238 Rev. P. Mearns on the Kaim at Warh. 



the ridge at Wark. I found a part marked off and used by 

 the North Eastern Railway Company. It showed a section 

 of twenty feet in depth. The strata are singularly contorted 

 as if by an eddy, of Avhich we have evidence in a deep narrow 

 moss close adjoining. In some parts the soil is one foot and 

 a half in depth ; in others the gravel reaches to the very 

 surface, Avithout an inch of soil. When the Kelso branch of 

 the North Eastern line was formed, a knoll, called Whale 

 Knowe from its shape resembling the contour of a whale, 

 was removed, by an arrangement with the late Mr. Laing, 

 of Cornhill, who also farmed Campfield. I saw an excellent 

 crop of turnips on the field w^here the knoll once stood — the 

 bottom answering fully better for soil than the top had done. 

 In the gravel-pit the layers of sand and gravel are distinctly 

 marked, the gravel being uppermost and almost wanting in 

 the lower strata of the section. The bottom has been dug 

 for sand, exposing a few feet in depth, exhibiting layers of 

 pure sharp sand. In the upper strata there are patches of 

 earthy sand, or argillo-arenaceous earth. The depth of the 

 layers is constantly varied by the strange twistings of the 

 eddy. The stones of the gravel are small, scarcely any being 

 of the size of a common hen's e^^ — there being thus a great 

 difference between these beds and the ridge at Wark. There 

 is one large boulder of chert limestone from Nottylees. 



Much difference of opinion exists among geologists regard- 

 ing the agencies by which large boulders have been conveyed, 

 and ridges containing them have been formed. What has 

 been called the glacial theory, which identifies a kaim with 

 the moraine of a glacier, though supported by great names, 

 must be set aside as utterly impossible. It entirely fails to 

 account for the stratification which is a marked feature in 

 kaims, besides being in other respects objectionable. It 

 seems to me that those are right who contend for the com- 

 bined action of glaciers or icebergs with currents in order to 

 account for the whole phenomena. 



Boulders are found everywhere, and each has a history ; 

 some have travelled far from their parent rock. Angular 

 blocks of granite from the Alps are found on the Jura, having 

 travelled 50 miles across one of the widest and deepest val- 

 leys in the world. Hundreds of these Alpine erratics are as 

 large as cottages, and one of them in particular, celebrated 

 under the name of Pierre a Bot, rests on the side of a hill 

 above 900 feet above the Lake of Neufchatel, and is no less 

 than 40 feet in diameter — supposed to be the largest in the 



