378 
SECOND REPORT— 1832 . 
beds of the eastern moorlands, Equisetaceae were observed by 
Mr. Murchison under circumstances exactly parallel, so as to 
warrant similar inferences. 
The very valuable details concerning these Yorkshire oolites, 
published by Mr. Phillips, will, if we compare the series of 
rocks as there exhibited with the characters of the same series 
at its opposite extremity on our southern coast, sufficiently 
illustrate the great changes which took place in different parts 
of the very same deposits, in as much as the calcareous sands of 
the inferior oolites in Yorkshire present nearly the characters 
and mineral constitution of the rocks associated with the older 
coal formation. We thus collect a series of facts calculated to 
throw considerable light on the modification of circumstances 
which may have concurred in different ages to produce carbo¬ 
niferous deposits : and we see convincing proof how far we must 
depart from the doctrine of universal formations, (if that term 
be supposed to convey the notion of anything like an identity 
of character,) in order to approach to the truth of nature*. 
The comparative view of the contemporaneous rocks of the 
Scotch oolitic coal-field at Brora, by Mr. Murchison, is equally 
important; indeed in many respects it may be considered as 
having suggested the line of examination pursued by Mr. Phil¬ 
lips f. Still more remarkable is the discovery, by the same geolo¬ 
gist and Prof. Sedgwick, of an entirely new formation (seemingly 
occupying the relative position of our own carboniferous group,) 
in Caithness, of bituminous schist containing fish J and shells 
apparently fluviatile. 
The disruption and disturbance of these newer strata by the 
elevation of the subjacent granite (at a period, however, evidently 
and oceanic deposits above described : and whereas this writer builds much on his 
attempt to prove that no bed in the geological series can be pointed out which 
appears to represent an ancient continental surface on which vegetables once 
grew, &c.; the facts stated in the text present a complete answer to this nega¬ 
tion. 
* We can scarcely feel authorized from analogy to conclude that distant 
portions of a contemporaneous geological deposit in Dorsetshire and Yorkshire 
should possess absolute identity of mineral character, any more than that the 
mud banks deposited at the present moment on the coasts of the two counties 
should so correspond. At the same time, however, we must allow that geological 
causes appear to have acted on a much greater scale, and homogeneous deposi¬ 
tions to have prevailed to a very considerable extent, subject however to material 
local modifications. 
f Mr. Murchison first observed at Brora a considerable number of species of 
fossil shells previously unknown in the oolite; these were figured in Sowerby’s 
Mineral Conchology , and subsequently the same species were observed by 
Phillips in Yorkshire. 
X The vertebrae, teeth, and radii of fish have also previously been observed 
in carboniferous and even in transition limestone. 
