142 



known, I shall conclude this notice by quoting a passage from 

 LyelTs Principles of Geology (page 259, vol. II.) "Several 

 " skeletons of men, more or less mutilated, have been found 

 " in the "West Indies, on the N.W. coast of the Island of Gua- 

 " daloupe, in a kind of rock winch is known to be forming 

 " daily, and which consists of minute fragments of shells and 

 "corals, incrusted with a calcareous cement, resembbng 

 " travertin, winch has also bound the different grains together 

 " — the lens shows that some of the fragments composing this 

 " stone, still retain the same red color which is seen in the 

 "reefs of living coral which surround the Island. The shells 

 " belong to species of the neighbouring sea, intermixed with 

 "some terrestrial kinds which now live on the Island, and 

 "among them is the Buhmus Guadaloupensis of Ferussac. 

 " The human skeletons still retain some of their animal 

 " matter, and all their phosphate of lime. One of them, of 

 " which the head is wanting, may now be seen in the British 

 " Museum, and another in the Boyal Cabinet at Paris. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Konig, the rock in which the former is 

 " enclosed, is harder under the mason's saw and chisel than 

 " statuary marble. It is described as forming a sort of glacis, 

 "probably an indurated beach, which slants from the steep 

 " cliffs of the island to the sea, and is nearly all submerged at 

 " high tide. Similar formation are in progress in the whole 

 "of the West Indian Archipelago, and they have greatly 

 "extended the plain of Cayes in St. Domingo, where frag- 

 " ments of vases and other human works, have been found at 

 "a depth of 20 feet." 



With the above quotation I shall close my remarks, 

 trusting that I have made a very interesting question intel- 

 ligible to yourself and the other members of the Society. 



