H. M. Cadell—Plant-remains in Basalt, Bo’ ness: 22% 
The fossil lies on the angle ridge of a rudely four-sided block, whose 
shape is determined by the natural jointing of the basalt, and, like 
the exposed surfaces of the stone, is stained an ochreous brown colour. 
With the exception of this very thin coating of )iron oxide, and 
perhaps a little carbonaceous matter mixed with it, the original 
plant in its upper part is entirely replaced by crystalline calcite, as. 
shown at the fracture in the specimen to which reference has already 
been made. 
“The broken base (which only in part shows a fresh surface): 
appears to consist of lime and matrix intermingled, but this may not 
be more than a coating at the broken end. 
“There cannot remain the slightest doubt that the fossil is part 
of a Lycopod stem. Its outer surface might be described as an 
imperfectly preserved specimen of Knorria, which, however, may 
have originated from a Lepidodendron or a Lepidophioios. 
“The ereat interest of the specimen centres in the matrix in 
which it is preserved. ‘The occurrence of a plant preserved in basalt 
is perhaps “unique. The fossil was probably first reduced to a 
condition of ‘ charcoal’ by the heat of the lava—a condition in which 
specimens are frequently found in volcanic 
carbon has been removed and the cavity filled up by infiltrated lime.” 
I had some of the most carbonaceous-lookmg parts sliced for’ the 
microscope, but a close examination failed to show any traces of 
vegetable structure. 
A microscopic examination of the rock, which Mr. J. G. Goodchild, 
F.G.8., has been kind enough to make, shows it to present the 
character of a medium-grained, hemicrystalline aggregation of (1) 
lath-shaped crystals of plagioclase, apparently labradorite, forming 
quite three-fifths of the mass; (2) a small quantity of a mineral too 
much decomposed to be recognizable, but which may have been one 
of the pyroxenes; (3) large grains of serpentinised olivine of 
characteristic form and optical ‘properties ; (4) magnetite in small 
grains and crystals, evidently representing the oldest cr ystallization ; 
(5) more or less interstitial matter, which remains dark through 
a complete rotation under crossed =icalls. and which must, dierent. 
represent undifferentiated matter that originally existed as glass. The 
presence of olivine, which is even more abundant than that in the 
olivine basalt of the Lion’s Haunch (Arthur’s Seat), along with 
abundant plagioclase felspar and a ground-mass, shows the rock to be. 
an olivine basalt. 
In conclusion, it is interesting to reflect that had such a discovery 
been made three-quarters of a century ago, when the Huttonian and 
Wernerian controversy was at its height, it would doubtless have 
been triumphantly adduced as a proof of the correctness of the 
Neptunists’ view that greenstone and trap are rocks of aqueous 
sedimentary origin, in which organic remains might reasonably be 
expected to occur. 
