348 A Ramble in West Shropshire. 



S. P. lies farther than the surface of the water at N. P. from 

 the centre of gravity of the entire fluid and solid globe by 

 about 850 feet. Hence this centre of gravity must lie about 

 425 feet north of C (which is the centre of the bounding sur- 

 face of the water) . Now, it is evident that both the centre of 

 gravity of the entire fluid and solid mass, and that of the solid 

 mass, must lie much nearer to C than to (7. Hence both these 

 centres of gravity lie considerably within 400 feet of C, and C 

 lies considerably within 825 feet of C. Thus the centres of 

 figure and the centres of gravity of the earth's solid mass, and 

 of the entire fluid and solid mass, are collected within a space 

 less than one-eighth of a mile in length — a distance almost 

 evanescent in comparison with the dimensions of the earth's 

 globe. 



A EAMBLE IN WEST SHROPSHIRE. 



JBY EEV. J. D. LA TOUCHE. 



We left our tourist on the top of the Stiperstone range of 

 hills, beholding a scene of mingled wildness and fertility, com- 

 bined with considerable antiquarian and geological interest. 



Pleasant, indeed, is that remote region in the long summer 

 days, where, knee-deep among the heather and whinberries, 

 you pick your steps, sometimes not without trouble, by the 

 path stretching along the ridge from one to the other of the 

 picturesque masses of rock, over thickly-strewn fragments of 

 quartz, glittering like frosted silver in the rays of the sun ; and 

 pleasant it is to recur, even in thought, to a scene so removed 

 from the " windy ways of man/' and where you can muse in 

 perfect quietness on the miracles of nature around. 



But we must not leave our traveller here ; there is much 

 work before him if he is to dive into the mysteries of the 

 thickly-bedded strata of the Llandeilo rocks, and when he has 

 satisfied himself of the state of things in the primaeval world, 

 when trilobites and other creatures which have long passed 

 away, inhabited the dreary, silent wastes, he will find ample 

 occupation in tracing the manners and customs of 'his own 

 species, in the vestiges they have left behind them — the races 

 who have, from time to time, lived in these now sequestered 

 valleys, and, attracted by their mineral treasures, pursued their 

 earnest search for wealth into the very heart of the earth 

 itself. 



Our tourist now surveys, for the most part, that important 

 subdivision of the Lower Silurian rocks, called the Llandeilo. 



