The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13,

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

At the last meeting of this society, Mr. Hamilton,
president, in the chair, Dr. A. Halley was elected a
fellow, The following communications were read :-
1. On a modern submerged forest at Fort Lawrence,
Nova Scotia, illustrative of the conditions under which
some of the coal-bearing strata in the neighbouring coast
at the Jogging were formed in ancient times, By Mr.
J. W. Dawson, F.G.S.
_

2. On some additional new small reptilian remains,
from the Purbeck strata of Durdleston Bay, and on the
fossil remains of a large cuttle fish, from Kimmeridge
clay, collected by Mr. W. B. Brodie. By Professor
Owen, F.G.S.
3. On the tertiary formations of the North of Ger-
many, with special reference to those of Hesse Cassel and
its neighbourhood. By Mr. W. Hamilton, Pres. G.S.
The author commenced his remarks by correcting an error
into which he had been led, in his former communication
on the Mayence basin, respecting the age pf the tertiary
sands of Magdeburg and Westergeln. He had there
stated, apparently on the authority of Dr. Sandberger,
that these last-mentioned belonged to a much newer
period than the "marine sands" of Weinheim in the
Mayence basin ; whereas, not only has Dr. Sandberger
described them as of the same age, but there is a pro-
bability of their being still older. The principal sections
near Hesse Cassel saw a marine formation of no very
great thickness, sometimes consisting of the clay, and
at others of yellow sand overlying extensive beds of
brown coal. This again rests on blue clay, beneath
which are sometimes found thin beds of sandstone
with Plant
bunteraand
beds of clay,la- pressions, interstratified with other
ihe whole resting on musehelkalk and
coal ; whereas, lit the The marine sands of Westergeln,
near Magdebm:
of Weinheim constitnetlie also found above the brown
ayence basin, the marine sands
clays and brown coal. are
themselves overlaid by
of author then proceeded to
tertiary sense there, and
cf lowest member of the whole
consider the relative age
formation, endea-
voured alluding to what he considers thee deP"ita ; apnidn
i, 0
ralftoefr
Phillippi, who regarded the IfesseZreeeelebeecle os
a, being
ailipitPyenthnaint,eaBalethtelohugh the Wes-
tahsethperoSbuabb
of the
d same
t o s h Rog:
tergeln sands may be somewhat older,
to ono general period, equivalent, or nearlyey all belong
middle Limbug beds of Belgium, and that they mark t the
ti
time when a communication must have existed
bee
tween the Northern Ocean of Germany and the
basin, and between the latter and the great
Southern or Alpine Ocean, in which the flysch and
earlier molasse were deposited. Mr. Hamil ton also alluded
to the extensive basaltic outbursts which occur so abun-
dantly throughout the whole country between Frankfort
and Hesse Cassel ; and he offered an explanation of the
phenomenon observed on several occasions where the
stratified beds of brown coal, clay, &c., are seen towards
and partly underneath the basaltic masses which form
the cappings of the plateaux. When the stratified beds
had been raised by subterranean pressure into undulating
masses, on a large scale, previously to the basaltic out-
bursts, the ingenious matter found an easier escape
through
the assures of synclinal rather than of the an-
ticlinal portions,
inasmuch as the fissures in the synch-
nals widened downwards, while those in the other por-
tions were naturally wider in the upper beds. The
author concluded by showing that the brown coal beds
in this part of Germany belonged to at least three, if not
four, distinct periods.

* the receipts include the traffic on the Orleans and Central, Or-
Leans and Bordeaux. and Tours and Nantes lines.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 12.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market this morning has ruled
flat, and quotations reduced about per cent. Thedealers
have been chiefly, occupied with preparations for the settle-
ment of the account on Monday next. Caledonian, 303 ;
Lancashire and Yorkshire, 743 ; Lancaster and Carlisle,
new thirds, 7i prem.; London and North-Western, 1013 ;
ditto, shares, id. ; Midland, 68i ; Man., Shef., and
Lincoln, 241; North-Eastern, York capital stock, 261 ;
North Staffordshire, 43 dis.; South-Eastern, 17, ; Preston
and Wyre, 44.