SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 373 



was left to private pockets and the enterprise failed : the period of the 

 Revolution was barren until a beginning of mapping world distributions 

 was made by Edmund Halley, upon whom Hooke had exercised a formative 

 influence. 



Mr. K. C. Edwards. — The geography of Nottingham (10.45). 



The municipal boundary (193,2) embraces a greater number of geological 

 formations than that of any other city save possibly Bristol and these 

 yield a rich diversity of natural resources. The Bunter Sandstone (Pebble 

 Beds) provided the site of the earliest settlement at Nottingham, the litho- 

 logical characters and surface topography of this deposit combining to give 

 a marked individuality to the old town. Recent excavation of ancient 

 caves may throw light upon the pre-mediasval extent of the town. 



Nottingham's commercial importance results largely from its position in 

 the valley of the Trent, a situation deriving its advantages from (i) the 

 crossing of the river, (ii) the convergence of routes and (iii) the virtual limit 

 of navigation. The position is also marginal between north and south and 

 between the Pennines and the eastern lowlands, affording a natural trading 

 centre whose markets for both agricultural and manufactured goods preserve 

 the tradition of Lenton Fair {circa 1164), and Goose Fair {ante 1284). 



The presence of coal of a particular rank and quality, while not determining 

 the precise nature of manufactures, was primarily responsible for Notting- 

 ham's industrial growth. To-day more than adequate supplies are available 

 from farther north, and certain limitations mainly connected with the 

 exploitation of the Top Hard Seam attach to future workings in the 

 neighbourhood of the city which is, therefore, becoming relatively less 

 important as a mining centre. 



Dr. S. W. WooLDRiDGE.— yl comparative study of the morphology of the 

 North Downs and the Chiltern Hills (11. 15). 



Few would deny that any attempt to explain the existing geographical 

 features of south-east England must take account of two major geological 

 episodes — the Mid-Tertiary folding and the deposition of the glacial drifts. 

 Another episode of equally great importance has been tacitly ignored in 

 most accounts of the area, viz. the trespass of a Pliocene sea, which apart 

 altogether from its deposits, now reduced to the condition of a widely 

 scattered group of ill-defined outliers, left an important legacy behind it 

 in the form of a distinctive wave-cut bench backed locally by a degraded 

 cliff feature. The bench can often be traced when the veneer of deposits 

 has been completely removed and thus remains as a broad ' Pliocene facet ' 

 on the Chalk Downs. In this communication the Pliocene coastlines and 

 off-shore platforms are traced, not only in the North Downs and Chiltern 

 Hills, where their presence has been known for some years, but also in the 

 region west of Reading. Over the area of the former Pliocene sea the 

 drainage system has been superimposed from a sheet of pliocene sand and 

 shingle, and notable contrasts in drainage pattern and general morphology 

 are encountered on crossing the former coastline. Various anomalies in the 

 present and former course of the Thames become explicable on a basis of 

 the sequence of events deduced, and of even greater importance to 

 geographers is the fact that the ' Pliocene facet ' of the Downs presents 

 characteristics of form and soil covering which differentiate it from other 

 zones — e.g. the formerly sub-Eocene surface and the crest-regions. These 

 differences have exerted a perceptible influence on human occupancy and 



