80 
terials on which it rested, and which in fact entered into 
its composition, offered no exception ; they were derived 
from the deposits which preceded them, and which might 
be considered as the raw material out of which they 
were formed ; so far, there was an undoubted and imme- 
diate connexion between geology and agriculture. But 
there were often insuperable difficulties in proving this 
connexion from the phenomena of a limited district, 
for the drifted matter forming the subsoil, to which Mr. 
Thorp had given the name of diluvium, was often on so 
large a scale, and had been brought from so great a 
distance, that the materials of most importance to the 
agriculturist liad scarcely any relation, in their struc- 
ture or composition, to the rocks in his immediate 
neighbourhood. 
This remark did not, however, apply to the soils in 
the vicinity of Doncaster, which, according to the facts 
placed before them, seemed to be derived from the pul- 
verisation and comminution of the neighbouring strata 
of the country. But let any member of the Society 
examine the subsoils of the North or East Ridings of 
Yorkshire. Would he then be able to come to a similar 
conclusion? Unquestionably not. The transported 
matter under the vegetable soil had often come from a 
great distance. For example, in the South Eastern 
Cliffs of Yorkshire there were innumerable pebbles and 
large boulders which could not be assimilated to any 
known British rock; and there was good reason for 
supposing thai at least some of them had been drifted 
by marine currents or floated by icebergs from the 
Scandinavian Chain. Some parts of the Southern 
cliffs of their native county contained also blocks of Shap 
granite, and other masses derived from the Cumbrian 
