180 Analysis of Scientific Books. 



some rounded and others angular, which are fragments of the 

 greywackc which it covers. The greywacke, which composes 

 these vertical beds, forms a part of the long belt of transition 

 country, which traverses the whole of southern Scotland, from 

 the eastern to the western ocean. The Lammermuir-hills con- 

 sist of it, and all the cliffs on the coast, from Siccar-point to 

 near Berwick, are the vertical section of this chain of hills of 

 greywacke. Dr. Hutton, who was the first to describe the in- 

 teresting phenomena which these shores exhibit, has improperly 

 named primitive schist, the rock which appears in vertical 

 strata, covered by sandstone at Siccar-point. It is neither a 

 micaceous schist, nor an argillaceous schist (clay-slate), nor 

 any of the primitive schists subordinate to these rocks, but it is 

 the schistous greywacke of Werner ; that is, one of the 

 most ancient conglomerates, or mechanical deposits, which 

 exist in nature. It is a species of very fine sandstone, entirely 

 formed from the spoils of primitive rocks, united by a quartzose 

 cement. The greywacke in mass, and schistous greywacke, 

 here alternate, but the second appears to be in much smaller 

 quantity. 



In pursuing our journey towards the south, nothing is to 

 be seen but lofty rocks of greywacke, sometimes slaty, and 

 sometimes compact. The state of topsy-turvy disorder and 

 contortion of these strata, is among the most striking objects 

 in geology. The same undulations which are observed in the 

 small folia of the greywacke slate of Siccar, are now repre- 

 sented on a grand scale. Here we find entire beds, enormous 

 ranges, rolled together, folded up and shattered in all direc- 

 tions, and in all possible manners. In one place they assume 

 the shape of an U reversed, in another of an S, and in a 

 third of a C, the back of which is sometimes turned up, at 

 others down. All these figures pass into one another, mingle, 

 and succeed, so as to form the most whimsical designs, baf- 

 fling all powers of description. Fast-Castle and Lumsden- 

 Burn present these phenomena of dislocated strata in a very 

 remarkable manner. Of these, Mr. Necker has given two 

 good illustrative engravings, after his own drawings. A cir- 

 cumstance still more remarkable is, that the cause whatever it 

 has been, which thus subverted these strata, has changed 

 nothing in their direction, which rests invariably the same, 

 that is, nearly from west to east; and has modified merely 

 their inclination, which varies several times, even in the plane 

 of a single stratum. However we may represent the effort 

 which has changed the position of these beds of greywacke, 

 till then a horizontal deposit ; whether as a shock or as a 

 pressure, we see clearly, that it could not have acted from 

 east to west, nor from west to east, since in this direction the 

 strata have invariably preserved their primitive direction. The 



