XVII. Geological Remarks on the Vicinity of Maestricht.
By the Rev. W. E. HONY, Fellow of Exeter Coll. Oxford.
member of the geological society.
The interest excited by the magnificent specimens which have
been discovered at different times in the neighbourhood of Maestricht,
induced me when in the Low Countries in the summer of the present
year, to go somewhat out of my way in order to visit so celebrated
a spot. I am sorry that my stay there was necessarily so
short that I could take only a very hasty survey of that country.
I am induced however to lay before the Society a short sketch of
what I saw, because I believe that though so much has been written
and said on the subject of the fossils of Maestricht, but little is
known in England as to the relative situation of the strata containing
them. The mountain of St. Pierre commences about a mile south
from the town of Maestricht, and extends in a direction towards
Liege for nearly three leagues. It is an insulated hill forming a
ridge, the sides of which are for the most part very steep. The
subterraneous quarries must have been worked from a very early
period, and are said to extend through its whole length. The hill
presents an almost perpendicular escarpment towards the Meuse,
and it is in walking on this side of it that the strata are seen to the
greatest advantage.
