296 ON THE PARTICULAR ORDER OF 



deposit, or to the lowest of the lignite deposits ; in 

 which case it will correspond to that of Whitby. 

 This deposit is neither accompanied nor followed by 

 any other strata exactly analogous to the English ; 

 with the exception, in some parts, of a sandstone 

 which must be classed with the green sand of the 

 southern division of our island. 



It is easy enough unquestionably, with the pos- 

 session of limestone, sandstone, clay, and shale, since 

 there are virtually no other strata, to make or assign 

 any order which a geologist who is anxious only for 

 his theory may wish. If any member of the great 

 secondary series may be wanting, as is the fact, and 

 if, out of these four rocks, the characters and aspect 

 of any one, or of the whole, are so indefinite and 

 vacillating as we know them to be, while the nature 

 of the organic remains are further incapable, sepa- 

 rately, of proving either an identity or a dissimilarity, 

 as is also true, it is evident that any assertion may be 

 made on such a subject, without an effectual risk of 

 contradiction. On such an hypothetical system, it is 

 perfectly easy to reduce the Scottish series, or any 

 other, to an absolute conformity with the English. 

 They may be the same ; but it is better to be cautious 

 in deciding, lest we substitute an artificial fabric for 

 real knowledge. Those who blamed the school of 

 Freyberg for reducing the whole world to the model 

 of Saxony, should be cautious lest, in another de- 

 partment of their pursuit, they fall into the same 

 error. 



The southern deposit differs in no respect from 

 that of the central district. The red sandstone is 

 followed, partially, by the mountain limestone, as it 

 is termed ; and the whole terminates with the strata 

 that belong to the coal series, which must be con- 



