10 



Report of Meetings of Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, for 

 the year 1885. By James Hardy. 



JEDBUBGH POB OXNAM. 



As preliminary, I shall avail myself of an account of the first 

 portion of this excursion written at my request by our associate 

 member, Mr James Watson, author of the valuable monograph 

 of the Abbey, entitled "Jedburgh Abbey: Historical and 

 Descriptive " ; in order that members not present may benefit 

 by his authentic and minute local information. 



"The first meetiDg for the season was held at Jedburgh, for 

 Oxnam, on Wednesday, May 27. The Club had a meeting at 

 Jedburgh only three years ago, so that the places of interest in 

 the town and immediate neighbourhood were not new to many 

 of the members. The object of Wednesday's meeting was to 

 examine a tract of country hitherto unvisited by the Club, with 

 Oxnam as a centre. Before ten a.m. between forty and fifty 

 members put in an appearance at the Koyal Hotel, that being 

 headquarters ; and after breakfasting they set out in four brakes 

 to enjoy a most delightful drive through a district of great 

 natural beauty, and full of objects of historical and antiquarian 

 interest. A slight shower of rain fell in the morning, but this 

 soon passed away, and the weather throughout the remainder of 

 the day was all that could be desired. Leaving the town by 

 Abbey Bridge, the party drove up the valley of the Jed, and 

 soon reached what is known as the JButtonian section, in front 

 of Allars Mill. This section shows the junction of the Grey- 

 wacke, or lower Silurian rocks, with the Old Red Sandstone, the 

 former being seen in an almost perpendicular position, with the 

 latter lying horizontally over it. The Old Eed Conglomerate is 

 also seen near to this place. Hutton visited it in 1759, and the 

 section was figured and described in his ' Theory of the Earth.' 

 Passing this, the party immediately came to Inchbonny, deserving 

 of notice as the home of James Yeitch, the self-taught philoso- 

 pher, astronomer, and mathematician. The only telescope ever 

 possessed by the celebrated Mary Somerville — who, by the way. 

 was born in the old manse at Jedburgh — was made by him ; and 

 it was in his workshop that Sir David Brewster — another native 

 of Jedburgh — formed his taste for scientific pursuits. Proceed- 

 ing a little farther on their way, they passed on their left the 



