SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



283 



GEOLOGICAL PHOTOGRAPHS. 



^p HE eighth report of "The Committee of the 

 A British Association on Photographs of 

 Geological Interest in the United Kingdom," 

 which was presented at the Toronto meeting last 

 year, is issued in pamphlet form. Three hundred 

 and sixty-four new photographs had been added 

 to the collection, which then reached 1,751. The 

 loan collection numbered 691 prints and slides. 

 The list showed that eight new counties were 

 partially represented, and additions had been made 

 in eleven others. An important addition was the 

 valuable gift by Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast, of 100 

 new platinotypes which, " in addition to their 

 artistic merit are, from a strictly geological point 

 of view, so good that not one could be spared from 

 the collection." This gift from Mr. Welch is an 

 addition to the fifty prints given by him in previous 

 years, and to the twenty-five duplicates and seven 

 slides which accompanied his last donation. 



The Committee invite donations of suitable 

 unmounted photographs from " areas of large and 

 typical physical features, such as the Pennine and 

 Pendle ranges, the South Wales coalfield and its 

 borders, the district of the Arans, Arenigs, and 

 Cader Idris, the Harlech mountains, the Yorkshire 

 dales, the Cotswolds and South Downs, the 

 Malverns, and the Silurian ground on the Welsh 

 border, the Yorkshire moors, Lincolnshire, the 

 area of the Northampton Oolites, the Oxford 

 district, Seaton and Blackdown, Central Wales 

 and Anglesey. In Scotland : the North-West and 

 Central Highlands, the outer Hebrides, Mull, the 

 Sidlaws, and Ochil Hills and Southern Uplands. 

 In Ireland: the Carlingford and Slieve Gallion 

 areas. Kerry, Cork, the Limerick basin, Walerford 

 and Wicklow." 



The Committee states that it is difficult to get 

 those who are not geologists to take any interest 

 in the subject, and almost impossible to persuade 

 them to photograph objects solely for their geo- 

 logical value. Still, unconsciously, photographs 

 of much scientific interest are occasionally taken by 

 both amateur and professional photographers of 

 landscape or scenery, exhibiting the geological 

 features of the district. ConM.-quently the I 

 mittccinvi' ,ms of such prints 



to submit them 10 the Committee, so that they may 

 be critically examined with th<: object of obtaining 

 copies of sach prints as arc of permanent geological 

 interest At present tl n contains photo- 



graphs of what may be called the more sensational 

 H'-.'A'.i '.-tena. Whs 



, raphic survey of ordinary or temporary fea- 

 ■Sd phenomena 

 or ad raphed 



at regular intervals. Sections of variable deposits 

 should be secured as the excavation of them pro- 

 ceeds. Out-of-the-v ay districts should be also 

 registered, even if yielding ordinary features. 



Much labour has been expended upon getting the 

 collection into thorough order. The prints are 

 mounted on standard interchangeable guarded 

 mounts. With these are descriptive inscriptions, 

 explaining the subjects depicted and the localities 

 accurately identified. They are classified geo- 

 graphically and grouped according to the countries 

 and counties to which they belong. At present 

 the collection occupies twenty-three albums, so 

 arranged that their contents can be expanded in 

 proper sequence as new prints are acquired. There 

 is a card index to the whole, so that any present or 

 absent can be immediately ascertained. 



This remarkable and scientifically valuable 

 collection is deposited in the library of the Museum 

 of Practical Geology, 28, Jermyn Street, adjoining 

 Piccadilly Circus, London. It is, therefore, easily 

 accessible to visitors, who have only to apply to 

 the Librarian for permission to examine. This 

 museum is open free to the public, and is in itself 

 one of the finest in Europe. 



It may be remarked that, although this Com- 

 mittee has only been in existence a few years, 

 their efforts have secured lasting pictorial evidence 

 of geological features which have disappeared in 

 the interval, through the action of the sea or other 

 physical causes. 



The Committee hopes, in addition to maintaining 

 the central collection above described, to prevail 

 on donors to furnish duplicate prints, so that loan 

 collections may be formed for circulation among geo- 

 logical and other scientific societies in various parts 

 of the kingdom. This would indeed be good work, 

 especially if accompanied by a full description of 

 the pictures, which might be read as a popularly 

 scientific paper, illustrated by the prints or lantern 

 slides. The only charge to be made for the loan of 

 these duplicate collections is to be for the cost of 

 carriage and expenses of packing. 



Any geologist who is desirous of making a collec- 

 tion of prints of this character may readily do so, 

 as copies of numbers of the pictures contained in 

 1 ommittec's collection can be a quired by 

 ase or exchange direct from the original photo- 

 A copy of the report containing a list 

 Ol the collection maybe obtained by writing to the 

 secretary, when addrcssesof the artists will be found. 



The Committee suppllei forma to facilitate uni 

 formity in th< di criptior These may be obtained 

 , from the Secretary, Prof W, w. 

 Wan 1 ollege, Birmingham. J T.C. 



