106 ROCK-METAMOEPHISM. 



The facts on which the above description is based I must 

 regard as affording no more support to Dr. Ramsay's belief 

 than the fossils that have been under consideration. It appears 

 to me that the coralloidal and other bodies described in the 

 foregoing extract, besides having been examined with insuffi- 

 cient deliberation, have not been considered in connexion with 

 the evidence adduced by Sedgwick and myself, proving them to 

 be of superinduced origin. I pointed out upwards of thirty 

 years ago their relation to well- developed rock-jointing*, a 

 fact which may be unhesitatingly accepted as disproving the 

 idea " that they owe their growth to some kind of crystalline 

 action going on at the time the limestone was Jbeing formed/' 

 And with respect to the presumed identity between the ef ball- 

 shaped agglutinated masses" of the Permian limestones and the 

 " nodular bodies precipitated in pools of water of caverns," the 

 two phenomena are not to be compared, the one (taking ordi- 

 nary stalagmitic deposits into consideration) being a simple 

 product, and the other a complex development the " balls " of 

 the " masses " essentially consisting of carbonate of lime, and 

 their matrix of carbonates of lime and magnesia. 



In conclusion I would respectfully urge on Dr. Ramsay 

 to consider the various points that have been adduced against 

 his belief; at the same time I must express myself as indulging 

 in the hope that the next edition of his valuable work will 

 contain views on the physical geography of the Permian period 

 more in harmony with the general evidences of the case. 



* See Supplementary Note B, 



