266 ON THE DESTRUCTION OF ROCKS- 



of the Lumbricus marinus had been petrified in their 

 holes during the same process which converted the 

 sands of former sea shores to stone. The very unac- 

 countable and regular schistose structure of the sand- 

 stone of Strathaird in Sky, is equally invisible on 

 breaking the fresh rock. But where it is exposed to 

 the action of the sea, or to that of the winds and 

 rains, the edges of the more durable laminae protrude 

 in regular relief; covering the faces of the cliffs with 

 a continuous architectural ornament. It is worthy 

 of remark that, in this instance, the influence of the 

 associated trap, which has in some places indurated 

 the original rock to the total destruction of its natural 

 characters, has not succeeded in obliterating this 

 peculiar structure ; and if the grooves in the natural 

 rock are deep enough to receive the hand, their ap- 

 pearance in the altered one is rendered only more 

 artificial by their resemblance in depth and form to 

 the finest flutings of the Corinthian column. 



But the capricious resemblances to architectural 

 decoration which sometimes occur during the wasting 

 of these sandstones, are no less various, than they are 

 ornamental when they are found in the stone which 

 has already entered into the structure of a building. 

 Our antient castles, in many places, will furnish ex- 

 amples of this nature which cannot have escaped the 

 notice of the artist and antiquary, more than that of 

 the Geologist. So fortunately are they sometimes 

 placed, and so much do they conduce to the orna- 

 ment of the walls where they exist, that it is difficult 

 at first sight to avoid imagining that they have 

 formed part of the architect's design, and are not 

 actually the hatchings and vermiculations, the rustic 

 work of the mason's chisel. Nature here sports in 



