72 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
unexpectedly discovered in the cliiF. 
Oil removing some of the surrounding 
clay, the bone was found to form part of 
a perfect human skeleton, which was 
lying in a position parallel to the cockle- 
bed, which bed was continuous and 
unbrolrcn on both sides of the human 
remains. A portion of the skeleton was 
rather below the Une of shells, while 
the clay and cocldes had entered the skuU, 
and followed the same line as the shelly 
bed on either side of it. It was also 
quite evident that the incumbent earth 
had never been disturbed from above 
since its upheaval; and the clay is so 
perfectly di-y, that bones might remaia 
undecayed in it for an indefinite period ; 
and the sheUs are apparently all but 
as fresh as those of the same species that 
are daily cast on shore by the waves. 
A brief notice of this discovery was 
read at a meeting of the Geological 
Society in 1841, when the skull, with 
the shells in it, was exhibited. The 
cliff is elevated about forty feet. 
The circumstance attracted at the time 
less attention than a fact of the kind 
deserved, but subsequent discoveries of 
flint implements in the drift has convert- 
ed what was at first considered of little 
account into an important fact ; and 
I have been m-ged by my geological 
friends to call attention to the subject 
in your widely cnculated f periodical. 
Explanation of the Section. 
a, Clay ; the Ime near the top represent- 
ing the bed of cockles. 
b, Trap-rock. 
c, Quartzite, probably caradoc sandstone 
altered by contact with the igneous rock 
against wliich it abuts. 
f, Caradoe-rocks, rich in fossils. 
At a X is noted the spot where the 
human skeleton was imbedded. 
Height of section forty feet ; horizontal 
extent about eight hundred yards. In 
the rough di-aft the vertical height has 
been exaggerated, in order to exhibit the 
stratified rocks more distinctly. 
At the time the human skeleton was 
disovercd, it was asked if any tradi- 
tion existed in the country of a change 
of level on the coast, but I have no 
doubt that the entombment of the hu- 
man remains and the cockles occurred 
