JAN. — MAR. 1857.] Supposed Aerolite in a tree. 
249 
" Since the Battersea phenomenon was announced, Professor 
Henslow, to whom I had applied, wrote to me saying, that he pos- 
sessed a remarkable example of a stone which was found imbed- 
ded in the heart of a tree, in sawing it up in Plymouth Dockyard ; 
and he has obligingly sent up the specimen, which is now also ex- 
hibited. In this case, judging from the mineral character of the 
rock, and its being slightly magnetic. Professor Henslow supposed 
that it was perhaps a volcanic bomb. On referring it to Dr. Shep- 
ard, that gentleman entertains the opinion that it is also a mete- 
orite, and states that it resembles certain meteoric stones with 
which he is acquainted ; sub^icions of which had also been enter- 
tained by Professor Henciow. From the examination of a minute 
fragment which I detached from this stone, it appears to be com- 
posed of a base of felspathic matter, with minute crystals of felspar 
and of magnetic iron pyrites. Externally it has a trachytic aspect, 
though, when fractured, it more resembles, in the opinion of Mr. 
Warington Smyth, a pale Cornish elvan or porphyry than any other 
British rock with which it can be compared. Whatever may have 
been the origin of this stone, which is of the size of a child's head, 
it is essentially different from the metalliferous mass from Bat- 
tersea, to which attention has been specially invited, and its posi- 
tion in the heart of an oak is equally remarkable. Like the Bat- 
tersea specimen, the segment of wood from Plymouth Dockyard is 
characterized by an interior bark which folds round the sinuosities 
of the included stone. 
" In respect to the envelopment of manufactured materials in 
trees, my friend, Mr. H. Brooke, the distinguished mineralogist, 
tells me that he perfectly remembers the case of an iron chain 
which had been enclosed in the heart of a tree, the wood of which 
was souud around the whole of the included metallic body. This 
specimen was to be seen some years ago in the British Museum. 
Again, he informs me that at Stoke Newington he recollects to have 
seen a tree, the trunk of which had grown over and completely en- 
closed a scythe, except on the sides where its ends protruded^. 
* Many other examples of extraneous bodies found enclosed in the heart of trees 
have been brought to my notice since this account was written. The most curious 
of these is perhaps that of an image of the Virgin, which having been placed in a 
niche had become imbedded by the growth of the tree around it. 
