FIRST GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY 265 



evidence that it came in his way. He had laboriously 

 to work out his problems for himself. 



Innumerable as are the subjects for geological 

 enquiry offered by the district of Cromarty, it was 

 fortunate for Hugh Miller, and not less so for the 

 cause of science, that chance placed him face to face 

 in the most practical way with the Old Red Sand- 

 stone, and that he was, as it were, compelled to 

 attempt to understand its history. While the lessons 

 taught by the strata of the quarry had greatly 

 impressed him, the abundant and well-preserved 

 fossils among the Lias shales of the Eathie shore, 

 which at spare moments he visited, had deepened that 

 impression. It was while endeavouring to find these 

 shales nearer home, on the western side of the Southern 

 Sutor, that he stumbled upon the clays which contain 

 the fish-bearing nodules of the Old Red Sandstone. 

 This happy discovery, which was made in the autumn 

 of 1830, the year after the publication of his Poems, 

 marks an eventful epoch in his life, as well as an 

 important date in the history of geological investi- 

 gation. 



At that time comparatively little was known of the 

 Old Red Sandstone. Its very existence as a distinct 

 geological system was disputed on the Continent, where 

 no equivalent for it had been recognised. It was 

 alleged to be a mere local and accidental accumula- 

 tion, which could hardly be considered as of much 

 historical importance, seeing that no representative of 

 it had been found beyond the British Islands. Yet 

 within the limits of these islands it was certainly known 

 to bulk in no inconsiderable dimensions, covering many 



