Fluoride of Calcium is soluble in Water. 233 



so that pure water may be considered as able to dissolve 

 ffyij? its weight of this salt. The residue of 16 ounces of 

 the solution etches glass rapidly and powerfully. 



The amount of solubility observed, though comparatively 

 small, is large for a salt reputed quite insoluble, and is plainly 

 sufficient to occasion an appreciable error in the quantitative 

 determination of fluorine by the ordinary process, since as 

 much as a pint of water, and that perhaps at the temperature 

 of 212°, must often be employed in washing a precipitate of 

 fluoride of calcium. 



^ 



Metnoranda regarding an Ancient Iron Boat-Hook^ found in 

 the Corse of Gowrie. By R. Chambers, F.R.S.E. and 

 V.P.S.A.Sc. Communicated by the Author.* 



In the month of August 1837, some labourers employed in dig- 

 ging gravel on the farm of Inchmichael, in the Carse of Gowrie, 

 found an ancient boat-hook at the depth of about 8 feet from the 

 surface of the ground.t 



This incident excited the more attention, that there was a popular 

 notion, long prevalent, that the Carse of Gowrie was once covered 

 by the sea, excepting only those low eminences scattered over its 

 surface, which are supposed to have acquired the generic appellation of 

 inches^ in reference to the insulated position in which they were then 

 placed. In support of this myth or tale, it is affirmed that the re- 

 mains of an anchor were found some years ago on the estate of Meg- 

 ginch. Of course, no such story could be worthy of serious notico 

 in this place, were it not for its apparent harmony with the modern 

 geological hypothesis regarding changes in the relative level of sea 

 and land. That the Carse of Gowrie has once been under water, no 

 geologist can doubt ; but it is a different question, — has it been 

 so submerged since the time when the British Island was first 

 peopled, or when anchors and boat-hooks of iron came into use in 

 this country \ To set this question at rest, I took a considerable 

 amount of trouble ; Is*, to ascertain the precise local and geological 

 circumstances of the relic, as observed at the time of its discovery ; 

 2d, to decide whether the relic could have come into these circum- 

 stances in any other manner than by being lost in a sea formerly 

 covering the Carse. 



The local and geological circumstances were briefly these. The 

 boat-hook was discovered under a slightly raised piece of ground 



* Abridged from a communication ttr the Society of the Antiquaries of Scot- 

 land, but not hitherto published. 



t The relic is preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries in 

 Edinburgh. 



