Miscellanies. 365 



work he is to present to you. I merely mention this, to let you 

 know the possibility of your finding similar remains, should you 

 know of similar deposits. 



You are aware this is a most interesting geological district, inclu- 

 ding, ^from the River Tees to Flamborough Head, about seventy 

 miles, the new red sandstone, lias, and different members of the 

 oolitic series, up to and excluding the chalks. Lately, two deposits 

 have attracted much notice, one found reposing immediately upon 

 the Speeton clay, containing numerous specimens of the Cardium 

 Edule, trochus, he. and seventy feet above the level of the present 

 sea. This must prove the one of two things, either that the land 

 must have been elevated by some unknown cause, or the ocean 

 must have receded. Upon this there are now at least forty feet of 

 diluvium. The other is at Bridlington quay, and lying npon the 

 chalk. Mr. Philhps, now professor in the London University, and who 

 has written the geological history of this country, is of opinion, that 

 it may be intermediate between the London clay and the Bordeaux 

 basin ; but a Mr. Bean, who has the finest collection of British shells 

 in the world, has already found several species, similar to the crag. 

 Before six months are over, the fossils contained in it will probably 

 decide this important question. Mr. Bean gave me a piece of wood 

 he found in it, which, by slicing, I have proved to be a true dicotyle- 

 don, differing from any wood ever found below the chalk. I have 

 sent it to Dr. Lindley, v^^ho, by his comparisons with the woods found 

 in the tertiary deposits, may perhaps at once state its position. 



In this immediate neighborhood was found, in 1834, in a large tu- 

 mulus, a coffin, made of the trunk of an oak, roughly hewn at the 

 extremities, containing a human skeleton, quite perfect. The bones 

 were much larger and stronger than those of a more recent date. 

 It was pronounced to be of Anglo-Saxon or Roman origin ; and this 

 week another barrow or tumulus has been opened, which, from the 

 absence of all metals, Stc. is supposed to be older than the one 

 above mentioned. 



The Dubhn scientific meeting, you will perceive, has gone off 

 well, and the next meeting is fixed to be at Bristol. 



I am not aware of any other new or striking geological facts, 

 which have very lately occurred in this country. 



It is rather a singular coincidence, that whilst the inhabitants of 

 old Ebor, (York,) are busy in forwarding plans for quick and easy 

 communication with other places, by steamboats and railways, news 



