134 THE GEOLOGIST. 



Here, then, the error consisted in the mistaking the Lias for Wcnlock 

 Limestone-^coal being found in Staffordshire reposing upon the 

 Silurian beds, and lying between this latter deposit and the New 

 Eed Sandstone, as in the diagram below. 



Section 3. 



Blue Rock. Red Rock. 



1. Wenlock Limestones and Shales. 2. Coal. 3, New Red Sandstone. 



"We see from this instructive case that the mere practical miner was 

 led astray by the glimmering light which he possessed — thus showing 

 how important it is that practice should be guided by a due estimate of 

 the whole of the facts of the case ; and the man who is in possession of 

 these will be the true scientific man, as he will be the most practical 

 one. 



{To he continued.) 



THE COMMON FOSSILS OF THE BRITISH EOCKS. 

 By S. J. Mackie, Esq., E.G.S., E.S.A., &c., &c. 



CHAPTEK II. 



The EocJcs and their Teachings. 



(C Uniied from page 103.) 

 cni 



But what are the silent voices of the past saying" — for what 

 have the wonderful and mysterious powers of nature for so 

 many ages been labouring? Where, through all the strange mys- 

 teries of the past, is the finger of God pointing? To MAN, 

 and the world that is his. Look at all the appropriations of every 

 kind of organic and inorganic matter to such varied and different 

 purposes by our race, and can we divert our minds from contemplating 

 the vast time and the numberless operations which have assisted 

 in the elaboration of the materials necessary for our comforts or our 

 wants? Past and present creations alike show that animals fitted 

 for each peculiar condition of our planet have existed at every period ; 

 but of all those clusses which have passed away, or of those which 

 exist, there are none which have not been limited in their geo- 



