( 5(3 ) 
IV. — On the Phosphoric Strata of the Chalk Formation. By J. 
Manwaring Paine and J. Thomas Way. 
[Note by Mr. Way. — The analyses which have been incorporated in 
the following paper were made for the English Agricultural Chemistry As- 
sociation, at the instance of Mr. Paine, who is one of its members. Although 
it has been my good fortune to assist Mr. Paine in his investigations, and 
to accompany him in many of his geological explorations, any amount of 
good which may be considered to arise from the inquiry must be placed 
to the credit of Mr. Paine alone, to whose indefatigable efforts in the 
acquisition of such information I may surely be allowed to afford my 
willing testimony. The reader of the following pages will find that any 
notion, on the part of Mr. Paine or myself, of taking credit for the discovery 
of these phosphoric deposits is absohitely disclaimed. The various 
branches of the subject have indeed long since been in the able hands of 
Dr. Fitton, Dr. Mantell, Professor Henslow, &c. With the exception, 
however, of the last-named observer, it would not appear that these gentle- 
men had studied the subject in any but a purely geoloyical sense; and 
valuable as are the results of their labours, they cannot be said to be 
adequate to the application of these substances in practical agriculture. 
The well-known zeal of Professor Henslow in the service of agricultural 
science has led him to approach the consideration of these geological truths 
in an agricultural sense ; and his discovery and recommendation of the 
phosphoric fossils of Suffolk and Essex have led to the extensive employ- 
ment of these remains as a substitute for bones. He has since extended 
his observations, with the same practical tendency, to similar deposits in 
the upper green-sand formation. The details now given will, however, it 
is hoped, not be without interest, as an extension of a subject which as yet 
is comparatively new to agricultural readers. The analyses introduced 
scarcely comprehend a tithe of those which have been made in the pro- 
gress of the investigation ; and although many chemical facts of much 
interest have been observed, the pages of this Journal were not considered 
appropriate to their introduction, and only such have been brought for- 
ward as were thought necessary to the mjricultural application of the sub- 
jects. For many of the analyses I am indebted to Mr. Frederick Eggar of 
Beutley, who has spent many months in my laboratory in this kind of 
mineral investigation ; the remainder are by myself. — J. T. W.] 
The advantages to be derived from the employment of hones in 
agriculture are at this day well known, and it were but a waste 
of the valuable space of the Journal and of the time of the reader 
to bring forward arguments and examples in favour of a manure 
whose merits are rarely brought in question. 
But in introducing to the notice of the agricultural reader an 
important source of the mineral called j'/«3Sjt;Aafe (2/' /me, it may 
not be altogether out of place shortly to advert to the arguments 
Wfhich may be adduced for the belief that bones owe much of 
their fertilizing powers to this ingredient in their composition. 
