'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎14] (29/496)

and there seems every probability that the great elevations chiefly prevailing be«
twixt the 20th and 45th parallels are succeeded by a vast expanse of comparative
ly low lands, which at no distant date in our Geological seras may have formed the
bed of the Ocean.
“ It has of late formed one of the most interesting divisions of Geological research
to investigate the changes of level, the upheavals and depressions, which
at a comparatively recent period of our Geological History have affected the
earth, and to trace the elevated shores, the beaches and terraces, which in al
most every quarter of the globe mark the boundaries of its former waters. Should
the explorers reach any of the regions in which such things are discernible, no
notices, however slight, which could be made concerning them, would be consider
ed unimportant by the Society.
“ In immediate connection with this the condition of salt deserts, salt ranges of
mountains, and formations of rock-salt, will all come to be explored; and in re
ference to the last of these, the Society would feel much gratification in being
made aware as to whether any traces of Animalculse or their debris were discern
ible in the salt; and whether it was found associated with the rocks of the new red
sand-stone formation with which in other quarters it is generally connected.
Where limestone prevails in a salt desert, the transformation of carbonate into
sulphate of lime, occasioned apparently by the mutual decomposition of the
sulphates of the salt and calcareous constituents of the earth, is generally discern,
ible ; this phenomenon presenting itself in Scinde, Persia, Arabia, and Egypt, and
in most places, it is believed, where the combination of circumstances referred to
exists. It would be important to know whether it was universal.
“ It would be of the utmost importance to observe whether sea shells exist in anv of
the salt deserts that may be traversed; and, if so, whether they be of any existing
species as well as to observe whether any of the ligniferous rocks such as those
about Cairo, Scinde, and on the Coromandel coast, can be traced. All information
regarding the extent of the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of Icebergs and Glaciers, in the removal from
place to place of masses of earth and stone, makes the examination of transported
seem^to^f eS ^ eCia ^^ * ^ t ^ 10Se with grooves, and of gravel, Till &c., which
utmost interest loThe^Society. 111 " 10 "^ thG exis ^ 811C0 ^ient glaciers, is of the
obslr^atblfon th S e S d ated *,° r in pOSSeSs{on of a su P'y Magnetic instruments : all
needle— the intensity ofmagneticw’' T Ilm '*T tal decH » a tion of the
local attraction—would be considered of t/ dl “‘ ual v f latlon aild effec t. if any, of
well as any note which might be made on the mt01e;,t a ‘ ld lm P ortailoe > as
by the Aurora Boreqli* n • • 6 ln ^ ueilce exercised on the magnet
cLible ’ Uldthe m ~ aa ch a latitude at which this is dis-
O^nTrindi^tr aild Thermometers, of which the Secretary to the
* d hi gMy important to ascertaS^lliTy ^ W ° Uld ^ C ° n5ider '
One reading for 24 consecutive hours at ariv of’ihe^ honrs of maxmla and rainima -
by the expedition wnnlri i « ., ^ the most remarkable points reached
peditron, would be consrdered most valuable. As tire epochs of change