GEOLOGY, 



THE AGE OF THE HIGHLANDS. 



PROFESSOR Charles Lapworth in an article in the April 

 number of the Geological Magazine, 1885, entitled " On the 

 close of the Highland Controversy," writes in words which we 

 quote in full because of the great importance of the question in its 

 bearings on geological problems in Scotland : 



" We are now for the first time in a position to take stock, as it 

 were, of the common acquisitions of all parties on the subjects of 

 the stratigraphy and metamorphism of the rocks of the North- 

 west Highlands. The more vital conclusions laid down in the 

 Report of Messrs. Peach & Home, or incidently covered by it, 

 are summarised below. It will be apparent on testing the refer- 

 ences given (which include merely a single citation for the different 

 investigators in each case) that they are in thorough accord with 

 similar conclusions arrived at by one or by many of the opponents 

 of the JMurchisonian hypothesis, a circumstance which affords a 

 strong presumption of their general correctness, and a high prob- 

 ability that they will soon be accepted by all. 



SYNOPSIS OF OUR PRESENT IDEAS OF THE GEOLOGY 

 OF THE ROCKS OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 



(a) THE SEQUENCE. 



i. The unaltered Palaeozoic rocks of North-west Sutherland and 

 Ross consist of four 1 main members — the Torridon Sandstone, the 

 Quartzite, the Fucoid Group, and the Durness Limestone. 



2. These major groups admit of subdivision into several recog- 

 nizable zones,- capable of being easily identified upon the ground. 



1 Nicol, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1856, p. 20, &c, Hicks, Q.J.G.S., 1878, 

 p. 813, Callaway, Q.J.G.S., 18S3, p. 358, &c ; Lapworth, Geol. Mag., 1883, 

 p. 123, &c. 



8 Lapworth, Geol, Mag., I8S3, p. 126 &c, Callaway, Q.J.G.S., 1883, p. 

 358, ftc. 



