PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



139 



limestone, species of which genus occur also in the Oxford Clay of Wilt- 

 shire and the Oolite and Lias of Germany. 



The following specimens, presented to the Society's collection, were ex- 

 hibited : — 



A specimen of columnar brown coal from near the Basalt, Gross Alme- 

 rode; presented by W. J. Hamilton, Esq., F.R.S., Sec.G.S. 



A cast of a fragment of a tooth of Mastodon, from a gravel-pit at Swaff- 

 ham ; presented by C. B. Rose, Esq., F.G.S. 



Geographical Society. — February 23rd. — " On the Discharge of 

 Water from the Interior of Greenland, through Springs underneath the 

 Ice." By Dr. H. Rink. The whole of Greenland may be calculated to be 

 somewhat more than 300,000 square miles, and there is reason to suppose 

 that a mountain range runs through it from north to south, dividing it into 

 two portions. There being also reason to believe that this water-parting 

 lies nearer to the east than west side, Dr. Rink assumes that 200,000 out 

 of the 300,000 square miles discharge their waters into Davis' Straits and 

 Baffin's Bay. Every glacier is a mountain river ; the upper part, turned 

 into ice, still continues to move, but this change cannot extend so far as to 

 comprise all the water contained in the original river. Some part of it 

 must continue to flow, in a liquid form, either on the top of the glacier or 

 through channels underneath it. Wherever the inland ice reaches the 

 sea, having a perceptible motion out into it, there is always observed 

 a motion in the water, in front of the outer edge of the solid ice, like that 

 of lewge springs issuing from the bottom. The water looks as if it were 

 boiling or agitated by a whirlpool, and myriads of sea-birds are continually 

 seen to hover about these spots, incessantly diving and snatching after food 

 in the brackish water. But the most remarkable thing is, that a lake, 

 lying close up to the ice at some distance from the sea, presents phe- 

 nomena similar to those in the sea in front of the ice. The water in 

 it rises and falls periodically. When it rises the neighbouring springs 

 from the bottom of the sea are seen to decrease ; on the other hand, when- 

 ever it falls, the springs increase. Dr. Rink thinks that these phenomena 

 might be carefully observed at a large ice-fiord during the winter, and (hat 

 much valuable information would be the result. 



Manchester Geological Society. — January 27th. — Two beautiful 

 specimens of Aviculopecten were presented b} r Mr. Butterworth, of Moor 

 Side. They were remarkable for retaining their natural convex form ; 

 specimens of this fossil being generally found quite flat. The}' are from 

 the large nodules lying over the Upper Foot Coal at Doghill, near Oldham ; 

 the first mine above the Gannister. 



A conversation then took place respecting the marine shells found in the 

 black shales on the banks of the river Tame, at Dukinfield. Mr. Taylor 

 said he had there found a Goniatiics Lister/' as large as the palm of bis 

 hand, and also a crinoidal stem. Mr. Binney had found Orthoceratites at 

 the same place. These beds were generally looked upon as some of the 

 lower scries of coal-measures brought up by a fault ; but no one has exa- 

 mined thoroughly the strata, and no fault having been proved, they may no1 

 unfairly be presumed to belong to the upper coal-field. Mr. G. Charlton 

 said there was a sufficient breadth of strata between those known on each 

 side to admit of the existence of a fault, but there were no indications of 

 one that could throw up the lower measures there. 



The papers read were — 



1. " On the Cambrian Strata of the Isle of Man," by John Taylor, Ksq., 

 being the results of observations made on the Manx Cambrians during ;i 

 series of visits, but more especially in the autumn of last year. 



