826 



U.VERSTONE WEALDIN. 



removed from Glasgow to London, fur what good 

 riHison we know not. In 1832, a biunch from the 

 Glasgow establislniH nt was commenced at Edin- 

 burgh, under the firm of Wilson and Sinclair, the 



management of which was placed in the hands of 

 Mr Duncan "im-lair, who hud been lor more than 

 twenty years foreman over the Glasgow foundry. 



u 



ILVERSTONE; a town in Lancashire, situ- 

 ated near the estuary of the rivers Crake and Le- 

 \i-ii, 2 miles N.W. of Lancaster, and 261 miles 

 from London. The town is of considerable anti- 

 . uity, and is said to have been called by the Saxons 

 I'lpha's town. It consists principally of four 

 spacious streets, the houses forming which are gen- 

 erally well built of stone, and whitewashed. UK 

 verstone has long been noted for its manufactures 

 of checks, canvass and hats. The principal ex- 

 I orts are blue slate, got in the neighbourhood, of 



which immense quantities are sent coast-wise, and 

 iron ore, obtained at Lindale. Great quantities of 

 potatoes are raised in the neighbourhood, and the 

 land seems peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of 

 this valuable root. A canal, connected with the 

 river Leven, was cut here in 1795. It is about a 

 mile and a half in length, with proper basins and 

 wharfs, and opens an immediate communication 

 with the Irish sea. Population of Ulverstone in 

 1841, R77* 3 . 



w 



WALKER THOMAS; author of a somewhat 

 eccentric collection of essays entitled " The Ori- 

 ginal," was born in Manchester, in 1784. His 

 father was an extensive manufacturer there, but at 

 the outbreaking of the French revolution, got in- 

 volved in the political agitation of the day, and was 

 tried for high treason at Lancaster. The trial is 

 still memorable for lord Erskine's splendid defence 

 of the accused, which obtained his acquital. Young 

 Walker, after graduating at Trinity college, Cam- 

 bridge, studied for the law, and was called to the 

 bar in 1812. In 1829, he was appointed one of the 

 magistrates of Lambeth street police office, and till 

 his death discharged the duties of that station with 

 great practical wisdom and efficiency. In May, 

 1835, he commenced his weekly periodical, called 

 The Original, which ran the length of twenty-nine 

 numbers. The essays were mostly on ordinary day 

 life, but, drawing from his experience as a magis- 

 trate and one who had mixed largely in the world, 

 the author contrived to infuse into them many new 

 and striking observations. Mr Walker died sud- 

 denly at Brussels on the 16th January, 1836. 



WEALDIN. A geological formation, so called 

 from its existence in the Wealds of Kent. These 

 strata are found resting above the oolite and under 

 the chalk in the counties of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, 

 and Hampshire. They extend in England in 

 length to sixty miles, and are from fifteen to 

 twenty miles in breadth; the same, or similar 

 beds can also be traced to Boulonnois on the 

 opposite coast of France. They rest on ma- 

 rine beds and are covered with marine green 

 sand, but contain remains of fresh water animals 

 exclusively. The beds consist of a blue or brown 

 tenacious clay, sometimes indurated, slaty, and 

 mixed with beds of limestone, containing shells 

 of the paludina and cypris, and other fluvia- 

 tile mollusks. Also remains of fish, turtles, as 

 the triomyx, crocodiles, the plesiosaurus, hyloeo- 

 saurus, megalosaurus, a gigantic species of lizard, 

 approaching to the form of the existing monitor, 

 and supposed by Cuvier to have been seventy feet 

 in length. The teeth and bones of the iguanadon, 

 an herbivorous reptile, somewhat similar to the 



guana, a lizard of the West Indies, have also been 

 found in these beds. The teeth resemble the 

 grinders of an animal adapted to feed on vegetable 

 matters, and many of these are worn flat by attri- 

 tion. From portions of a huge thigh bone discov- 

 ered, and measuring twenty-three inches in cir- 

 cumference, the animal to which they have be- 

 longed has been conjectured to have been at least 

 sixty to seventy feet in length. It appears also 

 to have been furnished with a^horn similar to that 

 of the rhinoceros. Bones of birds have also been 

 found, but none of the mammalia. At the point 

 of contact, of the inferior division of the wealdin, 

 or purbek beds, with the more ancient marine 

 system, a very curious phenomenon is observed. 

 The fresh water calcareous strata repose both in 

 Portland and purbek upon the oolite limestone, 

 called the Portland stone which abounds with 

 ammonites, trigonije, and other marine shells. 

 Between the two formations there intervenes a 

 layer of what appears to have been an ancient 

 vegetable soil ; it is of a dark brown colour, con- 

 tains a large proportion of earthy lignite, and 

 like the modern soil on the surface of the island, 

 many water worn stones. This layer is called 

 the " dirt bed " by the quarrymen, and in and 

 upon it are a great number of silicified trunks o.' 

 coniferous trees and plants allied to the recent 

 cycas and ganua. Many of the stems of the trees 

 as well as the plants, are still erect, the former 

 having their roots in the soil, and their trunks 

 extending into the superincumbent strata of lime- 

 stone. Traces of this vegetable earth have been 

 observed in the cliffs of the Boulonnois, on the 

 opposite coast of France, with the stems and roots 

 attached to it in a similar manner as those found 

 in the English wealdin. 



In the wealdin too, will be found a good illus- 

 tration of the effects of denudation of the superior 

 strata. The chalk and green sand above having 

 been extensively swept away by currents, by which 

 the weald clay below has been exposed, the legs 

 of birds, remains of fishes, crabs, lobsters, marine 

 shells, and fuci with portions of fossil wood, have 

 been discovered. 



