46 Correspondence . [January, 
the faCts point in the opposite direction. This conclusion is, 
moreover, supported by the measurements of the Earth’s dis- 
tance from the Sun in connection with the transit of Venus, 
which distance has been found greater at each succeeding mea- 
surement ; and the Earth’s growth is demonstrated by the cracks 
which are everywhere found on its surface, — such cracks as, I 
venture to say, can neither be satisfactorily accounted for by tides 
nor denudation, — and by the faCt that, whenever a base line has 
been measured a second time at the expiration of any consider- 
able number of years, the latest measurement has always been 
found the longest. — I am, &c., 
Robert Ward. 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, December 12, 1881. 
GEOLOGICAL FAULTS : SUGGESTIONS. 
To the Editor of The Journal of Science . 
Sir, — Faults are one of the mysteries of Geology, and it is to 
make a suggestion or two that I venture to communicate with 
you, which perhaps might be utilised and taken advantage of by 
gentlemen who have ample opportunities for demonstrating, &c. 
Why are faults, as often found, V-shaped ? How has such a 
phenomenon occurred ? 
If these faults be examined, are they not found with one leg 
continued — a rough Y ? This at once suggests itself as an ex- 
planation if one side totally outside the V was to slip or rise. 
Would it not very probably dislodge this wedge-shaped piece 
from off the other ridge side of the fault ? Or if both moved, as 
is possibly unlikely, ditto ? I should think it would be found, on 
extensive observation, that the lines of strata in such faults 
would be nearer on a level on one side of the V than on the other ; 
e.g., if a down throw to the left, the strata in the wedge would 
be nearer to the corresponding strata on the right side than on 
the left, because the second side of the wedge would not begin 
until the other had made some progress in order to tear it off, 
&c. Faults are not wholly owing to district subsidence, or more 
remotely to shrinkage. May not the unequal compression of 
underlying strata, originated by pressure, escape of gases, heat, 
water, &c., in those strata be the cause thereof ? Because faults 
are decided, and long, in many cases. As to compression 
witness stone-packed walls, &c., in mines, &c. 
It is demonstrable that faults of the same district are not all 
of the same period. The new formations are found lying urn 
conformably on older formations, each with their separate set of 
