both from their position and their organic remains. But a deal yet remains to be done with them; they have yet to be accurately traced, searched, and studied. Strata which yield, as they do, such valuable iron-ore, demand attention and examination.
Yours very truly,
John H. Macalister.
PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES.
Geologists' Association.—The ordinary monthly meeting was held on Monday, December 2nd, at 5 Cavendish Square. The Rev. Thomas Wiltshire, M A., F.G.S., President, in the chair. The following papers were read:—"On two beds of re-deposited Crag Shells in the vicinity of Yarmouth, Norfolk," by C. B. Row, Esq., F.G.S. "On a Newly Discovered Outlier of the Hempstead Strata on the Osborne Estate, Isle of Wight," by Dr. E. P. Wilkins, F.G.S. "On the Exchange of Fossils among the Members," by A. Bolt, Esq., A. A.
Professor Tennant exhibited several specimens of gold recently forwarded from Nova Scotia to this country. He read extracts from a Report which has made by Mr. Howe to Lord Mulgrave, the Governor of the Colony, in September last, from which it appears that the gold-discoveries made in the colony in 1860 were unimportant, the gold being found in quantities so small as not to afford a satisfactory return for the labour of seeking for it. The exitement had accordingly subsided. Last March, however, a man accidentally discovered a piece of gold among the pebbles at a brook; this led to further investigation, and it is now generally believed that gold in abundance exists in the colony within an easy distance of means of transport, and Mr. Howe considers that the Government will be warranted in assuming that at the localities where the chief working has been hitherto carried on, viz. Tangier, Lunenburg, Lawrencetown, and Lake Thomas, gold-mining will be permanently established as a new branch of industry, tempting to the capitalist and attractive to the emigrant. The gold is found in quartz veins and in the sand on the shore. Specimens of gold in the matrix, and some of the gold grains found in the sand were exhibited, as also two ingots of pure gold cast from that discovered in the above-mentioned workings.
Mr. Rickard exhibited a machine recently patented, the object of which is to render peat available as fuel, to the same extent as coal, at a greatly reduced price.
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.—November 26th, 1861, J. P. Joule, LL.D,, President, in the chair, A Paper was read by Mr. E. W. Binney, F.R.S., entitled "Additional Observations on the Permian Beds of South Lancashire," This was a continuation of two previous papers read before the Society, Since that time the author had made further observations on the Permian strata at Heaton Norris, near Stockport; Medlock Vale, between Ashton and Manchester; Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and Ordsal near Manchester; and Skillaw Clough and Bentley Brook, near Newburgh, in the west of Lancashire.
At Heaton Norris, in the sand delf of Mr. Howard, near the railway station, the lower New Bed Sandstone was seen dipping to the south-west at an angle of 25°. This was succeeded by red and variegated marls having
