Mr. Ballinger read an able & instructive paper on the Geological History of Coal.

Coal was the result of a large deposition of vegetable matter occurring immediately above the well known formation termed the Millstone Grit. The latter was essentially a marine formation & had been formed in a shallow sea near to land. As this became gradually upheaved it assumed a marshy condition & on this marshy bed grew the various forms of the plant life whose decayed remains ultimately became coal. The Flora of the Coal Period comprised chiefly Conifers, Ferns, Club-mosses & Horse-tails. The Fossil remains of these were found preserved in a more or less perfect manner in the coal measures & their careful examination threw much light upon the origin of this valuable product. The variety chiefly found in Yorkshire, Bituminous Coal, consists in a great degree of the Spores & Spore cases of a giant club-moss (Lepidodendron). Anthracite Coal, found in S. Wales & the West of England, is a variety which has undergone a  change through igneous agency.

Mr. Ballinger then described some of the more important Fossils, illustrating his paper by means of the oxy-hydrogen Lantern, throwing upon the screen images of the chief varieties enumerated by him. Slides of Coal preparations were also shown under the Microscopes of some of the members & a collection of coal kindly lent by Mr. Bridge was also exhibited.