53G 
THE GKOLQGIST, 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF TASMANIA. 
By C. Gould, Esq., 
The formations treated of were the Upper Palaeozoic marine deposits and 
the coal-measures. The apparent couformability of the two sections was 
shown, together with their intimate connections, serving to render their consi- 
deration inseparable. The coal-measures exist to a greater or less extent 
througli the country, the depth being about nine hundred feet. They may be 
regarded as constituting two distinct fields, the maximum one, the Mount 
Xicholas CoalGeld, comprehending the various portions developed upon cither 
side of the Break o' Day Valley ; the other the Douglas Kiver Coalfield, 
between Long Point and Bicheno. In the first the position of the principal 
seams of coal, although highly advantageous to their being worked, is at an 
elevation of from one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred feet 
above the sea. Tiiere were at least six distinct seams in the Mount Nicliolas 
coalfield, one of which was of superior quality and twelve feet in thickness. 
Since the discovery of the seam, experiments have been made which, though 
amply sufficient to prove the value of the coal for domestic purposes, and for 
application to the usual brandies of manufacture, have been upon too limited 
a scale to permit of the determination of its value as a steam-fuel. A remark- 
able shale exists in the north of the island, available as a source of paraffin and 
paraffin-oil. The Mersey coal-field was one of very few in Tasmania which is 
actually worked ; for, altliough the extent of coat throughout the island is 
almost unlimited, there are very few points at which any operations are 
conducted. 
THE I^^fPERIAL GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF VIENNA. 
Sir R. I. Murchison communicated information from the Director Haiduiger, 
respecting the present state of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna. 
That important institution was one of many which were very likely to have 
been abolished in the course of the changes which were going on in the em])ire 
of Austria. It was founded by Dr. Haidinger, one of the tirst geologists in 
Europe, who now wrote that, public opinion having been expressed strongly 
in favour of the institution, the government had conceded all the terms in 
favour of geological science which liad been formerly granted, and the Imperial 
and Koyal Geological Institute of Vienna was reinstated upon its old 
foundation. 
CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 
By Mr. Richardson, C.E. 
Details of the carboniferous limestone, as laid open by the railway-cutting 
and tunnel near Almondsbury, north of Bristol. There was a branch railway 
making from Bristol, from the Great Western line, which traversed the Severn. 
In making this traverse, it was necessary to go across a ridge of limestone, at 
Almondsbury, the railroad running across that country of carboniferous lime- 
stone. On the whole the strata were deep, and subject to very great contor- 
