He admits that the inclination of the sandstone beds towards the igneous mass in the centre is a phenomenon that is somewhat difficult to explain, and suggests that a subsequent contraction of the column may have tended to produce such a result. To use his own words: "In the case of a solid column of felstone or basalt, the contraction of the melted mass on cooling may have had some effect in dragging down the sides of the orifice[5]." Footnote 5: Note on p. 41 of _Mem. Geol. Survey of East Lothian_. But, apart from other objections, it is scarcely conceivable that this result should have been produced by the contraction of the column. In his recent edition of Jukes's _Manual of Geology_ (p. 269), in which he also refers to this instance, he states that in other cases of "necks" it is found to be an almost invariable rule, "that strata are bent down so as to dip into the neck all round its margin." We are not aware to what other instances Prof. Geikie may allude; but on referring to his _Memoir on the Geology of East Lothian_, we find that he states in the cases of 'North Berwick Law' and 'Traprain' (which he compares with the igneous mass at Whitberry Point), that the beds at the base of these two necks, where exposed, dip _away_ from them, and that at a high angle. In support of the hypothesis which we have put forward, the following arguments may be urged: (1) That in one place at least the sedimentary strata are seen to be actually dipping beneath the superincumbent basalt; and that the impression produced by the general relation of the two rocks is, that they do so everywhere. (2) Since the columns into which the lava is split are vertical, the cooling surface must have been horizontal: the mass must, therefore, have formed a sheet, and not a dyke; for, in the latter case, the cooling surfaces would have been vertical. (3) It is difficult to conceive, on the supposition that the volcanic rock is a neck with perpendicular sides, that the marine denudation should have uniformly proceeded only so far as to lay bare the junction between the two formations. We should have expected that in many places the igneous rock itself would have been cut down to the general level, whereas the only signs of such an effect are shown in a few narrow inlets where the rock was manifestly softer than in the surrounding parts. The last objection is greatly confirmed by the overhanging cliffs and numerous blocks of porphyrite which lie scattered on the beach, as if to attest the former extension of that ancient sheet of which these blocks now form but a small remnant. Indeed, the existence of such remains appears sufficient of itself to condemn any hypothesis which presumes the present face of the cliff to have formed the original boundary of the mass.