NOTICES 



GEOLOGY OF CLYDESDALE, &c 



FEW parts of Scotland present so rich a field of geological inquiry 

 as the district of Clydesdale. In none certainly are the facilities so 

 great for studying the varied phenomena of a large class of forma- 

 tions. Even within the compass of its capital city, monuments 

 exist of many successive revolutions in physical geography and 

 organic life ; beneath her streets are entombed the remains of a vast 

 extinct creation ; the foundations of her teeming warehouses and 

 crowded quays are laid amid the mouldering works of a Primeval 

 Race ; while between these extremes there is interposed a long series 

 of terms indicating a progressive advance towards the existing forms 

 of animal life and aspects of the surface. Of scarcely less interest 

 are the shores of the noble Frith, which present a complete suite of 

 the older formations ; while among its islands Arran has long been 

 celebrated as exhibiting a greater variety of geological phenomena 

 than perhaps any other tract of like area on the surface of the globe. 

 In the following pages a few brief notices are given of the various 

 deposits, their fossil contents, and the best points for studying the 

 relations of the strata, in order to direct the researches of future 

 inquirers, and to aid those who are beginning the study of the science. 



I. HUMAN PERIOD. 



1. The city of Glasgow stands on the great coal field of Scotland, 

 about seven miles from its north-west border. Within its bounds the 

 several "measures" of this formation, sandstone, shale, clay, iron- 

 stone and coal, crop out in many places ; but the surface is generally 

 covered with newer deposits. The site of the smaller portion on the 

 south side of the river is a level plain, composed of ancient estuary 



B 



