Records of the Rocks; or notes on the geology, natural history, and antiquities of North and South Wales, Devon, and Cornwall, etc

Front matter

RECOKDS OF THE ROCKS. Front ItpitM Euouo Stacks, near Pembroke W. V, Guise RECORDS OP THE ROCKS; OK, NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY, AND ANTIQUITIES OP NORTH & SOUTH WALES, DEVON, & CORNWALL. By Rev. W. S. SYMONDS, F.G.S., EECTOE OF PliNBOCK. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1872. ro SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART., F.R.S, F.G.S., I .Stbirate THESE RECORDS OF THE ROCKS, AS A SLIOHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OP THE ADVANTAGES I HAVE RECEIVED THROUGH THE STUDY OF HIS WORKS, WHICH HAVE BEES MY MENTORS FOR NEARLY THIRTY YEARS, AND OF THE VALUE AT WHICH I ESTEEM HIS FRIENDSHIP. W. S. SYMONDS. Pendock, 1872.

Preface

. This Work is the result of an accumulation of Notes on Natural History, stored during several years when travelling, on Geological expeditions, throughout the districts on which it treats. It is written for Amateurs who, like myself, enjoy passing their leisure hours among Rocks, old Castles, old Authors, and the wild flowers of strange wayside places. It does not assume to be a strictly scientific description of the Geological structure of the different tracts of country to which it alludes, but I trust it is correct as far as it goes. For thirty years I have been a lover and constant explorer of the Geology of the districts to which this Volume relates ; and having also had more than usual opportunities of making observations on the Archæology and Natural History, I have dealt with some districts to which Murchison hardly alludes, and with subjects that would have been foreign to his purpose.

The " Grey stone rests above the Chief," and I may now venture to say that which, if I had penned it before, would, by the world, have been deemed flattery; and I say it as one who probably is more intimate with the " Silurian System," and Siluria, than any living Amateur. l'UEKACE. X It is this : — let the Geologist of succeeding years, who is supplied with all the Maps, Sections, and other appur tenances furnished by Geological Surveyors and pro fessional experience, bear in mind that the grauwacke i >f Siluria was reduced to order, out of chaos, by Murchison ; and how, by the publication of the "Silurian System," he advanced the Science of Geology to an extent that other generations will probably comprehend better than the present seems capable of doing. The Volume is enriched by sketches of scenery from the pencil of my friend, and frequently my companion, Sir William Guise, Bart., and by the reproduction of many plates of landscapes, fossils, and sections from that well-known scientific work, "Siluria," by Sir Roderick Murchison.

I have to render my thanks to Miss Dora Baker, of Has field Court, Gloucestershire, for illustrations of some of the typical Fossils ; and last, though not least, to Miss Roberts, of Hazeldine, Red Marley, for efficient aid in carrying the MSS. through the press, and for the copious Index. PAGE 1 20 CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Introductory

Astronomy of tlie Ancients, hy Sir George Cornewall Lewis and Delambre — Law of Gravitation — Nebular Theory— Moons of Jupiter — Application of Optics to Chemistry hy Spectrum Analysis — Spectra of the Fixed Stars — Spectrum of the Sun — Spectra of the Nebulæ — The Meteorite of Lenarto — Mr. Sorby on Meteoric Stones — Opinions of the Chemist and Microscopist on the Materials of the Earth's Interior — Volcanic and Plutonic Rocks — Minerals of the Igneous Rocks — Eruptions of Lava from centres of Volcanic Action — Earthquake Action — Traps, Basalts, and Greenstones — Basaltic Columns — Mallet on Earthquakes — Sir C. Lyell and Mr. Darwin ditto — Elevation of Land in Norway and Sweden since the Glacial Period — Ceaseless Change ........

Chapter II. Laurentian Rocks

Divisions of Primary Rocks — Canadian Laurentians — The Eozoon Canadense — Fundamental Gneiss of Scotland — Section between Loch Inver and Ben More — Of Queenaig, near Loch Assynt — Blocs Perches near Laxford — Plants of Inchnadamph — Glacier of Glen Baile — Laurentians of Lewis — Kyle of Durness — Cape AVrath and Loch Eriboll — Pingincula Alpina — Laurentians of Ross-shire — Of Wales, near Holyhead, Bardsey Island, Anglesea, and Caernarvon — Rare Plant on Holyhead Mountain — Gneiss of St. David's — Laurentians of Malvern — Described by Leonard Horner — Murchison and Phillips — Dr. Holl — Dykes of the North Hill and Worcestershire Beacon — The Valley of the "White-leaved Oak"— The Ragged Stone Hill— Mr. Hugh Strickland — Antiquities of Malvern — Leland on — Werstanus — Old Glass at Malvern Church — The Priory— Malvern Camps ( (INTENTS. PAGE 39

Chapter III. Camisrian Rocks

Lower Cambrians, — Sedgwick on— Geikie on denudation of Scotland — Cambrians of Scotland— Dr. Macculloch on— The "Greyheads" of Applecross — Worm Tubes in LowerQuartzof Queenaig — Limestone of Inchnadamph and its Wild Plants— Upper Quartz Rock of Glashven, Ben More, and Ben Hie, also of Eriboll — Upper Gneiss of the Moin and Ben Hope— Alsine rubella on Ben Hope— Smoo Caves— Hugh Miller on the Scenery of Assynt— Cambrian Rocks of Ireland — Cambrians of the Longmynds— Salter on — Palæopyge Ramsayi — Cambrians of St. David's — Dr. Hicks on — Submerged Forest near, observed by Giraldus Cambrensis, and alluded to in Gibson's Camden — Giraldus Cambrensis, his Itinerary, Birthplace, &c. — Porth-y-Rhaw — Boulders round St. David's— St. David and his Preaching — David the Second and his Pipes — Cathedral of St. David and its Tombs — Lower Cambrians of N. Wales — Llanberis and Dolbadarn Castles, Sections near — Ramsay on Glaciated Cambrian Grit — Glaciers of Llyn Idwal and Cwm Grainog — Spiderwort — Caernarvon and Segontium — Moel Tryfaen, its Drifts and Marine Shells — Lyell on Local Boulders — " Ancient Glaciers of Wales," by Ramsay — The Maenbras of Snowdon — Glacier of Carnedd Llewellyn — Bangor, its Antiquities and Rocks — Bishop of, fined in Hawks — King John at — Prof. Sedgwick on Bangor Cambrians — Section near — Fossils of Lower Cambrians — Upper Cambrians, — Lyell, Phillips, and Salter (Lowest Silurians of Murchison and Ramsay) — Fossils of — Sections near Barmouth and Harlech — Leland on the "Friars Island " — Castle of Harlech — Plutonia Sedgwickii — The Great Trilobite Paradoxides — Gold-bearing Rocks — Fossils at Ffestiniog — Porus's Grave — Castell Prysor — Sarn Helen — Lingula Flags of Snowdon — Near Bangor — And among the Moraines of Cwmgrainog — Lingula Flags of Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Malvern Hills — Miss Margaret Lowe — Black Shale Trilobites — Tremadoc Rocks — Sedgwick, Ramsay, and Salter on — Sections of near Portmadoc and Moel-y-gest — Fossils of Lingula Flags and Tremadoc Beds

Chapter IV. Lower Silurian Rocks

Llandeilo Rocks — Typical fossils of — Murchison and Sedgwick on — Cader Idris — Glacier of Llyn-y-Gader — Basaltic columns on Cader Idris — Ramsay on Glacial Lakes — Wild flowers on Cader Idris — Lake of Tal-y-llyn — Dolgelly — Cymmer Abbey — The Arans — Volcanic CONTENTS.

XIII PACE 78 Phenomena of Auvergne compared with those of Wales — The Arenigs — Llandeilo Strata of Snowdonia— Penmaenmawr and its Plants — The Berwyns — The Breidden Hills, Sections of — Potentilla rupestris — The Camp on the Breiddens — Stiper Stones, and Fossils of — "The Silurian System " — Sir Roderick and Lady Murchison — Sections to Visit — Upper Llandeilos of Builth — "The Rocks" and their Salmon Catch — Builth Castle and its Antiquities — Leland on the Death of Prince Llewellyn — LlanwTytyd Wells, and the " Wolves Leap " — Llynderw — Cromlech near Llangadock — Carngoch, and its Camp — Llandeilo — Roderick the Great — Dynevor — Merlin's Cave — Ruins of Dryslyn — Caermarthen, and Legend of Merlin — Pen Cader, and Cruelty of Henry II. — Kidwelly — The Castle, and Giraldus's Account of the wife of Maurice de Londres— Precelly Hills and Boulders — Pencaer and the French — Silurian Rocks in Abereiddy Bay — The "Bishop and his Clerks " — Llandeilo Beds in Musclewick Bay — Caradoc or Bala Rocks named by Murchison — Caer Caradoc — Caradoc Volcano of Snowdonia — Different Periods of Volcanic Activity in Wales — Dinas Mowddwy— -The Valley of Hirnant — Bala Limestone— Bala, Town and Lake of — The great Fault at — Giraldus and Camden on Bala Lake— The " Gwiniad " or Vendace of Bala Lake — Sir W. Jardine ou the Coregoni — Churchyard on the Gwiniad in 1587— Salmo ferox, taken by Sir P. Egerton — Note on the History of Churchyard, and his "Worthines of Wales " — The Alpine Char — Rare Plants at Bala — Caradoc Rocks of Caernarvonshire — Dolwyddelan and its Castle — Moel Siabod and Capel Curig ; the Geology and Wild Flowers — William Williams, the Botanical Guide ; his Death — The Miscodera Arctica — The Welsh Char in Llyn Cawellyn — Giraldus Cambrensis on Snowdon — Edward I. at — Rocks of Lleyn — Criccieth Castle — Conway, its Geology and its History — Diganwy Castle — Caradoc Rocks of the Berwyns — Corwen and Owen Glyndwr — Murchison's Sections by Powys Castle — Records of Powys Castle — Caradoc Range — Onny Section — The Wrekin — Caradocs, near Llandovery —Roman Gold Mines in — Horn of the Bannog Ox — Miracles at Llandewi Brefi — Beavers in the Teifi — Strata Florida Abbey— Boulder Drift atTregaron — Fossils of Lower Silurians .........

Chapter V. Middle Silurian Rocks

Typical Fossils of — Lower Llandovery Rocks — Section at Noedd-y-grug — Mallwyd — The Devil's Bridge — Lisburne Lead Mines — Ice Action at Llyn Rheidol — Rbaiader Gwy, and its Antiquities — Staff of St. CONTENTS. PAOF. 129 Cyric at St. Harmon's —Camden on King Vortigem — Drygan Mountain and Glacial Lake— Boulders between Dolfan and Builth— Lead Mines on the Clarwen— Upper Llandovery or May Hill Sand stone—Typical Fossils of— Rev. T. T. Lewis, of Aymestry— Hollies Limestone— Stokesay Castle— Section of Llandovery Rocks on the Longmynds— Onny Section— Mr. Aikin on tlie Wrekin— Corton, near Presteign— Boulders of Old Badnor Conglomerate— May Hill Beds, near Builth— Of the Malverns— Section from Malvern to Ledbury— Elevated May Hill Beds at the Wind's Point— Section on the Worcester and Hereford Railway — May Hill Strata in a Fissure in Malvern Gneiss in Eastnor Park — Where to find Fossils of — Discovery of Earliest-known Pterygotus — Howler's Heath —Fungi of —The Lickey— Dr. Buckland on Lickey Quartz— Lucy on Severn Drifts— Kendal End — May Hill— Meaning of Name— Scenery from — Llandovery Rocks of Pembrokeshire — Tarannon Shales in Mont gomeryshire — Near Conway — Between Builth and Rhayadr — Llan drindrod and Cefn Llys Church — Tarannon Shales equivalent of Woolhope Shales— Organic Remains of Middle Silurian Rocks .

Chapter VI. Upper Silurian Rocks

Typical Fossils of — Denbighshire Grits — District of — Leland on Bwedd Arthur— Castle of Denbigh — Leland and Churchyard's Account of — Llanrwst and Burke on — Camp on Carnedd Llewelyn — Tomb of Llewelyn-ap-Jorwerth — Legend of St. Winefrede — Bettws-y-Coed, and its Fossils — Camden on Coch Castle — Mallwyd — Cwm Hir Abbey — Woolhope Limestone at Old and New Radnor- — Stanner Rocks, sketch of — Rare Plants at — Murchison on — Giraldus Cambrensis at Radnor — Leland on its ruined Castle — Eruptive Rocks of — Valley of Woolhope and Haughwood — Drift at Hagley, and Fossils of — Stoke Edith Park and Tarrington — Murchison's Room — Wenlock Shales of North Wales— Oerrig-y-Druidion and Garn Bris, inscribed Stone near — Ruthin, Antiquities of, and Churchyard on — Wenlock Shale in Llangollen District — Dinas Bran — Eagles at — Wenlock Shales near Builth — Llandovery and Caermarthen — in May Hill Country and in the Usk District — Wenlock Limestone Section — Wenlock Edge, view from — Coral Reefs, Darwin and Jukes on — Corals at Benthall Edge —Buildwas Abbey, Antiquities of — Landslip near, in 1783 — Trilobites discovered afterwards — Abbey of Wenlock — Milburga, Lady Abbess— Leland on Wenlock — Wigmore Castle, and Valley of Denudation— Drift there, and Lias Fossils — Antiquities of Wigmore— The Wren's Nest — Wenlock CONTENTS.

XV PAGE 153 Limestone of the Woolhope District — Dormington Quarries and Fossils — Wenlock Rocks near Malvern — Malvern Museum — Wenlock Crinoidea — Wenlock Rocks of May Hill — Gloucester Museum — Tortworth Limestones — Dit at Usk — Marloes Bay, and near Cardiff' — Ludlow Rocks — The Oldest Fossil Fish — Lower Ludlows of North Wales— Caer Digol— Outlier of Clun Forest— Offa's Dyke—Church yard on— Camp at Coxwall Knoll — "Water Break its Neck " — Bone Beds, Ancient and Modern — Bradnor Quarries — Murchison at New church, near Kington — Shobdon Hill and Church — Ludlow Rocks, near Hay, Breconshire — The "Boughlinne" of Leland — Druid's Stone — Corn-y-fan, Anticlinal and Section — Trecastle and the Gwyns — Hugh Miller at Sedgeley — Ludlow, its Geology — Castle — and Milton's Comus— The Church, and Feathers Inn— Leintwardine, and its Star Fish — Grayling in Teme, and noticed by Giraldus Cambrensis— Aymestry Limestone and Fossils — Mortimer's Cross, and Battle-field— Ledbury, and its Fossils and Antiquities— Camden on — Landslips — Usk, its Geology and Antiquities — Upper Silurians of Pembroke— Abberley — Ankerdine— Trimpley — Linley, and Neen Sollers — Organic Remains of Upper Silurians ....

Chapter VII. Old Red Sandstone

Typical Fossils of — Classification of Strata — Origin of name— The Freshwater Theory— The Forest of Hayes and Clun Forest Outliers — Glascwym and its bell — Old Red Fish in Ludlow Museum — Sir P. Egerton on Old Red Fishes — Huxley and Lankester, ditto — Old Red Fish in Marine Deposits — The " South Stone Rock " — Leominster, its Geology and Antiquities — Giraldus, Leland, and Camden on — Ivington Camp — Hereford, its Antiquities and Geology — Sutton Walls — Dynedor Camp — The White Cross — Weobly — Kenchester — Old Red of Malvern and Ledbury— Of Kentchurch, Rowlestone, and Eyas Harold — Antiquities of Kilpeck, Kentchurch, Grosmont, and Skenfrith— Giraldus Cambrensis at Abergavenny — Churchyard on — The Scyrrid and Sugar Loaf — Sir David Gam — Sir John Oldcastle — Llanthony Abbey — Giraldus on Geology of— Travertine near, and Asplenium viride — Sermon at Hay — Giraldus, Leland, and Camden on Hay— Clifford Castle on Wye drifts, with bed of bones — Brynllys Castle — Arthur's Stone a Cromlech — Old Red of Caermarthenshire — Llanstephan Castle— In Pembrokeshire, at St. Ishmael's — Isle of Skomer, and Birds' eggs — Brownstones of the Old Red— Brecon, its Antiquities and Geology — Gaer Bannium and the Maiden Stone — The Brecon Beacons and Glacial Moraines — Talgarth — Llangorse CONTEXTS.

PAOE Lake, its Fish, Plants, and Prehistoric Remains— The Bwlch— Boulders near Buckland— Flint Spear at Llanelin— Upper Old Red —The Daren— Glanusk and its inscribed Stone— Crickhowell Castle —Farlow (Clee Hills) and its Fishes— Hugh Miller on the Pterichthys— Conularia in the Farlow Beds— Ross, Section near— The Buckstone and Monmouth— Old Red of Pembrokeshire— Near Tenby— Manorbeer Castle, Birthplace of Giraldus Cambrensis— Organic Remains of Old Red Sandstone 212

Chapter VIII. Devonian Rocks

Murchison anil Sedgwick on — Opinions of Trof. Jukes and Mr. Etheridge —Dr. Holl on South Devon— Table of Rocks of North and South Devon and Cornwall — Dunster and Foreland Basement Rocks — Pin-lock, Dunkerry, and Culbone— Glenthorne — The Quantock Hills —Antiquarian Relic at Crowcomhe Court— Cleave Abbey— Geology of Lynmouth and Countcslmry — The Devil's Cheese-ring — Tlie Valley of Rocks, Hunter's Inn, and the Hangman's — Combe Martin — Ilfracombe — Trap Rocks of Muddiford and Rockham — Morthoe and Tracey — " Memorials of Barnstaple " — Hull Point and Igneous Rocks — Marwood and its Fossils — Boulder at Croyde — Braunton Burrows — Leland on St. Branock — Birthplace of Gay — South Devon Sections — Fossil Fish Remains, formerly supposed to be Fossil Sponges — Fish in Mr. Pcngelly's collection — Torquay — Meadfoot Sands — Position of Looe Fish Beds — Looe and Polperro— Mr. Couch of Polperro — Penzance Museum — Chudleigh — Bovey Tracey — Miocene Lake, and Plants of — Pengelly's "Head," and Arctic Plants in — Kent's Cavern — Submerged Forests noticed by Giraldus Cambrensis, Leland, and Dr. Borlase — Windmill Hill (Brixham) Bone Caves — Change of Level — Plymouth Limestone and Plymouth Bone Caves — Geology of Penzance — Oki Camp near Samphire Island — Fish at Bedruthen — Granites of Dartmoor and Cornwall — Brent Tor — Abbey of St. Rumon — Organic Remains .... 258

Chapter IX. Lower Carboniferous Rocks

Age of Carboniferous Deposits — Plants in Old Red strata — Limestone of North Wales — Tregarnedd and Owen Tudor — Rowlands the Antiquary — Trap dyke of Plas Newydd — Outlines of Mountain Lime- CONTENTS.

XVII PAGE 303 stone at Preistholm and Llangvihangel — Antiquity of Priests' Island — Great Ormes Head and its Geology — The Cotoneaster vulgaris — Botany of Llandudno — Abergele and change of Level — The Caves of Cefn — Marine shells there — The Glutton — Geology of Vale of Clwyd — Pillar of Eliseg — Chirk Castle, rare Plants at — Carboniferous Limestone of Clee Hills — Fossil Fish of — Professor Morris on — " Dhustone" ofthe Clees — Pen-Cerrig Calch, a remarkable outlier — Castell Cerrig Cennen, Stone Hatchet at — Cardiff, its Antiqui ties — Rhætic beds near — Castell Coch and Caerphilly Castle — The Geology round Bridgend — Ewenny Priory, and tomb of the Founder — -Ogmore Castle — Geology of Southerndown and Dunraven — Llantwit Major — Peninsula of Gower — Worms Head, and Leland on — Rare plants of Gower — Caves of Gower — Cromlechs of — Col. Wood's discoveries — Swansea Castle and Church — Bishop Gower — White Rose of England — Tenby, geology round — Giltar and Lydstep — Devonian fossils at Skrinkle — Stackpole Court and Cheriton — Giraldus Cambrensis on St. Govan's Head and Chapel — The Eligug Stacks and Sea Birds of — Giraldus on a Falcon of Henry II. — Rare plants of — Hoyles Mouth, Tenby and its Bone Cave — Caldy Island Bone Caves — Submerged Forest at Aniroth — Pembroke, its antiqui ties — Giraldus Cambrensis on — Dit Comiues and Leland — Lamphey Palace and Carew Castle, Giraldus on — Chepstow and the Wynd cliff — Tintern Abbey, its Antiquities and Geology — Whitchurch, Symonds Yat, and the Wye Bone Caves of the Dowards — Plants of the Dowards and Symonds Yat — The Hermit of the Great Doward — The Machen Boulder — Organic Remains of Carboniferous Lime stone ...........

Chapter X. Carboniferous Rocks

Millstone Grit — Section of Carboniferous Rocks in Central England — Scenery of Millstone Grit — Watt's Dyke— Churchyard on Oswestry — Whittington Castle — Peverell of the Peak — Millstone Grit of the Caermarthen Hills — of Forest of Dean — of Ross district— of Pembrokeshire — Haroldstone Boulder — The Coal Measures — Historic notes on Coal — Prof. Hull's "Coal-fields of Great Britain" — Palæozoic Coal-fields and their Geographical Distribution — Formation of Coal — The "Sunk Country" of Lyell — Sir William Logan's observations — Prof. Phillips's "Life on the Earth" — Botany of Coal— Chemistry of Coal — Coal-fields of N. Wales — Anglesea — Flintshire ■ — Basingwerk Abbey — Denbighshire Coal-field — Holt Castle — Bangor Iscoed — Shrewsbury Coal-field — Bitumen of CONTENTS. PACE Haughmond— Shrewsbury Battle-field— Coal Measures of the Clee Hills— Forest of Wrye, Rare Plants of— Coalbrook Dale, Fossil Fishes of— Forest of Dean Coal-field, its Oaks— Scenery— Geology —South Wales Coal-fields— Blaenavon— Beaufort— The Elled Patch — Merthyr Tydvil — Pennant Grit— Reptiles of Coal Measures — Anthracite — Neath Abbey — Former continuity of Coal Measures — Organic Remains .... ..... 358

Chapter XI. Permian Rocks

Sedgwick and Murchison on— Table of Permian Strata — Corncockle Muir and its Footprints — Permian Rocks of N. Wales — At Anglesea ■ — Vale of Clwyd — Wrexham — Ellesmere — Permian Plants — The " Alberlmry Breccia " — Lilleshall— Bridgenorth, Leland on — Antiquities of — Robert de Belesmo — Sections of Drifts near — Permian Sections near — Quatford — Quat Church and singular Inscription — Church Hill a Permian Outlier — Alveley — Coton Conglomerate — Warshill Breccias — Enville Breccias, Lyell on — Boulder Drift of Bushbury— Hagley and Hugh Miller— The Clent Hills— The Leasowes and Shenstone — Halesowen— Warshill Camp — Stagbury Hill — Rosebury Rock — Permian Puzzle at Malvern — Mammoth Remains at Malvern Museum— Malvern and Haffield Breccia — Haffielil Camp anil Boulders near — May Hill Permians — Organic Remains of Permian Rocks .......

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Eligug Stacks, near Pembroke ..... Frontispiece. 343 Canisp, Suilven and Coulmore ........ 25 South Stack Lighthouse, Anglesea . . . . . 31 Malvern HiUs 32 The Longmynds ........... 48 Pass of Llanberis .......... 55 Breidden Hills . 80 Cader Idris ........... 81 Stiper Stones East 90 Shelve. West of Stiper Stones 92 Caradoc Range 119 View from Stanner Rocks ........ 161 Ludlow Castle 183 The Palmer's Cairn Landslip 205 Silurian Rocks of Marloes Bay 213 Llanthony Abbey 237 Marloes Bay— Gateholm and Part of Skomer Island . . . . 242 Whythall, near Ross 257 Sibyl Head 261 Rocks of the Dowards 303 Home of Draba Aizoides XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Tenby 340 St. Gowan's Chapel, Pembrokeshire ....... 342 Jem the Slipper 354 Vegetation of the Carboniferous Era ....... 359 Dean Forest, near Ruardean ........ 367 Speech House, Dean Forest 387 Gurmaya Hills of the South Ural Mountains . . . 398 Permian Breccia at Haffield, near Ledbury . . . . . . RECORDS OF THE ROCKS.

Introduction

.

Introductory Remarks — Astronomy of the Ancients — Astronomical and Chemical Researches respecting the Earlier Stages of the Earth — Application of Optics to Chemistry by Spectrum Analysis — Opinions of the Chemist and Microscopist on the subject of Materials of the Earth's Interior- Volcanic and Plutonic Rocks — Earthquake Action — Elevation of Land since the Glacial Period — Ceaseless Change. During the last century Science has advanced with extra ordinary strides, and has assumed, in consequence, the utmost importance in the minds of men. In earlier times its progress was comparatively slow, and it is not difficult for the reader of History to trace the causes of non-development in the desola tion of barbaric warfare, the dark clouds of ignorance, and the curse of superstition, and religious persecution, which for ages hung over the whole of Europe.

In these later and less troubled times, aided by the freedom now extended to thought and scientific discovery, various branches of Philosophy march on with surer and steadier footsteps. And of no branch of Science can this be more truly said than of Geology. The question of the creation, or origin, and the development of the Earth, is a subject which must ever be of the greatest interest to God's intellectual creature — Man. And although there are many problems with which we are at present utterly at a loss how to deal, and many mysteries which we have not as yet penetrated, yet, looking upon all that has been B [i'IIAV. I. 2 RECORDS OF THE ROCKS. added to our knowledge by the patient investigations of those who have devoted a lifetime to geological research, we must allow that immense progress has of late years been made in acquiring knowledge with respect to the bygone history of this Planet.

The Science of Geology has conjured new forms of Life into existence, and to him who reads the Records of the Rocks there is unfolded a history such as the inventor of fairy tales never dreamed of, and which almost startles us sometimes by the strangeness of its revelations. By the aid of these records we can trace certain changes the Earth has undergone during innumerable epochs when as a world she has revolved in space, and during which, as far as we can learn, her Life systems have been progressing with time and development. The Records of the Rocks reveal to us that in the history of creation the lower animals preceded the higher ; the protozoa, mollusca, and Crustacea preceded the fish ; the fish preceded the reptile ; the reptile preceded the bird ; the bird preceded the higher mammalia ; and man did not appear upon the scene until long after many of the inferior animals had passed away for ever.

Palæontology, or the study of fossil Animals, requires much time and attention, and is hardly within the reach of an amateur who is distant from museums and libraries. Still, anyone may become acquainted with what may be termed the typical fossils of the various formations through good books and country col lections, and this knowledge will suffice for a commencement, at all events, in the study of Physical Geology. Physical Geo logy is open to everyone who is blessed with physical powers and mental activity, and it takes the lover of Nature among sea-cliffs, and shores ; mountains and vales ; active and extinct volcanoes; lava currents, recent, and old; by the glaciers of the Alps, and the extinct glaciers of mountains now no longer capped even with snow ; by silted-up lakes, and lakes now dammed by moraines whose ice is gone ; among furrowed hill sides, and glaciated glens. It is a glorious history this same Physical Geology, with its records of sea beds elevated into CHAI'. I.]

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 mountains, and its mountains lowered beneath the sea. In the following pages I have endeavoured to render some information respecting localities where such phenomena may best be seen and visited. The conclusions arrived at of late years through chemical and astronomical researches, respecting the earlier stages of the planet we inhabit, are so remarkable when compared with former views entertained on the subject, that it may be worth while to allude to what may be termed the Astronomy of the Earth be fore alluding to the history of earthquakes, earthquake action, and volcanic action in connection with her geology. Those who examine the records gathered respecting the knowledge of Astronomy among the ancients, collected by Sir George Corne wall Lewis, and Delambre, will feel convinced that man, in the earliest historic periods, possessed no real knowledge of the Solar System.

This Planet — our Earth — was supposed to be the central orb round which the Sun revolved daily. The firmament is represented by Hebrew and Greek writers as a massive, solid substance, with windows or openings in it through which the rain descended and the floods came. The earliest records respecting certain of the Fixed Stars is that contained in the Book of Job, where he speaks of the Almighty who " alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea ; which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." In the days of Hesiod and Homer (about 900 years b.c.) the annual motion of the stars, with respect to their rising and setting, is chronicled; nevertheless those cultivated Greeks conceived of the sun as a divine charioteer, who drove his fiery steeds over the steeps of heaven until he bathed them in the western waves.

Thales; who lived about 600 B.C., is the earliest philosopher with whom we can connect the pursuit of astronomy in Greece, and we find him calculating and predicting an eclipse of the Sun, which we learn from the Astronomer Royal came to pass on the 28th May, 585 B.C. Pythagoras taught that the earth is not motionless in the B RECORDS OF THE ROCKS. [CHAP, I. 4 centre of the universe, but moved in an orbit through space , and Philolaus, the contemporary of Socrates, and Democritus, committed the Pythagorean doctrines to writing, but the pro gress of astronomy was crashed out for a time by the religious persecution and death of Socrates. Empedocles (b.c 450) maintained the motion of the planets, although he thought that the fixed stars were riveted in a crystal heaven ; and the knowledge of astronomy was slowly developed, step by step, by the discoveries of Hipparchus (1G0 B.C.), and by Ptolemy (100 A.D.), until, in the sixteenth century, the Copcrnican system established astronomy as an experimental science.

The laws of the planetary motions had been ascertained by Kepler, and Tycho Brahe, when the revelations of the telescope burst upon Galileo (a.d. 1G09), and he beheld the moons of Jupiter illuminating their planet and undergoing eclipses in his shadow. To him also were first revealed the crescent phases of Venus, and a glimmering of the marvels of the planet Saturn, an enormous world lighted by no less than eight moons, and enveloped with splendid luminous rings. The grand Newtonian discovery of the Law of Gravitation followed ; a law now known to extend throughout the remotest universe; the law by which satellites revolve around their planets, and by which our Sun, the centre of a vast system, revolves, with all his host of planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites, round a common centre, as our moon revolves round our earth.

Notwithstanding these discoveries, until within a few years it was generally believed that the whole Celestial universe was created about C000 or 7000 years ago, just as it exists now, and the Nebular theory, or possible conversion of nebulæ, or star mist, into stars or planets, was considered as absolutely atheistic. Now ! astronomers boldly state that it is highly pro bable that the nebulæ are representatives of that primordial matter out of which the existing stars and suns have been fashioned, and that in these remote celestial bodies we behold some of the stages through which suns and planets pass iu chap, i.]