but inclined in one direction--viz., to the eastward; resembling on a large scale the ordinary appearance of superposed slices of bread and butter. This fact he had previously imagined to be the case, and it was now proved to be true. In 1794 the Canal Bill on which he was engaged received the sanction of Parliament, and one of the first steps taken by the committee of management was to depute two of their members to accompany Mr. Smith, their engineer, on a tour of investigation as to the construction and management of other navigations in England and Wales. This journey extended altogether through 900 miles of country, and occupied the space of one or two months; the party reached Newcastle by one route, and returned by another, through Shropshire and Wales to Bath. During the whole tour Mr. Smith seized every opportunity of observing all local peculiarities as to the aspect and structure of the country passed through, and was able to verify on a large scale his pre-conceived generalizations regarding a settled order of succession, continuity of range at the surface, and general declination eastward of the different strata. During the next six years he was engaged in setting out and superintending the works on the Somersetshire coal canal; being able, from the knowledge he had acquired, to inform the contractors what would be the nature of the ground to be cut through, and what parts of the canal would require particular care to be kept water-tight. He also discovered, during the formation of this work, that each stratum contained organised fossils peculiar to itself, by examination of which, it might in cases otherwise doubtful be recognised and discriminated from others like it, but in a different part of the series. This fact was subsequently still further investigated by him, and he proved that whatever stratum was found in any part of England, the same remains would be found in it and no other.