S50 Origin of the Gypsum Strata 



tudes and prculiar modes of existence in each distinct 

 class, — a sort of animal biography, vvherein the species i* 

 personified in the diversified details of ihe individual : nm\ 

 applying this to the case under consideration, surely the 

 animals which almost daily appear upon our tables hkv^ a 

 paramount claim to our consideration, 6\er those which can 

 never extend beyond administering to, certainly a laudable 

 but yet, a mere curiosity. 1 am, sir. 



Your most obedient lunnble servant, 



Pi-incess Street, Manchester, JoHN CaRB 



April 6,1810. 



XLIV^. On the supposed Fresh-wafer Origin of the Gypsurri 

 Strata in the b^nvirons of Paris ; on the Geological Cha- 

 racters and Relations of tJie Alnm Shales on the Northern 

 Coasts of Yorkshire: and on the Orbicular Blocks of 

 Sicnite on .Mount- Sorrel Hilly in Leicestei'shife, B^ 

 Mr, John Fare7. 



To Mr, Tilloch, 



Sir, It has given mc great pleasure to find, that the doiibt^ 

 which I ventured to express in pages 134 and 139 of your 

 Philosophical and Geological Magazine, as to the accuracy 

 uf Messrs. Cuvier and Brogniart's opinions, on \h^ fresh- 

 water origin of the lower part of tlie series of strata de- 

 scribed in the IV^th article of their memoir on the basin of 

 Paris*, are in the way of being cleared np, by the researches 

 of Messrs. Dcsmarets, the elder and younger, and M. Pre- 

 vost, who have found numerous sea-shells \n the third or 

 lowest gypsum mass, notwithstanding M. Cuvier and his 

 associate had said (page bO of your transla:tion) '^ we are not 

 acquainted with any fossil.in this mass, which is the third 

 of the quarries ;** what therefore must become of the opinion 

 of M. Lamanon, adopted by them and others, as to the 

 gypsums of Montmartre and the other hillocks of the basin 

 of Paris, having been crystallized in fresh- water lakes ? or, 

 thought of the unphilosophical expression used on the oc- 

 casion, that one fresh- water shell therein, was *' sufficient 

 to demonstrate the truth of the opinion of M. Lamanon ?" 

 In a calcareous niarl, below what is called the little plaster 

 bed in this mass, the fossils appear numerous, and are, 

 ampullariac, calyptrce, cerites, citheres, cockles, corbufaD, 

 crab's shells and claws, echini spatangus|, glosopetrte, 



* Pajjc -19 of tfec present volume. 



f At Gri^uou lime quarricj ;p. 1 13) our authors observc-U ccbini cypeastra. 



uiuriceSj 



