Founded 1858 | Promoting public interest in geology and advancing geological knowledge
Founded 1858
Extracts from the Proceedings for previous anniversary years
Extracts from the Proceedings for 1875-1876 (Session 18)
Mr D. CORSE GLEN, C.E., made some remarks on a quartziferous porphyritic felstone, forming one of the beds of trap in the hills of Garrochhead, Bute. The rock is of a light grey colour, and encloses numerous crystals of a glassy white orthoclase felspar, and small crystals of grey quartz. A similar felstone porphyry is found in Arran, and probably belongs to the same period of eruption. Mr Glen stated that recently this porphyry at the Garrochhead had been quarried by the Marquis of Bute for the purpose of obtaining pillars and other ornamental work for the alterations at Mountstuart House. For this purpose it only suits some-what indifferently, as the rock is much fissured, large blocks not being easily obtainable. Neither does the stone take a very high polish, as it contains numerous small porous cavities, while the felspar in the crystals is partly decomposed into a chalky white condition. This light grey porphyry is, however, of considerable geological interest, as it forms a well-marked and characteristic variety, which seems to be restricted in the West of Scotland to Bute and Arran, while it occurs as one of the interbedded igneous rocks amongst the ordinary varieties of trap. A specimen of a recent trachytic porphyritic lava from Vesuvius was exhibited beside the Bute porphyry for comparison. The resemblance in colour of the felspar crystals, and that of the matrix in the two rocks was very striking, the only difference in the Bute and Arran specimens from that from Vesuvius being the free crystals of quartz, which, however, may have been developed in the matrix by a subsequent metamorphism of the rock, free crystals of quartz being rare in any other of the trap rocks. Mr Glen also exhibited two polished specimens of porphyry from Lochfyne-side, much used some years ago for causewaying the streets in Glasgow, but now superseded by granite. One was of a light grey, the crystals of white felspar being distinct, and taking on a good polish. The other had a reddish tinge, and a finer grain than the grey variety, but also polishing well.
Concerning Mr. Corse Glen’s use of the word “felstone”: according to the OED, the earliest use of the word occurred in 1858 in the writing of Archibald Geikie. However, “felstone” steadily declined in use, in favour of the older word “felsite”.
Professor GEIKIE, F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland, read a paper, ” Recent Researches into the History of the Deposits known as Old Red Sandstone.” (For an abstract of Professor Geikie’s paper, see Transactions, vol.5, 1877, pp. 276-281.)
At the close, Sir William Thomson said that Professor Geikie had undoubtedly conferred a great benefit on the Society in giving the results of his own and his assistants’ labours in a field of so much importance, and moved a hearty vote of thanks, which was cordially agreed to.
Mr WÜNSCH, F.G.S., expressed the great gratification it gave the Society to see the lecturer once more among them, and he hoped that at the approaching meeting of the British Association in Glasgow Professor Geikie would be present and help them to sustain the honour of the Scottish Geologists.
Mr JOHN YOUNG, F.G.S., also spoke to the vote of thanks, and said that he was glad to hear Professor Geikie uphold the theory of the fresh-water origin of the Old Red Sandstone.
Mr JAMES THOMSON, F.G.S., said he was pleased to hear Professor Geikie state that he had obtained evidence of a gradual but persistent passage from the marine conditions of the Old Red Sandstone into those of the Carboniferous age.
Sir WILLIAM THOMSON then made some remarks upon the enormous thickness of the beds, as stated by Professor Geikie, and wished to know if there had been a continuous deposition, and also what explanation could be given of the comparative paucity of life in certain of the strata.
Professor GEIKIE in reply, after thanking the Society for the cordial reception they had given him, said that there was great certainty as to the measurements he had submitted. In a distance of about two miles along the shore near Dunnotar, 10,000 feet of strata were exposed, being completely tilted on end. As to animal life the conditions were probably similar to those existing in the Caspian Sea of to-day, where some parts were so salt that they seemed to be entirely devoid of life, whilst other tracts were full of organisms greater or less.
Mr JAMES DAIRON read a paper entitled, “Notes on the Silurian Rocks of Dumfriesshire, and their fossil remains.” (Transactions, vol. 5, 1877, pp. 176-184, with two additional pages of illustrations of Moffat Graptolites.)
In illustration of his paper, Mr Dairon exhibited a fine collection of Graptolites and allied forms.
Mr JOHN YOUNG, F.G.S., said it was a matter of congratulation that the Society should number amongst its members at least one who had made a speciality of Graptolites. To the uninitiated these organisms might seem of small consequence, but they are, on the contrary, of great interest and importance. Mr Dairon has added from the Moffat field some new forms to the list of species, and his collection is certainly not rivalled in the West of Scotland, and possibly not in Britain.
Mr JAMES THOMSON, F.G.S., and the CHAIRMAN, also made some remarks commendatory of Mr Dairon’s paper, the latter mentioning a curious use of the alumina shale by the inhabitants of the Moffat district—that of steeping it in water and using the liquid as a wash to cure sore mouths.
Mr DAVID ROBERTSON, F.L.S., F.G.S., then read the following note “Upon the discovery of marine forms at a higher level than previously known in the neighbourhood of Glasgow.” — These Ostracoda were found in laminated clay taken from the sewer, cut in the early part of this season, in Campbell Street where it enters Sauchiehall Street. I have occasionally obtained Foraminifera, generally Polystomella striato-punctata, a genus common both to marine and brackish-water conditions, and which, therefore, indicates a marine or submarine origin of the deposit; but in this case the presence of Ostracoda, and, chiefly a marine species, Xestoleberis depressa, which inhabits the deeper water below the tidal belt commonly ranging from 2 to 60 fathoms, gives a decided marine character to the bed in which they are found. The most important facts are that this deposit is 102 feet above the present sea level, and that the elevation is the greatest, so far as I know, at which marine fossils have been found in the neighbourhood of Glasgow; but as similar organisms have been got more than 400 feet above sea-level at Chapelhall, near Airdrie, there is no reason to doubt that such exist at as great a height, or even higher, in our own district, were they only looked for when opportunities occur. One reason why the discovery of similar remains is not more frequent, is that objects which may be seen at a cursory inspection are looked for, and when they are not found the deposit is pronounced barren, though all the time it may abundantly contain such minute crustaceans as those I have noticed above.
Extracts from the Proceedings for 1900–1901 (Session 43)
Mr. P. MACNAIR read a paper by Mr. J. B. Murdoch and himself, entitled “Notes on a New Section of the Orchard Limestone South-west of Giffnock, and on Outcrops of the Neighbouring Limestones.” The object of the paper was to bring before the members the discovery of a new locality for the Orchard limestone, of which a section had recently been exposed in one of the cuttings for the new Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway at Whitecraig, close to the Kilmarnock Road, about a mile south-west of Giffnock. This section was not only interesting in itself, but was noteworthy from the fact that it entirely corroborated the views expressed by Captain Stewart of Williamwood in a paper he had read before the Society, “On the Limestones of the Parishes of Cathcart and Eastwood, Renfrewshire”, in 1881. (See Transactions, vol. 7, 1885, pp.158-164, with detailed pull-out map.) In that paper the author controverted the views which had been published by the Officers of the Geological Survey as to the position of the Orchard limestone in the district, and mapped it out in a direction which would bring it almost exactly to the position where it has now been exposed. He also showed the existence of an extensive seam – the Holeburn limestone – which had not been recorded at all in the Survey Maps and Memoirs. The new exposure of the Orchard limestone, with its accompanying shale, cannot be called highly fossiliferous, as were the old exposures at Orchard farmhouse, near Giffnock Station, which for many years formed one of the principal “happy hunting-grounds” of the older generation of Glasgow geologists – John Young, James Thomson, James Armstrong, and many others. The paper was illustrated by diagrams.
The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway was constructed between 1888 and 1904 to link the coalfields of Lanarkshire with the port of Ardrossan.
On November 10, 1900, the Saturday after the above talk, there was an excursion to excavations along sections of the new railway:
To Sections on the new Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway, Renfrewshire, on Saturday 10th November, 1900 – Messrs. J.B. Murdoch and Peter Macnair, conductors. Proceeding to Giffnock Station by 1.12 p.m. train on the Busby Railway, the party walked up the Kilmarnock Road to Whitecraigs, a station on the new railway, where they inspected the deep sandstone and Boulder-clay cuttings. Lying upon a post of the Giffnock “Moor rock”, it was extremely interesting to find here an exposure of the Orchard Limestone, very much in the position which Captain Stewart assigned to it in his paper on the “Limestones in the Parishes of Cathcart and Eastwood”. (Read to the Society at the meeting held on December 8, 1881, and available in the Transactions, as noted above in the extract from November 8, 1900.) This bed, which dipped N. by E., ran out towards the S.-W. against the deposit of Till which seems at this place to have replaced the denuded upper strata. Not long after the date of this excursion a large part of the excavations, out of which a great deal of sandstone suitable for building had been taken, were filled in and dressed down, so that this notable Orchard limestone exposure is now altogether hidden. The outcrops of the other limestones in this locality, the Holeburn and the Arden cementstones, were afterwards inspected by the members, who returned to town via Thornliebank, after a walk of about four miles.
Furthermore, on December 13, at the meeting of the society following the excursion to Whitecraigs, a sample of sandstone from the Whitecraigs excavation was exhibited:
Mr. J. B. MURDOCH, Hon. Secretary, exhibited a specimen of the sandstone layer above the recently exposed section of the Orchard limestoneand shale at Whitecraigs, near Giffnock, on the line of the new Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway, which contained quantities of annelid casts, or, as some observers pronounced them to be, plant-remains. He also gave some notes on the recent visit of the Society to the section, and stated that it was just in time, as already a large part of the limestone seam had been covered in by the concrete wall for the station platform, though on the north side of the cutting it was still open for inspection.
Mr. MATTHEW BLAIR, Vice-President, read a paper entitled “Some Speculations on Surface Geology.” He stated that the sections of the older rock-formations were often difficult to be reached, but that could not be said of the surface-deposits, which were always easy of access and available for study. The accumulations of gravels, sands, and clays, with which the face of the country is covered, are so easily disturbed and confused, or even obliterated, that any deductions made from their appearances has to be done with great caution, and even where reliable could only show the most recent changes to which the deposits have been exposed. The present contours of the hills and valleys were carved by running streams out of a plain of denudation of uncertain height, but from the shape of the western lochs and valleys the sea-line appears to have been at that time some 300 feet lower than it now is. The author said he thought this tableland existed in Tertiary times, one proof being that afforded by the trap-dykes of Arran which are found piercing the lofty hills to a height of 3000 feet without showing any signs of having ever reached the surface. This denudation and excavation continued through all Tertiary times, and the debris and materials worn and torn off went to form the great bank which surrounds Scotland seawards as far out as the 100-fathom line, beyond which the sea-bottom deepens rapidly. In more recent times the surface-deposits clearly indicate that there was a rapid submergence and re-emergence of the land, coincident with the advance of the ice-age. But not till the extreme glacial conditions had passed away did the land rise, the weight of the accumulated ice being, perhaps, one cause of the continued depression. All these changes of level were testified to by the position and character of the surface-deposits as we now find them, as well as those of the sea-beaches and deltas.
The paper was illustrated by a fine series of photographs of the more prominent features referred to in it, which were thrown on the screen by the oxyhydrogen lantern.
Mr. PETER MACNAIR read a graphic descriptive account of the “Life in Camp Siluria,” as the local habitation of the enthusiasts, who for the two previous summers had spent some months under canvas on the upper waters of the Clyde, was happily designated. There they spent the time industriously “howking” for the fish-remains, of which the Silurian rocks of the Upper Lanarkshire district contain notably fine examples. The original idea of camping-out was due to a member of the Society, Mr. David Nimmo, and without his efficient aid it could hardly have been the success it turned out to be. In the summer of 1899 “the pitch” was made on the banks of the Logan Water, where the late Dr. Hunter did some notable collecting work, above Logan House, while in 1900 the tent was transferred to the small valley of the Birkenhead Burn in the same neighbourhood. In the summer of 1901 it was intended to organise another expedition to the locality, and it was hoped and expected that the efforts of the geologists then assembled would be even more successful than those of previous years in discovering specimens of fish and crustacean remains as yet undescribed or very rare.
The full text of Peter Macnair’s talk, along with a diagram and two photographs, can be found at Transactions, vol.12, 1902, pp. 203-213. Earlier talks about “Camp Siluria” and its origins can be found at Transactions , vol. 7, 1885, pp. 272-278 (an account by Dr. John Hunter of the three months in 1882 that he and two companions spent living in a tent in the Silurian Hills of Logan Water, Lesmahagow) and also at Transactions, vol. 7, 1885, pp. 56-61 (in which Dr. Hunter describes the rocks and fossils of the Camp Siluria area.)
During Session 43 there were nine Saturday excursions, and, on Thursday April 25, 1901, an evening excursion to Provan Gasworks. Reports of those ten excursions are to be found at Transactions, vol. 12, 1902, pp. 261-265.
Then, during the summer of 1901, there were four additional evening excursions:
To the Glasgow International Exhibition, on Thursday evenings, 13th June, 27th June, 8th August, and 22nd August – Mr. Peter Macnair, conductor. The object of these meetings was to make a full inspection of the metallurgical and mineral collections which had been sent for exhibition by the Canadian, Australian, and other Colonial Governments, and many interesting and valuable exhibits of the kind were noted.
The Glasgow International Exhibition ran from 2nd May until 4th November, 1901. The two Port Sunlight workers’ cottages which had been constructed for the 1901 exhibition are still standing. It is also interesting to note that the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum building, completed in 1901, served as the Palace of Fine Arts for the Glasgow International Exhibition.
Extracts from the Proceedings for 1925–1926 (Session 68)
Mr. J. E. Richey, H.M. Geological Survey gave an account of the Igneous Geology of Ardnamurchan.
The country to the east of the peninsula consists of psammitic schists; these schists are succeeded in the south-east by mesozoic sediments, which are transgressed by basalt lavas. Later come transgressive agglomerates and quartz-dolerite, then cone-sheets encircling the peninsula and dipping towards the centre at about 40 degrees. Later than the cone-sheets and concentric with them are the ring-dykes of the first period; the second series of ring-dykes conforms to a different centre.
Dr. G. W. Tyrrell, in thanking Mr. Richey for his lecture, said that the exposition of ring-structures was one of the most remarkable contributions to Vulcanology of recent years. They were first demonstrated in the Devonian of Glencoe by Messrs. Clough and Bailey. Occurrences had been recorded from the Devonian and early Carboniferous of the Kristiania (Oslo) district. The Mull ring-structures were the most outstanding examples in Kainozoic igneous rocks. In examining a part of Arran this summer he came to the conclusion that the various igneous rocks of the so-called “central vent” are arranged in discontinuous concentric rings, with screens of country rock separating the rings, and a brecciated centre due to the explosive properties of the final acid magma. The Arran occurrences thus paralleled those of Mull and Ardnamurchan. He would like to ask Mr. Richey for some details about the quartz-olivine-dolerite he had mentioned, as the association of quartz and olivine was an interesting petrological phenomenon.
In reply Mr. Richey said that the quartz-olivine-dolerite was a quartz-dolerite with olivine in the earliest crystallised portion. Quartz-gabbros containing olivine were also present: a later acid magma had reacted with the earlier crystallised portion, producing a hybrid.
Mr. J. M. Wordie, M.A., St. John’s College, Cambridge, delivered a lecture on the Geology of Jan Mayen.
Jan Mayen is situated some distance from the east coast of Greenland and from the submarine bank which connects Iceland and the Faroes with Scotland. The geological history of the two main (north and south) divisions of the island showed the same general sequence of events – trachyte, trachybasalt, tuffs and sills; the most recent phase was the formation of small secondary craters with only single eruptions. Associated water-formed conglomerates indicated climatic conditions similar to those of the present day. The evidence suggested a quaternary age for the rocks exposed, although the mature outlines of the topography at the south end suggested a greater age. In recent years conspicuous changes have taken place in the coast line. Accumulations of sand, due to changes of current depositing material against natural barriers (e.g. lava-flows) have involved even the high klippen, have given rise to conspicuous features like the South Lagoon, and connected Egg Bluff, once an island, to the mainland.
Dr. Tyrrell said that he had made a petrographic examination of Mr. Wordie’s Jan Mayen rocks. He found them analogous to those of oceanic islands, e.g. Ascension and Samoa. They are similar to the rocks of the later series of Iceland, a fact which supports Mr. Wordie’s view of their quaternary age.
Dr. M. A. Peacock asked if it was clear whether the trachyte of Bombelles Mountain was a lava? Might it not be an intrusion? In shape it was similar to the rhyolite mountains of Iceland, which were intrusions. Mr. J. Holmes said that Mr. Wordie’s excellent lantern slides had suggested one or two points. Was the drift timber shown in one of the slides likely to be of Siberian origin? Nansen had met with Siberian drift wood in Greenland, and had inferred from that discovery that it should be possible to drift a ship across the pole. Raised beaches and erosion forms shown on the slides suggested a preglacial rather than a postglacial age for the island. The small secondary craters of the last phase seemed to be explosion craters.
Mr. Wordie, in reply, said that the trachyte of Bombelles Mountain might be intrusive. He did not think that the volcanic cones of the north end, with their Vesuvius-like forms could have suffered glacial erosion; the remainder of the island might be preglacial.
For information about Sir James Wordie, see the brief note at the end of the extract from the meeting held on January 8, 1920, which is to be found in the extracts from the Proceedings for previous anniversary years.
Further information about Sir James Wordie can be found on several websites, including https://.www.spri.cam.ac.uk/.museum/shackleton/.biographies/.Wordie,_James_Mann/. (This website states that James Wordie had led an expedition to Jan Mayen.)
Mr. W. R. Flett, B.Sc., communicated a note by Mr. W. E. Swinton, B.Sc., on a bone of the Woolly Rhinoceros from the sand quarry at Hungryside, Torrance. The bone was exhibited. Mr. Flett gave a short description of the deposit in which the bone was found.
Mr. Ludovic Mann emphasised the importance of the discovery of the bone and referred to notices in early Transactions of the Wernerian Society of two discoveries of rhinoceros bones in the region of the Forth and Clyde Canal. He inferred from these discoveries that Palaeolithic Man had hunted the companion of the mammoth in Scotland. There were no definite traces of Man’s presence; probably they had all been swept away, as there were no limestone caves to preserve remains. It was important to know the height of the deposit above O.D. (Ordnance Datum: equivalent to MSL – mean sea level) in order to correlate its formation with the oscillations of surface which coincided with the genial interglacial episodes.
Photographs of the Woolly Rhinoceros bone (the second metacarpal of the left fore-foot) along with information about the condition of bone, and about the range of the Woolly Rhinoceros, can be found at Transactions, vol. 17,1927, pp.395-401, where there is also information about the glacial sand in which the bone was discovered.
Extracts from the Proceedings for 1950–1951 (Session 93)
This meeting was held in the Department of Geology, The University, Glasgow, by kind invitation of Professor T. Neville George.
The meeting was devoted to short papers and other contributions by members.
Miss E. R. Brock, M.A. gave an account of the excursion of the Geologists’ Association to Norway in 1950. The talk was illustrated by excellent colour slides. Miss E. J. Wilson, M.A. and Mr. A. Forrest also spoke.
Mr. R. H. Cummings, B.Sc. gave a short account of Upper Palaeozoic Fusulinids. Dr. N. Holgate described a glacial stream diversion near Blair Atholl, Perthshire. Mr. W. Hood described an exhibit of animal remains found in tuff in the Canary Islands. Dr. M. Macgregor described a specimen of Lepidodendron veltheimianum from the roof of the Main Coal, Argyll Colliery, Machrihanish. Professor T. Neville George commented on an exhibit of silicified corals from the Lower Carboniferous of Sligo collected by Mr. D. H. Oswald. Mr. E. M. Patterson described a cristobalite-bearing quartz-trachyte from Antrim. Dr. A. Williams outlined a method of mounting fossils in ‘marco-resin’, and exhibited specimens of brachiopods prepared in this way. Dr. B. C. King gave an account of some rare minerals from pegmatites in Uganda and Nigeria.
Additional exhibits were geological maps of North and South America which had been presented to Dr. G. W. Tyrrell.
Tea was served in the Geology Department and members had an opportunity to examine the various exhibits in detail.
Sir Edward Bailey, M.C., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.SS.L. & E., F.G.S. delivered a lecture entitled “The Mountains of Turkey”.
Sir Edward said that, in company with Professor W. J. McCallien, then Professor of Geology in the University of Ankara, he had recognised the widespread occurrence of pillow lavas in Turkey, some of which are the best displayed in the world. The lavas are of spilite type and are frequently associated with serpentine and radiolarian cherts. The association of these three rock types, the “Steinmann trinity”, is characteristic of geosynclinal deposition.
In the region of Ankara and extending north-eastwards towards the Pontic (Black Sea) Mountains is a wide area of pre-Tertiary rocks forming the Ankara Anticlinal, and partly obscured by a cover of Eocene and Oligocene. A distinctive feature in this region is the broken, block condition of the pre-Tertiary rocks; these consist of Devonian greywackes, limestones of Permo-Carboniferous age, and Mesozoic rocks; the main development of the “Steinmann trinity” is of Mesozoic age. The component blocks are frequently of great extent, and are clearly of tectonic origin. This broken mixed zone of pre-Tertiary rocks is now referred to as the Ankara mélange. The Tertiary cover becomes more extensive south-eastwards from Ankara, in the region of the Kirsehir synclinal, but is frequently interrupted by exposures of marble and crystalline schists clearly of pre-Tertiary age. The synclinal disposition of these crystallines with reference to the Ankara mélange indicates that they form a nappe covering the mélange. This nappe is believed to be a Pontine nappe; the thrust at its base is referred to as the Anatolian thrust. The Ankara mélange beneath the thrust is interpreted as consisting of Taurus (Mediterranean) pre-Tertiary rocks. The Taurus Mountains are regarded as a continuation of similar rocks moved bodily towards the south. This interpretation postulates a horizontal displacement along the Anatolian thrust of about 350 kilometres.
The lecture was followed by a discussion in which the speakers were Professor T. Neville George, Dr. B. C. King and Mr. D. Boyd.
Information about Professor W.J. McCallien can be found in the extract from the meeting held on October 8, 1970 in the extracts from the Proceedings for previous anniversary years.
The meeting was devoted to two lectures by Dr. M. Macgregor. In the first of these, entitled “Recent Work in the Machrihanish Coalfield”, Dr. Macgregor gave an account of the stratigraphy and development of the coalfield and commented on its future possibilities.
This lecture took place only two months after a fatal mining accident in Machrihanish on February 15, 1951. Dr. Macgregor was an expert in the geology of the coal mines of Scotland. No transcript of his lecture is available; however, the history of mining in the Machrihanish area is summarised at https://campbeltownheritagecentre.co.uk/collection/coal-mining. Also, The Road to Drumleman, Memories of the Argyll Colliery, is a documentary film (available online) by Jan Nimmo which tells the story of mining in Machrihanish, and of the society that depended on it.
In his second lecture, entitled “The Highland Controversy”, Dr. Macgregor referred to the early interpretations of the succession and structure in the North-West Highlands (see “The Advancement of Science” (British Assoc.) vol.vii, No. 28,1951, pp. 440-442).
Information about the life of Dr. Murray Macgregor can be found in the extract from the meeting held on February 10, 1966 in the extracts from the Proceedings for previous anniversary years.
Extracts from the Proceedings for 1975–1976 (Session 118)
The following extract is part of a paper that was published in the Proceedings for Session 118; no information about the author, Alberto V. Caira, was included, nor was the paper read at any of the Session 118 meetings. However, it was recorded in the minutes of the meeting of December 11, 1975 that Mr. Alberto V. Caira B.Sc. was enrolled as a member of the Geological Society of Glasgow.
GEOLOGY IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS
by Alberto V. Caira
Until recently, there has been little motivation in teaching Geology in Scottish schools. The land of Miller and Hutton has been slow to recognise the educational and cultural value of the subject to its school pupils. In March, 1971, the Universities Preliminary Examinations were discontinued, leaving Scotland devoid of any examination in Geology below university level.
Whilst school geology was growing with a fair degree of rapidity in England and Wales (always a stronghold), the nurturing of the subject, at this level, north of the border, was left to a handful of enthusiastic teachers who stimulated the interest of some of their pupils within the context of existing Science or Geography courses, or, occasionally introduced Geology in its own right, usually to the chosen few who were able enough to enter for the General Certificate of Education Examinations at ‘O’ or ‘A’ level with one of the English Boards.
Partly because of this intermittent but persistent activity by a score or so of Scottish schools, the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum considered the introduction of Geology into Scottish schools. The proposal was not approved.
With the cessation of the Universities Preliminary Examinations, the Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board, aware of the geological void which had been created, considered that an appropriate course of action would be the constitution of a Subject Panel in Geology which would determine whether the introduction of an examination at ‘O’ Grade was desirable and, if so, to construct a syllabus for consideration.
Over a two year period, this panel drew up what was considered by its members to be a syllabus suited to the needs of Scottish pupils and with an appropriate bias on Scottish Geology. The aims of each section were discussed and clearly stated in the draft proposals. Presenting authorities and other interested bodies were then invited to consider and comment on these proposals in the Autumn of 1975 as part of the Board’s normal consultative procedures.
The response to this proposed syllabus was most encouraging, although the majority of respondents tempered their enthusiasm with a measure of constructive criticism.
In the light of comment received, the panel amended the original proposals mainly by: (a) reducing the content in some of the sections, and (b) emphasising the importance of the proposed fieldwork log by increasing the percentage of marks allocated to it from 10 to 15.
This amended syllabus was considered by the Examinations Committee and the introduction of an examination based on the syllabus and specimen paper approved by the Examination Committee was agreed by the Board in February 1976.
Geology was thus added to the list of subjects examined by the Scottish Certificate of Education Examinations Board and the first examination has been scheduled for 1978.
It should be noted that the Geology panel members have been most anxious to express their cumulative opinion that the scientific nature of Geology be recognised and that the subject should be taught using the scientific method of observation, hypothesising and testing.
If the subject is to make a contribution to education in our schools, it must do so by training pupils to use the faculties which have been used by geologists since the inception of the subject as a discipline in its own right. To this end, it has been strongly recommended that pupils become familiar with the handling and identification of mineral, rock and fossil specimens, that the subject be taught in laboratory conditions and that fieldwork be considered an essential ingredient of the course.
[ . . . ]Doubtless there are many ways in which the status of Geology can be enhanced in the eyes of pupils, parents and industry. The propagation of the educational cultural and vocational values of the subject by the geological fraternity at large, the changing demands of industry (especially the oil industry), the encouraging of the natural collecting instinct in young people and the gregarious habit of geologists in general to form themselves into concentrated units (already there is a teachers working party in the Glasgow area) will all help to advance the cause of Geology as a school subject.
[ . . . ]It might well be that the greatest service that can be done for Geology at the present time is that all those involved might gather themselves into an organisation under the aegis of, or similar to, the Association of Teachers of Geology (A.T.G.) which has made such an impact on Geology teaching in England and Wales since its inaugural meeting at Keele University in the Autumn of 1967.
Before such an organisation can be formed it will be necessary for those of us who find ourselves in appropriate positions of influence to persuade sympathetic institutions or authorities to grant us the facilities required for an inaugural meeting.
It is difficult at this time, not to temper feelings of elation with those of frustration and uncertainty. Let us not fail in the task ahead by putting off until more favourable times what can be achieved today by using the natural interest and stimulation which our subject offers.
I am indebted to Dr. H. A. Long, Examination Officer for his invaluable assistance and advice to me during the preparation of this paper and on many occasions in the past.
Since 2015, Geology has not been offered at Higher level in Scotland, despite appeals to the SQA that the subject be continued: https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/news/scientists-demand-reprieve-for-geology/
Dr. C. D. Waterston, official curator and keeper of geological records at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, delivered a lecture on Hugh Miller — his life and significance.
Hugh Miller was born at Cromarty on 2nd October 1802, the son of a ship-master and descended from a long line of sea-faring people. Dr Waterston gave a very full account of his life and discussed the significant contribution he had made to our Scottish heritage
In the church politics of his time Hugh Miller became an outstanding figure, and the speaker outlined the leading part he had played in the religious controversy prior to the Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843.
His literary output was considerable. One of his early works, Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland was published by Adam Black in 1835, and was an immediate success. The material for the book had been collected during the 15 years of Miller’s early life as a stonemason in Cromarty when, during his travels, he had the opportunity of collecting and recording folk tales. He had been aware of the vanishing heritage which was his, and realised if he did not write it down, it would be lost for ever. Not only did Miller enjoy the tales and the tellers, he also realised the ethnological significance of legend. Two of his most famous books were, The Old Red Sandstone and My Schools and School Masters. The former first appeared in a series of articles in The Witness, the newspaper of which he had become the distinguished editor. In Chamber’s Journal, in 1840, the articles were collected and expanded as The Old Red Sandstone and published in 1841. My Schools and School Masters, a biographical work of great charm, was published in 1852, and describes the life and people of Cromarty and Edinburgh. His greatest contribution was, of course, to geology. The speaker described Miller‘s researches in their historical background, when the rocks of The Old Red Sandstone were much in dispute, and at a time when many, including Hugh Miller, still attributed observed geological structures to cataclysms and catastrophes. Although the evidence supporting the principle of uniformity of process formulated by James Hutton of Edinburgh was being recognised by an increasing number of people, it caused strong reaction in ecclesiastical circles and was unacceptable to many, as working against true religion. Hugh Miller was a deeply religious man and his later work was greatly concerned with the reconciliation of his faith and of his science. He was violently criticised by progressive geologists and reactionary members of his own church. In 1856, when working on The Testimony of the Rocks, a book intended to grapple with the problem, he took his own life.
Despite his conservativism Miller‘s presentation of geology had a permanent influence on the future of that science. His geological books appealed to a wider public than to geologists. The popularity of The Old Red Sandstone which went through twenty-one editions in thirty-six years, was due not only to its literary merit, but to the interest in the implications of geological thought on popular themes of the day, of which one of the most important was religion. Since Miller wrote The Old Red Sandstone geological knowledge has made spectacular advances, yet his discovery and description of the fossils of The Old Red Sandstone have stood the test of time and illustrate the genius of the man.
A Joint Meeting of the Society with the Art Galleries and Museums Association had been arranged to mark the opening of an exhibition on Early Days of Geology in Britain.
Mr. Thackray delivered an address entitled A New Look at Charles Lyell, one of the founders of geology.
In his Principles of Geology (1830-1833) Lyell interprets the history of geology in terms of the struggle between the scientific principle of uniformitarianism, and the speculative beliefs of catastrophism. He implicitly gives himself a substantial share of the credit for the ultimate triumph of the scientific approach. This interpretation has been largely accepted over the years. A new look at the whole picture of geology in the 1830s shows that Lyell’s opponents had a set of principles every bit as scientific as his own and, at first glance, even more attractive. Lyell’s view of the scientific worth of his contemporaries and of figures from the early days of geology in Britain is contrasted with the outlook of the historian and geologist today. These reassessments bring Lyell down off his pedestal, but do nothing to lessen our respect for a man who was indeed one of the founders of geology.
Although the speaker, Mr. Thackray, was not identified in the Proceedings, it is likely that he was John Christopher Thackray (1948-1999) who, at the time of the lecture, worked at the Geological Museum in London. The following is an extract from the obituary of John Thackray in The Guardian of June 10, 1999:
“In 1973 he obtained a masters degree in the history of science from Imperial College, London. At the Geological Museum he became exhibition and publication project leader. The exhibitions he was responsible for included British Fossils and Geology Serves the Nation.
“In 1985 – when the Geological Museum merged with the British Museum (Natural History) to form what is now the Natural History Museum – Thackray was appointed a senior scientific officer. Then in 1989 he was appointed as archivist.
“From 1973 to 1997 he was honorary secretary to the Society for the History of Natural History and three weeks before his death was made the society’s president.”
Extracts from the Proceedings for 2000–2001 (Session 143)
Professor Mike Benton, University of Bristol
THE ELGIN REPTILES AND THE ORIGIN OF THE DINOSAURS
Dinosaurs arose in the Late Triassic, some 230 million years ago. The first dinosaurs were small rare animals and yet, ten million years later they were large, abundant and diverse. What happened? A new study on Scleromochlus, a little creature the size of a blackbird, from the Lossiemouth sandstone formation of Elgin, NE Scotland, has shed light on the evolution and ecology of the origin and early radiation of the dinosaurs. Fossil reptiles are found at the base of these early Triassic rocks, but are readily damaged on removal, as the rocks are much harder. Professor Benton overcame this problem by filling the mould thus created with PVC which could then be easily removed and manipulated. Numerous fossils have been isolated from here similar to finds in South Africa and South America, at a time when the North Atlantic was beginning to open and a seaway existed between Scotland and western South America, in contrast to English sites which are of Mid-Triassic age. In the 1980s, cladistics showed that the origin of the dinosaurs was mono- and not polyphyletic and that all dinosaurs evolved from the same small reptilian ancestor. They underwent an evolutionary radiation at the Mid/Late Triassic Boundary, following the Permian extinction and environmental change, to fill every ecological niche, just as did the mammals later, after the K/T extinction.
Joint Celebrity Lecture with the Edinburgh Geological Society
Professor Richard Fortey, Natural History Museum, London
BRINGING TRILOBITES BACK TO LIFE
Trilobites were first described in the first Royal Society Journal of 1679 by a Mr Lloyd, discussing the large numbers in rocks at Llandeilo, so they were in at the beginning with Galileo and Copernicus! In the 1770s there was speculation about their anatomy and life-styles – grazers and predators were recognised, it was thought they had three pairs of legs, but no real evidence existed. From 1876, Doolittle Walcott did much research, grinding them down to see the underside for the first time. They have three lobes from left to right: head, thorax with individual segments each with a pair of legs and a branch gill, and a tail with fused segments. They utilised fully the properties of calcite — each lens of their prominent compound eyes was on a plane of crystallisation. Some eyes were huge and on each side of the head providing lateral vision, while some could see through 360° and almost met at the front.
Huge numbers (truck fulls!) of trilobite fossils have been found, from the mid Cambrian explosion to the Late Ordovician, when they gradually declined to the Permian extinction. They must have had a soft bodied ancestor and a long unknown evolution, and may be analogous to shrimps, horse-shoe crabs and sharks.
They occupied many habitats: shallow marine carbonate reefs, continental shelves or slopes (mud, slate, chert) in Spitsbergen and N America/Scotland (on the equator in the Ordovician) and in England/Europe (high southern cold water latitudes). Benthic dwellers were broad and flat with ridges on the head, while predators were long, slim, streamlined and muscular. The mouth was high in the head with a plate or hypostome with weird adaptations such as horns in predators, or was lightly fixed with a membrane — a scoop for sediment feeders. Some were free hanging, filter/suspension feeders, as in the non-bioturbated shale/sulphur beds of Utah — did they live, as at black smokers, by cultivating sulphur bacteria on their gills, in anoxic conditions? In these the hypostome is degenerate and almost gone. Some of these have ‘balloons’ at the front of the head. Is this a brood pouch like the yolky eggs of horse-shoe crabs? They may have been dimorphic. The many species of trilobites were very prolific and the seas must have been teeming with them.
Dr. Jane Francis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds
THE GREENING OF ANTARCTICA: FOSSIL FORESTS OF ANTARCTICA AND EVIDENCE FOR FORMER GREENHOUSE CLIMATES BEFORE GLACIATION.
Dr. Francis has recently returned from Antarctica where her research focused on its ancient climates, particularly during the Permian, Cretaceous and Tertiary. Her lecture painted a vivid picture of an Antarctic world very different from that of today, when the Equator-to-pole temperature gradient was much shallower, due largely to much warmer poles. Antarctica was mainly devoid of permanent ice, but the light regime was similar to that of the present with prolonged periods of winter darkness. Studies of the morphology of fossil leaves and vegetation reveal that Antarctica supported luxuriant forests dominated by deciduous plants which would have required a sufficient supply of rainfall.
Dr. Francis has also studied Tertiary forests and climates of the Arctic, examining the fossil forests in order to reconstruct their tree types, forest dynamics, sedimentary environments and climates.
EXCURSIONS
Foot and Mouth Disease. As a result of the outbreak in the UK of FMD early in 2001, restrictions were placed on people’s access to the countryside. Excursions were curtailed to those along beaches or with limited access, provided we followed the disinfection rules.
Originally, seven day excursions were planned for this Session, but because of the foot and mouth outbreaks, the first one had to be cancelled and some of the others modified. The six that were run were a great success due to the initial organisation by the Excursion Secretary and the enthusiasm of the leaders. Sadly, however, the Excursion Secretary (Rosemary McCusker) was unable to attend any of the excursions because of injuries sustained in the May crash.
The Proceedings booklet for Session 143 ends with a report on the fatal crash that occurred in May 2001.
INTIMATION
It is with deep regret that the Council records a serious road accident on Friday 18th May, 2001. This occurred on the A9 north of Blair Atholl as members were travelling north by minibus to Durness for the first excursion of the Society’s summer programme and were involved in a collision with a jeep travelling south. Four members died as a result of their injuries: Charles Elliott, Carole McLay, Ronald Rotchford and David Wilkinson. On behalf of the membership, the Council extends to their families our heartfelt sympathy for the loss.
Rosemary McCusker, the Excursion Secretary, sustained multiple fractures. John Hornibrook, a fractured skull and concussion. Muriel Alexander and Jill Hornibrook sustained broken bones and severe bruising.
Nine members in a second minibus following had to cope with the trauma of being at the scene of the accident.
