Obituary —Melville A tticood, F.G.8. 335 



discovered in the area. I may, however, recall attention to tlie 

 Merton Boulder, which lies on the estate of Lord Walsingham, at 

 Merton, in Norfolk. This boulder is regarded by Mr. Whitaker 

 as Neocomian Sandstone, and it measures 12 X 5 feet, but being 

 partly under water its thickness could not be ascertained. (See 

 F. J. Bennett, "Geology of Attleborough, Watton, and Wymondham," 

 Geol. Survey Memoir, p. 10.) A more particular account of the 

 Spilsby Sandstone has been given by Mr. A. Strahan, who refers to 

 its tendency to weather into a loose sand in which great blocks 

 of the unweathered rock remain here and there. Hence during the 

 Glacial Period a number of ready-made boulders could have been 

 obtained from the formation. Such blocks have, indeed, been 

 recorded from the Drift in various parts of Suffolk, and some of 

 them have yielded Brachiopoda regarded as Neocomian by W. 

 Keeping and Davidson. (See Strahan, in " Geology of the Country 

 around Lincoln," p. 88.) 



H. B. Woodward. 



THE LLAXBEEIS UNCONFORMITY. 

 Sir, — The courteous letter, which you publish from Professor 

 Bonney in your June number, calls for only two remarks. (1) 

 I am not aware that Professor Bonney has in any case tried to 

 find out for himself whether any stratigraphical statement of mine 

 is fact or fancy. (2) To have once silenced a gun is not to take 

 the fort. How many of the ship's guns are still in action ? 



J. F. Blake. 



0:BITTJ.A.E,3r. 



MELVILLE ATTWOOD, F.G.S. 



BonN July 31, 1812. Died April 23, 1898. 



Melville Attwood was born at Prescott Hall, Old Swinford, 

 Worcestershire, on July 31, 1812, and educated at Mathew Gibson's 

 Academy, Tranmere, Cheshire, and afterwards studied at the 

 Chemical Laboratory of Messrs. Watson and Pirn, of Liverpool. 



When quite a young man he was sent out to the Gold and 

 Diamond Mines in Brazil, where he remained some years ; on 

 his return to England he leased and worked the celebrated Old 

 Ecton Copper Mine in Derbyshire, and was engaged in mining 

 and metallurgical works in the North of England and Staffordshire, 

 and in 1843 he gave zinc a commercial value by successfully rolling 

 the first English spelter. On the loth October, 1839, he married 

 Jane Alice Forbes, the sister of the late Professor Edward Forbes 

 and of David Forbes, F.R.S., but in 1852, bis wife's health becoming 

 critical, he disposed of his interests and sailed for California, 

 hoping that the change might benefit her ; at the same time he 

 accepted the position of manager to the Agua Fria Gold Quartz 

 Company (in California), and in 1853 constructed at Grass Valley 

 the first gold-mill in that country, for which he received a vote 

 of thanks and a medal from the State of California. 



