PROCEEDINGS OE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



65 



During an exploration of a part of the interior of the Labrador penin- 

 sula, in 1861, the author had an opportunity of observing the magnitude, 

 distribution, and extraordinary number of the boulders on the flanks of 

 the table-land of that area ; and he commenced this paper with a detailed 

 account of the results of his observations, referring also to the forced ar- 

 rangement of blocks of limestone, shale, and Laurentian rocks in Boulder- 

 clay at Toronto, and on the south branch of the Saskatchewan. 



Professor Hind then described briefly the Driftless Area, in Wisconsin, 

 discovered by Prof. J. D. Whitney, and the conclusions to which that geo- 

 logist has been led by the study of this district. He next adverted to the 

 beaches and terraces about the great Lakes, and considered their origin to 

 be similar to that suggested by Mr. Jamieson for the Parallel Roads of 

 Glen Roy. The formation of anchor-ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 

 at the heads of rapids in the great river itself was alluded to as one of the 

 means by which river-beds may be excavated. The parallelism of escarp- 

 ments in America, at great distances apart, and at elevations varying from 

 600 feet to 3000 feet above the sea, was next described, and their symme- 

 trical arrangement suggested to be the result of glacial rivers undermining 

 the soft strata of sedimentary rocks in advance of the glacial mass itself. 

 These escarpments were also thought to represent different and closely- 

 succeeding glacial epochs. 



2. " Notes on the Drift-deposits of the Yalley of the Severn, in the 

 neighbourhood of Coalbrookdale and Bridgenorth." By George Maw, 

 F.S.A., F.L.S. 



The patches of Drift occurring in the Yalley of the Severn from about 

 four miles below Bridgenorth up to Shrewsbury, including a north and 

 south range of about twenty miles, have been carefully examined by the 

 author, and were described in detail in this paper. 



Commencing with Strethill, a hill close to the entrance of Coalbrook- 

 dale, the author described the several beds which make up the Drift- de- 

 posits of which it is composed, and gave a list of the rocks which he had 

 found in them. In the same manner he described in succession the neigh- 

 bouring districts in which the Drift-deposits are exhibited, and gave a list 

 of the fossils which had been found in the beds at the different localities. 



In conclusion Mr. Maw put forward some hypotheses as to the period 

 when the degradation of the older formations (the materials of which com- 

 pose the Drift) took place, the manner in which the Drift was deposited, 

 the extent of the submergence of England and Wales during the period 

 of its deposition, and the influence of glaciers and glacier-action in its pro- 

 duction. 



Royal School of Mines. — Twelve Lectures on Chemical Geo- 

 logy, by Dr. Percy, E.R.S. — December 10th, 1863. — Geology has 

 for its object the study of the nature and mode of formation of the 

 exterior of the earth, which alone is accessible for investigation. That 

 exterior is usually designated the "crust" of the earth, an expression 

 which implies necessarily that the interior is not solid, but is in a state of 

 greater or less liquidity. The received hypothesis is, that our planet was 

 once molten, and that in the lapse of ages it has gradually cooled down, 

 and has become solid on its surface. The lecturer did not propose to 

 examine the foundations of this hypothesis; but used the word " crust" 

 simply because it is a term perfectly well understood, and generally ac- 

 cepted, and not as any exponent of the lecturer's belief. 



We are acquainted altogether with about sixty elementary bodies ; and 

 it is really remarkable how few constitute the great bulk of the earth's crust 



VOL. VII. K 



