226 J. LOGAN LOBLEY, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., ON VOLCANIC ACTION 



Discussion. 



The Chairman. — Our Secretary, who has had to leave, has put 

 into my hand his remarks on the two papers. 



The Secretary much regretted that neither of the authors of 

 these two valuable papers were present. He had hoped that both 

 would have been with them this evening — as the date for reading 

 had been originally fixed in order to meet their convenience. But 

 Professor Spencer's arrival in England had been delayed owing to 

 various causes. He was, in fact, at that moment crossing the 

 Atlantic, and is expected to arrive about the 28th of this month. 

 Professor Logan Lobley writes that he was obliged to leave England 

 for France and Spain on the 14th inst., and that he greatly regrets 

 not being able to read his paper and take part in the discussion, 

 which he hopes will be interesting. 



We have to express our thanks to Dr. Tempest Anderson, of York, 

 for the use of the lantern slides of photographic views taken by 

 himself when in company with Dr. J. S. Flett. He was engaged in 

 reporting, last year, for the Eoyal Society on the phenomena 

 displayed by the volcanic eruptions in the West Indian Islands. 

 These will have given members a better idea of the character and 

 effects of the eruptions than any oral or written description ; they 

 are well reproduced in Dr. Anderson's paper, published in the 

 Geogra/phical Journal for March, 1903. 



The two papers before us this evening appear to be complementary. 

 Each deals with an aspect of the subject not treated in the other. 

 Professor Spencer's paper gives us very precise details regarding the 

 physical structure of the West Indian Islands, which have, for 

 several years past, been the objects of his special and arduous 

 investigation. He has shown us that these islands have undergone 

 great vertical movements of elevation and depression; that there 

 were volcanic outbursts on a much larger scale than those of recent 

 times at a period which cannot be definitely fixed, beyond the fact 

 that they are older than the Tertiary period, and it is satisfactory to 

 know that the volcanic eruptions have decreased in intensity into 

 recent times. He also maintains his view that the plateau of the 

 West Indian Islands formed a great causeway during the Pleistocene 



