UTILITY OF FAULTS AND DISLOCATIONS. 541 
our fourth and fifth chapters ; and our first Sec- 
tion, PI. 1, illustrates their beneficial effect, in 
elevating and converting into habitable Lands, 
strata of various kinds that were formed at the 
bottom of the ancient Waters; and in diversi- 
fying the surface of these lands with Mountains, 
Plains, and Valleys, of various productive quali- 
ties, and variously adapted to the habitation of 
Man, and the inferior tribes of terrestrial animals. 
In our last Chapter we considered the advan- 
tages of the disposition of the Carboniferous 
strata in the form of Basins. It remains to ex- 
amine the further advantages that arise from 
other disturbances of these strata by Faults or 
Fractures, which are of great importance in faci- 
litating the operations of Coal mines; and to 
extend our inquiry into the more general effect 
of similar Dislocations of other strata, in pro- 
ducing convenient receptacles for many valuable 
Metallic ores, and in regulating the supplies of 
Water from the interior of the earth, through 
the medium of Springs. 
I have elsewhere observed* that the occur- 
rence of Faults, and the Inclined position in 
"which the strata composing the Coal measures 
are usually laid out, are facts of the highest 
importance, as connected with the accessibility 
of their mineral contents. From their inclined 
Inaugural Lecture, Oxford, 1819. 
