The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-14 00:00:00

ROYAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of this society on Monday even-
ing, a paper, written by the Rev. Dr. Duncan of
Ruthwell, was read, respecting certain foot-prints
of animals observed in the sandstone rock at
Corncockle quarry, near Dumfries. The phe-
nomenon described is rare, perhaps unique of
its kind, and the paper on this account excited
a good deal of interest. A specimen of the
rock, with some of the marks in it, and casts in
plaster of others, accompanied the communica-
tion. The sandstone is of the kind which geo-
logists call the Newer Red Sandstone ;" it is
regularly stratified and splits into thin plates ;
and dips to the south at an angle of 38 degrees.
The marks considered as the foot-prints of ani-
mals, recur not on the outer surface merely, but
on almost every stratum down as far as the guar-
riffs have gone, a depth of forty feet. They
are general!), from half an inch to three-fourths
of an inch deep, and of various,breadths, the
smallest corresponding in size to the foot of a
hare, 'and the largest to that of a foal. In one
specimen, something like the impression of toes
was exhibited. But the circumstance which most
strongly favour,m, the_.suppositien that they are
real root-prints of) animals is, that they occur
always in double rows, generally at the width of
six or seven inches asunder, that the prints of
the two rows discover a variation of position
corresponding to the different set of the right
and left foot in' many animals, and that vs-
riations corresponding to difference of form
in the fore and the hind-foot are also traced.

—lt is remarkable that the tracks all pro-
ceed either front the lower edge upwards,
or from the upper edge downwards, and
never horizontally along the face of the strata.
—The prints made in ascending can be dis-
tinguished from those made in descending;
in the latter the animal's fore foot appears to
have slipped forward in seine cases three or four
inches before it sunk so deep in the stratum as
to support its weight. In the ascending prints,
not only is there a distinct depression, but a
small swell behind, occasioned by a slight dis-
placement of a portion of the matter of the
stratum, then evidently in a soft state. An ex-
tract of a letter from Dr. Buckland was read upon
the subject. That eminent geologist is satisfied
that the marks arc the .real foot prints of animals,
though Mr. Sedgwick and others, it appears, are
sceptical. Dr. Buckland thinks that the animals
!mist have been either of the crocodile or tortoise
species; but most probably of
.the latter. To
get a practical illustration, he made a live tortoise
in his possession walk over soft pie crust placed
in an inclined position, and the result tended to
confirm his opinion.
We see little reason to doubt that these are
really the foot prints of animals ; and if they be,
the facts to a certain extent may be explained
without much difficulty. Geologists know well
that lizards and tortoises, amphibious animals,
are the first quadrupeds that existed. As we have
the skeletons in strata nearly as old as the sand-
stone alluded to, (the Lias limestone), it is no
ways unaccountable that we should find their foot
marks. We know also from innumerable facts
that sandstone generally, or perhaps universally,
has once been soft, and must have passed through
every varying degree of consistency before it
became solid. If while the sandstone in ques-
tion was in a certain state of softness, there were
amphibious animals living in the water which
perhaps partially covered it, analogy leads us
to believe that they would occasionally ascend
from the water to the dry land, and again
descend from the dry land to the water.—
Their natural and usual course would therefore be
up and down the strata, and not horizontally
along ; and they might leave footprints such as
we find in this case. There is nothing in this
supposition but what geology would teach us to
expect ; but the most material inferences dedu-
ciblefrom it seem to be these. First, that the
lien in a soft state,
formation of some of the sandstone rocks was
not effected by the agency of great debacles oper-
ating with violence, but went on gradually with-
out
n rock, th e animal life,
since we find here stratum above stratum with
disturbing the continuation of
the same sort of Secondly, that
that is, when in course of formation, had the
same inclined position which it has at present,
a conclusion of some theoretical importance. It
this stratified sandstone
is much to be wished that quarriers were a little
better informed on such subjects, for many pre-
cious geological facts have been lost in conse-
quence of their ignorance.
Mr. Stevenson mentioned that he had wen
foot•prints of a different kind very distinctly ,
"narked in a quarry near Forfar, and that he ex-
pected to have specimens to lay before the so-
ciety in a few days.—Scotsman.