24 Notice of Mr. SchoolcrajVs Memoir of a Fossil Tree. 



tial well-bred English gentlemen, appeared at his door, and 

 addressed me — " Sir, I perceive that your attention is fixed 

 upon my fish. That is a conger-eel, a species that abounds 

 in these seas. We see them repeatedly at the depth of 

 twelve feet water, lying exactly in that posture. That stone, 

 as it now appears, was dug up from the bowels of this moun- 

 tain, at the depth of twenty feet below the surface, in the 

 midst of the rocks. "Now sir," said he, "at the time of the 

 deluge, these neighbouring seas were thrown up into that 

 mountain, and this fish lying at the bottom was thrown up 

 with the rest, and there petrified in the very posture in which 

 he lay." I was charmed with the eloquence of this pro- 

 found philosopher, as well as with his civility, and said that 

 I could not account for the phenomenon by any more plau- 

 sible or probable hypothesis. This is a lofty hill, and very 

 steep, and in the road up and down, there are flat and 

 smooth rocks of considerable extent. The commerce in 

 Portland stone frequently calls for huge masses from ten to 

 fifteen tons weight. These are loaded on very strong 

 wheels, and drawn by ten or twelve pair of horses. When 

 they come to one of those flat rocks on the side of the hill, 

 where the descent is steep, they take off six or eight pair oi 

 horses, and attach them behind the waggon, and lash theia 

 up hill, while one or two pair of horses in front have todrag 

 the waggon and its load, and six or eight pair of horses be- 

 hind it, backwards. 



I give you this history by way of comment on Dr. Frank- 

 lin's famous argument against a mixed government. That 

 great man ought not to have quoted this as a New-England 

 custom, because it was an English practice before New- 

 England existed ; and is a happy illustration of the necessi- 

 ty of a balanced government. And since 1 have mentioned 

 Dr. Franklin, I will relate another fact, which I had from 

 his mouth. When he lived at Passy (near Paris) a new 

 quarry of stones was opened in the garden of Mr. Ray de 

 Chaumont, and at the depth of twenty feet was found, a 

 shark's tooth in perfect preservation, which I suppose my 

 Portland friend would account for, as he did for his conger- 

 eel, though the tooth was not petrified. 



Excuse this whimsical letter, accept my repeated thanks 

 for your memoir, and believe me to be 



Your obliged friend, and humble servant, 



JOHN ADAMS." 



