[ 547 ] 
outward Stratum of which is vegetable earth, three 
feet deep ; and under it a Stratum of clay, two fathom 
thick j then a Stratum of fand, made blackiSh by bi- 
tuminous fumes : fubtus lignum putridum , fiammam 
concipiens , peSlines annuos ref ere ns, ita a naturd na- 
tum , lit nee aqua aqua, nec lac laSli fimiUus, quant 
ligno huic miner all lignum vegetabile putridum. 
Our English naturalists have likewife deferibed 
this foffil, as found in Several parts of the kingdom, 
and always in or near Strata of clay. 
Dr. Plott, in his natural hiStory of Oxfordshire 
obferves, “ that the Scarcity of firing in Some parts 
“ of that county has induced people to burn a fort 
“ of black fubStance, of a grain Somewhat like rotten 
<c wood half burnt, partaking alfo of a mineral na- 
<c ture, and therefore by authors called metallophy- 
tc ton, or lignum fofiile. Put into water, it will not 
“ Swim ; and into fire, it conSumes but (lowly, and 
“ fends forth very unpleafant fumes. A vein of it 
ec at Duchlington looked like wood ; yet broken, 
tc Sliewed a Smooth and Shining Superficies, not un- 
cc like to Stone pitch; and put into the fire, has not 
tc near So ill a Smell. As to the SubSbance of lignum 
<£ fofiile, it is thought to be a cretaceous earth, turned 
“ to what it is by Subterraneous heats ; for that it was 
<c never formerly wood, notwithftanding its Specious 
<c and outward likeneSs, is plain from its never being 
<c found with roots or boughs, or any other Signs of 
<c wood.” And, in his hiftory of Staffordshire, he 
quotes Scoochius’s opinion, £C that many of the 
“ Slumps and trunks of trees found in Holland, Zea- 
* Page 65. 
V 0 l. LI. 4 B 
<c land. 
