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the north of France with those of Sonth Wales and Somerset- 
shire, an opinion has for some time prevailed amongst geologists 
that coal probably exists in parts beneath the newer formations of 
the south of England. 
So long since as 1826, Dr. Buckland and Mr. Conybeare, in 
their excellent account of the Bristol coal-field, * made the 
following remarks : “ Before we close this general account of 
the south-western coal district of England, we are desirous of 
noticing its resemblance in geological structure and picturesque 
features to the country extending along the Meuse between 
Namur and Liege. There also we are presented with coal 
basins encircled by Mountain Limestone, and based on Old 
Bed Sandstone, which latter is displayed at Huy. These 
rocks are all highly inclined, and are covered by overlying 
formations. The defiles of the Sambre and Meuse present 
exact counterparts to those of the Avon and Wye.” The 
relation of the two areas was more particularly noticed 
in the work just quoted (pp. 724-5) by the eminent 
geologists MM. Dufresnoy and Elie de Beaumont, who thus 
express themselves on the theoretical question of the original 
extent of the coal-fields of Belgium and the north of France, 
and on their probable range : — “ The portions of carboniferous 
strata, which we have reserved as the subject of the last parts 
of this chapter, contrast in an important manner with those 
which we have hitherto described, inasmuch as they do not 
exhibit the characters of deposits formed in circumscribed 
basins ; all indicating, on the contrary, that they have been 
deposited in an open sea. From the Ardennes on to the moun- 
tains of Wales and Scotland, there extended at that period the 
bays of a sea, in which the Mountain Limestone was formed, 
which contains a large number of marine remains, and after 
that the coal measures of the north of Belgium and a part of 
England.” 
“ This difference in the character of the two classes of basins 
of the coal measures of which we have just spoken, is not only 
an interesting fact for science, but it concerns also in a great 
degree the future of mineral industry, from the views it may 
suggest relative to the possible subterranean connection between 
certain basins. In fact, the deposits formed in circumscribed 
basins present but little chance of their being prolonged for 
any considerable distance beneath more modern deposits, but 
the deposits formed in marine basins are generally much more 
uniform, and susceptible of much greater extension, when they 
have not been broken up and destroyed.” 
“ Geological Transactions,” vol. i. pi. 2, 2nd ser. p. 220. 
