Murchison's New Geological Map of Scotland, 1861. Roderick Murchison (1792-1871) was a Scottish geologist and geographer. In 1839 he published the Silurian System, the first stratigraphic system defined by fossil content rather than lithology (rock features). Following geological tours of Scotland, Russia and Germany, he established the Devonian and Permian systems geological dating. The details of this map were shown to be incorrect by the English geologist Charles Lapworth (1842-1920) who showed that the intricate folding and faulting that formed the Scottish Highlands lead to younger rocks laying over older rocks.