CHAP. xvn. FOSSIL WOOD. 



About the same time, he wrote to Hugh Miller, " Do 

 you know, I am often accused of bearing an ill-will to 

 geologists ! When I think them at fault, and am asked 

 to speak, I merely speak what I think to be the truth. 

 Mr. John Miller here has got Murchison's thirty- 

 shilling book, and handed it to me to look at. Well, 

 unfortunate fellow that I am, I saw that Sir Roderick 

 was entirely wrong in saying that Cyclas was confined tc 

 the uppermost beds of the Old Eed. I told him so, and 

 he, as usual, thought that I was doing injury, and what 

 not, to geology ! Poof ! poof ! In what respect was I 

 a gainer or Murchison a loser ? Instead of being angry, 

 you geologists should be pleased, as it shows that we 

 pay attention to what you say." 



Mr. Peach went to the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion at Liverpool in September 1854 ; and there he 

 read his paper as usual. On this occasion he recorded 

 his observations on " The Eemains of Sand Plants and 

 Shells in the Old Eed Sandstone of Caithness." On his 

 return to Wick, Dick wrote to him, and asked, " What 

 did you say about the fossil wood ? Tell me also about 

 the shells." It may be mentioned that there was a long 

 discussion between the two geologists about fossil wood. 

 Dick was of opinion that the stuff which Peach had 

 found in Caithness was "concretionary bituminous 

 matter, and not organic." " But I am anxious," he says, 

 " that my opinion about the matter should not retard the 

 progress of discovery. I may be wrong, as I have been 

 before. Professor Forbes described the fossil wood to 

 be 'chert/ and 'masses without structure.' If I an 



