﻿238 
  ON 
  THE 
  CHALK-MASSES 
  IN 
  THE 
  CONTOETED 
  DELFT 
  OF 
  CEOMEE. 
  

  

  last 
  winter 
  in 
  the 
  estuary 
  of 
  the 
  Dee 
  masses 
  of 
  snow-laden 
  shore- 
  

   ice 
  packed 
  under 
  the 
  action 
  of 
  stream 
  and 
  tide, 
  and 
  frozen 
  into 
  one 
  

   solid 
  mass 
  12 
  feet 
  thick, 
  so 
  that 
  large 
  vessels 
  were 
  icebound. 
  When 
  

   this 
  broke 
  up, 
  ice 
  rafts 
  were 
  formed 
  some 
  hundred 
  feet 
  in 
  length 
  and 
  

   capable 
  of 
  carrying 
  an 
  enormous 
  load 
  of 
  rock. 
  The 
  separate 
  layers 
  

   were 
  often 
  full 
  of 
  stones, 
  sand, 
  &c, 
  which 
  must 
  have 
  settled 
  down 
  

   irregularly 
  when 
  the 
  ice 
  melted. 
  

  

  Prof. 
  Bonnet 
  said 
  that 
  such 
  falls 
  of 
  rock 
  now 
  took 
  place 
  in 
  the 
  

   Arctic 
  regions 
  before 
  the 
  breaking 
  up 
  of 
  an 
  ice-foot. 
  He 
  thought 
  

   the 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  fragments 
  in 
  English 
  Boulder-clay 
  pointed 
  to 
  their 
  

   being 
  shallow-water 
  formations. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Clement 
  Held, 
  in 
  reply 
  to 
  a 
  question 
  from 
  Mr. 
  B. 
  B. 
  Wood- 
  

   ward, 
  said 
  that 
  the 
  chalk, 
  from 
  its 
  fossils, 
  had 
  evidently 
  been 
  derived 
  

   from 
  no 
  great 
  distance. 
  He 
  added 
  that 
  the 
  fossils 
  in 
  the 
  sands 
  lying 
  

   on 
  the 
  boulders 
  referred 
  to 
  are 
  all 
  fragmentary, 
  and 
  he 
  did 
  not 
  

   regard 
  them 
  as 
  contemporaneous 
  with 
  the 
  deposition 
  of 
  the 
  beds, 
  

   but 
  as 
  derived 
  from 
  an 
  older 
  deposit. 
  

  

  