LXV. Scottish Geology: Its Proofs and Problems

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T he author stated that by its proofs he meant what was known, or at least generally admitted, by competent geologists; and by its problems what was still doubtful and required further investigation. His object was not to sketch the history of Scottish Geology, which, about the beginning of the century, was a mass of theories and disputations between Wernerians and Huttonians, and which at a later period was little else than a nomenclature of rocks and minerals; but he could not avoid mentioning the names of such men as Hutton, Playfair, Ure, Sir James Hall, M‘Culloch, Williams, and Jamieson, as contributing largely, even amidst these unproductive discussions, to the progress of the science. Legitimate geology could date back little more than thirty years, and during that period its advancement in Scotland was indebted in no small degree to the labours of Fleming, Smith, Cunningham, M‘Laren, Hugh Miller, and especially to those of Lyell, Murchison, Nicol, Geikie, and others who were still steadily endeavouring to unravel its many complicated physical as well as palæontological problems. He then took in review the various stratified systems, from the Laurentian up to the most recent accumulations, pointing out the known from the unknown, and from the doubtful or what required more minute investigation. Admitting the existence of Laurentian strata in the Hebrides and northwest corner of Scotland, it still required investigation to determine whether these were the true equivalents of the rocks of the St. Laurence, or were merely a set of gneissic schists