John MacCulloch

“ Considering merely the mechanical position of the sandstone, I confess myself unable to comprehend how by any combination of accidental abrasion or fracture, and successive deposition by precipitation, the present, and similar appearances can be produced. Although the projecting portion of the sandstone might have been able to maintain its place during the deposition of the greenstone bed, yet some other expedient must be resorted to before the curvature of the sandstone stratum can be accounted for. The explanation afforded by the Huttonian hypothesis is too apparent to require notice. ”

“ The rock on which Stirling Castle is built, and on which the town also is founded, resembles so strongly that on which Edinburgh stands, that it would be superfluous to describe it very particularly.
It forms a large stair, having its escapement towards the west, and its inclination similar to that of the great rocks which are not only found in the vicinity of Edinburgh, but are to be seen rising above the general level through the whole interval between Edinburgh and Stirling. ”

“ These thinner beds are separated from each other by laminæ, of a clay slate, very much confounded with the sandstone, and those two substances alternate frequently and irregularly, till they approach the thicker beds which lie in contact with the greenstone. As they approximate to it they become more indurated, and assume a texture approaching to that of hornstone. ”