The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1886-03-23 00:00:00

with • depth or from 20 to 10 fathoms. Encircling
reefs were those aurrounding islands at a distance of
two or three voiles from the above, and Orwell
enclosing a keen if placid water like that of a lagoon.
Barrier reef. were not of a circular but of • rectilinear
form. :soul were foetid many miles olistrnt from land.
The inert remarkable was that which ran parallel too
! the north•east roast of Australia, and which was 1.000
; miles in lenztli. Th. boot variety, flinging reefs, we,..
thowe which akirtorl the nuinowous Wands in tho
Irwin.% emisparatisely close to the shone. All these
coral formarsona were built up by the odoperatien of
counde..• millions of soft gelatinous creature., of
atar..tko f•wris. which could only maintain an
saistruce at certain depths below the surface.
Nothing in the history if the world merited by the
art of man roulrl be compared to the atupenclous
s.m:phunrt....nta
Tlehfet
il...siihiir
corl tahlii.imabtyl.thieuidtainiay..criralt.,
there could he little doubt, belonged to • "(rinsing
noel," which extended from the 'owl...rest to the north.
east of England, and attained it,. maximum develop-
ment in the midland counties. The obvious inference
to be drawn from the presence of cerale in this
country during the oolitic period was that our Win•
',endure in those remote age. wa. akin to that of the
tropics in the prevent day. Before dismissing the
corallian osslite, he must draw attention to the
impregnation ul the iwyer calcareous grit with the
sasoinsotide of iron. It was thi, which imparted •
rusty appearance to the upper beds at Banclearee,
and still more so to the recite near Sandsfoot Castle.
But nowliero• in this district was the iron so abundant
as at .klotvotsbury, where the grit era. so ferruginous
04 to constitute an iron-ore, to utilise which the new
Aloisotstury railw.oy had been chiedycomarnocted. The
ore at .t..,...tsbury contained, he believed, 35 per
co•os. of metallic iron, and would, he trusted, prose
an El Dorado of wealth to the spirited promoters of
the railway. Dr. Itomorbroad then adverted to the
orihrictehi.ne.inn4hmirviieugro'udnil'ou:s4p,
ismitneh:idlo:o.b.:lpilletif,.;uwiracied7s4t‘i4in,cor.t:fiok.or:do'nfutpihtet,ar
lecturer's reintrke osn this psrt if his subject were
fully relawfril last ermine,. on the occaaien of the
paper on the geology of Portland read by him
before a meeting of the Wryinontli Field Club
Ile now added, as a iflatter .if fredi infoorinatien,
and in connection with his oiservation. on the
raised heads at Portland that. in the opinion of
Nlr. Damon, the site of Nielcombe Regis might he. ,
eaosded .. ,julawr t 4, a rely il heath. On this !
euppowition, the Backwater orio.tiluslly formed part
of Weymouth Bay. In the coon.e id age., h•owvoso•r,
the reef 4 Oxford clay which extended from t :wow
hill to the luvrtsour, and which formed the aulftratuin
of the town, 10,1110 e gradually elevated dove how
water mark. l'pou this sand and pebbles began to
collect, end went oon accumulating until they formed
the peninsula ioi which Melo:emirs Howie now stood.
He al.o remarked that all th- toils in this neighbour-
hood ran nearly due east and west This was • point
of considerable interest, as according to the late Dr.
Iltickland and Sir Henry de la Beebe, it arossociated
the district with a great terrestrial diaturhance which
took place toward, the end of the tertiary period,
and which led to the upheaval of the Alp,.and
liiinaLaysta. According to a distinguished French
onr.t.s4, M. Elie de Beaumont, all the mountain ridges
of eh, world that correspomied in direction, whether
latitudinal or longitudinal, were contemporaneous in
origin. Further, in the opinion of the late Sir
Roderick Murchison, it was only in those ridges that
can north and eolith that Kohl would be dia-
lconvered. .% knowliAge of this led Sir Roder-
irk to predict several years in advance,
the discov. ry of the preemies metal 111 Au,.'
; 'rube. While therefore, 1401....1,1111:1 1.4/ PCIMIIOO,
1 mold would n 'rev be discovered in the hills of this
1 oli,drict, it wiiteal, however, lie (lir. Momorhetsoll
' trust.- I, al wily. lie found in the ism: ..4.1.4 the inhale
Loss, ( xppl stye all 1 !rights,. I It' 1111 l .1. 114 4
' omit to mention that the diloterranensi force which
• wily:sod the Weymouth district from the depths of
the owe in caused evoits fraction.. 44 the strata
• with con negnent displacement. Th.... were
. teclinicollv termed faults. Ilk. Iwo in..t important
were tlo •••• 111 stoolgewaj• and i Isimisgton. Portland
' esloolooted iv• do .soldoevoient of atiata, and was therefore
; ! geoloptioally f.ciltlevs„ llos ing thus sketched the
i pkysical geology of M'eyenooolth and Portland, I/r.
II silly:sot notice 1 moor sod...ontology, of ale f0..11
, fs.los.l 415.1 li On, Whiell dram:l,6mA thi• Inv lad eolitic
I Cr.'., Ille repente;l Me olservatioona ors this portion
1 of the oollneet whieli Is . in sde at 'foreland, and* added
I• relitoo•k• OW ..11,.rmiten or atone lilliee, fossils
Orel, in past geolose ages robtred am lfill..tant
, part in buildin.t up p t i.. of the earth'. crust. In
l thie country, they were chiefly found in the primary
nicks, eapecially in vilurian and caramianona Hine.
atone. hut they Aso eel:tarred 111 the hover 'Polite, to a
slight extent in thin district, though abundantly at
Bradford, near lath. I/r. Mosorhead concluded by
.4ying that 16 War 111.• 'WI, liege 44 Ike Kr44..16.1... 110
swans' the hook of eaten., and tracovl the oleselope-
ment of the Divine plat: in preparine the world for
111411.,111104•, tO dn. 'violence of infinite Wisll4olll end
goodness ftercietel ons 111‘11.6 11141.111, 1111.1 time to
e‘periAter the liveliest emotions of gratitude, het us
then accept the awlirllloe of the !rewired Vishnu«,
that God had " made man a little lower than the
augele, 01111 hail crowned him with glory •1111 homier."
(Applause.)
Thy lecture, which was much appreciateil on account
of the exceedingly iiiteryoting manner in which the
suleject was treated, was illuatraterl with nionerour
specimens and drawings. Mr. Dall/011 'gaol lent a
ionotograpli of a p .. f,re mNJ copy. Mr4usgr, obtained
off the coast of i load:dome, in the West Indies ; two
heeutiful specimen, of the ran, trinnid, the ray
foxithrrootar, incl of which was obtained in the 'lay,
off Portland. and which were ontich admired ; two
wecine na of the lily awl pear 'eerie ay. ; a phonograph
it the a reivriatepr, the first fossil bird ever footed in
the crust of the earth ; and numerous other inten-sting
objects. I/r. Nloorliead al.. showed wrllr fossil coral
aid l a rpralift w1...c1, 1.44 beim preoeuted to him by
Mr. Whits, late ...Woe. wieder in Portland Convict
Prisons, I/r. Sloorliesol raid that. Mr. Whit,' load one
of the fine.lo4l•l.l.i.ft■ Of Portland fared, vo Is oven
el this neiglobsourhossil, and an inapection of 1.1,e gaz,6w
in front orf his horsy its Newherry•terrace, Weymouth,
opposite thsowt.place, would well repay a visit. The
feeturer thanked Mr. liamon avid Mr. White for theme
/We ins, and lk. Chihli atuf NFr. Bachelor for
1a,1117, etyma"! drawings and 41101111104 thlllll in
s li:sir:Olen of the miloject treated of.
.. . .. .. .. _

Oss the m.0.i..11 ..1 'kir. Eton% • cordial v. 4. a
tlcitiks was pissed to kl.swhral for his eery
Iretore. klr. 1ii..1 trwited that the
....ample set I.y ltr. Moorhead model be followed, and
th it that townsmen who weir. al& co do go would
glir the society information conesniitig some other
r.inge of knowl«lge in the district. (Ameawie.)
Ilwiaintso. in rrply to tho complinwnt, said
mot for many years Wepimuth had brim a place of
intoner intenet to tlw geologists the world. If.,
felt that it wait. duty to promote knowledge on the
subject, and lir could recommend the study of geology
as a mience the porsuit of which was cooducire to
pliftcal hesltb. I A pplause.l
The
proceedinge then terminated.