Ill] THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD 43 



GEOLOGICAL TABLE (continued). 



'' _ . ( Red Sandstones, etc. 



Permian -; 



i Magnesian limestone 



Coal Measures 



Carboniferous -| Millstone Grit 



Carboniferous limestone 



Devonian limestones, etc. 



Devonian 



Old Eed Sandstones 



{ 



Slates, sandstones, 



_., . f Sandstones, shales, 



Silurian ^ ' ' 



some limestone 



Ordovician , ^^ , , 



[ Volcanic rocks, etc. 



Cambrian Slates, Sandstones, etc. 



[ Slates, Volcanic rocks, etc. 

 V or Archaean j 



In certain parts of the world, as for example the 

 north-west Highlands of Scotland, the Malvern Hills, 

 Scandinavia, and in many other regions in Europe 

 and North America, geologists have recognised what 

 they believe to be the foundation stones of the 

 world. These Archaean rocks, which underlie the 

 oldest fossiliferous strata, belong to a period of 

 geological evolution from which it appears to be 

 hopeless to obtain any light as to the nature of the 

 contemporary organic world. The earliest vestiges of 

 life so far discovered exhibit a high degree of organisa- 

 tion, which unmistakably points to their being links in 

 a chain extending far beyond the limits of the oldest 



