358 M. Ehrenberg on the Forms assumed by 



of these surprising morpholites of Sweden, no more, in fact, than in those 

 of Egypt observed in such great numbers ; but in the former the dominat- 

 ing and modifying influence of many axes of formation can often be dis- 

 cerned with ease. Generally we perceive two directions of development in 

 the laws of their structure, one concentric, sometimes horizontal and in 

 one sense only, which constitutes rays and discs, sometimes radiating on 

 all sides, which produces spheres ; the other is linear, and emanates from 

 the centre. For the most part these two axes exert a nearly equal power, 

 or else one of them is superior to the other. It thence follows that the 

 greater number of these morpholites, in consequence of the predominating 

 influence of the linear direction of development, appear egg-shaped or 

 fusiform ; or, owing to the concentric direction prevailing, or the two 

 forces being equal, assume the shape of discs or spheres, or are in an in- 

 determinate condition. Among the 100 morpholites of Tunaberg, how- 

 ever, -which I had an opportunity of examining, there were only one or 

 two which had not a well-marked form. When we witness, as happens 

 in rare cases, one of the axes of formation predominate, there result ob- 

 long forms with discoidal or globular envelopes, or having dilatations in 

 the middle, or else the shapes are globular with one or two tongue-shaped 

 elongations opposite each other. We rarely notice three of these elonga- 

 tions, and four have not yet been met with. There is still one form de- 

 serving attention, and that is the decided development of a new centre 

 of formation at the two extremities of the linear axis of formation, the 

 direction of which always cuts the first at right angles, producing ap- 

 pendages in the shape of a head or beak at the ends of the axis. These 

 appendages do not seem formed by chance, but display constant forms, 

 most of them resembling a bird with the head, neck, tail, and wings folded 

 together, or a tortoise, and in some cases, when the new form acquires 

 large size, they are like a hammer.* In this remarkable mode of forma- 

 tion there are often found foreign bodies, small stones, fragments of granite, 

 &c., which, as in the chalk of Egypt, are imbedded in the mass. Often 

 also there are accidentally found in the clay-strata, rolled pebbles and 

 the fragments of primitive rocks, which have adhered to the morpholites 

 as they were beginning to form; this we may notice in the present col- 

 lection on a piece of slaty hornblende, where large grains are perceived, 

 and to which two small morpholites are firmly attached. 



In the stones of Imatra, the observer of Petersburg, formerly men- 

 tioned, has noticed as many as five successive or developed forms, one 

 on the other. In those of Tunaberg, I never perceived more than two 

 and a third beginning to form ; but in the collection of M. Krantz of Ber- 

 lin, there is a specimen from the mountain limestone near Dublin, on 

 which are to be seen five bodies of this species linearly developed, one on 

 the other, and many others of the same kind adhering to its sides. In 



* The well-known " Fairy stones" of Scotland, which are washed out by so 

 many of our rivers from the beds of clay connected with the red sandstone forma- 

 tions, are examples of the forms here described.— Edit, 



