ISLE OF MAN. GEOLOGY. COAL. 573 



is here vertical and even. At first sight the appearance 

 is somewhat extraordinary, since it looks like the exposed 

 surface of a bed in a vertical position, placed in the midst 

 of the schist, and unconnected with the sandstones in its 

 vicinity. On a more careful examination, the deception is 

 explained by discovering that a fissure has formerly existed 

 in this place, and that in consequence of the fall of the 

 rock which formed one side of it, the opposite and remain- 

 ing wall has been exposed to view. This wall is covered 

 by the conglomerate in question, which has apparently 

 been formed while the fissure was still entire and empty, 

 by the falling down into it from above, of such loose 

 materials, consisting of rolled and other fragments, as 

 were in the vicinity, and by the subsequent infiltration 

 of calcareous and ferruginous carbonates, of which the 

 marks are in other places apparent on the surface of the 

 schist. It is in fact a conglomerate vein. It is impossible 

 to form any conjectures respecting its antiquity; nor to 

 discover, from any thing visible, whether, like the empty 

 fissures mentioned near Spanish head, it is of recent origin, 

 or whether it may be ranked in point of age with the 

 mineral veins of this island or of other countries. It is 

 certainly of no moment as far as respects the general 

 theory of metallic veins ; but, whether recent or ancient, it 

 serves to illustrate in some degree the origin of those 

 veins, which, like the well known example at the Relistian 

 mine in Cornwall, contain rounded conglomerates. 



As in most other places, great anxiety is manifested 

 in the Isle of Man for the discovery of coal. It is not 

 however easy to understand the value of the discovery, 

 even were it made, when the trifling expense of freight 

 from Whitehaven, and the facility of delivering a cargo 

 on so many points of this extended coast, would cause the 

 produce of those mines to rival it in a competition, almost 

 in every instance where land carriage was concerned. It 

 is asserted that coal has been found in the red sandstone 

 near Peel ; but there is little reason to doubt that the frag- 



