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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Working-man's True Policy. His only Mode of ac-
quiring Power.-The Exercise of the Faculties essen-
tial to Enjoyment.-No necessary Connection between
Labour and Unhappiness.-Narrative.-Scenes in a
Quarry. The two Dead Birds.-Landscape.-Ripple
Markings on a Sandstone Slab.-Boulder Stones.-In-
ferences derived from their water-worn Appearance.-
Sea-coast Section.- My first-discovered Fossil.-Lias
Deposit on the Shores of the Moray Frith.-Belemnite.
-Result of the Experience of half a Lifetime of Toil.-
Advantages of a Wandering Profession in connection
with the Geology of a Country.-Geological Oppor-
tunities of the Stone-mason.-Design of the present
Work. 25-41
CHAPTER II.
The Old Red Sandstone.-Till very lately its Existence as
a distinct Formation disputed. Still little known.-Its
great Importance in the Geological Scale.-Illustra-
tion. The North of Scotland girdled by an immense
Belt of Old Red Sandstone.-Line of the Girdle along
the Coast.-Marks of vast Denudation.-Its Extent par-
tially indicated by Hills on the Western Coast of Ross-
shire. The System of great Depth in the North of Scot-
land.-Difficulties in the way of estimating the Thick-
ness of Deposits.-Peculiar Formation of Hill.-Illus-
trated by Ben Nevis.-Caution to the Geological Critic.
-Lower Old Red Sandstone immensely developed in
Caithness. Sketch of the Geology of that County.—Its
strange Group of Fossils.-Their present place of Sepul-
ture. Their ancient Habitat.-Agassiz.-Amazing Pro-
gress of Fossil Ichthyology during the last few Years.-
Its Nomenclature.-Learned Names repel unlearned
Readers. Not a great deal in them.
42-61
CHAPTER III.
Lamarck's Theory of Progression illustrated.-Class of
Facts which give Colour to it. The Credulity of Un-
belief.-M. Maillet and his Fish-birds.-Gradation not
Progress.-Geological Argument. The Present incom-
plete without the Past.-Intermediate Links of Crea-
tion.-Organisms of the Lower Old Red Sandstone.—
The Pterichthys.-Its first Discovery.-Mr Murchison's
Decision regarding it.-Confirmed by that of Agassiz.—
Description. The several Varieties of the Fossil yet
discovered.-Evidence of Violent Death, in the Atti-
tudes in which they are found.-The Coccosteus of the
Lower Old Red.-Description.-Gradations from Crus-
tacea to Fishes.-Habits of the Coccosteus.-Scarcely
any Conception too Extravagant for Nature to
realize.. 62-82
CHAPTER IV.
The Elfin-fish of Gawin Douglas.-The Fish of the Old
Red Sandstone scarcely less curious.-Place which they
occupied indicated in the present Creation by a mere
Gap.-Fish divided into two great Series, the Osseous
and Cartilaginous.-Their distinctive Peculiarities.-
Geological Illustration of Dr Johnson's shrewd Objec-
tion to the Theory of Soame Jenyns.-Proofs of the in-
termediate Character of the Ichthyolites of the Old Red
Sandstone.-Appearances which first led the Writer to
deem it intermediate.-Confirmation by Agassiz.-The
Osteolepis.-Order to which this Ichthyolite belonged.--
Description.-Dipterus.—Diplopterus.—Cheirolepis.—
Glyptolepis.
83-109
CHAPTER V.
The Classifying Principle, and its Uses.-Three Groupes
of Ichthyolites among the Organisms of the Lower Old
Red Sandstone.-Peculiarities of the Third Group.-Its
Varieties. Description of the Cheiracanthus.-Of two
unnamed Fossils of the same Order.- Microscopic
Beauty of these Ancient Fish.-Various Styles of Or-
nament which obtain among them.-The Molluscs of
the Formation.-Remarkable chiefly for the Union of
Modern with Ancient Forms which they exhibit. Its
Vegetables.-Importance and Interest of the Record
which it furnishes.
110-126
CHAPTER VI.
The Lines of the Geographer rarely right Lines.-These
last, however, always worth looking at when they occur.
-Striking instance in the Line of the Great Caledo-
nian Valley.-Indicative of the Direction in which the
Volcanic Agencies have operated.-Sections of the Old
Red Sandstone furnished by the Granitic Eminences of
the Line.-Illustration.-Lias of the Moray Frith.-Sur-
misings regarding its original Extent.-These lead to
an Exploratory Ramble.-Narrative.-Phenomena ex-
hibited in the course of half an hour's Walk.-The little
Bay.-Its Strata and their Organisms. 127-141
CHAPTER VII.
Further Discoveries of the Ichthyolite Beds.-Found in
one Locality under a Bed of Peat.-Discovered in an-
other beneath an ancient Burying-ground.—In a third
underlying the Lias formation.-In a fourth overtopped
by a still older Sandstone Deposit.-Difficulties in as-
certaining the true Place of a newly-discovered Forma-
tion. Caution against drawing too hasty Inferences
from the mere circumstance of Neighbourhood.—The
Writer receives his first Assistance from without.-Geo-
logical Appendix of the Messrs Anderson of Inverness.—
Further Assistance from the Researches of Agassiz.-
Suggestion.-Dr John Malcolmson.-His extensive Dis-
coveries in Moray.-He submits to Agassiz a drawing of
the Pterichthys.-Place of the Ichthyolites in the Scale
at length determined.-Two distinct Platforms of Being
in the Formation to which they belong.
CHAPTER VIII.
-
142-159
Upper Formations of the Old Red Sandstone.-Room
enough for each and to spare.-Middle or Cornstone
Formation. The Cephalaspis its most characteristic
Organism.- Description. The Den of Balruddery
richer in the Fossils of this middle Formation than
any other Locality yet discovered.-Various Cotempo-
raries of the Cephalaspis.-Vegetable Impressions.—
Gigantic Crustacean.-Seraphim.-Ichthyodorulites.-
Sketch of the Geology of Forfarshire.-Its older Depo-
sits of the Cornstone Formation.-The Quarries of Car-
mylie. Their Vegetable and Animal Remains.-The
Upper Formation.-Wide Extent of the Fauna and
Flora of the earlier Formations.-Probable Cause. 160-188
CHAPTER IX.
Fossils of the Upper Old Red Sandstone much more im-
perfectly preserved than those of the Lower.-The