38 Reports and Proceedings — Address by J. H. Bkdce. 



position. During and after this waste of Carboniferous rocks the 

 Permian and other newer strata were deposited on the eroded edges 

 of the Carboniferous and other older strata, and these in their turn 

 also underwent disturbances in Britain in a minor degree followed by 

 denudation. Thus the Permian and other newer strata lie uncon- 

 formably on the Carboniferous and other older rocks. It is some- 

 times possible to estimate approximately and sometimes with cer- 

 tainty the area occupied by Coal-measures under the overlying 

 Permian and Secondary formations, by giving attention to the 

 " strike " and " dip " or inclination of the beds and by other means ; 

 and even to infer the basin-shaped form of a Coal-field, part of which 

 is concealed. It was by paying careful attention to physical pheno- 

 mena such as these and to details of stratification, the thickening and 

 thinning of the formations, their conformity and unconformity, the 

 occurrence of faults or dislocations and other disturbances, that the 

 Committee appointed by the Royal Commission were enabled to 

 estimate the amount of coal, namely, 56,273 millions of tons, which 

 probably exists at workable depths under the Permian, New Eed 

 Sandstone and other superincumbent strata in the United Kingdom. 

 Of these 56,273 millions of tons, upwards of 23,000 millions were 

 estimated to occur under Yorkshire, and the remainder in varying 

 proportions from 33 millions in one locality to upwards of 5000 

 millions in another, under Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, 

 Denbighshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and a few other places in 

 England, and 27 millions in Ireland. In estimating the quantity of 

 available coal in the Coal-fields of the United Kingdom, the depth of 

 4000 feet was adopted by the Eoyal Commission as the limit of 

 practical working, and all seams or beds of less than one foot in 

 thickness were excluded from the returns. Having alluded at length 

 to the description of the Coal-fields of the United Kingdom, showing 

 approximately the probable quantity of available or workable coal 

 they contain, the lecturer summed up the calculations as follows: — 

 Wales 34,466 millions of tons, England 45,741 millions of tons, 

 Scotland 9845 millions of tons, and Ireland 155 millions of tons, a 

 grand total of 90,207 millions of tons. To this must be added the 

 56,273 millions of tons estimated to exist at workable depths under 

 the Permian, New Eed Sandstone and other superincumbent strata, 

 making an aggregate of 146,480 millions of tons. From 1870 to 

 1884 — fifteen years — nearly 2052 millions of tons have been pro- 

 duced in this kingdom. Mr. Godwin-Austen had shown that Coal- 

 measures, which thin out under the Chalk near Therouanne, probably 

 set in again near Calais, and are prolonged in the line of the Thames 

 Valley, parallel with the North Downs, and, continuing thence under 

 the valley of the Kennet, extend to the Bath and Bristol Coal area. 

 He showed upon theoretical grounds that the Coal-measures of a 

 large portion of England, France, and Belgium were once continuous, 

 and that the present Coal-fields were merely fragments of the great 

 original deposit preserved in hollows. These views, the lecturer 

 continued, are supported by many eminent geologists who gave 

 evidence before the Commission, but they did not receive the support 



