Yorkshire Natural History 200 Years Ago. 345 
Stanemore by the Inhabitants, from its Ruggedness and 
Stoniness ; it is altogether desolate and solitary, except one 
Inn in the middle of it, for the Entertainment of Travellers. 
Other Stones of extraordinary Shapes and Kinds, are, 1. Stony 
Serpents, or certain Stones resembling the Wreaths and Fold- 
ings of a Serpent ; they are usually found in the Allum-Mines ; 
and though some assert them to be the Frolicks of Nature, 
which she Forms for her Diversion ; for one would believe 
that they had been Serpents really crusted over with Stone ; 
and Fame ascribes them to the Power of Hilda s Prayers, who 
thereby converted real Serpents into Stone ; yet Dr. Nicholson, 
an Ingenious and Judicious Naturalist affirms them to be the 
same with those called by our Moderns Cornua Ammonis,, 
and is of the Opinion that they are spiral Petrifications produced 
in the Earth by a fort of Fermentation peculiar to the Allum- 
Mines. 2. Round Stones, which one would think were Bullets 
cast by some artist for great Guns. They are found at the 
Bottom of the Rocks on the Shore at Huntley- N abb ; if you 
break them you find within them Stony-Serpents, wreathed 
up in Circles, but for the most part without Heads ; they are 
exactly round. Upon the Shore near Huntcliffe, are found 
yellowish and reddish Stones, and some crusted over with a 
brinish Substance, which by their Smell and Taste resemble 
Copperas, Nitre and Brimstone ; as also great store of Pyrites 
in Colour like Brass. 
5. Pit-Coal, and other Mines, which the Hills of this Riding, 
especially in Richmondshire, afford in great Abundance, as 
Lead and Brass, as well as Coal. In a Charter of King Edward 
IV. there is Mention made of a Mine of Copper near the City of 
Richmond ; but no Motives of Gain, which every where almost 
prevail, have yet been able to excite the Inhabitants to search 
for it ; the Reason is conjectured to be the Difficulty of Carriage. 
In the Mountains here, are also found Stones resembling Sea- 
Cockles, Oyster-Shells, and the Figures of other Animals, 
which because they are never found single and dispersed, but 
in firm Rocks, and Beds of Limestone, may not improperly 
come under this Head of Mines. These the Miners call Run- 
Limestone, because they suppose these Figures to be produced 
by some extraordinary Heat, and quicker Fermentation than 
the rest of the Quarry. This some learned Men believe to be 
as rational an Account of these Preternatural Productions, as 
any hath hitherto been given. Oroscus, a Christian Historian, 
takes them to be certain Tokens of Noah’s Universal Deluge, 
when the Sea being spread over the Earth, left those Heaps 
of Cockle and Oyster Shells behind it at the Reflux ; but this 
being disallowed by our Naturalists, the former will be more 
probable. 
6. Kelp, a Sort of Manure for Land, which the Husbandmen 
1914 Nov. 1 . 
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