256 Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison on the Classification 



views, except the announcement, in a few words, of what oc- 

 curred at Bristol, from the perusal of which no one could 

 deduce any correct inference as to what we really had done. 

 A single sentence, a mere parenthesis (if to the foint) would 

 have satisfied us ; and would not merely have been right, but 

 would have been prudent. 



Whatever may be, even the small merit of our labours in 

 Devonshire, this at least w^e affirm, that they are jperfecihj 

 original. In passing from the north coast to the south, across 

 the whole county, we were ustonibhed at the novelty and 

 unexpected nature of the phaenomena that successively rose 

 before us, contrasted with every thing we had before under- 

 stood froni those who had examined Devonshire. We were 

 amazed when, after having ascertained the separation of the 

 culm-measures from the underlying slaty rocks, we stood upon 

 the cliffs of Clovelly, and found ourselves compelled by the evi- 

 dence before us to sketch them in as the highly inclined masses 

 of a coal-field^ dipping away from the more ancient strata of 

 North Devon: and still greater was our surprise when, following 

 those cliffs by Bude we found the same carbonaceous or culm- 

 jferous system still rolling over in countless striking flexures, 

 till passing into North Cornwall it rises up against and rests 

 U})on the older slates of that county. Nor again were we less 

 surprised on finding the same system lifted up, penetrated, 

 and altered by the granite of Dartmoor. So far from any 

 attempt having been previously made to effect this great sepa- 

 ration, the position even of the several limestone bands in 

 North Devon had been mistaken by Mr. De la Beche, and 

 considered by him as the repetition of the same calcareous 

 group by successive undulations. The truth is, that no one 

 can make a correct section among slaty rocks till he learns to 

 distinguish cleavage from stratification ; and it is astonishing 

 how very \e-w geologists are even at this time masters of the 

 subject. This is we believe the explanation of some of Mr. 

 De la Beche's early difficulties, and may be the reason why he 

 did not first separate the culmiferous deposits (as he now does) 

 from the greywacke of Devonshire. 



Should any one ask what we effected in Devon, we reply, — 



1. That we were the first to give anything resembling a 

 correct section of the mineral masses between the N. and S. 

 coasts of Devon ; and till such a step was taken, it was im- 

 possible to commence any classification of the subordinate 

 groups. 



2. That we determined the relative place and succession 

 of the distinct calcareous and fossiliferous groups. 



3. That we proved the existence of the culm limestones on 



