32 • Dr. Mac Cullocli on the 



continuoas body of granite ; covered and obscured, in many 

 places, by portions both of the primary and of the most ancient 

 secondary strata, and appearing wherever these have been 

 removed by those wasteful operations of which this side of 

 Scotland presents so many other striking evidences. 



The last very elevated mass of this granite in the north- 

 eastern part of Aberdeenshire, is the mountain Bennachie ; but, 

 between this point and the sea to the eastward, it appears, eyen 

 at the lowest levels ; occupying extensive spaces, without the 

 intervention of gneiss or any other superincumbent strata ; or, 

 in some places, covered with very thin portions of the former, 

 not exceeding a mile, or even much less, in dimensions. I am 

 induced to notice this tract more particularly, because it is 

 there that the peculiarities about to be described, are most 

 accessible and most conspicuous. 



The general continuity of all the granite of Aberdeenshire 

 being thus established, it is next necessary to remark, that, 

 throughout the greater part, it exhibits those mineral characters, 

 which, even by those who imagine that there are distinctions in 

 the relative ages of different kinds of this rock, are considered 

 to be indications of the highest antiquity. The mountains at 

 the sources of the Dee, are well known, by all who have ex- 

 amined this country, to be formed of that granite which consists 

 of quartz, felspar, and mica ; and it is, perhaps, unnecessary to 

 say, that the same character pervades the flatter portions to the 

 eastward ; as the extensive use of the Aberdeenshire granite in 

 the pavements of London, has made it familiar to every one. 

 It will be necessarily noticed hereafter, that the variety which 

 occurs in Bennachie, presents, in particular, those characters 

 which are supposed to appertain to the most ancient granites ; 

 as the quartz and felspar in it, are, in many places, distinctly 

 crystaUized. 



To this proof of antiquity derived from mineral characters, 

 may be added that which is usually inferred from geological 

 position, by those who contend for this theoretical view of a 

 difference in the relative ages of granite. It is, in most places, 



