28 
seems to be in favour of this mode of formation. Water, together with 
the substances it contains in solution, are constantly active in dissolv¬ 
ing and decomposing minerals and rocks, even those reputed to be in¬ 
destructible, and is at the same time furnishing itself with chemical 
agents which endow it with a power to effect other and more extensive 
changes; thus charged, water penetrates in all places and directions, 
and is capable of acting to a greater or less extent on all forms of 
mineral matter. Thus, the removal, the introduction to other local¬ 
ities, and the deposition of such matter under various circumstances, 
admits of a ready explanation. 
June 5.—T. S. Noble, Esq., made some remarks on the approach¬ 
ing eclipse of the sun, especially indicating the amount and period of 
obscuration which would be observable at York. 
October 2.—The Rev. J. Kenrick read a notice of some 
antiquities presented to the Museum. A fragment of a sepulchral 
inscription, recently discovered at the Convent, out of Micklegate 
Bar, exhibits in the upper part the head of a young female, accom¬ 
panied by a wreath on the one side, and a basket of fruit on the other. 
The inscription reads D. M. DECiMiNiE Decimii Fili/E ; the lower 
part, which is lost, having probably contained the age of the deceased, 
with an expression of parental affection and regret. A silver denarius 
of Antoninus Pius, found in York, exhibits on one side the head of 
the emperor, on the other the legend Yota x, i. e. decennalia ; vows 
for the welfare of the emperor being undertaken at stated periods of 
five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and even forty years. A leaden bulla had 
been found in the excavations near Lendal ferry, having on one side 
the inscription Honorius P. P. III., on the other the heads of St. 
Peter and St. Paul. It had evidently been attached by a string to 
some document issued by papal authority. Honorius III. granted to 
Archbishop Walter de Grey a bull for the canonization of St. William, 
which is described as being “ tied with a silken string with a bulla.”* 
The Society’s collection contains similar hullce of Nicolas III. and 
Gregory IX. Their most common use was to authenticate the 
indulgences which were issued by the court of Rome, and sold by the 
•pardoners. See Piers Plowman’s Vision, 1. 8518. “I had never yet 
of Pope’s gift, save a peis of leed and two polls amyddes.” A leaden 
impression of the seal of the conventual Church of Hayles in Glouces¬ 
tershire, was found at Acaster Malbis, about twenty years since, in 
* Browne’s Hist, of York Minster. Vol. 1, p. 52. 
