50 Dr. Berger on the Tsle of Man. 



up and burnt for lime, which I was informed is preferred by the 

 northern farmers to the Castletown lime for manuring the land. 

 The colour of these pebbles is smoke-grey, the texture granular 

 with lamellar crystals ; they are soluble with a brisk effervescence 

 in acids, leaving behind only an inconsiderable residuum. They 

 contain organic remains. 



III. Simple Minerals in Situ. 



f Lead Glance or Galena. 



Lead glance or galena is the most conspicuous of all the simple 

 minerals I have to mention here. It forms three limited reposito- 

 ries, one at Laxey, the other at Foxdale, and the other at Brada 

 head. 



No workings are carried on at present. 



As to the precise time those mines were first opened there is, I 

 think, some uncertainty. It would appear from the following 

 passage taken from Bishop Wilson's History of the Isle of Man, 

 that there had been mines wrought at an early period ; " Mines of 

 " coal there are none, though several attempts have been made to 

 " find them. But of lead, copper, and iron, there are several, and 

 ** some of them have been wrought to good advantage, particularly 

 " the lead J of which many hundred tons have of late been smelted, 

 " and exported. As for the copper and iron-ores, they are certainly 

 *' better than at present they are thought to be ; having been often 

 *' tried and approved of by men skilled in those matters. How- 

 ever, through the ignorance of the undertakers or by the un- 



(( 



