Ordinary meeting, Monday, May 4th, 1863

321 to the present time, our kn owledge of fossil monkeys throws no ligh t upon any of th e hypoth eses of transmutation.

Ordinarp },feeting, M onday , jJ;I ay 4th, 1863.

Professor Tennant, F.G.S., President in th e Chair. Th e following gentleman was electe d a Member of th e Association :-Mr. Alexand er Ramsay. TIle following donati ons were announced :" Abstract of Proceedings of the Geological Society." By the Society. " Catalogue of the Collection sent from the Island of Trinidad to the E xhibition of 1862." By R. J. L. Guppy, Esq. " Geology oj the neighbourhood of L eek." By Thomas W arlde, Esq. , F.G.S. " N otices of Rocks and F ossils in the University jl[useum, Oxf ord." By th e Pr esident . "Annual Address of the Cotteswold Club-P lates showing growth of Grypha:a incuroa;" By the Cotteswold Club. " Lectures on the Results of the Great E xhibition, 1851." 2 vols. By the Presid ent.

Th e following pape rs were read : 1st. " On some recent Mari ne Shells found in the excava tions for railway-works at Preston." By Mr. Rofe, F. G.S. The author commenced by stating th at he brought t he subject forw ard, not as a novelt y, for some years since Mr. Gilbertson publish ed th e discovery of similar shells at Preston, whe n sinking a well, and every g eologist knows, that not only in t he British Isles but in most parts of th e g lobe th ere are endless instances of recent shells being found eleva te d above the present sea-level, but because he considered that some inferences might fairly be dra wn from these and other case s in Lancashire to show how compara tively recent has been t he elevation of t he Penine Cha in in England, if indeed th e elevation ha s not been going on gradually and is not even yet in progress .

322 Most of the shells" found appear to be identical with those common on the adj oining coast. Th ey were discovered at two places ab out ~ of a mile asu nder ; one locality being on th e south end of th e joint station of th e London and North-W est ern and t he Lancas hire and Yorkshire Rail way Companies at Preston, and about 65 feet above the mean level of t he sea, and th e other locality in a cutt ing for th e Fl eetwood and W est Riding Railway, und er Adelphistreet, and about 70 feet above the same level. In both case s th ey were found se vera l feet below the su rface of th e g round in coa rse sand , with small rolled pebbles, or perh aps, more properly speaking, in seams of fine gravel in the sand. In the first case, at th e railway-stati on, the sand was covered by a bed of marl or clay, with bould ers. In th e other th e sand came to th e surface, but a little furth er north it is covere d with t he marl or clay, locally called " Till," being a portion of the Northern Drift. The levels at which t hese shells were found app ear to show clearly t hat th e beds in which they occur must hav e been elevated from 60 to 70 feet at least since t he existence of the prese nt fauna. In a paper by Sir P. Eg erton (see Pr oceeding s of th e Geological Society, vol. 2, p. I S!)) on a bed containing similar shells, found at " the Willington," in Cheshire, and not far from th e Mersey, he states as th e result of his research, that an alteration of the relative levels of sea and land to th e extent of 70 feet has t aken place since th eir deposition-a result closely in accordance with that shown at Preston, near th e Ribble. Th ere ar e, however, many obse rva tions which prove an elevation durin g th e same period very far greater th an what is here nam ed. On t he coast of Wales sea-shells were found by ~Ir. Trimm er 1392 feet above th e sea ; and anoth er instance, recently published by Mr. Binney of Man chester, wh o, at a meeting of the Manchester Phil osophical Society, on the 2nd of December last, stated that Mr. Bateman bad drawn his at tention to the occurrence of the common cockspur she ll (that found most abundantly at Preston), • The shells exhi bite d were Astarte elliptica, A starte compress a, T ellina solidula, Cardium edule, Littorina Iittores, Turritella communis, Trophon clsthratus, l-furex erin aceus, Fusu s an tiquus (probably) , and Nassa in crassat a.-The names ar c kindly supplied by S. P. Woodward, E sq.

323 at th e Corpora tion W aterworks, near Mottram. Mr. Binney went to the reservoir and there found other she lls similar to th ose foun d at P reston. The locality where these are found is fully fifty miles in a straight line from th e sea, and 568 feet above its level. Mr. J ohn Tayl or has also found recent marin e shells in t he sands at Bredbu ry and Hyde, and Mr. Pr es twich on the Buxton Road, about 3 miles from Macclesfield. But Mr. Binney obse rves, t hat t hose he found near Mottram were the first which had been obser ved in the deep valleys runni ng up into th e sides of th e P enine Chain. The shells found by Mr. Binney, corresponding wi th th ose from Preston would, in both cases, probably be washed on t o th e shore; so that if the relative levels of the two places were the same as th ey now are, th e land at Preston must have been covered with 500 feet of sea when t ha t at Mottram first emerged, But this supp osition is not essential, indeed it is more probable t hat the then coast was iudented by deep bays or fiords, running up into what is now the P enine Chain, but t hen only par tially raised above the sea-lev el, on the shores of which t he shells were deposit ed. The force which elevated t he P enine Chain acting probably in its centre, th at part would be raised before th e more distant parts were affected and would conti nue to rise more an d more as the elevating force acted. Sir Charles Lyell, in his work on the " Anti quity of Man," mentions a somewhat similar case to th at here supposed, at pag e 348. H e says, "At Altenfiord, in Finmark, betw een lat. 70 and 71 N., an ancient water-level, indicated by a sandy deposit, fanning a terrace, an d by mark s of the erosion of waves, can be followed for 30 miles from sout h to north along the borders of a fiord rising gradually from a height of 85 feet to 220 feet above th e sea, or at th e rate of about 4 feet in a mile." Th e question wished to be raised by this pap er was sta te d to be, whether the relative lev els hav e remained the same, or whether the upheaval of the par ts most distant from the sea has not been continued even since th e elevation of that nearer the sea, th at is to say, that Mottram has been fur th er elevated since Preston emerged, and , indeed, whether th at process may not be going on even In our own times. The author again referred to Sir Charles Lyell's work, above

324

quoted, to show that he was then starting no new heresy. At page 51 Sir Charles Lyell states, that" the emergence (of the Clyde Valley) appears to have taken place gradually and by intermittent movements, for Mr. Buchanan describes several narrow terraces one above the other on the site of the city (Glasgow) itself, with steep intervening slopes composed of the laminated estuary formation. >¥- >¥- * Until lately, when attempts were made to estimate the probable antiquity of such changes of level, it was confidently assumed, as a safe starting point, that no alteration had occurred in the relative level of land and sea, in the central district of Scotland since the construction of the I¥all of Antonine. * * '" But Mr. Geikie has lately shown that a depression of 25 feet on the Forth would not lay the eastern extremity of the wall at Carriden under water" * * '" and the western end, on an eminence called Chapel Hill, the foot of which "is estimated to be 25 to 27 feet above high water-mark. * * * Antiquaries have sometimes wondered that the Romans did not carry the Wall further west, but Mr. Geikie now suggests, in explanation, that all the low lands 16 or 17 centuries ago were washed by the tides at high water. * * * There is also a raised beach with marine shells 25 feet high at Leith, as well as at other places on the Firth of Forth." And at page 55 Sir Charles says, "On a review of the whole evidence, Geological and Archesological, offered by the Scottish coast-line, we may conclude that the last upheaval of 25 feet took place not only since the first human population settled in the island but .. * * there seems even a strong presumption in favour of the opinion that the date of the elevation may have been subsequent to the Roman occupation." With such an authority there can be no presumption in assuming from the following considerations, that it is at least possible, if not probable, that a similar rise has taken place ill Lancashire during the same period, and, probably, to about the same extent. At Preston, and on the west side of it, there does not appear to be any reason to suppose that there has been any rise of the land during the period last referred to; possibly the reverse may be the case, as there are undoubted evidences of a submarine forest on the coast between the mouths of the Ribble and the Mersey, but

325 t hat migh t be, and most probably wa s, submerged before t he Roman occupation. H owever, there is no doubt that th e Romans had a station at Naze Point, at th e mouth of th e Ri bble, and another on W alton Flats, near Preston, both of which are now ve ry littl e above high -water-m ark , so that it is clear tha t th ey cannot have been raised since th at t ime. But about t wel ve miles (following the course of th e ri ver) above the latter point, th ere is anoth er Roman sta tion, Ribchester, where remains of anchors and other materi als used in navigation or boat-building have been found. Bet ween Preston and Ribchester there are now severa l places where th e rock crops out across the bed of th e river, so as to render it quite impossible for a boat of any size to navigat e it, and some local hist orians seeing this difficulty have considere d that the anchors, &c. found at the latter place could only have been used for th e ferry-boat there. But it is scar cely likely t hat t he Romans would hav e forged anchors for ferry- boats when mooring-posts would have been so far readier t o use and better for the purpose, and the quant ity of what may be called naval stores discovered was so great as to give t he name of Anchor-hill to the place where th ey were found-a quantity which could scarcely be brought together for a ferry over so shallow a river as t he Ribbl e now is. The fall of the present bed of the river t o Preston is also so great th at it scarcely could be navigabl e under ordinary circumsta nces ; but if t he interior of the count ry gene rally has been raised, and th e bed of th e river has been thus rendered more inclined since the Roman period, as Sir Charles Lyell sees reason to think th at par t at least of Scotland has risen since that time, thi s difficulty might be overcome, and th e river may have th en been navigable. Th ere is, in addition, an int ermediate arch mological notice which giv es greater weight to thi s opinion. Leland, who visit ed Ribchestel' in the time of H enry VIlL, states that "The tide ebbeth and Howeth in Ribbel most commonly more than half-way up between Preston and Ribchest er, and at ragis of spring-tide much further." At the present time, however, th e ordinary sprin g-tide rises only to the reach under ~T alton Church, about a mile ab ove Preston, and never eve n at" ra gis of tide," above th e rapids at Cuerdale, a little more than half a mile high er, and nearly (by the river) ten

326 miles below Rib chester; so th at some considerable change has taken place even since t he tim e of He nry VIII. It may be asked what has caused this rise of th e land, and how ha s it been effected. This can, at pres ent, only be answered by supposition. Dr. Forehhammer, in a paper (see Proceeding s of Geological Society, vol, 2, p. 554) on some changes of level whi ch have taken place during the historical period in Denmark, infers that th e change of level on th e Swedish, proceeds in a different proportion to th at on the Danish shore, which lie ascribes to t he slight earthquak es so fr equently feIt in Sweden, but never observed in Denmark. And to the sam e cause, the supp osed rise in Lan cashire may wit h probability be attributed. In th e ninety years from 1753 to 1843, six earthquakes in Lan cashire have been record ed. One in 1777, observed by Dr. H enry, is 'stated to have been a smart shock, and th at in 1843, was felt throughout and beyond Lan cashire, and left proof of its effect s, few only of which are recorded. Mr. Just, of Bury, Second Mast er of th e Grammar School th ere, stated that his house wa s so much injured, and in such a manner as to ind icate a decided change in th e level of th e foundati on ; and on the banks of th e Ribble, at Red Scar, Mr. Cross, the day after the earthquake, found that his larg e equatorial telescope, which was mounted on a base of solid masonry, requi red complete readjustment; showing th at the country at Red Scar had undergon e not merely a movement which afterw ards permitted things to resume their ex act position, but that some perman ent alte ration had taken plac e. In addition t o th ese earthquakes, it is recorded that in December, 1774, the River Ribble stood still and became dry , excepting in some particular places for the space of five hours, and th en began to flow aga in as usual; and again on the 8t h of March, 1821, the River Ribble ceased to flow for three hours at the ford, where the boat goes over at Alsto n. These last events, though they do not prove much, add some weight to the supposition that an alt eration in th e relative level of the country may be taking place, as these stoppages in th e flow of th e river, in certain localiti es only, ca n scarcely be accounted for except by such a supposition. The above are the earthquakes recorded during only ninety years;

327 how many slight shocks there may have been unrecorded cannot be said, nor how many may have been unrecorded and forgotten in the previous 1,500 or 1,600 years since the Romans occupied Ribchester. No doubt that slight shocks may be frequent, and pass unnoticed, because even the last at Preston was not noticed by some persons who were in the streets, though the motion was sufficient to ring the bells in some of the houses in that town. 2nd. "On the Geology of the neighbourhood of Croydon." By Mr. Bott. 3rd. "On a Geological Ramble to Maidstone and its neighbourhood." By Professor Tennant; which was followed by some remarks on the probable causes of the phenomena presented by a section across the Cretaceous and VV'ealden strata of Kent and Sussex, by the Secretary.

Ordinary Meeting, Monday, June 1st, 1863.

Professor Tennant, F.G.S., President, in the Chair. The following gentleman was elected a member of the Association :-Mr. Edward Langdon. The following donations were announced : " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society." By the Society. "Abstract of Proceedings of the Geological Society." By the Society. "Annual Address of the President to the Geological Society." By Professor Tennant. "Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow." By the Society.

The following papers were read:1st. "On Microscopic Geology," ~ote No. I."" By Mr. W. Hislop, F.R.A.S., &c., Treasurer. 2nd. "On the Strata exposed by the Excavations for the Southern High Level Sewer Main Line." By Mr. A. Bott, F.G.S.

* Will be published with Note No.2 in the next number of Proceedings. 2 E