2 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY 



every- day operations of existence, teaches the farmer how to drain 

 his land or improve his soil, the builder where to procure his stone, 

 — directs the miner in his search after the hidden treasures of the 

 earth — enlightens the eye of the artist as to the causes of the beauty 

 and variety of the landscape — brings to the cabinet of the naturalist 

 whole hosts of new forms of animal and vegetable life — and excites 

 the interest and curiosity of every man, since it details to us the his- 

 tory (and a wonderful history it is) of the globe on which we live. 

 We learn from Geology that there is not a single particle of earthy 

 matter, from the mighty masses of huge mountain-chains down to 

 the little rounded pebble that we tread beneath our feet, but has been 

 produced and placed in its present position by the action of regular 

 and long-continued causes, and has attached to it " its strange event- 

 ful history." The observations that follow, then, are intended to 

 serve as a few connected hints to call the attention of the inhabitants 

 of the county of Leicester, or of those acquainted with it, to the facts 

 that may be observed in it, and to the story which those facts unfold 

 to us. I must premise, however, that if some portions of the story 

 should, to the ungeological reader, seem not to be supported by suffi- 

 cient evidence, he must not therefore conclude that evidence does not 

 exist, since its production in every case would have made this paper a 

 general geological treatise, rather than a sketchy description of a 

 particular district. This description will consist of 



I. A short account of the character and composition of each of the 

 different masses of earthy matter of which the district is composed, 

 and of their relative position with respect to each other, beginning 

 with the uppermost and going down to the lowest. 



II. Commencing with the lowest or the oldest — a succinct history 

 of the causes which formed the different strata, gave them their pe- 

 culiar characters, and placed them in the positions they now occupy. 



The different masses of earthy matter, or formations, as they are 

 called by the geologist, which compose the county of Leicester, are 

 the following : — 



I. Aqueous or stratified rocks, in their order of superposition. 



1. Gravel, or diluvium 



2. Lias 



3. New red sandstone 



4. Coal measures 



5. Mountain limestone 

 G. Cambrian rocks. 



