IXXX PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETr. [May I 899, 



seen by De la Beche in 1854, in which year the mapping of 

 Haddingtonshire on the 6-inch scale was in great part done. The 

 Scottish branch of the Survey had the advantage of possessing these 

 accurate detailed Ordnance maps when its work was begun, as also 

 had the Irish branch, and in 1859 it was announced that ' the 

 6-inch maps may hereafter be consulted in the Geological Map Office 

 in Edinburgh.' ^ In the North of England work was also done on 

 the 6-inch scale, and many sheets, referring to coalfields, have been 

 published, but in none of them is the Drift satisfactorily treated : 

 it is generally shown only by stippling, as also on some maps of 

 Scottish coalfields. In Ireland the divisions of the Drift have not 

 yet been shown. 



As is usual in other matters, the predominant partner in these 

 islands is the worst treated. Eor a long time the central and 

 southern parts of England were without a proper Ordnance map, 

 the old 1-inch sheets being to a great extent only a sketch : 

 indeed I have heard that term applied to them by an officer of the 

 Ordnance Survey, who objected to such things being called Ord- 

 nance maps. Now, however, we have the detailed maps, and even 

 a second edition of many, and they are used by the Geological 

 Survey in the re-mapping of those tracts the work on which was 

 done so long ago as to be anything but up to date, being without 

 note of Drifts and without divisions in various thick formations of 

 a more or less divisible character. 



I think that it should be clearly understood that the chief work 

 of the Geological Survey is yet in a very unfinished state. What is 

 now wanted, and increasingly wanted every day, is a 6-inch map of, 

 at all events, the greater part of the country with all the geological 

 divisions that can reasonably be made clearly shown on it, with 

 such accuracy as is reasonably attainable. 



Government does not realize this, it is to be feared, and we should, 

 I think, be prepared to represent the great practical utility of this 

 detailed work. I have sometimes felt the want of it myself, and 

 the fact that local authorities and others are often ready to pay for 

 manuscript copies of 6-iuch geological maps shows that others feel 

 it also. Sometimes they go to the extent of having such work 

 specially done for their own use ; for instance, there is a geological 

 map of Nottingham, on the awkward scale of 3^ miles to the 

 inch, enlarged from the Geological Survey map, ' re-surveyed and 



1 Eep. Sci, & Art Depart. 1858. 



