70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May J 894, 



in the 4 feet of good bituminous coal, which has so raised the ex- 

 pectations of the explorers. The beds are believed to be nearly 

 horizontal, and, as they contain 1 foot of coal to about 50 feet of 

 measures, they compare favourably with those in the Radstock field, 

 where the proportion is 1 foot of coal to about 80 feet of measures. 

 The seams proved are stated generally to have the same quality as 

 the rich bituminous coals of Mons and Bruay, and do not resemble 

 the dry coal of Marquise, which is supposed to be of earlier 

 date. Messrs. Zeiller and Breton, having studied the fossil plants 

 found in these Dover Coal-measures, are of opinion that the Dover 

 coal belongs to the upper portion of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais 

 coal-basins. Mr. Brady maintains, therefore, that not only is the 

 quality of the Dover coal likely to be found equal to some of the 

 best Belgian coals, but that the beds of the Pas-de-Calais increase 

 in thickness to the westward, both conclusions being contrary to 

 the views maintained before the Coal Commission in 1869. 



A shaft is now being sunk, but this, according to Mr. Etheridge, 

 has not yet progressed beyond the Cretaceous beds ; hence no 

 further information relative to the Coal-measures has, so far as 

 I know, been forthcoming from this quarter. "We are, however, 

 naturally led to speculate on the general question of coal in the 

 South-east of England from the facts recently ascertained. Prof. 

 Prestwich, it will be remembered, in his Report of 1871 to the 

 Coal Commission, in the first place spoke of the original coal-trough 

 as having been broken up into separate basins ; and, secondly, in 

 forecasting the probable direction of the underground (sub-Mesozoic) 

 axis, he suggested two alternatives, roughly north or south of the 

 Thames. Each view probably has its respective advocates. The 

 Eastern counties have formed a ' Coal-boring and Development 

 Association,' and although the prospects of finding coal in the East 

 Anglian Palaeozoic area are not very bright, it is just possible that 

 the adventurers may strike the Coal-measures in one or other of 

 the narrow synclinal troughs running east and west in Essex, 

 Suffolk, and Norfolk. For my own part I am disposed to agree 

 with Mr. Brady that, in further explorations for coal beneath the 

 Secondary rocks, the southern alternative of Prestwich is the one 

 which holds out the greatest hopes. It will be tolerably safe to 

 assume that future operations should follow a nearly direct westerly 

 course from Dover towards Bristol. These conclusions are mainly in 

 accord with those lately expressed by Prof. Boyd Dawkins l at the 



1 Friday evening lecture at the Rc^al Institution, June 1890. 'Nature,' 

 vol. xlii. p. 319. 



