GEOLOGICAL LETTERS AND NOTES 287 



next anniversary I lay down the staff of office, and tho' 1 lose my 

 dignity I regain my freedom, and a good coup is it not, my lord of 

 Conpland ? Last term we were half frightened out of our wits by 

 the incendiaries, indeed the fire came near enough to singe the locks 

 of our Alma Mater. Her sons then underwent an organization. The 

 Bursar ordered into the College about 800 staves, anyone of which 

 would have graced the hand of Hercules. Ever since, our College has 

 been called the University Club House. The poor half -starved devils 

 from the fens, tho' mightily edified by burning stacks, did not see the 

 fun of catching Tartars, so they lost their hearts and stuck to their 

 spades ; but our clnbs carried the day. Now I defy mortal man to 

 write greater nonsense than I am doing, so it is time to let my pen 

 rest. Give my kindest remembrances to your sister, and believe me 

 with great regard, Most truly yours, 



A. Sedgwick." 



It seems not out of place to bring this short series of letters 

 to a close with one from the well known North country geo- 

 logist, Mr Henry Witliam of Lartington, the author of the 

 work on Vegetable Fossils mentioned in a footnote above, 

 and the founder of the Geological Collection until recently 

 housed at Lartington Hall in Yorkshire. Mr Witham writes 

 to Mr Culley from Edinburgh under date February 28th, 1831, 

 and refers, as will be seen, to the discovery of a large vege- 

 table fossil at Craigleith : — 



" Thank you kindly for the hare I dined so well off to-day. The 

 only thing I regretted was your absence, as I feel as if it were an 

 age since we conversed together, and I think that reciprocation upon 

 many topics might be of use to both. 



What are you about ? politically you have my most cordial wishes. 

 Are you big with a geolegical account of Northumberland, or is it 

 only in embryo ? 



What a shame you did not come to see the most magnificent vege- 

 table fossil ever seen in situ in Craigleith quarry ! I read a paper 

 on it in the Royal Society last Monday — 37 feet long as far as yet 

 uncovered ; and last Thursday another fragment was discovered in 

 another part of the quarry, proving in the most satisfactory manner 

 the concentric rings, which was all that was wanting to satisfy the 

 most sceptical observer of the existence of Coniferse in much greater 

 abundance than admitted by any previous writer in these early sedi- 

 mentary deposits. I have had two long epistles from Sedgewick 



