152 CORRESPONDENCE OF RAY. 



1. That there are whole beds of the very shells them- 

 selves unpetrified found in the earth, and that not only 

 in plains and hillocks, such as the Apulian about Andria, 

 and the Tuscan about Volterra, may be supposed to be, 

 but in mountains of a considerable height. Christianus 

 Mentzelius, in his discourse concerning the Bowonian 

 Phosphorus Lapis, gives us a relation of many beds of 

 them found mingled with sand in the upper part of a 

 high mountain not far from Bologna, in Italy. His words 

 are these : " Non procul monti Paterno dicto, lapidis 

 Bononiensis patriae, unico forte milliari Italico distanti 

 (loci nomen excidit meinoria), ingens rnons imminet prse- 

 ruptus a violentia torrentium aquarum, quas imbres fre- 

 quentes ex vicinis montibus confluentes emciunt, atque 

 insignes terrarum moles ab isto monte prosternunt ac 

 dejiciunt. In hac montis ruina, superiore in parte vi- 

 suntur multae strages seriesve ex testis conchyliorum 

 omnis generis plurima arena interjecta, instar strati super 

 stratum (ut Chymicoruin vulgus loquitur). Est enim 

 inter hasce testarum conchyliorimi strages seriesve arena 

 ad crassitiem ulnae et ultra interposita. Erant autem 

 testae variorum conchyliorum, omnes ab invicem distinctse, 

 nee cuiquam lapidi impactae, adeo ut separatim omnia 

 manibus tractari et dignosci potuerint. Eflecerat hoc 

 arena pura, nullo limo lutove intermixta, quae conchylio- 

 rum testas conservaverat per multa secula integras. In- 

 terea vero diuturnitate temporis omnes istae testae erant 

 in albissimam calcem facile resolubiles tanquam vehe- 

 mentia ignis calcinatae." 



Now if the shells themselves, not petrified, be found 

 in such plenty lying in beds, and that near the tops of 

 high mountains, a great argument it is, that what stones 

 we find of like form, and in like places, were anciently 

 shells too. This argument is so much the more consider- 

 able, because it frustrates one main objection against our 

 opinion, viz. because no account can be given how the 

 very shells should be brought to the tops of mountains, 

 they being so high above the level of the sea ; for when 



