We think it may prove useful and interesting to the geological student if, from time to time, we give a brief sketch of the Geology of some of the more famous localities in England, adding directions where to go, and how to work—which, to say the least, will be a great saving of time and labour, and enable those who are anxious to visit rich and instructive fields of research to make the most of perhaps only a brief holiday—a matter of no little moment in these days of almost unceasing toil.

The lovers of nature who live in the smoky atmosphere of great towns, shut up day after day in a close counting-house, enjoy a ramble amongst new or favourite haunts all the more on this account; and it matters not whether they are naturalists, geologists, artists, or merely admirers of the picturesque—the relish for their particular hobby is more keenly felt because it can be rarely indulged in, even if many difficulties stand in the way.

Few persons who have a scientific turn have unlimited time and means at their disposal; and, therefore, to the majority in such a case it is of some consequence to see as much as they can, and take the shortest route to their destination. The rapid and comparatively cheap means of transit afforded by the railway is equally available both for business and pleasure; but where science is the object, it is not always easy in a new country to find out the best and most productive places, and a few hints from any one who knows them well are invaluable.

With the exception of the very able memoirs drawn out by Sir H. de la Beehe, in the “Geological Survey,” Vol. I, and the sections of the same survey, as compiled by Mr. David Williams, no coal-field has been so little described or worked out as that of the South Wales basin. Although the work of a master geologist, yet the very nature of these memoirs, describing the general arrangements of the rocks in the southwest of England, altogether precludes any attempt at minute geology, which, indeed, should mostly be supplied by local workers. Other coal-fields have been ably and intimately described, but this particular field only in very general terms. Why it should be so I know not, unless it is that only of late years its vast resources have been opened up, and that its many romantic vallies, teeming with beauty above and brimful of coal and mine beneath, have been made accessible either to the tourist or the mining adventurer. Every year, however, sees new railways opened in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire; and I have little doubt but that the completion of that magnificent work, the Crumlin viaduct, has done more than anything else to attract persons to that part of South Wales, either from a love of the beautiful, or the scientific interest attached to it. For the study of practical geology in its several aspects, this coal-field possesses many advantages, particularly in physical geology and the peculiar manner in which sections are obtained, owing to the nature of the ground.

The disposition of the coal measures is pretty generally known by most persons who have paid any attention to the science of Geology.

It will not, therefore, be necessary for me to describe their position or the place they occupy; undoubtedly they are of very ancient origin, being nearly allied to the old red sandstone, amongst which some of the fossils, or rather similar fossils, have been found, which I am about to describe.

Hugh Miller is the great authority regarding the old red sandstone deposits; no man laboured here with more assiduity than he, and is is my regret that I have not, as yet, informed myself more as to his labours. His recent posthumous work, the “Testimony of the Eocks,” alludes to some fish remains which Scotland has produced; but Professor Agassiz is still more eminent as it regards this interesting class of fossils.

I said interesting, for I had no conception that fish remains could have been rendered so remarkable, and this may be owing to the delicate and soft nature of the mud in which they have been laid. I cannot imagine that my readers should be so captivated with these remains as myself, for there is a peculiar interest felt by all those who conduce to any new discovery; and the more any science is studied the more fascinating it becomes, particularly if we have been led into it by an intimate knowledge of its mysteries from actual observation.

More things remain to be spoken of fossils; wonders of skill to be presented in their construction and design; marvels of mechanical devices for progression, for strength, for lightness, or for protection to be displayed; and consummate wisdom and benevolent forethought to be exhibited in their adaptation to the various purposes for which they were created—in fact, as much as we find to admire or to consider in the structure of existing animals or plants, in their means of developement or of growth, in the influences of climate and seasons upon them, so much also do we find for equal admiration and reflection in those ancient “medals” of past creations.

Even contorted and damaged fossils are not without their evidences.

Squeezed on either side or flattened, they do not merely ndicate the pressure to which they have been subjected, but the direction also from which it came. Everything connected with fossils is of high interest; but from first to last the value of fossils is in their teachings; and it is never by pounds, shillings, and pence that we can value them at all. In such a light they are but worthless bits of stone, as fit to mend the roads as to be saved. To minds that esteem them thus, they are no treasures, but merely merchandise. Properly studied, however, they convey their lessons of the past; and when regarded as letters in the vast and holy book of Nature, which must ever be read with solemnity and reverence, they take their places properly in the great sentences and wonderful passages of that mysterious language from which Geology interprets the order, wisdom, goodness, and prescience displayed in the animated worlds that were. It is thus we shall have attained to the true knowledge of the value of fossils, when we shall turn from such readings with adoration to the Great Author of all.