GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF MANCHESTER. 



89 



(including all the associated beds, with the lias) ; the new red sand-stone 

 formation, and the coal series (which last, as being interesting in this 

 neighbourhood, we give) : — Coal fields do not exist in France on any 

 thing like the same scale as in the British islands. The principal are at 

 St. Etienne, near Lyons, in the midst of the granitic district of Le Forez, 

 and on the Belgian frontier near Valenciennes and Mons. The coal field 

 of St. Etienne is of small extent, not greater in superficies than the Isle 

 of Wight ; but it is very productive, and furnishes iron, of bad quality, 

 as well as combustible materials. The measures are much dislocated by 

 faults, and the district is very hilly ; the coal is highly sulphurous, and 

 rich in fossil remains. There is a small formation of the same kind near 

 Nevers ; but this is worked more for the iron-stone it yields than for the 

 coal. The coal field of the Belgian frontier belongs, geologically speak- 

 ing, to Belgium rather than to France. The coal is of excellent quality, 

 and very abundant. The measures are in general deep, and more hori- 

 zontal than at St. Etienne. Coal is worked near Boulogne- sur-mer ; and 

 ironstone of good quality exists in the same formation. Near Montpel- 

 lier coal is also extracted, and it may be said to exist in formations of 

 very different epochs in many localities throughout France ; but the only 

 coal fields of any real importance are those of St. Etienne and the Belgian 

 frontier. — To these succeeded notices of the Silurian and schistose series ; 

 the granitic series, including all the igneous rocks, not, properly speak- 

 ing, volcanic ; and, lastly, the volcanic series. In conclusion, it was re- 

 marked, that the geological changes now in progress, whether from the 

 abrasion of torrents, the shifting of water courses, the inroads of the sea, 

 the formation of marshes, &c. are, from the great extent of surfaces 

 where they take place, of no small weight in the geological annals of 

 Europe. Thus the late floods of the Rhone, acting over a space of 150 

 miles in length, the alterations of its channel, and the deposits left by 

 such a deluge, are well worthy of study, and will no doubt be carefully 

 observed by local geologists. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCESj PARIS. 



January 10 — 17, 1842. — A paper was read by M. Duro- 

 cher, giving an account of his geological researches in the 

 North of Europe, and especially of the phenomena of erratic 

 blocks. He observed that the streaks found on the surfaces 

 of rounded rock;, were in Norwegian Lapland always accom- 



