390 Scientijie Intelligence — Geology. 



they were constantly becoming arrested in their progress, and depo- 

 sited the fragments of granite, trap, and limestone containing fossils, 

 derived from the shore. — AthencBum, No. 827, p. 803. 



GEOLOGY. 



5. Mr Murchison on the Permian System, as applied to Germany, 

 with Collateral Observations on Synchronous Deposits in other 

 Countries; shewing that the JRothc-todte-liegendc, Kupfer-S chief er, 

 Zechstcin, and the lower portion of the Bunter- sandsteiny form one 

 natural group, constituting the upper member of the Palwozoic Rocks. 

 — The word Fcrmian, as remarked at page 115, when first proposed by 

 Mr Murchison, was intended to distinguish a natural group of deposits, 

 lying between the well-known carboniferous strata beneath, and the 

 less perfectly defined trias above it. He first suggested that the 

 group (so designated from the ancient kingdom of Permia, which is 

 exclusively occupied by it) should combine those deposits known 

 under the name of Rothe-todte-liegende (lower new- red of England), 

 Kupfer-Schicfer, Zechstein, &c. (magnesian limestone, &c.) Sub- 

 sequently, however, he was disposed to doubt whether it might not 

 be more correct to class the Rothe-todte-liegende with the coal-bearing 

 deposits beneath it, than with the Zechstein, because the plants of 

 the lower red sandstone could not be distinguished from those of the 

 coal-measures. Revisiting Hesse, Saxony, Silesia, the Thuringer- 

 wald, and other parts of Germany, Mr Murchison has obtained what 

 he considers proof that the Rothe-todte-licgende is part and parcel of 

 the same natural group as the Zechstein, and must, therefore, be 

 considei'ed part of the Permian system. He has also convinced him- 

 self that the great deposit hitherto known under the denomination of 

 Bunter-sandstein, Gres bigarre, or new-red sandstone, should be di- 

 vided into two parts, the lower of which ought to be classed with the 

 Permian, and separated from the trias, with which it had been 

 merged. To prove the first of these positions, or that the Rotlie- 

 todte-ligende is a part of the Permian group, Mr Murchison cited 

 the order of succession in numerous sections in Germany, shewing 

 an uninterrupted sequence from the lower red conglomerate sand- 

 stone and shale, into the overlying Zechstein. It is a question 

 whether the plants of these lower red rocks can be distinguished as 

 a whole fi-om those of the subjacent coal-measures, plants being, as 

 yet, the only organic remains found in them. From his observa- 

 tions in Saxony, and particularly from an inspection of the^fossil 



