[ 136 ] 

 XXX. Proceedings of Learned Societies, 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Nov. 16, A Paper was first read " On indications of changes in 



1836. -^ the relative level of Sea and Land in the West of 

 Scotland," by James Smith, Esq., of Jordan Hill, F.G.S. 



In the West of Scotland are two superficial deposits. The lowest, 

 in some districts called " Till," consists of stifFunstratified clay, con- 

 fusedly mixed with boulders. It rarely contains organic remains, but 

 stags' horns, tusks, and bones of the elephant have been found in it 

 in the bed of the Union Canal at Kilmarnock, and remains of the 

 elephant associated with marine shells at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire. 



The upper deposit is composed of finely laminated clay, overlaid 

 by sand and gravel; and marine remains of existing species occur 

 in every part of it, but most abundantly in the clay. It has been 

 traced by Mr. Smith, on both sides of the Clyde from Glasgow to 

 Roseneath and Greenock, at points varying from 30 to 40 feet above 

 the level of the sea. He has also observed sea- worn terraces on each 

 side of the Clyde below Dumbarton and between Cloch Light-house 

 and Largs. 



The following are the principal localities, mentioned in the paper, 

 at which the clay bed has been examined. 



A brickyard atGlasgow, 30 feet above high-water mark, where the 

 author found the remains of six species of recent marine shells of 

 common occurrence on the adjacent coasts of Scotland ; also a branch 

 of an elm and an oak-tree with its roots. The canal from Glasgow 

 to Paisley and Johnstown was excavated in the clay at the height of 

 40 feet above the sea, and numerous remains of 26 species of existing 

 marine testacea were found in it. In a pond lately dug at Paisley, 

 a bed of clay was exposed, to which a violet colour had been given 

 by decomposed muscles, in a manner similar to that described by 

 Mr. Lyell in his memoir on change of level on the coast of Sweden*. 

 In the brick and tile works around Paisley, and in the adjoining 

 parishes, recent shells are abundant. Near Renfrew, cockles are so 

 numerous, that a farm and hill, are called Cockle Farm and Cockle 

 Hill. At Johnstown, which is about 8 miles from the sea and at a 

 point about 40 feet above its level, in making a well, there were 

 found bones of fishes and sea-fowls, fragments of sea-weeds, crabs' 

 claws, and numerous layers of shells imbedded in sand and clay, 

 which rested on a deposit of'' till " more than 70 feet thick. Besides 

 these localities, recent shells have been noticed at Helensburgh, also 

 near Loch Lomond, at Dalmuir, and the shores of the Firth of Forth. 



Withrespectto the origin of these deposits, Mr. Smith isof opinion, 

 that the lower or *' till " resulted from the violent though transitory 

 action of a body of water; but that the upper was gradually deposited 

 at the bottom of a sea of sufficient depth to protect it from the agita- 

 tion of waves, and that it was raised to its present level by a process 



♦ Phil. Trans., 1835, pp. 5, 7. [An abstract of Mr. Lyell's memoir ap- 

 peared in Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. vi. p. 297.] 



