New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-08-17
win, TO the p,eeset dsy, gave Mr.. Hunt

ton and DAWN, 10 the p'eeso' ssy' s''e "'' "'A'
g'W. S,s~.S. read paper on the Partheno genesis
-, animals and plants The idea Of the pfodactoa Of
.n;pc ala and plants without the acoen Oh 1e nav
prineipIs is very ancient and IN moooIh .'t.eo
been almost universally rejected bnt ,seons a.
st;ons had seemed 10 prove its poseibhty among 'ne
ea .o.. ana nine species Of dGceous plants were
Snn 70 have ripened their seeds without the pollen
OF the male plant. -, .u.. o.,,rou,;.,
90 ,r"r Sir r, derrick Murchpon on the place OF some
c,ys,nll,pe rocks in the Highlands OF Scotland IN
xbich fossils have lately been found, proving these
rocks 10 be Of the lower Suran age ana correspond
inc 10 the Trenton Limestone and that the same oraer
o''"''A LONDON. July q, 1857.
MYDEAR SIR WILLIAM: Being unable, 10 my great
resret, to attend the Montreal meeting OF the Amert
can Association for the Advancement OF Science where
ny distinguished friend, Professor RAMSAY, VII rep
resent British Biologists and our Survey beg to
communicate to you and any geological coteDperales
Who NAV be present, the final determination u a
Question which has been much agtated IN ths coun-
try ard which has just been settled oy comparison
With North American typical fossils efLower SuuIi-
an sge. A. a..
This question is What is the true place IN the geo
logical series Of those great masses OF o.
subc,ysaliine rocks in the North Highlands OF oco.
land in some ofwhich organic remains were aisco'eioe
by Mr.. Charles Peach in 1850
That discovery induced me- in the same year 70 re-
visit the localities in the northwest part Oh gu
lspdshire on the east of Cape Wrath tDucnessI, IN
which the fossils had been detected my chief op)ec.
beino 10 ascertain if the views Of former explorers oil
that re giop including Sedgwck and my sell, IN lo|'
were correct viz That these quartz rocks anu Iuhe
stopes associated with mica schst and sort OF
eress are of more ancient date than the great series
az Old Red Sandstone or Devonian deposits that oc'
cupy so large portion Of the north east Oh
and are particularly developed IN Cathness anu 'ne
Orkney Islands. A;ohr
was accompanied by Prof. James Nicoll, were com.
muncated at the meeting of the British Association at
Glasgow in September, 1879, and puehsneo IN vac
volume of that year. See Trans OF the Sect,ons
the re. af me the opinions had formed IN TO-.
in company with Prof. Sedgwck. as to the anterlonty
of all such quartz rock with inercslafed 10
the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian system ane, Juug
ing from the facts that such crystalline anu suooy
tnl,ire strata reposed unconformably upon ancien,
prenitoid pueiss and were fanked ard surmounted
rarseresiyely by the ichthyohic deposits OF Cath
ness | expressed my belefthat although very iinPe,
feet al difficult Of absolute determination the fossils
u f md by Mr. Peach were of Lower Siurian age.
At that time my eminent and lamented TREND the
late Hugh Miller had suggested Theoretically that tue
auaItzites ard hmestones of the Western Highlands
might proye 10 be the metamorphosed equivalents Oh
the Old Red series of the East Coast; and, subse-
ouenty Prof NicOl has even endeavored to shog tnat
these rocks may be the metamorphosed representa-
yes of the carbonferous series Of the South OF SCOT
land. Both these suggestions We're oil course opposed
to own belief and as they have been put forth by
distinguished contemporaries, have now 10 snow no"
INV own views have been sus aimed.
Within these few weeks Mr.. {. Peach has found,
in the same locality jurne ss), other and better pre-
served fossils which have, rejoice to say set the
0uesto reratq al rest as will be seen by the annexed
note of Mr. Salter who unhesitatngy compares these
remains with those known to Mr. James Hail. yourself
and other North American biologists, as occupying
the true Sluran position of the calcerous Sand Rocks
ard base of the Trenton Llmestones.
II is of course most gratify to me to find thathe
general views of succession OF the rocks OF my baVe
l. Ie p1io cd as Ia
opinions thus formed rrespectiyely OF geological eve
dences and simply from the physical relations OF the
rock should have been thus supported by fossil
discoveries.
difficulty in understanding and admitting the CONVEX
sion Of Lower Siluran sediments into quartz rocks,
cryetane lmes tone mica schists chl0rti sates &c
since their eastern coast ranges exhibit such phe
nomena, some OF when nave Deeh ueSctioeo anu
mapped by yourself.
To the biologists Of the old county this determine
ton is of the deepest interest for 1t gives them Key
to unrayel the real age of large masses OF the quartz
ties mestones cboItc aud clay states, mica schists
and quasi gnessi rocks sometimes m0re sometimes
less me amo phosed which occupy vast wild tracts oi
the Highlands Of Scotland
The general order of the Scottish Rocks is, there
fore, pretty well ascertained. The lowest known rocks
sre of ganitoid gness, the upturned edges
of which repose certain hard gritty beds, and congo
nerates often Of red colour which. in the early days
of tur science, were COMPOUNDED with the Old Red
Sandstone. Now however, that the existence OF con-
gOmerates at the different levels in the Lower Suran
rocks Of the South OF Scotland has been demonstrated
see Sluia PIP. l56 l60, the old errata as depend.
ent mineral characters only have been swept away
The lowest indeed of the coDglomerates on that on
the northwest coast Of the Highlands may pass for
tie Cem6iian Rocks Of the Geological Survey. Then
follows in ascending order the series Of quantities.
mica and Cbloic schlsts, &c, with Included lime
stores, representing in metamorphc condition the
Lower Siurian sediments.
1t highly probable that the Upper Slurian Rocks
ub pnt in he
real equivalent in the Highlands; since the metamor
phic rocks above adyerted 10 are uncontormaoiy
Ovelapped by those conglomerates and sandstones
which form the very base or the Devonan ROCKS or
Old Red Sandstone.
That great series is clearly exhibited the north
east coast Of the Highlands and is made up OF three
subdivisions, viz: (s lower conglomerates and sand
stone lb) middle hagstones and schsts, with abund
apce of the weikI lchiby olltes, and c overlay
ing ssndstones-the latter constituting the northern
headlsnds Of Cathnes, and the chief hills of the Ok
ney Islands.
feel confident that the triple series represents in
full, as have endeayored to show in my work, 81
luis The DeyCnan rocks Of Dtyonshire. rs well as
the saty rocks Of the Rhensh Provinces Including
the teIrsin Rhenan of Dumont.
The tJpcIIHentum cruces, as respects Russia, was,
in fact, settled by the discoveries of my colleagues
De Nereui Keyrling, and myself when We found
the fossil shells Of Deyonshire and Of the gorges Of
the kline ia the same beds with the ichthyotes OF
the Scotch Old Red-maDy species being identical.
III tuning 10 Ireland, We have there obtained evil
dences illustrative of the conversion of Lower Sluran
rocks, shown by sections across the Connemara
Mountains, where great succession Of crystalline
limestone and quantities. including the green Come
marble, have been observed to lie directly be-
meath strata with fossils Of the Landovery Rock,
Middle Sur6nl. have had no hesitation in consid-
erng these aered TO be representatives OF the
Lower Siluriankof other tracts See Siluria p 1881.
Again adveIting to Ireland the Survey under our
fierd Mr. Beete Jskes, has ascertained that in the
DDgle Promontory true Upper Siurisn Rocks, with
l.ek Awfo Gtta ~
sumounted by many thousand feet Of hard chloritic
ard silioous grts AID icbists GIengarif gns which
represent, in my option, the great Of the De-
woman Rocks. The peculiarly, however, of the Irish