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GEOLOG-ICAL PAPERS RELATING TO THE NORTH 

 OF ENGLAND, READ AT THE MANCHESTER 

 MEETING OP THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Amongst the papers read in the Geological Section bearing in some 

 degree upon the Geology of the North of England may be cited 

 the following : the Presidential Address by Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S. 

 (upon the present condition of geology, in his remarks upon palaeon- 

 tology, the value of the special work of Messrs. Davis and Vine being 

 alluded to) ; Prof. Boyd Dawkins, on ' The Geography of the British 

 Isles in the Carboniferous Period,' and on ' The Structure of the 

 Millstone Grit in the Pennine Chain ' (in the latter paper expressing 

 his opinion that the ancient land from which the Millstone Grit vras 

 denuded was composed mainly of granite, but not altogether so, for 

 evidence was found of schists) ; Mark Stirrup, F.G.S., on ' Foreign 

 Boulders in Coal Seams' (on this paper a valuable discussion arose, 

 joined in by Prof. Bonney, Dr. Crosskey, Dr. Blanford, Prof. Lebour, 

 etc., when various opinions were expressed as to their presence in the 

 coal, floating icebergs and mountain torrents being successively dwelt 

 upon, whilst one speaker gravely alleged they were the ejectamenta 

 of a volcano ! A magnificent set of specimens accompanied this 

 paper from various collieries in Lancashire, varying in weight from 

 166 lbs. downwards, the great majority being quartzites) ; Dr. G. J. 

 Hinde, on 'The Organic Origin of the Chert in the Carboniferous 

 Limestone Series of Ireland, and its similarity to that in the corres- 

 ponding strata of North Wales and Yorkshire ' (it was shown con- 

 clusively that this rock, which has been generally regarded as 

 an inorganic deposit of silica direct from the sea-water, is, in 

 reality, made up of the microscopic detached spicules of sihceous 

 sponges. Having stated that these accumulations of minute spicules 

 formed in some cases solid beds of rock, reaching a thickness even 

 of nearly 700 ft., he said that sponges were thus more important as 

 rock formers in the Carboniferous than in any other subsequent 

 geological epoch) ; Robert Law, F.G.S., and James Horsfall, on 

 'The Discovery of Carboniferous Fossils in a Conglomerate at 

 Moughton Fell, near Settle, Yorkshire' (the paper described the 

 well-known conglomerate at the base of the Mountain Limestone) ; 

 Dr. H. W. Crosskey, 'Report on the Erratic Blocks of England, 

 Wales, and Ireland (the work of the Yorkshire Boulder Committee 

 was duly reported and specially commended, being held up as an" 

 example to other counties) ; Prof Carvell Lewis, on ' The Terminal 

 Moraines of the Great Glaciers of England,' and on ' Some important 

 Extra-Morainic Lakes in Central England, North America, and else- 

 where during the period of maximum glaciation,' and on ' The Origin 



Naturalist, 



