Geological Society of London. 369 



as the proof of their hypothesis. Thus you see both hypotheses 

 justified by the latest investigations in chemistry and geology. 



In this sketch which I have endeavoured to present to you of the 

 way in which chemical forces have operated upon the surface of our 

 planet, I may seem, to some of you who are familiar with chemical 

 processes, to have drawn somewhat upon my imagination ; and yet I 

 conceive that there is not a principle here adduced which is not sup- 

 ported by the most rigorous chemical investigation. If we once ad- 

 mit this nebular hypothesis, which I think we can scarcely fail to 

 admit in the light which telescopic and spectroscopic investigations 

 have now thrown upon the sun and the other bodies of the great 

 universe around us, — if we admit that, — if we admit the laws I have 

 • explained of association by cooling, and the ordinary play of chemical 

 affinities that must come in, in the case of cooling bodies, we can 

 scarcely doubt that the reactions that come into play have been 

 essentially such as I have explained to have taken place in the essen- 

 tial order in which I have enumerated them. 



I should have been very glad, if the time permitted — but it does 

 not — to enter still farther into the discussion of many secondary 

 points which arise here, — the whole theory of metalliferous deposits, 

 of metallic veins, of mineral springs, of thermal waters, and of 

 gaseous emanations from the earth, — and to show that all of these 

 flow as natural, and necessary, and logical consequences of the 

 scheme of chemical geology which I have put forward briefly to- 

 night. I hope, however, that in these few remarks I shall have 

 made these principal points so plain that you may see that chemistry 

 has already been able to do something to elucidate the history of our 

 planet, and that a chemical consideration of this kind is not altogether 

 out of place in the hall of the Eoyal Institution, which the labours 

 of such eminent men as a Davy, a Faraday, and a Frankland have 

 made, as it were, a classic temple and a fane of science. 



Geological Society op London. — June 5, 1867. — Warington 

 W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.E.S., President, in the chair. The following 

 communications were read : — 



1. " The Alps and the Himalayas : a Geological Comparison." 

 By Henry B. Medlicott, Esq., A.B., F.G.S. 



CuiTent opinions on Alpine geology were first fully discussed by 

 the author, especially as regards the abnormal natm-e of the actual 

 boundary of the Molasse with the rocks of the higher Alps, including 

 the explanation usually given of this phenomenon, and of the con- 

 tortion of the inner zone of Molasse, namely the dii'ect upheaval of 

 the main mountain-mass. Mr. Medlicott then described some of 

 the sections exposed on the south flank of the Himalayas, and sug- 

 gested a parallelism between them and those exhibited in the Alps. 

 The clays, sands, and conglomerates of the Sivaliks are very like 

 those of the Molasse ; and in both regions the coarser deposits pre- 

 vail towards the top. In the Himalayas also the younger Tertiary 

 deposits almost invariably dip towards the mountain range which 

 they fringe, the plane of contact inclining in the same direction, 



VOL. IV. NO. XXXVill. 24 



