Tlie subject of these nodules -which have been termed 

 phosphaiie from their containing a large per centage of phosphate 

 of lime— may be considered in two points of view, a geological 

 one and an economic or industrial one. In reference to the first, 

 I shall not say much more than is necessary to give you an 

 understanding of the sources whence they are obtained, being 

 chiefly anxious to state under what particular circumstances they 

 were first brought into notice, and the important results to which 

 they have led in some of the eastern counties, more especially 

 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. 



The discovery of these nodules, or rather the application of 

 them to Agricultural purposes, is due to the scientific acumen of 

 the late professor Henslow, whose name was so familiar to the 

 naturalists of his own day, and who was so deservedly esteemed 

 for his many excellent qualities by all who had the happiness of 

 knowing him. 



Professor Henslow had the living of Ilitcham in Suffolk. He 

 was a most watchful observer of nature, one whose eyes were 

 always on the look out for anything new, and ffhose mind was 

 especially set towards utilizing and turning to account what he 

 met with, for the good and improvement, moral as well as 

 intellectual, of those among whom he lived. His parishioners 

 naturally came in for the full benefit of his varied and extensive 

 knowledge, and he took an especial interest in his farmers, often 

 bringing his science to bear on their operations in the field. 



It was as long back as in 1842 that Professor Henslow first had 

 his attention drawn to these nodules, of which I am about to 

 speak. Going down with his family, in the autumn of that year, 

 to spend a few weeks at Felixstow, a small watering place not 

 many miles from the extreme southern point of the Suffolk coast, 

 he naturally on his arrival, as an old geologist, was led to 

 examine the Eed Crag, a bod largely developed in that 

 neighbourhood. 



