^48 Formation and Age of the Queensberrys. 



giving rise to a series of minor folds. In other instances the 

 strain was so great that the material snapped, producing a dis- 

 location or fault. On every hand the greatest confusion prevails. 

 Such a lack of uniformity among the various groups or bands has 

 given rise in the past to endless conjectures regarding a proper 

 sequence or definite order of deposition. This difficulty was in- 

 creased by the apparent absence of fossils throughout the region. 



A brief glance at the history of progress made by scientific 

 research in this realm will not only focus our attention on the 

 recent discoveries, but will also reveal the industry and genius of 

 the pioneers of geology in their endeavour to find a true solution. 

 As early as 1788 the great James Hutton advanced the opinion 

 that these rocks were all of sedimentary origin. Four years later 

 Sir James Hall discovered the first fossils on his way to Moffat. 

 Following this Hutton published his famous work, " Theory of 

 the Earth," in which he maintained the aqueous formation of the 

 greywacke and its subsequent elevation. In 1805 R. Jamieson 

 published his "Mineralogy of Dumfries," and described these 

 hills as transition rocks. Professor Nichol proved in 1844 that 

 the southern uplands belonged to that series of strata named by 

 Sir Robert Murchison as Silurian. Professor Harkness, a native 

 of Dumfriesshire, devoted a life-long study to the structure of the 

 hills in Dumfries and Galloway. In 1855 he read a paper on this 

 subject to the Geological Society of London, dealing principally 

 with the section in the Glenkiln burn, accounting for the various 

 black shales there by a series of faults. In the following year, 

 as a result of further study, he explained the frequent occurrence 

 of shales by folds instead of faults. Professor Sedgwick, Carrick 

 Moore, J. Dairon, of Glasgow, and many others carried on the 

 quest. Sir Archibald Geikie embodied the labours of these 

 pioneers in a paper read to the Geological Society of Glasgow. 

 Following this the Geological Survey in 1869 mapped and 

 described the district according to the conclusions generally 

 accepted at that day. While this official work Avas being carried 

 out Charles Lapworth, a young man re.siding in Galashiels, was 

 quietly studying this great problem in that neighbourhood. His 

 first paper, read in Edinburgh in 1870, was regarded as unortho- 

 dox. He continued throughout the next eight years to make a 

 rapid advance regarding this complicated structure. The pene- 

 tration and untiring industry of his great mind found at last an 



