NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
17 
400 years old in 1836. The famous Ilolly Walk at Frensham, in Surrey, is on 
the Lower Greensand. Evelyn’s holly hedge at Deptford, would, however, I 
presume, have been on the London clay, and Ablett, in his “ English Trees and 
Tree Planting ” (1880 edition), states that the holly will grow in almost any kind 
of soil, provided it be not too wet. 
Dulwich , December , 1902. M- J. T. 
[Our Vice-President, Professor F. E. Hulme, in his recently-published book 
on wild fruits, writes : — “ At Claremont, in Surrey, is one that stands eighty feet 
high, and in the New Forest may be seen several with a girth of eight or nine 
feet. The timber becomes valuable when the tree is of any considerable size, 
and so the trees are felled.” — E d. W. W. ] 
“Meteoric” stones. — I thank you for your courtesy in inserting in 
Nature Notes, for December, my views on the supposed fall of so-called 
“ Meteoric Stones ” on the earth, and I also thank you for your comments. 
You think that Sir Robert Ball could not have said that meteoric stones are 
of volcanic origin. I certainly understood him to say so at more than one of his 
lectures on the subject, that I have attended, and I certainly understood Mr. 
Fletcher to say to the members of the Selborne Society, that Sir Robert Ball had 
said that at a certain period in the earth’s history these stones were shot out of 
volcanoes, and had since been revolving in space, but that he (Mr. Fletcher) 
differed in opinion from Sir Robert Ball, as he did not believe they could have 
had force enough to carry them through the atmosphere of the earth. Mr. 
Fletcher says, on page 40 of his book referred to by you, that if meteorites have 
been shot from volcanoes of any planet, Sir R. Ball is himself inclined to believe 
that the projection was from our own in bygone ages. If Sir R. Ball does not 
think that meteorites are of volcanic origin, how can he think that they may have 
been shot from volcanoes on the earth ? 
You also say these stones are found in districts far removed from volcanoes. 
But surely “ many ages ago in the world’s history,” there may have been craters 
of volcanoes where they are now quite obliterated. The Irish stone was found in 
the county of Antrim, which is admittedly a volcanic district, comprising the 
“Giant’s Causeway,” which is always said to have been composed of volcanic 
lava. This volcanic district extends to Staffa and Iona in the West of Scotland, 
and from thence in a north-easterly direction through the great rift in Scotland, 
along which lies the Caledonian canal, which is undoubtedly a volcanic district. 
It is known that at the time of the great earthquake in Lisbon, some of the lakes 
in Scotland changed their level several feet, showing the great ramification of 
volcanic agencies beneath the earth’s surface. Mr. Fletcher says, on page 34 of 
his book, that some Basaltic rocks in West Greenland contain nickeliferous iron, 
and we are told that Basaltic rocks were originally molten lava. This looks like 
a confirmation that meteoric stones which contain nickeliferous iron are of 
volcanic origin. Mr. Fletcher also says that “ Dr. Johnston-Lavis has announced 
the find of an enclosure of metallic iron in a leucitic lava of Monte Somma.” 
Does not this betoken the volcanic origin of metallic iron, or iron in a pure state ? 
Sulphur, which is always of volcanic origin, I believe to exist in all meteoric 
stones previous to their explosion, at which time it has been expanded into gas 
by heat. They could not possibly explode unless some gas was formed in them. 
I am obliged to you for referring me to Mr. Fletcher’s book, “ An Introduc- 
tion to the Study of Meteorites,” which you expected would convert me. I have 
purchased the book and studied it attentively. I cannot find in it any satisfactory 
proof that any one has seen an actual stone come from the sky. The card in the 
Kensington Natural History Museum, and the particulars of the discovery of the 
Crumlin stone, have been altered and added to since I read the particulars on 
November 15, but I can see no proof that anyone saw an actual stone falling 
down, at least, no proof that would be accepted in any Court of Law. All the 
newspapers mentioned that a sulphurous smell was observed, but it is not men- 
tioned on the card. It is important, as showing that the stone contained sulphur 
and iron, which, if it became hot, would cause an explosion in the stone. 
Can anyone tell upon what theory it is that meteoric stones, as it is said, 
explode and burst into fragments just at the very time that they get very near 
to the earth’s surface, especially as they must be approaching it at very slight 
