SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
The reading of Mr. Webster’s paper “ on the fresh-water 
formations of the Isle of Wight, with some observations oa 
the strata lying above the chalk in England, ’ was begun. 
The observations in this paper were in part suggested bv the 
recently published memoir of MM Cuvier and Brongniart 
concerning the strata in the vicinity of Paris, in which they 
ha^e described two marine, and two fresh- water formations 
alternating with each other, the whole lying above the cbalK, 
which latter rock has hitherto been very generally considered 
as one of the most recent deposits. 
It is to Sir Henry Engh field that we are indebted fo the 
first observation of highly-inclined strata of chalk in the Isie 
of Wight. $ 
A circumstance so material for the theory o c .hs formation, 
or of the revolutions undergone by the more recent strata of 
the earth, demanded a leisurely and careful survey, which was 
entrusted by Sir H. Englefield to the well known accuracy of 
Mr. Webster. 
The present paper is the result of this enquiry. 
An elevated ridge of hills runs through the Isle of Wight* 
in a direction nearly E. and W. from Culver cliff to the Needles. 
These hills are composed of strata sometimes nearly vertical, 
but generally forming an angle with the horizon of from 60° to 
80° dipping northward These strata consist of the upper and 
lower beds of chalk, that is the chalk with and without flints, 
covering the chalk marl; and these again are underlaid by 
calcareous sand-stone, with subordinate beds of chert an. 4 lime- 
stone, clay and carbonized wood. To the north of these strata, 
occur at Allum Bay, other vertical beds of sand and clay, one 
of which corresponds in its fossils and other characters with the 
blue clay, containing septaria, usually known by the name of 
the London clay. 
The whole series of vertical beds, exhibits no marks of par- 
tial disturbance, but it is evident, from the occurrence of these 
very same beds in other parts of the country, in a nearly hori- 
zontal position, and from the Impossibility of some of them 
(consisting of loose sand with water worn nodules of flint) 
being deposited in the vertical position in which they are at 
present, that the whole mass must have been bodily raised or 
depressed. 
