220 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



tlie South Dov/ns of Biuton Hills, from the name of the paiish Mr. Biddulph 



^^^"^Extracts from Letter III. by a Pvev. Clergyman to Peter Cohinson, Esq., F.R.S. 

 Bristol, October 23, 1756 I had also forgot to tell you of a noble acquisition, 

 since my tour to Wales. A gentleman who was digging, upon a hill near Mendip, 

 for ochre and ore, found at the depth of 52 fathoms, or 315| feet (as he measured 

 himself by direct line), four teeth, not tusks, of a large elephant (which I think 

 is the whole number the creature has), and two thigh-bones, Avith part of the 

 head ; all extremely well preserved ; for they lay in a bed of ochre, which I could 

 easily wash off. When they were brought to me, every crevice was filled with the 

 ochre, and as I washed it off from the outside, a most beautiful white surface 

 appeared ; and they make a fine show in my cabinet. I propose going down into 

 the pit myself soon ; fc* the men have left several small pieces behind, which they 

 did not think worth bringing up, and I make no doubt, if that be the case, but I 

 shall procure the whole, or great part of the animal. I have also, since I saw 

 you, got part of an immensely large stag-horn, undoubtedly fossil, dug up ten 

 miles from Bristol.' 



" Obsekvations by Peter Collinson, Esq. — ' In England the teeth and bones 

 of elephants have been often found fossil ; and yet it is allowed on all hands that 

 so many elephants were never brought hither by men, as have been dug up. In 

 particular, besides the above accounts, I had a large grinder from Norfolk, which 

 was found with, other teeth and bones. From Mersey Island, in Essex, were sent 

 me a large grinder and part of a thigh-bone ; these were found with the entire 

 skeleton, which was destroyed by the country people. Mr. John Luffkin, in the 

 " Philosophical Transactions," No. 274, mentions bones and teeth of an elephant 

 found near Harwich, in Essex, Mr. Somner, in No. 272, mentions an elephant 

 found at Chartham, near Canterbury ; the teeth were all grinders, four in number. 

 Dr. Woodward mentions two large tusks of an elephant, found at Bowden Parva, 

 in Northamptonshire. He had besides several pieces of elephants' teeth, dug up 

 in a gravel-pit at Islington. Unless we allow Dr. Woodward's hypothesis of the 

 deluge, it is difiicult to conceive how the teeth, bones, &c. of this vast animal 

 come to be found so frequently in this island. The Romans were the only people 

 who could bring any to intimidate the Britons in their wars ; but we have not the 

 least account of any such thing.' 



" Kettering, Northamptonshire. — ' Here we discovered a tooth, vertebra, 

 and jaw-bone of some animal of an enormous size, and of a species different from 

 any creature that is now bred and supported in our climate ; these, with the 

 thigh-bone of a beast of more moderate size, were found in the aforesaid gravel-pit, 

 at the depth of about seven feet, in places which had never before been opened, &c.' 

 —Gent. Mag. 1757, p. 21. 



" The following I met with in the ' History of the County Palatine of Durham,' 

 Mackenzie and Ross. At Maineforth, a hamlet three miles N.W. of Sedgefield, 

 ' about the year 1740, the horns of a moose-deer were dug out of a pond here, one 

 of which is preserved, measuring from root to tip three feet eight inches, and ten 

 inches in circumference above the root ; the greatest breadth fourteen inches. 

 Several of the branches are evidently broken off"' — I am, dear Sir, Yours truly, 

 F.S.A." 



Clinometers. — Observer asks what is the best form of Clinometer, and 

 where such instruments are to be obtained ?— A useful form of Clinometer is a 

 little square box-compass, having a pendulimi attached to the axis, so that when 

 tlie box is opened and set on edge, the pendulum swings against the graduated 

 card. A little spirit-level can easily be fixed in one edge of the box ; and brass 

 sights can be also added. Such an apparatus is prepared by Knight, Foster Lane ; 

 and probably can be procured also at Fenn's and Buck's, Newgate Street, and 

 Marry att's, King William Street. 



