216 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Sep., 1890. 
the party, pointed out that recent excavations had laid bare a very 
interesting columnal structure, similar to that which is so well known 
at Staffa and on the coast of Antrim. Numerous columns were seen in 
the face of the quarry. Most of them were curved and had five or six 
sides. Mr. Cooper adopted the theory that the axes of the columns 
lay at right angles to the surface of cooling, which was the side of the 
intruded mass in the case of dykes and the surface of the sheet in the 
case of flows. The Dhu stone was a trap rock (basalt) which had been 
forced up through an orifice or orifices in the crust, and had overflowed 
at the surface. The President (Dr. Callaway) concurred in Mr. 
Cooper’s remarks, and added a few observations. Some doubt was 
felt as to the position of the chimney up which the basalt of the 
Titterstone Clee had flowed. Sir It. Murchison and the Geological 
Survey had supposed it to be in the centre of the hill ; but Mr. Yates, 
the acting manager of the works, who was consulted by the members, 
stated that his experience had not led him to support that view. At 
the summit, Mr. Cooper gave an address on the geology of the country 
visible from that point. He commenced with an explanation of the 
term “ Titterstone,” which Hartshorne had connected with the word 
“ totter,” from a large stone which, in former times, was so nicely 
balanced that it could be made to oscillate by the pressure of the hand. 
It was then shown that the structure of the Brown Clee, which rose in 
front of the party as they faced the north, was similar to that of the hill 
on which they stood. The cakes of basalt which crowned the summits 
of the twin elevations were probably the remains of what was once a 
great sheet extending over the district. Under the basalt lay the coal 
measures, which, in the Brown Clee, rested on the old red sandstone ; 
but, on the Titterstone, the millstone grit and the carboniferous lime¬ 
stone intervened. Owing to the action of the forces of denudation, the 
basalt and the underlying carboniferous series had been stripped away 
from the region, except ill the comparatively small patches forming the 
present elevations. The Clee Hills might therefore be regarded as 
islands of younger rocks, surrounded on all sides by the old red sand¬ 
stone. Looking further to the north and west, the eye caught the 
ridges of old red stone, and, a little beyond, the long straight line of 
Wenlock Edge, composed of Silurian rocks, was visible. Then came 
the Ordovician ridges of Chatwall and Frodesley and, just beyond, the 
archsean masses of Lawley and Caer Caradoc. Further to the north¬ 
west stretched the long, rounded elevation of the Longmynd, and 
behind it the ridge of the Stiperstones, with the Corndon visible 
beyond. Looking down to the west the party could see the town of 
Ludlow, surrounded by its picturesque ridges of Silurian rock, and 
beyond Ludlow stretched a varied region consisting of Silurian and 
Devonian (old red sandstone) strata. The President, in proposing the 
thanks of the club to Mr. Cooper, added some remarks on the older 
rocks of the region in front. He drew attention to the extreme interest 
attaching to the Longmynd system. It consisted of rocks probably 
older than the Cambrian; but no definite organic remains had yet 
been discovered in them. The fossils found in the Cambrian were of 
by no means the lowest types, and it was to be expected that the 
Longmynd strata would yield animal remains older than any that had 
yet been discovered in the world. Patience and hard work were 
needed to obtain results; but a rich ha rvest lay before them. At a 
meeting of the officers of the club, held during the day, it was decided 
to hold the next winter meeting at Bridgnorth, and, in addition to the 
presidential address by Dr. Callaway, Mr. C. J. Cooper was asked to 
read a paper. 
