]02 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE 



That which is so readily imagined on a small scale, is as 

 easily transferred to a larger ; since, in the operations of 

 nature, these terms are of no moment ; and thus the hori- 

 zontal sandstone of this district might be supposed essen- 

 tially and originally continuous with that which occupies 

 high angles and is now found actually alternating with 

 the gneiss. 



But whatever partial explanation may be afforded 

 by, this supposition, it does not overcome the dif- 

 ficulty. It is in many places obvious that the beds of 

 sandstone a.re placed on the edges of the gneiss beds ; 

 a proof that they have, in these cases, succeeded after an 

 interval which had permitted the inferior strata to assume 

 a new position. If, under these circumstances, the sand- 

 stone which alternates with the gneiss, be deemed ori- 

 ginally continuous with the unconformable beds, it will 

 also follow that the gneiss is essentially unconformable to 

 itself; or that there are two distinct deposits of this rock 

 of which the one is placed in a reverse position on the 

 other. This supposition is perhaps no more unreasonable 

 than the former; and it is obvious that the difficulty, 

 as far as this fact alone is concerned, is, as before remarked, 

 hypothetical. The science of Geology is not yet suffi- 

 ciently advanced to enable us to select an exclusive dif- 

 ficulty where every thing is as yet obscure ; it is not 

 entitled to pronounce on that which is an anomaly and 

 that which is a law. Should it be determined by future 

 investigations, that there are essential disturbances among 

 the primary rocks, that one or more revolutions, analogous 

 to that which appears to have occurred between the pri- 

 mary and secondary strata, have taken place in the former, 

 the present difficulty will vanish, and the rule of con- 

 formity will not be found to regulate this division 

 in nature. That such a disturbance has actually oc- 

 curred in this instance, appears proved by the peculiar 

 circumstances under which this sandstone first appears, 

 in those cases where it is strictly unconfornuible to the 



