328 Mli MILNE ON THE MID-LOTHIAN AND EAST-LOTHIAN COAL-FIELDS. 



a general nature, but that it also enables others to build on facts alone, any 

 theories or opinions different fi-om mine. 



I proceed then to state very briefly, the inferences which appear to me to be 

 waiTanted by the facts described in the first part of this memoir. 



Looliing generally to the whole series of superficial deposits enumerated, 

 every one wUl admit, that they shew the existence of large bodies of water, some- 

 times still and tranquU, sometimes in violent agitation and movement. Another 

 conclusion is, that these bodies of water must have stood at a level far above that 

 of the present ocean. « 



It is, however, proper to look at the subject more in detail. 



1. That the stratified rocks of this district, when they were broken up, in 

 the manner explained in the previous part of tliis memou*, were covered by water, 

 is evident from many cu'cumstances. (1.) There is no reason to suppose that the 

 water, at the bottom of which they were originally deposited, had withdrawn be- 

 fore this period. (2.) The occurrence of debris, and especially of clay, in fissures 

 intersecting the strata, cannot be explained otherwise than by supposing, that 

 water impregnated with sediment, had flowed into the fissures. It is not merely 

 in slq^s that such sedimentary matter is found, but also in the joints which in- 

 tersect individual strata. In the limestone quarries of the district, the cu*cmn- 

 stances now alluded to are very strikingly exhibited. In almost aU of them, the 

 slips and joints which intersect the rocks, are found fiUed with a dai'k yellow clay 

 or mud, of fine consistency. As these fissures are occasionally more than a foot 

 wide, and many feet in depth, the quantity of clay is in these cases very abun- 

 dant, and implies a very considerable period for its deposition. The limestone 

 quarries where I have noticed this clay in greatest abundance, are at East 

 Salton, Fullarton, Monkloudou, and Burnbank near Carlops. Now the three 

 places last mentioned, ai-e situated about 900 feet above the present level of 

 the sea ; so that the waters which introduced the sedimentary matter into the 

 fissiu-es that intersect the stratified rocks of the district, must have been the wa- 

 ters of a sea which stood above the top of Arthur Seat. (3.) That there was such 

 a body of water, at the epoch when the strata were dislocated, is placed beyond 

 all doubt, by the occvirrence in the district of extensive beds of sand and gravel 

 immediately over the rocks. These (as previously explained) have been traced 

 for many miles, lying beneath the boulder clay. That it forms no part of the 

 boulder clay, and must have been deposited before it, is evident not merely from 

 the great difference in the natiu-e of its materials, and the mode in which they 

 are arranged, — but also from several other cu'cumstances, one of which may be 

 noticed. The agent (whatever it was) which brought the boulder-clay, has trans- 

 ported it from the west. It is impossible to discover any boulder or other mem- 

 ber of that deposit which has had even the appearance of a movement towards 

 the west. But it is not so with the beds of sand below the boulder clay. It was 



