52 proceedings of the geological society. 



January 17. 1844. 



Eaton Hodgkinson, Esq., F.R.S., of Manchester, and Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Sabine, R.A., F.R.S., were elected Fellows of this Society. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On certain Crustaceans found at Atherfield by Dr.Fitton. By 

 T. Bell, Esq., F. R. S., Professor of Zoology in King's College, 

 London. 



[The notice of this paper in the " Proceedings " is postponed.] 



2. On the Occurrence of Phosphorite in Estremadura. By 

 Charles Daubeny, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in 

 the University of Oxford ; and Captain Wtddrington, R. N., 

 F.R.S. 



A statement having frequently been made by mineralogical writers, 

 that there exists in the Spanish province of Estremadura an ex- 

 tensive formation of Phosphate of Lime, it was considered by 

 some leading Members of the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng- 

 land an object of importance to learn the truth of these state- 

 ments ; and the authors were, therefore, commissioned to ascertain 

 where and under what circumstances the substance in question was 

 found ; what facilities existed in the country for procuring it and 

 conveying it to the coast ; and whether, if used as a manure, it 

 was of a nature to serve as a substitute for the bone earth, now 

 employed extensively in husbandry. 



The original authority for the statement, that there occurs in 

 Estremadura a certain mineral which, when thrown upon live coals, 

 becomes phosphorescent, was found to be William Bowles, who, in 

 his introduction * to the Natural History and Physical Geography 

 of Spain (2d edit. 4to. Madrid, 1782, p. 6.), relates, that, at the foot 

 of a range of mountains running E. and ~W\, and called the Moun- 

 tains of G-uadaloupe, and in the immediate vicinity of a place called 

 Logrosan, the royal road is traversed obliquely, from N. to S., by a 

 vein of Phosphoric stone. This stone was said to be of a pale 

 colour, and without taste ; and, when sprinkled upon live coals, to 

 emit a blue flame, but no smell. 



Proust, the distinguished chemist, in a letter to the French 

 chemist, D'Arcet, dated Madrid, 12th of September, 1787 (which 

 letter is published in the Journal de Physique for April, 1788), 

 communicates the important information, that the mineral in 

 question, of which he had received specimens from an apothecary 

 at Madrid, gives off phosphorus when heated with charcoal in a 

 retort. He quotes from the work of Bowles the passage above 

 referred to ; states that he has not been able to visit the spot where 

 the mineral is found ; and, from information which he has re- 



* 1st edit. 4to. Madrid, 1775. — French translation of do. 8vo. Paris, 1776. 



— 2d edit, of the original, 4to., Madrid, 1782 Italian trans, of 2d edit., with 



notes, by Don J. N. D'Azara, 2 vols. 4to. Parma. 1783. 



