Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 29.djvu/153

 Soc. vol. iii. p. 113). The same author, in the 3rd edition, of Anderson's ' Guide to the Highlands,' gave an admirable sketch of the geology of the county of Elgin. It was through the agency of the same indefatigable geologist that the fishes of Linksfield, and the first discovered specimen of Stagonolepis, were submitted to Prof. Agassiz, by whom they were described in the * Poissons Fossiles.'

The year 1852 forms an important era in the history of discovery in connexion with the Secondary rocks of the east of Scotland ; for then was first brought under the notice of geologists the existence of the interesting reptile Telerpeton Elginense, which was described by Dr. Mantell, while its position in the rocks of Elginshire was clearly pointed out by Captain Brickenden. The latter gentleman had in the previous year contributed some interesting notes to this Society on the position of the mass of Secondary rock at Linksfield (see Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 289, and vol. viii. pp. 97 and 100).

Hugh Miller, in his early work 'The Old Red Sandstone,' published in 1841, makes reference to the supposed Liassic strata of Eathie ; and during the numerous examinations which he made of his native county and adjoining districts, he collected many very interesting observations on the Secondary rocks, which are recorded in several of his deservedly popular works, especially in ' The Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland' (1854), 'Rambles of a Geologist' (1858), 'The Cruise of the Betsy,' (1858) and the ' Sketch-Book of Popular Geology ' (1859). Many of these observations will be referred to in the following pages. Hugh Miller's most important contribution to the Secondary Geology of Scotland, however, is the account which he gives, in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the ' Testimony of the Rocks,' of the beautiful flora, now shown to be of Upper Oolite age, of Sutherland and Ross.

The doubt which had been awakened by the discovery of Telerpeton as to the Old-Red-Sandstone age of the sandstones of the north of Elginshire was greatly intensified by Professor Huxley's announcement that the Stagonolepis of Agassiz was not a fish, as had hitherto been supposed, but a reptile of high organization, and with Crocodilian affinities. When, by the indefatigable labours of Dr. Gordon, a third species of reptile, the Hyperodapedon Gordoni, was brought to light, and its close affinities with well-known Triassic genera demonstrated by Professor Huxley, even the stoutest advocates of the Old-Red-Sandstone theory, including Sir Roderick Murchison, began to waver.

When the British Association met at Aberdeen in 1859, this great open question of geology was warmly discussed, many geologists taking the opportunity of examining the district ; the Triassic age of the Reptiliferous sandstone was strongly maintained by Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. C. Moore, and the Rev. W. Symonds.

In the same year Dr. Gordon published his admirable resume of the known facts ' On the Geology of the Lower or Northern part of the Province of Moray,' while Sir Roderick Murchison gave a discussion of the whole question in a paper read before this Society. The history of the changes of opinion on the subject can also be traced