UPPER SANDSTONES. 231 



extending thence into Louisiana and Mexico. Thus 

 also it must occur near the Oroonoko ; since the red 

 colour of the Rio del Norte and the Rio Colorado, 

 together with the salt of the plains through which 

 they flow, bespeaks its presence. When Ulloa men- 

 tions the existence of salt at an elevation of ten thou- 

 sand feet in Peru, we may also conclude that it is pre- 

 sent there. Lastly, it has been observed in various 

 places in New Holland. 



Though the Quadersandstein is unknown in Eng- 

 land, it is too important an object in the estimation of 

 the Continent, not to deserve a place here. This mass 

 of beds is separated from the red marl by a lime- 

 stone, the muschelkalk, not admitted into the English 

 series, and it is consequently followed by the lias. 

 Yet there are continental geologists who affirm that 

 its essential place is between the lias and the oolithe, 

 and that the beds occurring beneath the former lime- 

 stone are comparatively unimportant. If, again, a 

 quadersandstein occurs above the oolithe, we must 

 suffer Germany and England to settle whether there 

 shall be two quadersandsteins, or whether the superior 

 one shall be called a modification in the greensand. In 

 all this I can see only disputes about terms; as I regret 

 to see Geology thus occupied. A sandstone with the 

 distinctive characters of this German one may occur in 

 any part of the series ; and why must I ever repeat, 

 that unless all the strata of the earth had been show- 

 ered down from the clouds, they could not have pos- 

 sessed these fancied correspondences in distant coun- 

 tries ? La Place determines that the ring of Saturn 

 must rotate with a given velocity, or that it could not 

 exist. Mathematicians would believe in this rotation 

 though they had never seen it ; but had they philoso- 

 phized as geologists do, they would have been content 



