An a city like Christiania where deposits of clay, sand and 

 gravel have so often been intersected for different purposes, 

 industrial as well as fundamental ones, one might easily imagine 

 that the structure of these deposits had long since been com- 

 pletely revealed, and quite as easily be tended to regard their 

 stratigraphical record as well as their chronology to be a well- 

 known fact to the geologist. 



The sober and punctual student of quaternary geology is, 

 however, obliged to confess that, unfortunately, our knowledge 

 of the phenomena here most urgently pressed upon us is far 

 from being so glorious as vulgar error often anticipates. This 

 avowal is justified nearly at any time when a new and large 

 cutting is carried out. Such an instance is to be described on 

 the following pages without entering upon the historical develop- 

 ment of our knowledge of 'the quaternary section of Foss'. 



Nearly in the geographical centre of Christiania, if not in the 

 commercial one, the well-known brewery of Foss has been built 

 just upon the ruins of the old brick-work of the very same name. 

 The clay-pits of this brick-work were dug into the deposits just 

 on the banks of the River of Akerselv, more especially on the 

 left or eastern side of this main river of the Valley of Aker. 

 The clay deposits, mentioned, were long since worked down to the 

 gravel and scratched rock beneath, and there seemed no hope left 

 for a further exploration of the stratigraphical series in that place. 



In an excursion, however, in the middle part of October last 

 year I quite unexpectedly discovered some new sections just on 

 the opposite side of the river. These new and rather extended 



