OK THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 17 



inferior rocks, are always horizontal : it is obvious, therefore, that 

 when the forces acted which disturbed those rocks, the beds of new 

 red sandstone did not exist, or they would likewise have been dis- 

 turbed. The other conclusion, however, will to the ungeological rea- 

 der be not so evident. But if he trace the anticlinal line which runs 

 through Charnwood Forest, and produce it to the north, he will find 

 that it is parallel with that of the five hills of mountain limestone be- 

 fore mentioned, and runs about half a mile to the east of them. Now 

 this anticlinal line is the line of direction along which the upheaving 

 force acted that elevated the forest, giving to the beds west of that 

 line a westerlv dip, and these mountain limestone beds also lie to the 

 west of the line, and have likewise a westerly dip. The western side 

 of that line also is that on which the greatest amount of upheaving 

 force was exerted, as we see by its effects, and we should conse- 

 quently expect to find traces of its action further on that side than on 

 the oiher. From these and other considerations, it is clear that the 

 same force which uplifted the Charnwood Forest rocks, likewise set 

 on edge those hills of mountain limestone, and the period of the up- 

 lifting of the mountain limestone we know to have been that of the 

 coal measures, and therefore we get the whole linked together as the 

 result of one general cause acting after the deposition of the coal 

 measures, and before that of the upper portion of the new red sand- 

 stone. This result, if further proof were necessary, would be greatly 

 strengthened by examining the adjacent districts. In the Warwick- 

 shire coal field, for instance, we find the Cambrian rocks of Hartshill, 

 which must be nearly of the same age with those of Charnwood Fo- 

 rest, dipping in the same direction and nearly at the same angles 

 with the coal measures that rest upon them, the elevation of both 

 being evidently due to the same exertion of upheaving power. It is 

 remarkable also that the line of elevation of these rocks in Warwick- 

 shire, is for the most part parallel with that of Charnwood Forest. 

 In Warwickshire, however, the lowest part of the new red sandstone 

 formation is seen resting on the coal, and evidently affected by the 

 same forces of elevation with it.* It passes down into the coal mea- 

 sures moreover by a regular gradation, and near the junction of the 

 two, occurs the same thin band of freshwater limestone as is seen in 

 Shropshire and Lancashire, in the same situation. The upper por- 

 tion of the new red sandstone, however, occurs in other parts of this 

 district, in level unconformable beds, so that we are enabled here still 



* See section No. 3- 

 vor. viii., no. xxni. 4 



