JOURNAL 



OP 



THE ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



No. 60.— 'December, 1836. 



I. — Geological Notes on the Northern Conkan, and a small portion of 

 Guzerat and Kattywdr. By Charles Lush, M. D. 



[Communicated by the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay.] 



In a paper which recently appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal by Dr. Benza, on the Geology of the Nilgherry 

 hills, it is remarked that " the elevation of this plateau, and probably 

 the whole chain of the Western Ghats, of which the Nilgherries are 

 the southern termination, happened at a period long anterior to the 

 existence of life on our planet." 



This appears, at first sight, a bold and sweeping conclusion : but I 

 apprehend that those who have travelled in the Dekhan, the Southern 

 Conkan, and that part of the Carnatic termed with us " Southern 

 Maratha country," will not only be ready to concur in this opinion, 

 but perhaps to extend it so far as to doubt the existence of any for- 

 mation containing fossil remains in any part of Western India to 

 the southward of Cutch. 



In that province, it has been stated that oolite occurs. I believe, 

 however, that no sufficient investigation has been made into this 

 fact, to entitle us to assume the identity of such shell-stone with the 

 recognized oolitic formations of other countries, so as to satisfy the 

 rigorous views of a modern geologist. 



There is a new era in geology. It is now in the power of any 



person who travels through countries where " the crust of the globe 



is untouched by the hammer of the geologist," to contribute to the 



advancement of this, the youngest of the sciences. By avoiding 



5 G 



