56 
the lower coal measures of Lancashire, but I never saw one 
so hard, tough, and sharp. Its exterior resembled the skin 
on the outside of a fine grained sandstone found near a fault 
and which had been there subjected to great friction, but in 
the case of the boulder this hardness extended right 
through the specimen. No traces of bedding or lines of 
stratification were seen, nor was there evidence of any joints 
in it. The whole appeared as one compact mass. In break- 
ing it I found black patches which might have been caused 
by the carbonaceous matter of fossil plants, and thin veins 
of sparry matter, some of them branching out. Professor 
W. Thomson, F.R.S.E., of the Royal Institution, has kindly 
examined the stone for me and finds its specific gravity to 
be 2’654, water at 60° Fall. = 1. 
Mr. Worthington has been so kind as to furnish me with 
the following information : 
The Ash, Whalley Range, 
Nov. 8th, 1877. 
Dear Sir, 
It is impossible for me to give dimensions of the large 
boulder we cut through in tunnelling for the sewer in 
Seymour Grove, Old Trafford. I can only form a rough 
idea of the weight of it. It took two of our men a week to 
blast through it. We brought to the surface stone which I 
estimate about fifteen tons. After the opening was cut 
through it I went down the shaft to examine the same, and 
found a large mass of stone left below our level and on the 
westerly side. I should think that we did not get more 
than one-third of the stone out. There are eight or ten 
tons of it now lying at my house, which I intend to use for 
rockery work. Any other information you may require I 
shall be glad to give you. 
Yours truly, 
Wm. Worthington. 
To Mr. E. W. Binney. 
