184 Dr Hibbert on the Limestone of Burdiehouse 



of their visual organs. But having been now convinced that 

 bones did actually exist in the limestone, and having been ex- 

 cited by the promise of a reward if they should find more such 

 relics, I was presented with an excellent physiological example of 

 the capability which such a stimulus had of increasing, to an al- 

 most miraculous degree, the vividness of optical perceptions. The 

 men, to use their own words, now " saw with new eyes." Large 

 scales, large bones, along with the remains of small fish, became 

 palpable, and, as if by the force of a magician's spell, were reveal- 

 ed in a profusion most admirable to behold. 



When the quarry had been thus introduced to public notice, 

 a complete dispersion of its fossil treasures seemed inevitable. 

 With the view of preventing a catastrophe so much to be dread- 

 ed, I invited the interference of that influence which the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh possessed as a body. The appeal was not 

 made in vain. To their General Secretary, Mr Robison, the ac- 

 knowledgment is due of having successfully rendered his invalu- 

 able aid in the prevention of a most injurious dispersion of the 

 osseous relics of the quarry, and in the preservation of specimens 

 in such an assembled form, as to render them effective for the 

 requisitions of science. 



The very liberal acquiescence of Mr Torrance, the lessee of 

 the quarry of Burdiehouse, with the views of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, merits the highest encomium. 



NOTES TO SECTION V. 



The following explanation regarding the quarry will not, I trust, be found irre- 

 levant. I owe it no less injustice to certain individuals, than to the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh. 



Very soon after my discovery, the hopes which I had entertained of the extraor- 

 dinary acquisitions which geology would derive from it, were soon threatened with 

 frustration. A sort of scramble had ensued among scientific individuals (which it 

 must be allowed was a very natural one), to obtain for themselves valuable specimens 

 from the quarry of Burdiehouse : and thus, the great disastrous result which fossil 

 zoology most dreads, namely, the dispersion of its relics, and the difficulty, if not 

 impossibility, of reuniting them, seemed inevitable. 



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