Andrew Taylor

“ The industrialist obtains them from various parts of this formation. When a new substance has presented itself, having characters very different from the ordinary rank and file of coals, clay-bands, or fire-clays, its stratigraphical position will help us to determine if it is entitled to a distinct character. If its place be distinct from those of the ordinary coals, if likewise there are indications of a different physical mode of formation, then its claim to be a new mineral will be greatly strengthened. ”

“ The lower carboniferous rocks of Scotland consist of shales and sandstones more than a thousand feet thick, termed by Mr. Maclaren the calciferous sandstone series. A freshwater limestone, equivalent to that worked at Burdie House, near Edinburgh, is the predominant member of this group. This limestone runs in an elliptical area round that city for nearly twenty-four miles, extending through Fife, Midlothian, and Linlithgowshires. Part of this series extends to the south-east of the town of Bathgate, round which is the Torbane Hill mineral basin. ”

“ In many places the limestone is changed into a crystalline marble. One bed at Kirkton affords undoubted evidence that it was deposited by a thermal spring. The great thickness the main bed of limestone in the hills attains, may be accounted for as much from its being a chemical deposit, as one of animal origin. The sandstones and shales, too, are often curiously baked, showing the violence of the igneous agencies. But we call special attention to the prevalence of bitumen in the district, sometimes appearing solid in the crevices of the sandstones, as at Binny ”