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THE
OLD RED SANDSTONE;
OR,
NEW WALKS IN AN OLD FIELD.
BY
HUGH MILLER,
AUTHOR OF "FOOT-PRINTS OF THE CREATOR," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
FROM THE FOURTH LONDON EDITION.
BOSTON:
GOULD AND LINCOLN,
59 WASHINGTON STREET.
1851.
STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.
Printed by G. C. Rand & Co. No. 3 Cornhill.
DEDICATION.
TO
RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, Esq., F. R. S., Etc.,
PRESIDENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
In the autumn of last year, I sat down to write a few geologicalsketches for a newspaper; the accumulated facts oftwenty years crowded upon me as I wrote, and the fewsketches have expanded into a volume. Permit me, honoredSir, to dedicate this volume to you. Its imperfections aredoubtless many, for it has been produced under many disadvantages;but it is not the men best qualified to decide regarding itwhose criticisms I fear most; and I am especially desirous tobring it under your notice, as of all geologists the most thoroughlyacquainted with those ancient formations which it professespartially to describe. I am, besides, desirous it shouldbe known, and this, I trust, from other motives than those ofvanity, that, when prosecuting my humble researches in obscurityand solitude, the present President of the GeologicalSociety did not deem it beneath him to evince an interest inthe results to which they led, and to encourage and assist theinquirer with his advice. Accept, honored Sir, my sincerethanks for your kindness.
Smith, the father of English Geology, loved to remark thathe had been born upon the Oolite—the formation whosevarious deposits he was the first to distinguish and describe,and from which, as from the meridian line of the geographer,the geological scale has been graduated on both sides. I[vi]have thought of the circumstance when, on visiting in mynative district the birthplace of the author of the SilurianSystem, I found it situated among the more ancient fossiliferousrocks of the north of Scotland—the Lower Formationof the Old Red Sandstone spreading out beneath and aroundit, and the first-formed deposit of the system, the Great Conglomerate,rising high on the neighboring hills. It is unquestionablyno slight advantage to be placed, at that early stageof life, when the mind collects its facts with greatest avidity,and the curiosity is most active, in localities where there ismuch to attract observation that has escaped the notice ofothers. Like the gentleman whom I have now the honor ofadd