386 Royal Society : — 



" Descriptio Saxi in Quercu inventi. Kellander, Acta Literaria 

 et Scientiae Suecise." 1739, pp. 502, 503. 



Since the Battersea phenomenon was announced. Professor Hens- 

 low, to whom I had applied, wrote to me saying, that he possessed 

 a remarkable example of a stone which was found imbedded in the 

 heart of a tree, in sawing it up in Plymouth Dockyard ; and he has 

 obligingly sent up the specimen, which is now also exhibited. In 

 this case, judging from the mineral character of the rock, and its 

 being slightly magnetic, Professor Henslow supposed that it was 

 perhaps a volcanic bomb. On referring it to Dr. Shepard, that 

 gentleman entertains the opinion that it is also a meteorite, and 

 states that it resembles certain meteoric stones with which he is ac- 

 quainted ; suspicions of which had also been entertained by Professor 

 Henslow, From the examination of a minute fragment which I de- 

 tached from this stone, it appears to be composed of a base of fel- 

 spathic matter, with minute crystals of felspar and of magnetic iron 

 pyrites. Externally it has a trachytic aspect, though, when frac- 

 tured, it more resembles, in the opinion of Mr. Warington Smyth, 

 a pale Cornish elvan or porphyry than any other British rock with 

 which it can be compared. Whatever may have been the origin of 

 this stone, which is of the size of a child's head, it is essentially dif- 

 ferent from the metalliferous mass from Battersea, to which atten- 

 tion has been specially invited, and its position in the heart of an 

 oak is equally remarkable. Like the Battersea specimen, the seg- 

 ment of wood from Plymouth Dockyard is characterised by an inte- 

 rior bark which folds round the sinuosities of the included stone. 



In respect to the envelopment of manufactured materials in trees, 

 my friend, Mr. H. Brooke, the distinguished mineralogist, tells me 

 that he perfectly remembers the case of an iron chain which had 

 been enclosed in the heart of a tree, the wood of which was sound 

 around the whole of the included metallic body. This specimen 

 was to be seen some years ago in the British Museum. Again, he 

 informs me that at Stoke Newington he recollects to have seen a 

 tree, the trunk of which had grown over and completely enclosed a 

 scythe, except on the sides where its ends protruded*. 



Whatever may have been the origin of the metalliferous mass from 

 Battersea, its discovery has at all events served to develope certain 

 peculiarities in the growth of plants which appear to be of high in- 

 terest to the eminent botanists who have examined the parts of this 

 tree which surrounded the supposed meteorite. Unwilling to endea- 

 vour to anticipate the final decision as to the origin of the body in 

 question, I may be permitted to feel a satisfaction that its discoverer 

 brought it to the Establishment of which I am the Director, and 

 which numbers among its officers a Fellow of this Society, who is so 



raiiioris magnitudine. * * * * Nidus ad figuram lapidis non plane accommodatus, 

 sed quadrangulus, et hinc illinc in mediocres rimas desinens, corticeque imprimis 

 notabili, non multum ab exteriori cute diverse, maximam partem vestitus." 



* Many other examples of extraneous bodies found enclosed in the heart of 

 trees have been brought to my notice since this account was written. The most 

 curious of these is perhaps that of an image of the Virgin, which liaving been 

 placed in a niche had become imbedded by the growtli of the tree around it. 



