SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS CONCLUDED. 567 



adverted. We hardly know how to institute comparisons by which to estimate the 

 antiquity of this rock, so modern as respects geological monuments ; and yet perhaps 

 of such high antiquity in relation to man. It would not, however, be presumptuous 

 to affirm, that the spring which formed it, has deposited similar matter without in- 

 terruption, ever since the sub-strata were first exposed to the atmosphere ; and far back, 

 truly, must we recede to account for the commencement of this massive production \ 



Having now conducted my reader from far remote periods, to the formations of our 

 own days, I may terminate the history of the descriptive geology of this region, by re- 

 viewing the ancient dislocations by which it has been affected, and by considering 

 briefly the origin and changes of the sedimentary deposits. 



The second and concluding part of the work is exclusively devoted to the description 

 of the organic remains of the Old Red and Silurian Systems, prefaced by a general view 

 of the distribution of animal life during those ancient epochs. 



1 The Southstone Rock is thus described by Nash: "About a mile south of the site of the old church is an 

 old hermitage raised on a steep ascent in the bosom of great hills ; within the rock are some rooms hewn out 

 of the hard stone ; on the top of it was a chapel dedicated to St. John Baptist, on the feast of whose nativity 

 here was a solemn offering ; which ended, the assembly ascended by stairs cut out of the rock into the little 

 chapel, where finishing their devotion they usually drank of a pleasant well, the water of which was famous 

 for curing many disorders." — History of Worcestershire, vol. ii. p. 360. 



4 b 2 



