84 REPORT—1863. 
Europe. He (Sir R. 1. Murchison) had applied to them the term Permian in 
1841, and, before that time, this group had no collective name. His reason for 
proposing this name was, that he had found in Russia the stratigraphical and 
fossil characteristics of the formation spread over a country much larger than 
France, around the former kingdom of Permia. In the north-west of England 
there was a remarkable display of rocks, consisting of sandstones and breccias, 
which were, gradually and conformably, linked together with the magnesian 
limestone or its equivalent. The lower portion of the deposit, over a large central 
portion of England, was formerly called the Lower Red Sandstone, the equivalent 
of the Rothliegende of Germany. The chief fossiliferous member of these deposits 
was, in the first instance, admirably described by Professor Sedgwick, in his well- 
known memoir on the magnesian limestone; but that author had not connected 
the Red Sandstones of St. Bee’s Head, Corby, &c., with that magnesian limestone, 
but had left them in the New Red Sandstone. In Germany, Sir R. Murchison had 
asserted that overlying sandstones, superposed on the magnesian limestone, formed 
the upper part of the group; and he showed that in typical sections this mass of 
sandstones accorded with and’ passed down into the equivalent of the magnesian 
limestone, and was separated from the Bunter sandstone of the Trias. 
He was now well pleased to find, from the labours of Mr. Binney, followed by 
those of Professor Harkness, and confirmed by his recent survey of the rocks, that 
in reality the north-west of England offered a complete confirmation of the tri- 
partite arrangement of the Permian group. 
Thus, if several of the small brooks in the Vale of Eden be ascended from west 
to east, especially that called Hilton Beck, a succession of beds of dolomitic 
breccia is seen to overlie the enormous mass of the lower portion of this great 
proup, or the Penrith Sandstone. Many of the details have been before explained 
y Professor Harkness; but he now called particular attention to the value of the 
recent discovery by his colleague of certain plants in the centre of the grou 
which were absolutely identical with well-known Permian plants elsewhere, an 
wholly distinct from the carboniferous flora. 
Above the limestone and dolomitic breccias came a series of shales or marls, as- 
sociated with impure magnesian limestone. These passed conformably, and with- 
out any break, into the upper sandstone. He was sure Mr. Binney would sustain 
what he had said in reference to this group being in that district a great Upper 
Paleozoic Trias. 
Again, St. Bee’s Head exhibited a thin but instructive portion of the Roth- 
liegende, or Lower Red Sandstone. There the breccia was deposited unconformably 
on the surface of the carboniferous sandstone, which was eroded in a most irregular 
manner, the breccia entering into all the sinuosities of the lower rock, and show- 
ing a complete physical break between the coal-measures and the superjacent Per- 
mian strata. Many other English localities offered, indeed, instances of the total 
separation of the carboniferous deposits, and proved that the Permian was a newer 
and distinct series, in which breccia entered into the eroded cavities of the water- 
worn rock. This lower breccia is the representative of the yellow sandstone of 
Durham, underlying the magnesian limestone occurring near Sunderland and along 
the coast of Hartlepool. 
He would now say a word on a point of importance to gentlemen living in 
mining districts. Hitherto it had been unknown that the Lower Red Sandstone, 
or Rothliegende, afforded any valuable mineral substance; and, up to this time, 
geologists had remained unacquainted with the age of one of the most valuable of 
our ores, the hematite or kidney iron-ore of Cumberland and Lancashire. This 
hematite occurs in cavities of the mountain limestone; and it had often been asked, 
to what age are we to attribute these great infillings? At one time they were 
referred to a Tertiary period ; but Professor Phillips suggested that they were pro- 
bably connected with the series called Permian. 
On this occasion, he (Sir R. I. Murchison) had to announce the discovery of a 
locality in Furness where the hematite was discovered to be in direct connexion 
with the Permian lower breccia, the “crab rock” of the natives. It was also 
found that this hematite had been frequently worked out by old workmen from 
cavities under the breccia, thus affording proofs of the value of the suggestion ot 
