Correspondence-—Mr. J. J. Harris Teall. dol 
REPLY TO PROFESSOR HULL. 
Str,—You were good enough to publish in the February Number 
of this Macazine a letter from me on the subject in dispute between 
Prof. Hull and Mr. Wilson. To this letter Prof. Hull has referred 
in April, page 185, and his remarks seem to call for some reply. 
The point of my letter was to show that the north and south 
movements which have affected the Carboniferous rocks of Central 
England, and presumably the parallel movements in other localities, 
originated before that portion of the Permian period which is re- 
presented by the Marlslate and Magnesian Limestone. The evidence 
I reiterated on this point appears to me conclusive, and Prof. Hull 
in his letter makes no attempt to refute it, but shows a disposition 
to introduce personal questions. 
At the conclusion of my letter I expressed an opinion which in no 
way affects the gist of my argument, but which appears somewhat 
to have irritated Prof. Hull, namely, the opinion that the Permian 
and Trias are not separated by any important unconformability. 
This was certainly weak on my part, because it raises the question 
what is and what is not an important unconformability, and gives 
my opponent the opportunity, which he has not been slow to utilize, 
of raising a side issue. On this point I will content myself with 
saying that my opinion has not been formed on local phenomena 
only, but after the consideration of all the paleontological and physi- 
cal facts bearing on the question, and with due regard to the opinions 
of our fathers Sedgwick, Phillips, and Murchison. 
Once more let me recur to the point I am contending for. The 
relation of the Carboniferous rocks to the Permians along the 
eastern boundary of the exposed portion of our Coal-field clearly 
proves that the north and south strike was determined before the 
Permian period. This must have been produced by north and south 
movements accompanied by denudation, and therefore I believe that 
these movements and, in the absence of any conclusive evidence ' to the 
contrary, the parallel movements in other districts, originated before 
the Permian period. As evidence on this point, I send a photograph 
which I wish could be reproduced as a woodcut along with this letter. 
It was taken in a railway cutting at Kimberley,? which extends in 
an east and west direction; the lower beds dipping nearly east at a 
high angle are Carboniferous shales and sandstones, while the upper 
and nearly horizontal beds are Permian breccias and marls. This 
section may be taken as typical of the relation which the Permian 
rocks bear to the Carboniferous along the eastern edge of the exposed 
portion of our basin, and therefore proves in the most convincing 
manner that the north and south movements which assisted in the 
formation of this basin originated before the Permian period. 
J. J. Harris Trea. 
9, Att Saints’ Street, NorrincHam. 
1 Of course I am acquainted with Prof. Hull’s paper, Q.J.G.S. vol. xxiv. p. 332, 
2 The section here figured is referred to by Mr. Wilson, Q.J.G.S. 1876, p. 533. 
