26 Original Articles. [Jan. 
great sheet of coal-bearing strata which once stretched right across 
our island from sea to sea, and even farther, the northern and the 
southern coal-groups were both separated, the latter by a barrier of 
land, the former by difference of age; for we now know that coal was 
in process of formation in Scotland while the Carboniferous limestone 
was accumulating in the sea-bed over the English area. The follow- 
ing are the subdivisions or fields of the several groups. 
NortHEerN Coau-Group oF ScoTLAND.* 
Comprehending —1, the Coal-fields of Ayrshire; 2, Clyde basin ; 
3, Lesmahago basin; 4, Clackmannan ; 5, Fifeshire ; 6, The Lothians. 
Eastern Group (England). 
8, Great Northern Coal-field of Northumberland and Durham ; 
9, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Notts (only one coal-field). 
Western Grove (England and Wales). 
10, Lancashire ; 11, Burnley basin; 12, Flintshire; 13, Denbigh- 
shire; 14, Poynton; 15, North Staffordshire; 16, Cheadle; 17, 
Shrewsbury ; 18, Colebrook Dale ; 19, South Staffordshire ; 20, War- 
wickshire ; 21, Leicestershire; 22, Forest of Wyre. 
SoutHERN Group (England and Wales). 
23, Forest of Dean basin; 24, Somersetshire; 25, South Wales 
basin. Besides the above enumerated, there are several small detached 
fields, such as those of the Border, on the north side of the Solway 
Firth, Whitehaven, and Anglesea. 
The two great coal-fields of the Eastern group are, in all proba- 
bility, connected by a tract of coal-measures underlying the Triassic 
and Permian formations along the east of Yorkshire, as indicated by 
the shading on the map. The numerous fields of the Western group 
are, without doubt, physically connected underneath the New Red 
Sandstone of Cheshire and Staffordshire ; and, as already stated, those 
of the Southern group were, in their original state, joined together. 
Having thus cleared the way by a survey of the general structure 
and arrangement of the coal-groups, we are now prepared to enter upon 
an examination of the resources of the more important of the fields 
and basins. 
Nortruern Coat-crovur. 
Having already enumerated the members of this group, we must 
content ourselves with treating them as a whole, because, with the 
exception of two or three distinct fields, such as that of the Lothians, 
Fife, and Lesmahago, the coal-bearing rocks of Scotland are all physi- 
cally connected, and the structure of each is too complicated to 
allow of treating them in detail within the space at my disposal. 
The coal-formation of Scotland belongs, for the most, to the 
* The numbers refer to those on the Map. 
