48 FIFTY YEARS GEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE BRISTOL DISTRICT 
Mr. Win wood published numerous local papers during this 
period, those on ' A Rhaetic Section at Kelston 11 (1884), on 
' The Geology of the Bath District ' (British Association Hand- 
book, 1888) and a ' List of the fossil mammalia found near Bath ' 2 
(1886) may be specially mentioned. Messrs. McMurtrie and 
H. B. Woodward continued to write on the geology of the Mendip 
region, and further facts and theories were brought forward 
regarding the Vobster section by Mr. Winwood 3 (1882), and Mr. 
W. A. E. Ussher 4 (1888). 
The period 1880- 1889 was noteworthy for the earlier 
of Mr. E. B. Wethered's important researches into the 
minute structure of the sedimentary rocks of the Bristol District. 
By the application of the microscope to the study of thin sections, 
and by the examination of insoluble residues, he to a large extent 
broke new ground. In the period under consideration he pub- 
lished about ten papers on this branch of geology, some dealing 
with the Carboniferous rocks, others with the Jurassic. The 
most noteworthy of his researches were probably those describing 
the structure of oolitic and related rocks, in which he was one 
of the first to show the important part played by lowly organisms, 
now generally grouped with the calcareous algse. 
The retirement in 1883 of Prof. Sollas from the Curatorship of 
the Museum was followed by the appointment of Edward Wilson, 
the importance of whose influence on the study of local geology 
during his fourteen years tenure of the Curatorship was very 
great. The most valuable local paper published by him during 
this period was that ' On the Bone-Cave or Fissure of Durdham 
Down ' 5 (1885), in which the information obtained since the fissure 
was first described in 1842 was summarized and discussed. The 
importance of his services to the cause of geology lay, however, 
quite as much in his enthusiastic development of the geological 
side of the Bristol Museum, and in the kindly encouragement 
which he gave to younger workers, as in his published papers. 
Prof. Lloyd Morgan's connection with Bristol also commenced 
in 1S83, and the value of his work in teaching at the University 
College, in stimulating an interest in geology by popular lectures 
and by the conduct of field excursions, and in local research can 
scarcely be over-estimated. No less than twelve important local 
papers appeared from his pen during the years 1884- 1889 all but 
one being published in the Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' 
Society. Particular attention may be drawn to those on 'Sub- 
aerial denudation and the Avon Gorge' 6 (1884), 'The Geology 
^roc. Bath Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Field Club, Vol. V, No. 3, pp. 220-224. 
2 Ibid, Vol, VI, No. 1, p. 95. 
^Ihid. Vol. V, No. 1, pp. 24-31; and Geol. Mag., new ser., Dec. 2, 
Vol. IX, p. 238. 
4 Rep. Brit. Ass. (Bath), Trans. Sect. C, pp. 659-660. 
5 Proc. Bristol Nat. Soc, n.s., Vol. V, pp. 31-45. 
6 Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 171-197. 
