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coal-seam, Mr. Buddle is of opinion, that the fault and seam occupy 
the site of a lake, which existed during the deposition of the latter, 
and that the carbonaceous matter, which forms the seam, was 
accumulated while the water was deep and tranquil; that the undula- 
tions on the surface of the coal were occasioned by the action of the 
water when the lake was discharged ; and that the Horse occupies 
the bed of the stream by which the complete drainage of the lake 
was effected. The sandstone of the roof, and that which fills the 
lows, he conceives, on account of the fineness of the grain, were tran- 
quilly deposited. 
A paper was then read, entitled, “‘ Remarks on the Structure of 
the Royal George, and on the Condition of the Timber, Iron, Cop- 
per, &c., recovered during the operations of Col. Pasley, in the Sum- 
mer of 1839;” by Mr. Creuze, of Her Majesty’s Dock Yard, Ports- 
mouth, and communicated by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., F.G.S. 
The Royal George was accidentally sunk at Spithead on the 29th 
of August, 1782, and as the specimens described in the paper were 
recovered during the summer of 1839, they had consequently been 
immersed in a tide-way of salt water fifty-seven years. She was 
the first ship of war built on the principles recommended by the 
committee appointed to inquire into the superiority of the vessels 
in the Spanish and French navies; and was commenced at Wool- 
wich in 1746, and launched the 1st of February, 1756. The Royal 
George was consequently, when sunk (1782), twenty-six years old. 
The great agent in the work of destruction of the timbers had 
been “the worm”. This insect had gradually, by its innumerable 
perforations on every exposed portion of the wreck, destroyed the 
fibrous tenacity of the wood, and reduced it to such a state as to 
permit the wash of the tide to remove the surface layer by layer. 
The quantity which had been thus destroyed, Mr. Creuze considers, 
from the parts recovered, to have been almost the whole of the upper 
portion of the ship, including the topsides above the line of the mid- 
dle deck ports ; and he is of opinion, that in another half century the 
same agents might have destroyed every part of the hull above the 
surface of the mud, if Col. Pasley’s operations had not been under- 
taken. 
The timbers which had been protected by the mud, were found 
to be solid and firm ; but the only exposed wood which has escaped 
the ravages of “the worm” is the ash of which the dead-eyes were 
made. A portion of one of these timbers, which accompanied the 
paper, and had formed a part of the exterior surface covered with 
mud, bore no marks of “the worm.” The copper sheathing ap- 
pears to have suffered very slightly, several whole sheets having been 
found to be of the average weight per square foot of that now used. 
This state of preservation Mr. Creuze assigns to galvanic action. The 
copper nails are also nearly perfect. The cast-iron guns which have 
been recovered, were so soft when first brought to the surface, that 
they were easily abraded by the finger nail to the depth of at least 
¢gth, and in some parts of 4th of an inch; but they have gradually 
