308 The late Prof. Phillips's Address at Westward Ho ! 



of the sea-bed having been raised and some parts having been 

 depressed, until you reach the granite of Dartmoor, where the 

 stratification turns up against the great mass of granite rock upon 

 which until recently opinion was not divided. It has always been 

 imagined to be a mass of rock fused by the hot interior of the globe, 

 pressed upwards with great energy, and throwing up its stratifi- 

 cation towards the north and the south. But all human opinions 

 change, — even the opinions of scientific men who are supposed to 

 have most prejudiced notions with reference to their theories. Now, 

 some scientific men believe that the granite is the product of water 

 and not of heat. I must tell you frankly that I do not believe them — 

 on the contrary, I think there is evidence — absolutely perfect evi- 

 dence — that the granitic rocks were produced at a very great depth 

 in the interior of the earth. No doubt water was present, but the 

 granite was never dissolved in masses by its action. They were 

 solidified in the presence of water, and they contain small quantities 

 of water in some of their crystals ; a thing no more to be wondered 

 at than that there is air in the sea and water in every one of the 

 stones we see around us. Now, the stratification which rests on this 

 granite has been perfectly traced, and in all the districts of Devon 

 there is no more interesting study than this county to the northward. 

 And what is curious is the fact that the stratification is clear in its 

 continuity. In the Bideford strata you have the lower Coal deposits, 

 and at Barnstaple you arrive at the Carboniferous age : then you 

 have the Pilton strata, mentioned by Mr. Hall, until you come to the 

 strata of Lynton and the red rocks of the Foreland. The stratifi- 

 cation is in regular order, — on the whole running from north to 

 south, and the sequence of the different strata is well known, though 

 I trust it will be better known in a few years by the continued 

 labours of my friend Mr. Hall, to whom we are extremely obliged 

 for acting as our conductor on this occasion. He lives on the spot 

 which is so celebrated for its fossils — Pilton is his native home, and 

 I am sure that in future years we shall live to acknowledge his 

 efficient and painstaking researches. What are these strata which 

 have been pointed out to us ? When Sir Henry De la Beche, in the 

 year 1836, published his book on "The Geology of Cornwall, Devon, 

 and West Somerset," he considered that at that time terms, which 

 were then [not] unknown, such as " the transition series of rocks " 

 and the " grey wacke group," could be applied to large portions of 

 this county of Devonshire; but when afterwards sections of the 

 district were obtained with the greatest accuracy, it was found that 

 he was apparently quite wrong in his interpretation of the whole of 

 the strata from Bideford, southward to Dartmoor, for he referred 

 these deposits to an age much older than the deposits on the 

 northern side, and they are now known to be much younger. You 

 may think this was a great fault, but in my opinion it was a small 

 one considering the wonderful accuracy of the greater part of his 

 work. It was in consequence of a discussion on his observations 

 that I first had an opportunity of making an acquaintance with 

 North Devon, for immediately there was a dispute between [his 



