Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 4.djvu/191

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BY W. ADDISON, ESQ.
89

lime reach nearly to the summit of the hill, and this substance is here largely mingled with the other constituents of the rock.

On the eastern flank of the Malvern hills rests the lower new red sandstone, with here and there a conglomerated rock containing quartz, felspar, grey wacke, &c. At two or three places these conglomerates have been observed in inclined positions at some height above the plain, and at one point at Great Malvern, they adhere to the steep flank of the sienite, dipping east at a considerable angle. This fact Mr. Murchison observes, "leads to an inference that this chain of trappean hills may have undergone a movement of elevation, subsequent to the deposit of the new red sandstone."

On the west flank is an extensive series of beds of greywacke limestone, and conglomerates, forming a broken chain of high rounded, and more or less conical hills; the strata, which contain a great variety of fossil remains, dip at almost every angle, and in every direction, the conglomerates contain minute masses of quartz, felspar, hornblende, &c. Among these limestone hills are beds of gravel and pebbles, and in many places, stiff marl and clay, mingled with quantities of a friable micaceous earth of various degrees of hardness, generally breaking easily under the fingers, and falling down in silvery scales.

3. Physiognomy of the District around.—The whole surface of the primitive range, is covered with soft, short, and mossy herbage, affording pasturage to large flocks of sheep. The rocks, in many places, project from beneath the turf with a bold and rugged