NOTES AND QUERIES. 
207 
pleased to show them to strangers. I am, kc, Frank Dtmond (Weston-super- 
Mare)." — Will our correspondent furnish us with infonnatiou as to tlie rock in 
which the " potato stones" he refers to are embedded, so as to enable us to explain 
the circuinstanoes of the concretion of the siliceous and calcareous materials of 
those geodes probably in cavities in the rock. 
WoKK ON Pktralogy. — " SiK, — lu the last number of the 'Quarterly Journal of 
the Geological Society of Loudon ' there is an abstract of what seems to bo a 
good (leroian work, by Dr. Senft, on the Clnsxification and Description of Rocks ; 
and for this abstract we are apparently indebted to Professor Morris. Permit 
me, tlirough your very useful periodical, to enquire whether Professor Morris, or 
any other of our English Geologists, intends to put that excellent work in an 
Engli>h dress. I believe I am far from being alone, when I say that there is no 
work so much needed among English Geologists, as a good one on Petralogy. So 
far as I am aware there is no separate English treatise on this subject, except the 
useful work of Dr. MaccuUoch, which, having been so long out of print, cannot 
now be obtained for love or money. M.iy 1, therefore, a'ik whether the above 
work, translated into English, or any other separate treatise on this subject, is 
known to be forthcoming, to fill up that bl.mk in our geological literature, or 
whether there does alioady exist any good English work which may be 
unknown to me. I am. Sir, &c., J. Si.mi'son. (Mary Kirk, by Montrose.)" — We 
cannot answer our correspondent's enquiry. \Vc are quite aware of the necessity 
of some good work or translation of the kind referred to, but we do not know of 
tli« existence of any. A series of papers will shortly be commenced in this 
Journal on the mineralogical structure and conditions of rocks, which we hope will 
do much towards remedying this deficiency in our geological literature. 
Thk Disproved Htman Footprints. — " Siu, — I do not know whether your 
attention has been called to a little work lately published, entitled ' Voices from 
the Rocks,' in which the anonymous author deals very sumiu.irily with the con- 
clusions of modern geologists. He producer proof of man's existence during the 
earlier deposits, and gives an engraving of human foot-prints in the old red sand- 
stone. Is there any authentic a('Couut of such a discovery, and what is it ? Can 
you enlighten your readers, and among.st the rest a subscriber ? " E. G. — The fossil 
chnracter of these so called human foot-prints was suspected at the time of their 
discovery, and their artificial origin has long been known. We have received the 
hook for review ; and beg to refer our correspondent to Mr. Rupert Jones's letter 
on this point, in the present number, where the whole hi-tory of this afiair is 
detailed. 
GnoLor.Y OF .Vldersiiott.— "Dear Sir : Will you kindly inform me the nature 
of the strata of the district about Aldershott and Ash, and to wli.at operation its 
peculiar conformation can be attributed, arid oblige one of your readers '!" J.II.B. 
— The Aldershott <listrict has a found ition of London clay, which rises up 
against the chalk-hills of Guildford. At Ash begin the Hagshot sands, whii'h 
extend nortliward to East Hampstead, and to the east and west for several miles. 
The lower Bagshot strata, about 130 feet thick, lying on tlie London clay, are 
seen at Woking, Sunning-hill, East Hampstead, &c. A band of about forty feet 
of green and clayey sands forming the Middle Bagshots, occur at Worplesdon, 
Goldsworthy-hiU, FincUampstead, and Farnborough, and in those a few fossils 
weie found at the cutting of the Southampton Railway nt Goldsworthy-hiU. The 
upper Hagshot sands, 150 feet thick, form the flat-topped ridges of Chobham, 
Aldershott, East Hampstead, Bagshot, and the Heaths, being capped with the 
Pleistocene gravels, which, combined with these sands, are the cause of the wild 
character of the scenery of those districts. 
PREsiiiiv ATioN OF Pyritous Fossils. — "SiR, — Taking advantage of your depart- 
ment of Notes and Queries, I shall be glad of information as to the best mode of 
preserving .specimens containing pyrites. I have several, of some curiosity, which 
are daily decomposing." X. Y. — There is nothing so destructive to fossils as 
pyrites ; and the wood of drawers in which such .specimens have been kept becomes 
impregnated with the sulphuric acid generated in the decomposition, and arc thus 
rendered unfit for future service, especially for chalk fossils. The pyritous fossils of 
