55 
Ordinary Meeting, December 10th, 1867. 
Edward Schunck, Ph.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in the 
Chair. 
Mr. Samuel Broughton was elected an Ordinary Member 
of the Society. 
“ On the Age of the Haematite Iron Deposits of Furness,” 
by E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S. - 
The great value of the vast deposits of haematite iron ore 
found in the Carboniferous Limestone of North Lancashire, 
and in a similar position near Whitehaven, in Cumberland, 
renders any information as to the date of their formation of 
considerable importance. There is no doubt that the Car- 
boniferous Limestone was first formed in most instances. 
Hollows were then made by some agency, whether by 
aqueous or atmospheric, or both agencies, it is not necessary 
here to inquire; but most of the cavities bear evidence of 
some erosive action, their sides being more like old valleys 
or watercourses than simple fissures. The next question to 
be considered is when were these hollows filled, with the iron 
ore ? No one who has investigated the subject would 
estimate their age so late as the date of the Magnesian Lime- 
stone, but some eminent geologists have supposed them to 
have been formed during the Lower Permian period, whilst 
others have adduced reasons for believing that they had 
been formed during the Carboniferous epoch. There is very 
little doubt but that large deposits of iron have been met with 
in both these formations, some of Carboniferous and others 
of Permian age, but our present enquiry is the geological age 
of the haematite iron ores of Furness. 
Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Society— Yol.YII. — N o. 5.— Session, 1867-8. 
