Hi; Dr. Fitton's Notes on the History of English Geology. 



resumed in the land; — and it is followed in detail to Chepstowe, 

 and for some distance beyond that place. 



' This digression,' he adds, ' concerning these two vaynes 

 ' of limestone, taking their original here in Pembrokeshire, 

 ' I have thought good to insert in this place; for at the re- 

 ' quest of a dear friend of myne, and famous for his learning, 

 ' I took some paynes about it, — finciing the natural course 

 ' thereof to be as before a thing perchance not so well noticed 

 ' as fitt to be known ; and being noted and knowne, it may be 

 ' a guide to some parties to seek the lymestone where it yet 

 ' lyeth hidd, and may save labour to others in seeking it, 

 ' where the7-e is no possibility to finde it.' 



A third ' veyne of lymestone,' is also noticed, more northerly 

 than the other two, — (probably one of the subordinate beds of 

 the transition series), — which is correctly distinguished from 

 those above mentioned, and likewise traced, as far as the 

 author's acquaintance with the country extended. 



* For the veyne of coales — which is found between these 



* two vaynes of lymestone, as a benefit of Nature, without 

 ' which the profit of the lymestone were neare lost: — betweene 



* the sayd two vaynes from the beginning to the ending, 

 ' there is a vayne (if not several vaynes) of coles, that ibl- 



* loweth those of the lymestone, — This vayne of cole in 

 ' some partes joineth close to the first lymestone vayne, as in 

 ' Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire ; and in some partes 

 ' it is found close by the other vayne of lymestone, as in Gla- 



* morgan, Monmouth, and Somersetshires. Therefore,' it is 



* cautiously added, ' whether I shall say that there are two 



* vaynes of coles to be found betweene these two vaynes of 



* lymestone, or to imagine that the cole should wreathe or 

 ' turne itself, in some places to one, in other places to the 

 ' other; or to think that all the land betweene these two vaynes 

 ' should be stored with coles, — I leave to the judgement of 

 ' the skilfuU miners, or to those which with deep knowledge 

 ' have entered into these hidden secrettes.' 



Now these 'two vaynes of lymestone' are in fact the boun- 

 daries, on the north and south, of the great coal-tract of South 

 Wales; and if the reader will compare Mr.Owen's descriptions, 

 or even our brief abstract, with a good map, and with the ac- 

 count of that tract since published by Mr. Martin *, he will be 

 surprised, perhaps, at the coincidence, and will regret that a 

 work so valuable remained so long unknown and unproduc- 

 tive; — since it would be difficult to produce, even at the pre- 

 sent time, a better specimen of geological investigation. 



* Philos. Trans. 1806, vol. xcvi. p. 342. 



