Thirty-First Meeting of the British Association. 368 
Upper lignite bed. 
mak eitorca sandy clay. 
Plastic potter clay. 
Lower lignite. 
The Copperas bluffsin St. Francis county, Ark., (same report, p. 
418) show a section much like the above. A number of sections 
of the Geological report of Mississippi, by Dr. Eug. W. Hilgard, 
especially that of page 118, may be compared also with those of 
the strata accompanying the lignite deposit of Vermont. All 
show the same characters, viz., lignitic strata overlaid at some 
distance by strata of iron-ore or deposits of various kinds 
charged with iron. I know that it is still a question if all these 
lignite strata of the Mississippi shores, which I consider as upper 
tertiary, belong to the same age. Palzontology only can decide, 
When sufficient materials are collected. I will only remark that 
the lignites of Lauderdale, Miss., presenting with their accom- 
penyin strata a section resembling the above, are placed by Dr. 
iipand near the base of the tertiary, while their fossil plants 
show the greatest affinity with species of our time and are ap- 
parently of as recent an epoch as the fruits of Brandon, Vt. 
Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 12, ae 
Art. XL.—Thirty-First Congress of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science—with extracts from the Address of Mr. 
o 
Fairbairn at the opening. 
Tats Congress assembled at Manchester on the 5th of Septem- 
ber, and oats to have exceeded all others before held in the 
numbers present—in the amount of general and local subscrip- 
hons, (upon which the efficiency of the Association in promoting 
investigations mainly depends) in the value and number of the 
papers read, in the interest of the personal discussion, and in the 
excellence and variety of the evening discourses. Among the 
lectures we remark as of special interest the Astronomer Royal's 
(Airy) discourse on ‘the eclipse of the sun; and Prof. Miller's 
lecture on the Spectrum shtish yh 
€ two subjects which commanded most general attention 
song those brought forward, were the Origin of Man, and Iron 
Plated Ships. The observations of Prof. Owen we shall publish 
48 soon as they are received—those of Mr. Fairbairn we quote 
from his address, oe 
The next meeting of the Association is to be held at Cam- 
bridge, when etiquette will probably require His Royal Highness 
the Prince of Wales to take the chair, who with such Vice 
Presidents as Dr. Whewell, Prof. Airy and Prof. Sedgwick will 
doubtless do honor to the Royal prerogative. 
