470 Notices of Memoirs — British Association — 



Cretaceous beds (where these are either at the surface or covered by 

 Tertiary beds) are in Kent, Surrey, and other counties to the west? 

 Have we no coal-fields but those of Bristol and of South Wales ? 

 The bounds of our midland and northern coal-fields have been 

 extended by exploration beneath the New Red Series : are we to 

 stop here and to assume that there can be no further underground 

 extension of the Coal-measures south-eastward ? This seems hardly 

 a wise course, and is certainly a very unenterprising one. It seems 

 to me rather that the right thing to be done is to try to find out the 

 real state of things, by means of borings. 



There are, of course, objectors in this as in other matters. Some 

 may say that it is silly to try in Suffolk, and that Essex gives a 

 better chance of success. Others, again, may prefer Norfolk. And yet 

 others may argue that there is no chance of finding Coal-measures 

 in any of those three counties. But I must confess my inability to 

 Tinderstand this line of reasoning ; the fact is, that the data we have 

 are few and far between, and that we want moi'e. It is really of 

 little use to bandy words, and I do not now mean to take up the 

 matter in detail. We cannot get at the truth except by actual work ; 

 justification by faith will not hold in this case, still less justification 

 by unfaith. 



Let us hark back a little and call to mind what has happened in 

 the past. I remember the time when certain geologists disbelieved 

 in the possibility of the occurrence of Coal-measures anywhere in 

 South-eastern England, it being argued that the formation thinned 

 out before it could get so far eastward. Then this view was some- 

 what varied, and it was inferred, from certain observed facts, that 

 even if Coal-measures did reach underground into these benighted 

 parts, they would be without workable coal, and so practically 

 useless. 



Now for some j'ears nothing occurred to upset the prophets of 

 evil, that is to say, no fact came to light. There were not wanting 

 inferences to the contrary, but it remained practically a matter of 

 opinion. One day, however, the needful fact came, and the first 

 boring made specially to test the question (at Dover) disproved both 

 the above negative theories by finding Coal-measures with workable 

 coal. Let us hope that a like result may happen in East Anglia, 

 and that the pessimists may again be in the wrong. 



We should not, however, fall into the opposite error, that of 

 optimism. We must not expect an immediate success like tliat at 

 Dover. We are here much further from any known coal-field. 

 Advertisements of various wares sometimes tell us that "one trial 

 will suffice," but it is not so in this case. We should not be 

 content until many borings have been made, and we should not be 

 despondent if, after sites have been selected to the best of our 

 judgment, we begin with a set of borings that are unsuccessful in 

 finding coal. 



At the time of writing I cannot say that the Stutton boring is a 

 success or a failure as far as coal is concerned, but I am quite ready 

 to accept the latter without being discouraged. Whatever it is you 



