60 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



secondly, the importance of extensive geological knowledge in tliose who 

 sought for coal, in order to prevent local associations of strata from lead- 

 ing to futile undertakings ; thirdly, an enquiry into the whole succession 

 of palaeozoic strata, and the probable formation of the coal beds, with the 

 formation of which that era terminated ; fourthly, by a reference to the 

 boulder stones and gravel which encumbered large portions of this 

 neighbourhood ; he would endeavour to show how isolated phenomena 

 were, by geological reasoning, connected with great questions of physical 

 science ; and lastly, reverting to the foundation of the society, he would 

 conclude by summing up its useful relations. In no part of England 

 were more geological features brought together in so small a compass 

 than in the environs of Dudley, or in which their characters had been 

 more successfully developed by the labours of practical men, exhibiting 

 the records of the past, the types of primeval life, and the evidences of 

 the mighty operations which marked the more ancient conditions of their 

 planet ; or, if they turned from pure geological views to subjects of mi- 

 neral value, in no region of the globe of the same extent had more wealth 

 been extracted from the earth. If such were the case, then came the 

 questions, to what extent had the means placed in their power been ne- 

 glected ? how far had resources been wasted ? and ought not the failure 

 and success of various mining operations to have been registered ? 



Mr. Murchison next proceeded to notice the coal series of the dis- 

 trict, and entered into an interesting comparison between the northern 

 coal fields and tliose of the central counties, and the opinions entertained 

 by Geologists as to the extent of those strata in the Dudley district. He 

 next alluded to the claim which the society had upon agriculturalists, for,, 

 said he, every Geologist holds in his hand the two great elements upon 

 which the advancement of agriculture mainly depended, namely, the 

 principles of drainage, and the decomposition of rocks. It was a difficult 

 matter to convince the practical miner, who had never worked out of 

 his own district, that there was not some connection between the coal of 

 the Dudley country and the silurian limestone wdth which it was there in 

 contact, so very remarkably did the beds and folds of the one adapt 

 themselves to those of the other. It was indeed a curious fact, that in 

 no one instance which had come within his knowledge were the silurian 

 strata of the Dudley country more highly inclined than the carbonaceous 

 strata which overlie them. If these rocks were in discordant positions, 

 they would be all well aware that geologists would then assume that the 

 lower of these two deposits had undergone great dislocation from its 

 original condition before the accumulation of the overlying strata. After 



