140 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



5 to 6 inches square ; some greenstone boulders lay at the bottom, and 

 the whole was covered with 16 feet of sand and gravel ; 12 feet of the 

 lower part had never been disturbed, the continuity of the layers being 

 unbroken. 



SECTION. 



Alluvium, 4 feet. 



Layers of gravel, 12 feet, unbroken . 



Box. 



Layer of clay. 



Gravel." 



Mr. Looney was well known to be a most accurate and intelligent observer, 

 and his mention of stone celts having been found at levels above the pre- 

 sent river-courses appears to afford us fair hopes of their being found in 

 the lower-level gravel if carefully looked for. But the most interesting 

 fact is the finding of the wooden fabric, by the author termed a box, which, 

 although smaller in size, bears some resemblance to the crannogcs found 

 sometimes in Ireland under the peat bogs. He (the President) had lately 

 been to examine the place where it was found, which is to the south of, 

 and just outside of the old Roman station of Mancunium, in company 

 with a party who saw the fabric when it was first exposed, and stood in it 

 afterwards. The locality of course is now much changed, but the person 

 was able to point out to him the position where it was found, which is 

 now covered by No. 6 arch of the Altrincham railway, and said that it 

 was about 6 feet square and 4 feet high. The four upright posts driven 

 into the clay were about 5 inches thick and roughly riven, as were also 

 the slabs forming the sides and bottom. His informant did not notice any 

 top to the fabric, or how the slabs had been fastened to the posts, but he 

 remembers a layer of cobble stones, each about 6 inches in diameter, form- 

 ing a kind of pavement, being in the bottom of it. LTpon these stones 

 were some bones, which he examined, but did not recognize any of them 

 as human. All the wood appeared to be oak, but it was very rotten, and 

 fell to pieces soon after it was exposed to the air. None of it was pre- 

 served. Under the clay, the red rock (Trias) was found at a short distance. 

 The geological position where the fabric was found is in the lower-level 

 gravel, about 29 feet above the water of the present river Irwell. For 

 whatever purpose it was made, there can be little doubt as to its having 

 been the work of man, and as we are assured that the overlying sand and 

 gravel was quite undisturbed, there can be as little question of its great 

 antiquity, reaching as far back as the age of the lower-level gravels of the 

 valley of the Somme, in France, where the flint implements have been 

 found. Doubts have been raised as to these flints having been fashioned 

 by human hands, but as to the origin of the wooden fabric, if, as stated, it 

 was covered by 12 feet of undisturbed sand and gravel, no such doubts 

 can rationally be raised. 



The following paper, " On the Chemical Constitution of American Bock 

 Oil," by Mr. Schorlemmer, Assistant in the Laboratory of Owens College, 

 was communicated by Professor Roscoe : — 



