The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 22
II. Previous Literature on the Subject
II. Previous Literature on the Subject.
The boulder clay of Caithness has long been celebrated for the abundance of organic remains which are present in that deposit, and its origin has consequently given rise to considerable discussion. The occurrence of marine shells in the boulder clay was first made known by Hugh Miller in the pages of The Witness in 1847, where he states that Mr John Cleghorn of Wick and Mr Dick of Thurso had supplied him with shells from their respective sides of the county.* The writer of the article also states that, to Mr Dick's chagrin, he had come across an old work, entitled, "Minutes of Observations Drawn Up in the Course of a Mineralogical Survey of the County of Caithness in 1802 by John Busby, Edinburgh," wherein were chronicled several instances of the occurrence of marine shells in the blue clay of Caithness. The survey was made at the instance of Sir John Sinclair.
In his rambles across the county Mr Dick brought to light many localities where this deposit yields marine shells, and blocks of fossiliferous secondary rocks along with chalk flints. He detected the ice-markings on the rocks at Thurso, and he noted the occurrence of erratics at various points which had travelled far from their parent sources.† Indeed, his long-continued examinations of the sections from the Thurso river to Freswick burn and southwards to Dunbeath, led him to the belief that the boulder clay, in some way or other, was of glacial origin.
* "Rambles of a Geologist; or, Ten Thousand Miles over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland."
† See "Life of Robert Dick," by Smiles, pp. 159, 164, 169, 184, 187, 195, 223, etc.
To Mr C. W. Peach, however, geologists are indebted for most of the knowledge we possess regarding the organic remains of that deposit. His residence at Wick for many years afforded him frequent opportunities of making collections of these remains. The results of his observations have been communicated mainly to this Society, and have been published in the Transactions, while some reports were also presented to the Geological Section of the British Association.* He was the first to publish lists of the organic remains, and was likewise the first to recognise the resemblance between the ice-worn blocks of the secondary rocks in the boulder clay and the representatives of these rocks on the Sutherlandshire coast. In 1868 he informed Dr Croll that his researches had led him to the conclusion that the boulder clay was a genuine product of land ice, and in every respect identical with Scotch till.† He also stated that he had come to believe that the ice movement had been from the Moray Firth towards the Atlantic, and that in all likelihood it might have been produced by masses of land ice crossing the Moray Firth from the high grounds to the south-east.
* See the following papers by Sir. C. W. Peach in the Trans, of the Roy. Phys. Soc., Edin., "On the Discovery of Calcareous Zoophytes in the Boulder Clay of Caithness," vol. i., p. 18; "On the Discovery of Nulliporcs and Sponges in the Boulder Clay of Caithness," vol. ii., p. 98; "On the Fossils of the Boulder Clay of Caithness," vol. iii., p. 38; "Further Observations on the Boulder Clay of Caithness, with an Additional List of Fossils," vol. iii., p. 396; also Brit. Ass. Rep. for 1862, Trans, of Geol. Sec., p. 83; Ibid, for 1864, p. 61.
† Geol. Mag., 1870, p. 212.
‡ Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., vol. xxii., p. 261.
* Geo!. Mag., 1870, pp. 209-271.
† "Climate and Time," p. 453.
In 1871, a paper appeared in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, by the Rev. Henry Crosskey and David Robertson, in which they give a short account of the boulder clay sections near Wick, along with a list of the Foraminifera obtained from that deposit.*
In the volume of the publications of the Palæontographical Society, published in 1874, Messrs G. S. Brady and Robertson, in their "Monograph on the Post-Tertiary Entomostraca," describe the boulder clay near Wick, and give a list of Entomostraca from the sections in Wick Bay and burn of Haster.†
Before leaving this part of the subject, reference ought to be made to the labours of Mr Joseph Anderson, Curator of the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh. Though he is more widely known by his researches among "the Picts' Houses" in Caithness, yet, during his residence in Wick, be was an earnest worker at the present subject, and several observers have been indebted to him for valuable assistance. He was the first to wash the Caithness boulder clay for microscopic organisms—a process which has added greatly to the list of the fauna obtained from that deposit.
* "The Post-Tertiary Fossiliferous Beds of Scotland," by the Rev. ii. W. Crosskey and Mr D. Robertson, Trans, of the Geol. Soc. of Glasgow, vol. iii., p. 126, 127. This paper was read in 1868.
† "Monograph of the Post-Tertiary Entomostraca," by Messrs G. S. Brady, the Rev. H. W. Crosskey, and Mr D. Robertson, Palaioutographical Soc., vol. xxviii., p. 7, 1874.