﻿540 
  PEOP. 
  C. 
  LAPWOETH 
  ON 
  THE 
  GIEVAN 
  SUCCESSION. 
  

  

  the 
  ingenious 
  and 
  mutually 
  destructive 
  theories 
  that 
  have 
  been 
  

   framed 
  respecting 
  their 
  manner 
  of 
  origin 
  and 
  their 
  relationship 
  to 
  

   the 
  aqueous 
  strata 
  in 
  which 
  tbey 
  are 
  enveloped. 
  

  

  The 
  physical 
  geologist 
  and 
  stratigraphist, 
  repulsed 
  by 
  the 
  un- 
  

   attractive 
  features 
  and 
  non-fossiliferous 
  character 
  of 
  the 
  rocks 
  of 
  the 
  

   Southern 
  Uplands, 
  has 
  always 
  turned 
  to 
  this 
  Carrick 
  district 
  with 
  

   sanguine 
  anticipation. 
  Convinced 
  of 
  the 
  excessive 
  difficulty 
  and 
  

   even 
  uselessness 
  of 
  reducing 
  the 
  monotonous 
  Upland 
  strata 
  to 
  their 
  

   natural 
  order, 
  he 
  is 
  the 
  more 
  readily 
  persuaded 
  that 
  here, 
  at 
  least, 
  is 
  

   a 
  region 
  where 
  his 
  labours 
  will 
  be 
  repaid 
  with 
  interest. 
  Among 
  

   rocks 
  so 
  varied 
  and 
  so 
  attractive, 
  and 
  so 
  prolific 
  of 
  fossils, 
  the 
  

   detection 
  of 
  the 
  true 
  key 
  to 
  the 
  succession 
  must 
  surely 
  be 
  a 
  delightful 
  

   task, 
  whose 
  steps 
  must 
  be 
  all 
  easy 
  and 
  pleasurable, 
  and 
  whose 
  end 
  

   must 
  be 
  success. 
  

  

  Within 
  the 
  last 
  thirty 
  years 
  the 
  rocks 
  of 
  this 
  district 
  have 
  been 
  

   studied, 
  in 
  whole 
  or 
  in 
  part, 
  by 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  successful 
  British 
  

   geologists 
  — 
  by 
  J. 
  C. 
  Moore, 
  Nicol, 
  Sedgwick, 
  Murchison, 
  and 
  Geikie 
  ; 
  

   and 
  they 
  have 
  been 
  carefully 
  mapped 
  in 
  detail 
  by 
  the 
  officers 
  of 
  the 
  

   Geological 
  Survey. 
  Their 
  fossils 
  have 
  been 
  collected 
  in 
  the 
  field 
  

   and 
  studied 
  in 
  the 
  closet 
  by 
  M'Coy, 
  Salter, 
  Wyville 
  Thomson, 
  

   Davidson, 
  Etheridge, 
  Nicholson, 
  and 
  by 
  a 
  host 
  of 
  minor 
  palaeontolo- 
  

   gists, 
  past 
  and 
  present. 
  They 
  have 
  been 
  painfully 
  tabled 
  in 
  cata- 
  

   logues 
  and 
  figured 
  in 
  monographs 
  ; 
  and 
  their 
  more 
  striking 
  zoological 
  

   types 
  have 
  long 
  been 
  classic 
  in 
  the 
  pakeontological 
  world. 
  In 
  brief, 
  

   a 
  blaze 
  of 
  scientific 
  light 
  has 
  been 
  concentrated 
  upon 
  this 
  little 
  

   district, 
  more 
  intense 
  and 
  sustained 
  than 
  upon 
  any 
  other 
  Lower 
  Palae- 
  

   ozoic 
  area 
  of 
  equal 
  extent 
  in 
  Britain. 
  Nevertheless 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  

   the 
  true 
  sequence 
  and 
  characteristic 
  life-groups 
  of 
  the 
  natural 
  

   divisions 
  of 
  its 
  fossil-bearing 
  strata 
  seems 
  today 
  as 
  far 
  off 
  as 
  ever. 
  

   Of 
  all 
  the 
  diverse 
  theories 
  of 
  the 
  succession 
  held 
  at 
  present, 
  

   officially 
  and 
  non-officially, 
  there 
  is 
  not 
  one 
  that 
  is 
  not 
  implicitly 
  

   acknowledged 
  to 
  be 
  vague, 
  tentative, 
  and 
  unsatisfactory 
  ; 
  while 
  the 
  

   most 
  popular 
  and 
  best-supported 
  theory 
  of 
  all, 
  that 
  of 
  Murchison 
  

   himself, 
  has 
  long 
  been 
  known 
  to 
  be 
  incompatible 
  not 
  only 
  with 
  the 
  

   physical 
  evidences 
  obtainable 
  within 
  the 
  district 
  itself, 
  but 
  with 
  

   that 
  special 
  pahcontological 
  gradation 
  which 
  is 
  now 
  universally 
  

   recognized 
  among 
  the 
  corresponding 
  Lower 
  Palaeozoic 
  rocks 
  all 
  over 
  

   the 
  world. 
  

  

  The 
  causes 
  of 
  this 
  unsatisfactory 
  result 
  are 
  not 
  far 
  to 
  seek, 
  and 
  

   they 
  are 
  both 
  physical 
  and 
  palaeontological 
  in 
  their 
  origin. 
  Precisely 
  

   as 
  in 
  the 
  Lower 
  Palaeozoic 
  rocks 
  of 
  the 
  Uplands, 
  the 
  strata 
  of 
  the 
  

   Carrick 
  region 
  are 
  so 
  convoluted 
  by 
  folds, 
  and 
  so 
  intermingled 
  by 
  

   faults, 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  impossible 
  to 
  rely 
  upon 
  evidences 
  'of 
  superposition 
  

   derived 
  from 
  longitudinal 
  sections 
  traversing 
  extended 
  areas 
  ; 
  and 
  

   British 
  geologists, 
  trained 
  in 
  the 
  less 
  complicated 
  Upper 
  Palaeozoic 
  

   regions, 
  have 
  not 
  hitherto 
  found 
  time 
  or 
  patience 
  to 
  work 
  out 
  the 
  

   sequence 
  in 
  the 
  only 
  way 
  in 
  which 
  success 
  is 
  possible, 
  namely, 
  

   painfully 
  and 
  elaborately, 
  zone 
  by 
  zone, 
  and 
  bed 
  by 
  bed. 
  

  

  The 
  frequent 
  repetition 
  of 
  strata 
  identical 
  in 
  lithological 
  characters 
  

   upon 
  many 
  distinct 
  horizons 
  in 
  the 
  vertical 
  succession 
  affected 
  by 
  

  

  