102 
SECTIONS TO CONNECT THE LANCASHIRE 
on Millstone Grit areas wliicli are miles from the outcrop of the 
nearest coal-seam, and which are the result of borings and drivings 
in search of that article, prosecuted many years ago. The presence 
of a dark coloured shale was looked upon by the practical man of 
those days as evidence of the existence of coal in its vicinity, and on 
the surface of formations, lower in the scale than the millstone grits, 
there may be repeatedly found the shale-heap, indicative of the vain 
search for coal. A story is told of Prof. Sedgwick, who, during a 
visit to Leicestershire, saw an engine and gearing at the top of an 
adjacent hill which he was informed was a coal pit. On visiting the 
place and making the ascent of the hill he found Lias shale with 
numerous fossils, ' Why,' says he, ' this is Lias ' ! * Lias ' says the 
enraged proprietor, ' you're a liar, and you're all liars together ' ! 
But all the same the man ruined himself. Prof. Jukes cites a story 
which Dean Buckland used to tell, of Lord Oxford sinking on some 
property in Oxfordshire, on the Kimmeridge or Oxford Clay, by the 
advice of a ' Great practical man ' and in opposition to all Buckland 
could say, who offered to be broiled on the first ton of coals raised 
there, and Conybeare made a caricature of that distinguished divine 
and geologist frizzling in his own fat. These are instances outside 
our county, but equally egregious blunders can be found in plenty 
in it. Even in the coal district there was a blissful amount of ignor- 
ance as to the sequence of the coal-seams ; the occurrence of faults 
was well known, but their effect in the strata was a matter of surmise 
to the practical miner, and instances may be given in which much 
time and money have been expended in the vain search for a coal- 
seam, which has been thrown out by faults though it may exist, at a 
considerable depth, a field-length away. 
During the first thirty years of the present century " was a time 
of marvellous vigour in the history of geology. It was during that 
time that the science took shape and dignity. Amid the conflict of 
opposing schools progress had been steady and rapid. Every year 
broadened the base on which the infant science was being built up. 
The rocks of England and Wales were arranged in their order of age, 
the outlines traced by Smith having been more and more filled in. 
Excellent service had been done by the handbook of Conybeare and 
