249 



ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



1853] 



■N\liic}i illustrates the iiiconveiiienee and mistakes that sometimes intrusive bosses of Caernarvon, Lleyn, and Anglesea were then 

 arise fi-ora a pedantic use of words different from their ordinary shown to be of older Silurian date, and the deep seated melted 



acceptations. He had been engaged with others in exaininin_ 

 and adjusting the pauper dietaries of ditl'eient parts of the king- 

 dom, wilh tlie view to introduce uniformity in the system, and 

 this ialoricus process is teimed "reducing." When tlie official 

 report was pubHshed, staling that the ofticei-s of the Government 

 had been " reducing the ] :aiij:er dietaries of the kingdom," it 

 was generally sujiposed to be the intention to " diminish " the 

 amount of food supplied, and such an outciy was raised against 

 the imagined harsh mcrisure that the report was withdrawn. 

 Alluding to the tradition that the entire substance of the body 

 changes in seven years. Dr. Pla) fair said he could not imagine 

 on wdiat foundation that tradition I'ests, for judging from the ac- 

 tive chemical decompositions and reconstructions going on in the 

 body, it miijlit be assumed that an entire change takes jilace in 

 forty days rather than in se\en yeai-s, though some parts must 

 undergo more rai)i(.l changes than othei'S. In reference to the 

 much disjiuted question of the relative values of animal and 

 vegetable food, he observed that, chemically speaking, there could 

 be no ditTereuce, for all animals derive their nutriment from vege- 

 tible matter, either eaten diiectly or after it has formed j^ait of 

 the organism of a heibiverous animal. There is. Dr. Playfair 

 maintained, much Uuth in the observation that the character of 

 a nation, depends upon the food of the people ; hence we may 

 attribute the passion for honour and glory in the French and the 

 excitable temperament of the Irish to vegetaUe diet, whilst the 



nuclei fi'om whence the contempoianeous volcanic rocks proceed- 

 ed. Also the metamorphism and foliation of some of the rocks 

 of Caernarvonshire and Anglesea took place in Lower Silurian 

 times. The Cambi'ian rocks of the Longraynd were then shown 

 to be 26,000 feet thick, and conform.ably overlaid by 14,000 feet 

 of Llandeilo flags, giving 40,000 feet in all. They are not much 

 altered. Their base is cut off by a fault. This district formed 

 a bold island in the midst of the Wenlock sea, and being gi-adu- 

 ally encased in Wenlock shale; and a set of beds that successively 

 formed the maigin of the Wenlock shale .sea at different levels 

 were sandy and ],ehbly beaches of the Wenlock period, although 

 their fossils ha\e a Cari'adoc aspect. Lastly, some of the lowest 

 conglomerates of the Cambiian strata of Llanberis were shown to 

 have been formed of the waste of an old land, now entirely lost, 

 containinc; rocks similar to those of North Wales as it now stands. 



lioyal Geographical Society, April II. 



A paper on " Oceanic Ciirrents, and their infivence on the 

 Central American Canal^^ by Alex. G. Findlay, Esq., F.R.G. 

 S., was read. After a brief reference to the progress of the sub- 

 ject of currents from its origin, by Major Etnnell, in 17 7 8, to the 



e.xcaao,e LeM,|,«rmue„>. u> u.e xn.n .u ,rg«.«w« u.^,, „...,.. .... publication of his "Investigation," published in 1832, the author 



sound sense of the Englishman may be traced to his roast beef l\71''|^f,!5^^„ j;;°'"lt!* lTi%i ! ,!!!f™ V"^ 

 and beer. This practical conclusion was arrived .at — that the 



resimen of roast beef and beer sliould be given to the Irish, as a 

 means of assimilating them in character to the English more 

 than it is probable they can be with a continued potato diet. 



On th" Structure and Snc-fssii>n of t' c Lower PaTjcozoic Hocks 

 of North Wales and pait of S.nupshiie, by I'rul. cauisay. 



By means of sections constructed on a scale of 6 inches to a mile, 

 vertically and horizontally, the Harlech Grits were sliown to be 

 about 7,000 feet thick. The Lingula flags that overlie them are 

 also 7,000 feet thick. These aie overlaid on the north flanks of 

 Cader Idri; and the Arans by about 3,000 feet of calcareo-fels- 



established, and showed that the waters of the Atlantic circulated 

 around a space having the parallel of 30 ° N. as its axis; that a 

 portion of the Gulf-stream flows to the N.E., and ameliorates the 

 climate of the British islands and Korwa_y, without which influ- 

 ence they would be assimilated to Labrador and Greenland. The 

 peculiarities of the Gidf-stream recently elicited were desciihed; a 

 nearly perpendicular wall of warm water in juxta-position with 

 the cold Arctic waters flowing southward, between it and the 

 coast of the United States, and another and parallel branch to the 

 S.E. of it was noticed. Ths somewhat similar aiTangement in 

 the South Atlantic was alluded to, of a current revolution around 

 the parallel of 30 ° S. The anomalous cltai'acter of the Guinea 

 current was cleared up by an analogous current in the Pacific, not 

 hitherto noticed. This poition of the subject was illustrated by 

 a large diagram, in which the currents and their polar or tropical 

 origin were very clearly marked. In describino; the currents of 



pathic aslies and conglomerates, inter-stratified with slates. Above 



these lie the y)orphy)-ies of tlie Arans, &c., — originally sheets of the Pacific, the subject was a new one, and, at^least, two currents 



felspathic lava that flowed abroad m the Lower Silurian se.a-bot- of very great magnitude had not yet been noticed, or only indi- 



tom. Between the Dolgelli and Bala Road and the summit of 

 Aran Mowddwv, nearly the whole thickness of the Lingula flags, 

 ashes, and porphyry is exposed in unbroken succession, and on 

 the north-west side of the I'oacl the same beds are repeated by a 

 great fault that runs from a point 6 miles south-west of Chester 

 through Bala Lake to Cardigan Bay. It has been traced for 5 

 miles. Where crossed by one of the sections it is a down-throw 

 of about 12,500 feet on the north-west, the trap of Aran Mowd- 

 dwy being thrown down against the base of the Lingula beds. 

 The Bala limestone was shown to be 6,000 feet above the Aran 

 traps; and 8,000 feet above that, the Caradoc sandstone, which 

 is 5,000 feet thick, appeals. The igneous .series of the Arans is 

 continuous as far as Moel-wyn, where it is succeeded by the Bala 

 beds, ill which series, 6,000 feet above the Moel-wyn traps, a se- 

 cond volcanic set of .t^Iics and porphyries appears. These con- 

 stitute the Snowdciiiian series, and some of it; beds are the equi- 

 valents of the Bala limestone, a fact proved both by measurement 

 and fossils. The igneous roi-ks ofSnow<lon have heretofore been 

 considered as the equi\alents of those of the lower series. They 

 are at least 6,000 feet higher. Tlie lower set closed the I-ingula 

 flag period, the upper set are in the middle of the Bala beds. The 



rectly hinted at. A very large engraved chart contained the data. 

 It -was shown that the waters irom the antartic pole flowed slowly 

 northward and eastward, towards the lat. of 28 ° N.; that a [por- 

 tion of these cold watere struck the west coast of South America, 

 or about the parallel of 40 ^ S., and dividing, one branch flowed 

 south and east, forming the eastern Cape Horn current; and the 

 other ascending the coast, as a remarkably cold stream, was called 

 the Peruvian or Humboldt's current; reaching to near the Ame- 

 rican isthmus, it turned pitst the Galapagos islands, where many 

 singular effects were produced, but th.at at times a jiortion continued 

 northward and flowed on to Panama. The Peruvian current 

 flows on westward, and forms the initial conree of the great south- 

 ern equatorial current, between 40 ° N. and 26 ° S., wliieh passing 

 the Pacific archipel.agoes, has manj' anomalies, but a portion strik- 

 ing the coast of Australia has a precise relation to the Brazil 

 current in the South Atlantic, and circulates around the sp.aco 

 between Australia and New Zealand. The North Equatorial 

 Current is not well defined at its eastern end, but flows strongly 

 towards the Philipjiine Islands, across the ocean between 10 ° 

 and 24 ° N. lat., whence it turns northward towards the coast of 

 Japan. It then forms the impetus to a current not found on 



