761 . 
beds were worn to an even surface, and the existing. masses of old 
red conglomerate washed into the hollows. 
‘The mountain limestone was deposited on the worn and even 
surface of the older rocks, and, if the conditions were sufficiently 
favourable for its formation, may have extended over the whole 
district. 
The great movement which broke up the carboniferous series 
gave, in part, its dome-like form to the district, and elevated its sur- 
face very nearly to, or perhaps above, the surface of the ocean. 
The deposition of the new red sandstone afterwards took place, 
but did not probably extend over the district on account of the ele- 
vation already given to it. This formation probably thinned off as 
it approached the central elevation, but was deposited in much 
greater thickness than it has at present in the Vale of Eden. From 
the present height and thickness of the sandstone near Penrith, the 
author thinks it probable that the depth of the submarine valley 
immediately west of Stainmoor was not more than 300 or 400 feet, 
and perhaps considerably less, measuring from the level of the 
lowest part of the Stainmoor pass. 
To this period of repose succeeded another of disturbance, in 
which the new red sand was dislocated and elevated. It was during 
this period, the author conceives, that the surface of the district 
first began to acquire any permanent and considerable elevation 
above the surface of the sea. The denudation of the red sand 
would commence with these movements, but was probably: com- 
pleted only as the whole tract of: country emerged slowly from be- 
neath the surface of the sea. If we reject the glacial theory in its 
application to the transport of blocks, as totally inadmissible in the 
case before us, this emergence must necessarily have taken place 
subsequently to the transport of blocks from the Cumbrian moun- 
tains across Stainmoor. 
The author conceives: the valleys of the district to have been 
formed during this gradual emergence ; the action of denuding 
causes being facilitated by previous dislocations, the masses, the 
removal of which formed the valleys, would at the same time be 
transported and spread over the surrounding country. The forma- 
tion of the existing lakes must have been one of the most recent 
events in the geological history of this region. 
Period of Transport of Erratic Blocks, —The author thinks that 
geologists have frequently limited too much the period during 
which the transport of blocks may have taken place. When blocks 
are found reposing on an undisturbed formation, the only con- 
clusive inference which can be drawn from the fact is, that the last 
stage of their movement was posterior to the deposition of the beds 
on which they rest. If the beds be much disturbed, but all the 
irregularities and asperities of its external surfaces worn away by 
long-continued attrition, we may generally conclude that the same 
action would have worn away any blocks previously existing on 
its surface, and therefore any blocks now existing on such surface 
