144 Miscellaneous — Marine Fossils in Gannister Beds. 



sandstone. I have since examined tlie tombstone, which is in St. 

 James's Cemetery, and find that it is genuine stratified sandstone, 

 which the microscope had before proved. It is of extremely fine 

 grain, and I can detect nothing but minute grains of silex in its 

 composition. Hydrochloric acid does not affect it. The stone, I am 

 told, comes from somewhere near Burnley, and it evidently belongs 

 to the Carboniferous group. The bedding of the stone in the base 

 of the tomb shows in rusty iron streaks, and exposure discolours it 

 in places. I have since receiving the specimen, on visiting Canter- 

 bury Cathedral, noticed that the surface of the Purbeck marble 

 shafts inside the choir exfoliate, following the worked surface, but 

 not nearly in so regular a manner as indeed we would anticipate 

 from its fossil structure. 



It appeared to me very remarkable that the exfoliation should 

 follow so truly the worked surface of the stone, only varying 

 the -3V of an inch, especially in the case of a bedded sedimentary 

 rock, instead of following the planes of bedding as is usually the 

 case. I am informed it was customary to oil the stones in this 

 Cemetery with a view to their preservation. Can this have effected 

 it ? I can find no trace of oil in it now. 



T. Mellard Eeade. 



Park Corner, Blundellsands. 



Note. — As bearing upon the above letter, we may state tbat Prof. Morris has for 

 twenty years been accustomed to direct the attention of geological students to the 

 curious molecular change produced by "di-essing" stone, whether for architectnre 

 or statuary. From his careful observations it would appear that most compact 

 stones when " dressed " seem less disposed to follow their original inclination to 

 break up along certain planes, and exhibit a stronger tendency to exfoliate in layers 

 parallel to the artificially-worked sm-face of the stone. One of his favourite illus- 

 trations was a gigantic arm of syenite or red granite, once forming part of a colossal 

 statue of Thothmes III., discovered by Belzoni in 1818, lying in the sand in the 

 Karnak quarter of Thebes. This arm, which now forms one of the most striking 

 objects in the Egyptian Gallery of the British Museum, exhibits near the shoulder 

 a tendency to exfoliate in regular concentric layers corresponding with the worked 

 and polished surface of the limb. Mr. Mellard Eeade will, we feel sm-e, be pleased 

 to find that his idea of the " induced structure in stone" has the support of so dis- 

 tinguished an authority as that of Professor Morris. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



nynisozBXjXjJLn^EOTJS. 



Marine Fossils in the "Gannister Beds." — Mr. Gr. A. Lebour, 

 writing from the College of Physical Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 to " Nature" announces the discovery (on the 9th Feb.) of marine 

 fossils in the Lower Coal-measures or " Gannister beds " of North- 

 umberland between Stocksfield Station and Whittonstall. Hitherto 

 no marine forms had been found in this series. 



Academic Honour. — At a congregation of the Senatus Acade- 

 micus of the University of St. Andrews, on Saturday, February 9th, 

 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on Henry Woodward, 

 F.E.S., F.G.S., of the British Museum. 



