The most important geological circumstance connected with the history of this sand is, that on several parts of the coast, it is passing into the state of a solid compact rock! The fact was first investigated by Dr. Paris, who has published a memoir upon the subject in the first volume of the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall; and as every scientific traveller must be desirous of exploring so interesting a phenomenon we have extracted, from the paper above mentioned, such notices as may be useful in assisting his researches. "The _Sandstone_ which occurs on the northern coast of Cornwall undoubtedly affords one of the most splendid and instructive instances of a _Recent Formation_ upon record. We actually detect Nature at work in changing calcareous sand into stone; and she does not refuse admittance into her manufactory, nor does she conceal with her accustomed reserve the details of the operations in which she is engaged. It does not however appear that any geologist has fully availed himself of so rare an indulgence;--to drop the allegory, no complete or satisfactory explanation has been hitherto afforded of this most interesting formation, nor of the phenomena which attend it. At the period that Dr. Borlase wrote his History of Cornwall, the science of Chemistry had scarcely dawned; we cannot therefore feel surprised at his having attributed '_the concretion of shelly sand to the agglutinating quality of sea water_'." "The sand first appears in a slight, but encreasing state of aggregation on several parts of the shore in the Bay of Saint Ives; but on approaching the Gwythian river it becomes more extensively indurated. On the shore opposite to Godrevy Island, an immense mass occurs of more than a hundred feet in depth, containing entire shells and fragments of clay-slate; and it is singular that the whole mass should assume a very striking appearance of stratification. In some places, it appears that attempts have been made to separate it, probably for the purpose of building, for several old houses in Gwythian are entirely built with it. The rocks in the vicinity of this recent formation in the Bay of Saint Ives are _Greenstone_ and _Clay-slate_, which appear to alternate. But it is around the promontory of _New Kaye_, in Fistrel Bay, in the parish of Saint Columb Minor, that the geologist will be most struck with this formation, for here there is scarcely any other rock in sight. The cliffs, which are high and extend for several miles, are wholly composed of it, and are occasionally intersected by veins and dykes of _Breccia_. In the cavities hang calcareous stalactites of rude appearance. The beach is covered with disjointed fragments, which have been detached from the cliff above, many of which weigh at least from two to three tons. The sandstone is also to be here seen in different stages of induration; from a state in which it is too friable to be detached from the rock