be called a political illustration — whilst thei-e are 

 imperial laws regulating the conduct of water in the Chalk 

 kingdom, yet the various provinces of which that kingdom is 

 composed need special legislation of their own : rules that hold 

 in one province may not accord with the manners and customs of 

 another [and the same holds for still smaller districts]. In short, 

 it is a case not only for Imperial but also for Local Government. 



isTOTiGES OIF nvciEnvLOiias. 



Geological Society of South Africa. 

 I. — Inaugural Address by the President, Dr. Hugh Exton, F.G.S. 



AFTER some congratulatory remarks on the installation and 

 progress of the Society, Dr. Exton referred to the interesting 

 studies to be made in various branches of Natural Science, including 

 particularly Anthropology and Geology. The pioneers of Geology 



