150 THE BANK ACCOUNTANT. 



the Geological Society, to be read at the November 

 meeting. 



'You write and observe too well to waste your 

 strength in newspaper publications, and a good digest 

 of what you have done ought to be preserved in a per- 

 manent work of reference. I can give you no positive 

 answer as to whether the Old Red Sandstone of Scot- 

 land was formed in a lake or in the sea. I have, how- 

 ever, strong reasons for believing that it is a marine 

 deposit, for in England we find marine shells in it to a con- 

 siderable height above the uppermost beds of underlying 

 Silurian rocks. Besides, it is so analogous in structure 

 and component parts to the New Red Sandstone, which 

 also contains concretionary limestone, spotted marls, 

 fishes, and marine shells, that I cannot but believe that 

 the one as well as the other of these great Red systems 

 were formed beneath the sea, though doubtless, as in the 

 coal-measure periods, there may have been local excep- 

 tions and partial lacustrine deposits. 



' The oldest lake deposit as yet known (i.e. purely 

 lacustrine) is in the upper zone of coal, and is described 

 by myself. Burdie House is another example, but the 

 deposit seems to be of a mixed character. 



' I much long to revisit the shores of Caithness and 

 Cromarty with my increased knowledge, and with the 

 conviction that I should learn so much from you, but I 

 fear it is hopeless/ 



One of Miller's correspondents at this time was Mr 

 Patrick Duff, of Elgin, an ardent geologist. In a letter 

 addressed to Mr Duff in December, 1838, we meet with 

 the following passage, descriptive of an attack of illness, 

 under which Hugh had recently suffered : ' During the 

 whole of November I was toiled almost to death at the 



