512 Miscellaneous. 



is another condition which singularly favours the transformation of 

 an organic substance more or less charged with animal into purely 

 inorganic matter, — this is the presence of some support ; metallic 

 bodies in particular exercise the greatest influence on this phseno- 

 menon. 



Thus a vase of copper, which I have laid before the Academy of 

 Sciences of Montpelier, after remaining for some time in the bosom 

 of the Mediterranean, was thrown out upon the shore, covered with 

 a very hard calcareous incrustation of several centimetres in thickness. 

 This incrustation had attached to it several rolled pebbles, as well as 

 fragments of various sizes of a considerable number of shells. Some 

 of these fragments are of sufficient size to enable us to recognize the 

 species to which they belong. Amongst them it is easy to distinguish 

 the Cardium tuberculatum, Venus gallina, Cerithium vulgatum, and 

 some portions of an Ostrea ; all species now existing in the Mediter- 

 ranean. These shells, completely petrified, have been converted into 

 carbonate of lime, at the same time that they have lost the animal 

 matter which they originally contained. Their hardness and solidity 

 are greater than those of some petrified species from tertiary forma- 

 tions. 



After the completion of the calcareous deposit which covers the 

 surface of this vase, individuals of Serpula echinata, Lam., and Flus- 

 tra depressa, Lamx., had attached themselves to the solid mass, 

 where they continued to live until the period of the vase being thrown 

 up on the shores of the Mediterranean. 



We must therefore distinguish two epochs in the circumstances 

 which had taken place on the surface of this vase from the time of its 

 falling into the sea, to that of its rejection on the shore. The first 

 and most ancient is that of the formation of the incrustations and of 

 the petrifaction of the shells. The second, and more recent, is that 

 in which the marine animals attached and developed themselves on 

 the surface of these incrustations, the materials of which had passed 

 into the solid state. 



In the collection of M. Doumet, Mayor of Cette, there exists an 

 anchor which exhibits the same circumstances, and which is also co- 

 vered with a layer of solid calcareous matter. This contains spe- 

 cimens of Pecten, Cardium, and Ostrea completely petrified, and the 

 hardness of which is equal to that of fossil species from secondary 

 formations. On the surface of the deposit in which the anchor is 

 imbedded, there are Anomice and Serpula which were living when the 

 anchor was got out of the sea ; these present no trace of alteration. 



Judging from the size, the form, and the mode of fabrication of 

 this anchor, it would appear to belong to the period when Saint Louis 

 embarked for the Holy Land, and with the more reason from its having 

 been found close to the grau of Aiguesmortes. If this be the case, 

 much time cannot be necessary for the production of these pheeno- 

 mena. 



There are also in M. Doumet' s collection several pieces of wood 

 drawn from the Mediterranean, which present the same facts, and 

 point to two different epochs. These fragments, covered with incrus- 

 tations and petrified shells, prove that whenever organized bodies are 



