43 
SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OE THE TOEBAXE 
MliSEEAL ElELD. 
By AyDUEW Taylok, F.E.P.S., E.B.S.E. 
The various corps of an army drawn up in line of battle are dis- 
tinguished not only by their various uniforms, but also by the dis- 
tinct po^ition assigned them in the field. This greatly helps the 
general to the immediate disposition of sharpshooters, infantry, or 
artillery, as the fate of battle may require. Most of the minerals 
which are the basis of our commercial and mining greatness are 
obtained from the Carbouiferous system. The industrialist obtains 
them from various paits of this formation. AVhen a new substance 
has presented itself, having characters very different from the ordi- 
nary rank and file of coals, clay-bands, or fire-clays, its stratigraphi- 
cal position will help us to determine if it is entitled to a distinct 
character. If its place be distinct from those of the ordinary coals, 
if likewise there are indications of a different physical mode of for- 
mation, then its claim to be a new mineral will be greatly strength- 
ened. 
The lower carboniferous rocks of Scotland consist of shales and 
sandstones more than a thousand feet thick, termed by Mr. Maclaren 
the calciferous saDdstone series. A freshwater limestone, equivalent 
to that worked at Burdie House, near Edinburgh, is the predominant 
member of this group. This limestone runs in an elliptical area 
round that city for nearly twenty-four miles, extending through Eife, 
IMidlothian, and Linlithgowshires. Part of this series extends to tlie 
south-east of the town of Bathgate, round which is the Torbane Hill 
mineral basin. A geological section in the Bathgate Hills, taken from 
Heclimont-law to Balbardie House, exhibits a limesione containing 
freshwater fossils, and equivalent to the one worked at Burdie House, 
gradually merged into another limestone containing marine fossils, 
which is usually recognized as the lowest bed of the carboniferous 
series. 
The axis of the hills occurs in a wooded prominence overlooking 
the Caputhall Bogs, and near the " Clinking Stane." At this point 
the limestones may be traced within a few hundred yards of each 
other, dipping north-north-west and south-south-east. The Kirkton 
limestone, a peculiar bed, described by Dr. Hibbert, containing both 
marine and fluviatile remains, intervenes. Eastward from the pro- 
minence just indicated, both the axis of the hills, and the connexion 
of the limestones, may be traced in the burn running through Ban- 
gour Farm, at Binny, and thence at various points to the shore of 
the Forth at Hopetoun. 
From the section described, the succession of the strata on either 
side of the axis, comprising the country eastward to Edinburgh on 
the one hand, and westward to IShotts on the other, is as follows : — 
