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were, but he was inclined to think that they were an 
intrusive dolerite of carboniferous age rather than a mela- 
phyr. The iron had been changed from a protoxide into a 
peroxide, and the lime had resulted from the decomposition 
of a lime felspar. As Mr. Forbes had found the presence of 
titanium united with iron in all the carboniferous dolerites 
he had examined; I took several ounces of the three 
samples above given, and having heated them in a crucible 
so as to convert the iron from a per into a protoxide, and 
extracted it by a magnet. About half an ounce of this 
iron was very carefully examined by Mr. Thorpe in Dr. 
Roscoe’s laboratory, especially for titanic acid, and no 
trace of that substance was found. He used the test with 
microcosmic salt, having separated iron and silica. The 
absence of titanium in the rock would lead us to believe 
that it was of later origin than the carboniferous age, but if 
traces of that metal had been found, it would not only have 
settled the question as to the age, but it would have shewn 
a connexion with the haematite iron ores of Whitehaven 
and Ulverston, all of which contain more or less of titanium 
as proved by the deposits of that metal found on the sides of 
old furnaces where haematite has been smelted. Is the rock of 
permian age ? It is certainly not much unlike the mela- 
phyr of the German Geologists, and the breccia near the 
dolerite is not greatly different from that of Ballochmyle, 
described by Mr. A. Gekie, F.R.S., in the Geological Maga- 
zine, for December, 1866, but we could not obtain direct 
evidence that the breccia gradually passed into the trap, the 
latter appeared to protrude through it, but certainly the 
trap and the breccia dipped in the same direction, the one 
at about 60° and the other at 25° a little West of North. 
This point can only be satisfactorily determined by cutting 
a trench and shewing the contact of the breccia with the 
trap. The extent of the dyke can only be traced for a few 
yards east and west as previously stated, and none of the 
