Proceedings of the Society of Arts. 899 



which could only be derived from an aqueous medium impregnating 

 the vegetable mass, and holding carbonate of lime and magnesia in 

 solution. It was inferred from these and other circumstances, that 

 the agent which had operated on the strata after their deposition, 

 was subterranean heat. 



The rest of the paper was occupied with an explanation of the 

 convulsions which had occurred after the deposition of these strata, 

 and in consequence of which they had been thrown into the form 

 and position now presented by them. It was mentioned that the 

 very steep dip to the eastward, which the strata on the west side of 

 the Esk basin presented, was occasioned by the eruption of Arthur 

 Seat, Blackford Hills, and the other trap masses that occur along 

 almost the whole extent of the west side of that basin. 



It was next shewn, that before the enormous quantity of vol- 

 canic matter which burst forth emerged from beneath the strata of 

 the district, these strata must have suffered dislocations or cracks, 

 which would account for the slips and dykes that intersect the dis- 

 trict. It was also shewn, how these slips and dykes behoved to run 

 generally in a direction between N. and W., and cause the dislocated 

 strata to sink down on the north side of them, rather than on their 

 south sides. An explanation also was offered of the invariable rule 

 which had been found to prevail in this district as in others, that 

 if a slip haded or sloped from the vertical, the strata were always 

 lowest on the upper side of the slip. A reason was also assigned 

 for the fact, that in this district, the strata are not deranged (or in 

 other words, " thrown down" on either one side or other) by dykes^ 

 but only by slips. 



Proceedings of the Society of Arts for Scotland, 



The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts met 

 in the Royal Institution on Wednesday the 10th January 1838, 

 at eight o'clock p.m. Sir John Graham Dalyell, Kt., president, 

 in the chair. The following communications were laid before 

 the Society : — 



1. Model and Description of an Improved Electric Telegraph. By 

 Mungo Ponton, Esq., F.R.S.E., Vice-Pres. See. Arts. Remitted to a com- 

 mittee. — Dr Hunter made some interesting remarks upon an American 

 Electric Telegraph described in Silliman's Journal. 



2. Remarks on the Geographical Position of some Points on the West 

 Coast of Scotland. By William Galbraith, teacher of Mathematics, Edin- 

 burghj, Couns. S.A. — Thanks. 



3. Notice of the Precautions to be tiiken while using Mr Adie*s Ane- 

 mometer. By Edward Sang, Esq., civil engineer, F.R.S.E., M.S.A. — 

 Tlianks. 



