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but all measures whatever that are, in the main, of a purple-grey 

 colour. Now the mere tint itself, without specific evidence of 

 unconformity in each case, can give no presumption of any weight 

 as regards affinity or age. Its insignificance, indeed, is illustrated 

 by Mr. Kendall's remark that "in the Whitehaven Sandstone these 

 rocks (viz., sandstones and shales) are generally of a purple-grey 

 colour, though in some places they include light sandstones and 

 also light- and dark-coloured shales such as prevail in the Lower 

 Coal-measures." For why, it may be asked, should the purple-grey 

 colour, in such cases, be more entitled to weight, as showing 

 Whitehaven Sandstone age, than the "light sandstones and also 

 light and dark coloured shales, such as prevail in the Lower 

 Coal-measures," as showing the reverse ? Whatever the respective 

 predominance of the tints, their coexistence points to the absence 

 of any conditions, during deposition or since, excluding either 

 hues. It is quite possible that many patches of unquestionable 

 Whitehaven Sandstone may exist not only in the Coal-field but far 

 to the east of it, lying on beds of Millstone-Grit or of Yoredale age. 

 But considering the extraordinary diffusion of Carboniferous rocks, 

 mainly purple-grey in colour, in Cumberland, it would be in the 

 highest degree rash to consider rocks so tinted as belonging to the 

 Whitehaven Sandstone, without evidence of unconformity in each 

 case. On the Esk, about Canobie, on the Liddel, in the railway 

 cuttings between Riddings Junction and Penton, on the Line 

 above Brackenhill Tower, in the district between the Petterill and 

 the Caldew, and in Shawk Beck — to mention only a few localities 

 — purple-grey rocks abound, or predominate. Now it is utterly 

 incredible that in the locahties named, there should be no evidence 

 of a general unconformity dividing the purple-grey rocks from 

 those of other tints, did it exist. In Shawk Beck, south of the 

 Carboniferous-Permian junction, there must be more than a 

 thousand feet of Carboniferous rocks, mainly purple-grey. Between 

 the Sebergham and Rosley road and Nine Gills farm-house, there 

 is an almost continuous series of sections in sandstones and shales, 

 mainly of that colour, the dip being high, and regular as regards 

 direction, all the way.. The presumption against the hypothesis 



