L. F. Ward — Famous Fossil Cycad. 43 



Eulenburg's Beschreibung der Dresdner Naturalien-Cammer," 

 especially, p. 24. This work is therefore apparently the same 

 as that of which Dr. Deichmiiiler has furnished me the title, 

 but it seems to contain much additional information relative to 

 this specimen. From the account here given and from all 

 other available sources we learn that the specimen was found 

 in 1753 by a man named Schober in a swamp near Lednice, a 

 small village in the salt region, about three miles E. S. E. of Wie- 

 liczka, in Galicia, and therefore only about fifteen miles in 

 nearly the same direction from Cracow. This swamp is said to lie 

 500 feet above the level of a small stream, tributary of the Weich- 

 sel, which flows through that country within a mile of the spot. 

 It was not, however, supposed that this swamp was the original 

 source of the cycad, as there are no rocks near there and the 

 formation consists of simple clay soil. It was supposed there- 

 fore that it had been brought there by the peasants who were 

 accustomed to utilize the swamp in macerating their hemp. 

 But there was said to be some higher ground not far distant 

 where there are hard rocks, and where, in fact, a small piece 

 was found resembling the cycad in structure. If so this is 

 probably the source of the latter. 



A mining engineer named Borlach in some way obtained 

 possession of the specimen and sent it to Dresden, where it was 

 placed in the Natural History Cabinet which has developed into 

 the present Museum of Geology and Mineralogy, occupying 

 the southwest portion of the Z winger. Borlach left manuscript 

 notes with the specimen giving most of the above-mentioned 

 details and also indulging in some speculations as to the nature 

 and significance of the specimen, which are tolerably free from 

 the crudities of most of the discussions of his time relative to 

 this class of objects. He queries, for example, whether it is a 

 marine plant, or the nest of some marine animal, or a petri- 

 fied land plant such as the top of a palm tree. He seems to 

 incline to the last of these suppositions, but says that if it 

 really be a petrified palm the climate must have been hot at 

 the time it grew, from which he infers that the earth must 

 have changed its axis since that time. It is probable that 

 Borlach is the person to whose opinion to this effect Eilenburg 

 refers in the passage quoted above from his report. 



Eilenburg describes the specimen in considerable detail, says 

 that it is irregularly broken at both ends, has a cylindrical but 

 somewhat oval shape, is 22 inches in major and 20 inches in 

 minor diameter and 24 inches high, is of a black color, though 

 brownish at one end, has the hardness of agate or flint, and 

 takes a fine polish. If a small piece be detached and thrown 

 into the fire it becomes ash gray and gives off the odor of 

 brimstone, but remains firm and does not burst like other hard 



