Remote from their Native Beds. 211 



described as a bluish quartz, which, when it existed in situ^ 

 was probably interstratified, or otherwise associated with the 

 argillaceous schist already described. The quartz-i'ock is far 

 more abundantly found than the grauwacke, owing, probably, 

 to its having been better enabled, from its peculiar chemical 

 nature, and from its superior hardness, to resist the processes 

 of disintegration. 



Such, then, is the character of some of the imbedded mas- 

 ses which occur in the loam of the south-east of Lancashire, 

 and, from the recollection which I have of the rocks of West- 

 moreland, little doubt remains in my mind, but that these dis- 

 persed fragments will be found to correspond with them, and 

 that the particular site of the grauwacke district, to which 

 they are referable, may, with the greatest precision, be identi- 

 fied. This has been, in fact, the impression of some other 

 geologists, when they have adverted in a very general manner 

 to the boulders strewed over the plains of Lancashire and 

 Cheshire ; but a mistake has been assuredly made, in suppos- 

 ing that they might be identified with the rocks in the vicinity 

 of Shap Fells, in Westmoreland. Now, I have never found the 

 very peculiar porphyritic granite, that characterises this district 

 in the loam which I am now describing. I am inclined, 

 therefore, to consider the fragments as transported from a dif- 

 ferent place, perhaps from the vicinity of Dufton, near Ap- 

 pleby. But the exact determination of this point will be my 

 object on some future occasion. I shall merely remark for 

 the present, that as no rocks in situ, similar in their nature 

 to the fragments which are found imbedded in the loam of 

 Manchester, can be anywhere found nearer than 80 miles 

 from this town, no small degree of support is given to the 

 conclusion, that an overwhelming force, most probably from 

 the North, far greater than any which can be attributed to 

 existing causes, has transported these boulders to a situation 

 so very remote from the place whence they were originally de- 

 tached. 



But, besides the granite, greenstone, quartz, and argillaceous 

 schist, which occur in the loamy deposit of Lancashire, I have 

 also noticed fragments of newer rocks. These consist first of 

 a very dark-coloured limestone, (the carboniferous or moun- 

 tain limestone of English geologists,) which, from being un- 



