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WORK FOR LINCOLNSHIRE GEOLOGISTS. 



JOHN H. COOKE, F.G.S., F.L.S., 



Lincoln ; Hon. Sec to the Geological Section of the 



Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, 



To within a comparatively recent period but little attention of 

 a systematic character has been given to the study of the natural 

 history of Lincolnshire. The bibliography of the subject indicates 

 that individuals have, from time to time, done valuable though 

 fragmentary work, but the object seems to have been for the purpose 

 of assisting in the clearing up of problems in connection with 

 phenomena of adjoining counties rather than the furnishing of 

 material for a systematic and complete account of the natural history 

 of Lincolnshire. The first serious attempt to carry out a thorough,, 

 scientific investigation of the county's rocks was made in 1885 by 

 the Geological Survey, and since then the work has been supple- 

 mented by the efforts of several distinguished members of the 

 Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union in the botany, entomology and 

 conchology of the district. Already the influence of the Union is 

 making itself felt, for there are now but few townships in the county 

 that have not organised classes for the methodical study of one or 

 more branches of natural history. Geology, especially, is being 

 enthusiastically taken up ; and at Lincoln, Grimsby, Grantham, 



w classes have been formed that are 

 doing useful work both in the field and in the laboratory. 



I have upon occasions been appealed to by those who, having 

 mastered the elements of the study of rocks, desired to apply their 

 knowledge in some practical form to the geological phenomena of 

 the districts in which they dwell ; and it is to assist these would-be 

 workers that I now propose briefly to indicate how they might utilise 

 their energies to the best advantage by gathering material for the 

 working out of some of the problems in the geology of the county. 



But before proceeding to indicate the nature of the problems 

 I would observe that it is not necessary to go far afield to put one's 

 knowledge in practice, for applications of the main principles of 

 geological science are to be found at our very doors embodied in 

 the most common associations and surroundings of every-day life. 



The rain-gullies in the Wok and Lowlands, the sand-hills, the 

 way side ditches, the very stones with which our streets are paved 

 all afford observational data sufficient to enable us to deduce some 

 of the loftiest generalisations of the science. An examination of the 

 escarps along the valley sides, the quarry faces, and the drains will 



July 1896. 



