APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 93 



tion of the rock to other strata left its own 

 place in the series undetermined, and where 

 the mineral characters seemed so indistinct as 

 to be referrible either to the Old or New Bed 

 Sandstone. Was the formation the Old Red 

 Sandstone ? Then no coal-measures could be 

 expected below it. Was it the New ? Then 

 the precious mineral might exist below the 

 rock. Until the question, New or Old Red 

 Sandstone ? was determined, it was unsafe to 

 expend money in mining, otherwise many for- 

 tunes might be squandered in Russia, as they 

 had been formerly thrown away in Great Bri- 

 tain, in hopelessly digging for coal beneath the 

 Old Red, or even still more ancient rocks. 1 

 " There is no science/' it is justly remarked by 

 the distinguished author of the Old Eed Sand- 

 stone, " whose value can be adequately estima- 

 ted by economists and utilitarians of the lower 

 order. Its true quantities cannot be repre- 

 sented by arithmetical figures or monetary 

 tables ; for its effects on mind must be as 

 surely taken into account as its operations on 



1 Murchison's Silurian System, vol. i. p. 328; Siluria, 

 pp. 93, 388. 



