458 



H. C. SORBY ON A COAL-MEASURE FOREST. 



31. On the Remains of a Fossil Forest in the Coal-measures 

 at Wadsley, near Sheffield. By H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., Pres. R.M.S. (Read April 28, 1875.) 



In order to make the ground at the back of the South- Yorkshire 

 County Lunatic Asylum more level, a considerable amount of coal- 

 measure sandstone and shale was excavated in the autumn of 1873 ; 

 and this exposed to view a number of the stumps of large fossil 

 trees. My attention was called to them by my friend, Mr. W. P. 

 Milner, one of the visiting magistrates; and soon afterwards I 

 attended a meeting of the Visitors at the asylum, and pointed out 

 on the spot the desirability of preserving some of the larger and 

 better specimens in situ, so that their position and relation to the 

 strata might always be seen. It was then at once resolved that 

 two small sheds should be erected to protect the trees from the 

 weather ; and I am glad to say that this has been carried out in a 

 most satisfactory manner. They have been made of wood, with felt 

 roofs ; and they have a number of glazed windows, so that the fossils 

 can be easily seen, even from the outside, or more completely exa- 

 mined by procuring the keys at the Asylum. "We may thus hope 

 that these interesting remains will be preserved in a satisfactory 

 state for many years to come. 



The manner in which they occur is so similar to what has been 

 described by Bowman*, Binneyf , BeckettJ, and others, that I need 

 not occupy the space of our Journal in repeating what has been 

 already published, but may say that the facts bear out extremely 

 well the views enunciated by Bowman, and seem to show that the 



Fig. 1. — Section showing the position of the stumps in the Fossil 

 Forest at Wadsley near Sheffield. (Scale 1 inch to 40 feet.) 



N.E. S.W. 



a. Sandstone, b. Clay-like shale. 



trees grew in what is now a bed of earthy, clay-like shale, and then 

 died and decomposed down to the level of the surrounding mud, 

 leaving hollow stumps, subsequently filled with the sand now con- 

 stituting the superjacent bed of sandstone (fig. 1). Both this and 



* Ed. New Phil. Journ. 1841, vol. xxxi. p. 154. 



t Phil. Mag. 1844, xxiy. p. 165. 



% Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 41. 



