234 Webster on Calton Hill. 



tanc^ into her manufactory, nor conceal, with her accustomed 

 reserve, the details of the operations in which she is engaged.'' 

 From the appearances which have been thus briefly noticed, 

 no impartial geologist, we should imagine, would infer the 

 volcanic origin of any portion of this formation ; and if the 

 aqueous origin of sandstone can be established, that of the 

 wacke must be the same. 



From its intimate connexion with the preceding subject, 

 Dr. Webster subjoins the following : 



Extract from a Paper on a recent formation of Sandstone^ 

 occurring in various parts of the Northern coast of Cornwall; 

 by John Ayston Paris, M.D. F.L.S., &c. &c. Published 

 in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall, 

 1818. 



" A VERY considerable portion of the northern coast of 

 Cornwall, is covered with a calcareous sand, consisting of minute 

 particles of comminuted shells. That part which lies between 

 St. Ives and Padstow is more immediately the subject of the 

 present inquiry ; a tract which, with a few exceptions, is en- 

 tirely covered with this species of sand ; and which in some 

 places, has accumulated in quantities so great as to have form- 

 ed hills of from forty to sixty feet in elevation. A considera- 

 ble area, for instance, in the parishes of Gwythian and Phillack 

 has been thus desolated, and several churches have been inun- 

 dated. In digging into these sand hills, or upon the occasional 

 removal of some part of them by the winds, the remains of 

 houses may be seen ; and in some places, where the church- 

 yards have been overwhelmed, a great number of human bones 

 may be found. The sand is supposed to have been originally 

 brought from the sea by hurricanes, probably at a remote peri- 

 od." " The sand first appears in a slight but increasing state 



of aggregation on several parts of the shore in the bay of St. 

 Ives ; but on approaching the Gwythian river, it becomes more 



