C 942- ) 
difficult to be broken as our Free-ftone. Of theft Rocks 
of Oyfter-ftiells that are not Co much petrefied, they 
burn and make all their Lime ; whereof they have that 
ftore, that no Generation willconfume. Whether thefe 
were formerly Oyfters, which left by the fubfiding Seas, 
(as fome fuppofe, that all that Tra& of Land, now high 
Ground, was once overflowed by the Sea ) were fince 
petrefied, or truly Stones, fui Generis, I leave to the 
Honourable Society to determine. But when I confidcr 
the conftant and diftindt {hooting of feveral Salts, Na- 
ture's Curiofity, in every thing, lb far exceeding that of 
Art, that the mod Ingenious, when referr'd thereto, 
feem only endued with an Apilh fondnefs, I cannot think 
any thing too difficult or wonderful for Nature ; and in- 
deed, I do not apprehend, why it may not be as feafible 
to fuppofe them to have been Rocks, at firft (hot into 
thofe Figures, as to conceive the Sea to have amaft'd 
fuch a vaft Number of Oyfter-fhells one upon another, 
and afterwards fubfiding, {hould leav e themcover'd with 
fuch Mountains of Earth , under which they lhould pe- 
trefie : But not to launch forth too far into thofe Di- 
fputes, fince I muft modeflly remember to whom I 
write. Often, in the loofer Banks of Shells and Earth, 
are found perfeft Teeth petrefied, fome whereof I have 
feen, could not be left than two or three Inches long, and 
above an Inch broad : Tho' they were net Maxilary 
Teeth, the part that one might fuppofe grew out of the 
Jaw, was poliffi'd, and black, ahnoft as Jett ; the part 
, which had been fattened in the Jaw and Gums, was brown, 
and not fo ftiiningly polift'd, or fmooth ; if they were, 
as they feemed to be, really Teeth, I fuppofe, they muft 
have been of Fifties. The Back-bone of a Whale, and as 
I remember, they told me of fome of the Ribs, were 
digg'd out of the fide of a Hill, feveral Yards deep in 
|he Ground, about four Miles diftant from James-Town, 
and the River. Mr. Ean'tfter, a Gentleman pretty curi- 
ous 
