PEOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



25 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geologists' Association. — The first meeting of the present session 

 was held, November 3rd, at the rooms of the Medical Society of London, 

 George Street, Hanover Square, whither the Association has removed. A 

 paper was read by Mr. Carter Blake on " Fossil Elephants," which elicited 

 some very interesting remarks from Mr. Charlesworth, Mr. Cresy, and 

 Professor Tennant, the President. Mr. Evans then read a communication 

 on the geology of the railway-works in the vicinity of London, and illus- 

 trated his paper by an exceedingly interesting suite of fossils. 



Manchester Geological Society. — The twenty-fifth Annual Meet- 

 ing was held at the Museum, Peter Street, on the 29th October last. The 

 '.Report showed the Society in a very prosperous state. 



The following gentlemen were elected office-bearers for the ensuing 

 year: — President: Andrew Knowles, Esq. Vice-Presidents: E. W. Bin- 

 ney, F.K.S., F.G.S., Sir Jas. P. Kay-Shuttleworth, Bart,, F.G.S., Joseph 

 Dickinson, F.G.S., W. Eoby Barr, Esq. Treasurer: Mr. Henry Mere 

 Ormerod. Auditors: P.P. Greg, E.G.S., Mr. James Hertz. Honorary 

 Secretaries : John Atkinson, F.G.S., John Edward Forbes, F.G.S. 

 Honorary Curators : Mr. E. W. Binney, Mr. H. M. Ormerod. Council : 

 Mr. Thomas Ashworth, Mr. John Bradbury, Mr. Joseph Chatwoocl, Mr. 

 John Cross, Mr. Thomas Farrimond, Mr. Joseph Goodwin, Mr. G. C. 

 Greenwell, Mr. J. J. Horsfall, Mr. Clegg Livesey, Mr. George Peace, 

 Mr. John Taylor, Mr. John Wild. 



Representatives of the Society at the Council Meetings of the Natural 

 History Society — Mr. E. W. Binney and Mr. Alderman Harvey. 



South Shields Geological Club. — The anniversary meeting was 

 held on the 13th November. In addition to the independent investiga- 

 tions of members of the South Shields Geological Club, the Club have 

 found it exceedingly interesting and instructive to pursue, during fixed 

 winter evenings, a systematic and practical examination of geological phe- 

 nomena, for which the numerous lithological and fossil specimens in their 

 possession, or procured during various explorations, have supplied ample 

 and admirable materials for comparison and illustration. 



The important advantages that have been already derived from the es- 

 tablishment of the Club, have abundantly demonstrated the great value of 

 the application of the co-operative principle, even to the active pursuit of 

 natural science. 



The President's Address referred to some points of geological interest 

 connected with the ground traversed during the preceding season, and in- 

 dicated the special departments that would occupy consideration during 

 the one now approaching. 



The coal-fields of Durham and Northumberland are traversed in various 

 directions by Basaltic dykes, which at several points are exposed, and good 

 opportunities afforded for observing them. The most remarkable of these 

 igneous masses in the North of England is the great whin sill, so named, 

 in contradistinction to whin dyke, on account of its stratiform character, 

 and general conform ability to the stratified beds on which it rests. It is 

 composed chiefly of Greenstone and Basalt, and extends from Brough, in 

 Westmoreland, to within a very few miles of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It is 

 generally of one stratiform mass, but sometimes two, and even three, strati- 

 form beds occur. The course of the whin sill, from the Pennine range, is 

 in a north-easterly direction, and after crossing the North Tyne appears 



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