Notes and Comments. 183 
‘ance of which is just the reverse to that of a cask, bound about 
with wooden hoops contiguous to each other; for the hoops 
are convex, or raised above the body of the cask, whereas these 
rings are concave, or let into the body of the snake. The 
other species of snakes have a ridge on their backs, and are 
flatted on the sides, as if they had been pressed together ; 
the marks wherewith they are pitted or indented resembling 
the impression made by a man’s thumb on a soft substance. 
The stones wherein these snakes are inclosed must be broken 
very carefully, otherwise the snake will break also.’ 
INTERNAL STRUCTURE. 
‘The impression which the snake leaves on its bed, or nidus, 
within the stone, is very perfect and beautiful. Sometimes 
the body of the snake is powdered with shining specks, and 
‘sometimes it is of a bright yellow colour, as if it were gilt. 
The snake seems to be a different mineral from the stone in 
which it 1s inclosed ; and when broken, its substance within 
resembles salt-petre in colour, transparency, and hardness. 
These snakes are of various sizes, the spiral convolutions being 
from one to six sinches in diameter ; the flatted snakes are the 
largest ; but the round-bodied infulated snakes are not only 
the most numerous, but also the most beautiful. These 
ammonite are noticed by Camden, Leland, and others; and 
both of them observe, that fame ascribes them to the power 
-of St. Hilda’s prayers.’ 
SPORTS OF NATURE. 
‘Mr. Charlton says, that it is yet a constant tradition among 
the vulgar in that part of the country, that these were real 
snakes, rai which Whitby and its vicinity were infested, and 
which being driven over the cliff by Lady Hilda, and losing 
their heads by the fall, were afterwards, by her prayers, trans- 
formed into stones. Such is the credulity and superstition of 
the multitude ; it is needless to say, that these monkish miracles 
and absurd legends are treated with contempt by all persons 
of an enlightened understanding. The historian of W hitby 
adopts the opinion of Dr. Lister, Camerarious, and others, who 
‘suppose all ths petrifactions resembling shell-fish, or other 
animals, found in rocks, or on mountains, etc., to be a mere 
‘lusus nature,’”’ or “lapides sui generis,’ produced by fer- 
mentation, or by some peculiar property inherent in all alum- 
mines ; and he opposes the hypothesis of those who imagine 
that they have once been living creatures, and been brought 
into their present situation by some violent convulsion of the 
earth, either at the time of the deluge or at some other period, 
grounding his arguments on the regularity of the strata near 
the surface.’ 
913 May t. 
