The late Prof. Phillips's Address at Westioard So ! 309 



conclusion was disputed &y] Professor Sedgwick and Sir Eoderick 

 Murchison, and there was a doubt on the subject, I received a com- 

 mission from the Government to investigate the matter, being 

 supposed to be an impartial kind of person who was not disposed 

 to accept any conclusion very hastily, whilst giving to every one 

 the right to form an independent judgment of his own. I was sent 

 for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the point, and in con- 

 sequence I published a book on the subject. 



With reference to the country to the North, still the question 

 remains, " What are we to call it ?" Many are disposed to say that 

 a greater portion of the stratification of North Devon might be 

 joined with those great series of rocks containing the anthracite, or 

 culm, in the neighboux-hood of Bideford, and become a part of the 

 Carboniferous system. Others, on the contrary, think that some 

 portions, especially to the northward, ought to be joined to the 

 Silurian series. Now, I think that scientific men are often greatly 

 mistaken as to the features of particular tracts of country. You 

 know the general history of Belgium — how 1,800 years ago it was 

 peopled by tribes who settled on a soil foreign to themselves, and 

 they have held it as well as they could against the Germans (the 

 Silurians) on the one side, and the French (the Carboniferous series) 

 on the other. Well, at the time when France swallows up Belgium, 

 or when, more probably, France and Germany take a slice each, 

 then I hope (and not before) we shall have settled this question 

 about the stratification of North Devon. The two sections are very 

 powerful and rather aggressive kingdoms, and it is difiicult to defend 

 the North Devon territory against the demands of the Carboniferous 

 strata above and the Silurian strata below. As I would never desert 

 a falling cause (if this be one), I still declare myself in favour of 

 the independence of North Devon, and assert that there are strata 

 which are neither Silurian nor Carboniferous — that of themselves 

 they are worthy of a separate study, deserving separate names — and 

 that their history is remarkably interesting, connected as it is with 

 some of the most important movements on the crust of the globe. 

 Those movements were subsequent to the date of the deposition of 

 these rocks. Since these rocks were deposited a large portion of 

 the features of South Wales has been produced, the channel between 

 South Wales and Devon has been formed, and there has also been 

 produced the hollow that exists on the southern side of North Devon, 

 and all the undulations in the interior of the country ; all Dartmoor 

 and the Cornish rocks have been raised since the days when the 

 North Devon deposit was produced in the ancient sea. Gentlemen 

 of Devon, never give up the independence of your country, hold to 

 the North Devon series, and if it is the case, as Mr. Godwin- Austen 

 invites us to believe it is, that they do not belong to the Old Eed 

 Sandstone series, do not let us conclude that because they do not 

 belong to that particular class, they are nothing at all. Let us keep 

 the North Devon series distinct, as a separate characteristic — it is a 

 most interesting study, and, what is best of all, it is as yet not com- 

 pletely explored. Let us encourage by every means in our power 



