On Machlnes.-^On the Mere of DtfSi 77 



hindered from ftealing ; or if thofe few already in ufe Were Wore general, and probably 

 more fimplified, the purpofe might be anfwered. Let it then be the pradtice of the well- 

 wiftiers to virtue, to diminifli, or remove as far as poffible, the impediments, whether arifing 

 from moral or other caufes, and vice will prefent to them too ftriking a front, not to induce 

 them to hold out the advantages in an unornamented, though decifive manner. With re- 

 gard to flax, the objedl of the journeymen in that bufinefs, and in that of the wool-combers, 

 being the fame, that is, to lay each filament in a ftraight line in certain proportions, an engine 

 which would accomplifli the one, muft with a trifling alteration efFe£l the other. I find in 

 the General Evening Poll for the 14th March, 1799, that there is a manufaflory eftablifli- 

 ing in the neighbourhood of Prefect, in Lancafhire, for the purpofe of combing wool and 

 fpinning Jiax — How far might a hint be taken from this to accomplifh the former? 



Your's &c. 



N. L. 



VII. 

 Jlccount of a Subjlance found In a Clay-pit, and of the EffeB of the Mere of Dlfs 

 upon various Subjlances immerfid in it. By Mr. BENJAMIN WISEMAN, of Difs 

 in Norfolk. fVith an Analyfts of the Water of the faid Mere.. By CHARLES Hat- 

 CHETT, Efq. F.R.S. In a Letter to the Right Honourable Sir Joseph BaNKS, Bart. 

 K. B. P.R.S. ^c* 



X. HE fubftance I have inclofed was found near Difs, in a body of clay, from five to eight 

 feet below the furface of the foil. All the pieces I obferved laid nearly in a horizontal 

 diredlion ; and varied in fize, from two or three ounces, to as many pounds. The colour 

 of the fubftance, when taken frelh from the clay~pit, was like that of chocolate ; it cuts eafily, 

 and has the ftriated appearance of rotten wood. The pieces were of no particular form ; 

 in general, they were broad and flat, but I do not recolle<^ to have met with a piece that 

 was more than two inches in thicknefs : it breaks into laminae, between which are the remains 

 of various kinds of Ihells. The fpecific gravity of this fubftance, dried in the fiiade, is 1.58S ; 

 it burns freely, giving out a great quantity of fmoke, with a ftrong fulphureous fmell. 



By a chemical analyfis, which I cannot confider as very accurate, one hundred grains 

 appear to contain, 



grains. 

 Of inflammable matter, including the fmall quantity of water contained in the 



fubftance - - - - « 41. ■j 



Of mild calcareous earth - - » - 20.0 



Of iron - - * - - • 2.0 



-Of earth that appears to be filex - « « » 36.7 



* Philof. Tranf. 1798. page 567. 



100 

 On 



