2 So N A. T U R A L H I S T 0 )R Y
alfo ’tis reafoi^b|b to fopp,o(% that by the rapid waters'?of tte flbftd:,
matter was carried to and? fro* and depofited o w iarge tm<ftsLof
land Btde or fiothing.ch&rge<l with marine bodies^” ,,. Tttisricancitji
may be accounted .for l^ct^fl&tis^&iyrwalbtK :d®hei<Kfla%ltttin
of recent marine bodies is*jand always has been unequal*.- f Why then
lhohld foffil-bodies of .like kind be dijEperfedi xith, ^te^ter .eqnalhjs
than the recent ? Where, there was ^leptyjof f teftace^s l^imaldrats
the time of the flood, there,; or nearjby;. plenty:;bfs fofiU-flielk de-
pofited in clayvand ftone.ppjfQund h wbbre’ there?iHfes .k fcarcityjof
recent fhell-fifh, there •..feqfr'loitinon? appear. in^ofednjn .the ,fc^ s j
In.fofo© places,; by a variety .of coneurrij^tcirebndlanees f|. the foelfc
fifty were, and are ftiU collected and heaped together,; other; places
muft in proportion have.been,, and ftiffirerieft naked and deftftute.
Either there was. a deficiency o f recent fhell-fifh ;itound the fhores
o f Cornwall, or there was. n o t: I I M h I defitifeneyfoFdfoelll-J
fifh round the fhores of Cornwall at tbejtime of the deluge, their
it is rio wonder that none fhould be found in a foflHnftafel^iiffthfipe
was not fuch a deficiency, then fhell-fifh mufl'hayejdyer^read the
hills, o f Cornwall, as well as elfcwhcre, in proportion to ther.ptodnd:
o f the neighbouring fhores; and the feafon why they donnotl now
appeair is nextto:be enquired into;; and mayj^robaidy be, firft,
betaufe our waters are very fharp arid corrofive, ,• fubjedt to much)
vitriol, as appears by our copper-lodes, in which thereiis frequently
found more ox fcfs of copper diflolved and precipitated by; ivipiah
The waters , o f tin-lodes and workings are alfo: well flocked with
vitriol. Now waters impregnated with the fharp faltsiof vhrioij'and
foch a multitude of minerals and metals: as Cornwall abounds .with,
muft foon have diflblved the fhells which were depofited here by
the deluge; and I am the more inclined to believe that the corro-
five quality of the Cornifh waters may have confenedcthd&. teftaT-'
ceous a m , becaufe in Cornwall we have various evidences of
the flood, but all of that kind and texture which are proofs; againft
fuch fretting waters. In a cliff four miles north of Bofcaftle, there
are feveral Jiraia o f white cryftalline ftones, about four inches diameter,
inferred in horizontal rowes like a lift or chain of fingle
pebbles fide by fide, Plate xvn. Fig. iv. a a : thefe lifts were
fixed- in the'general jlratum .oi this country, which is a brown flat,
and could be fpread in this manner by no caufe fo likely as the
general deluge. A little to thefouth, in the fame cliff, I obferved
veins of different colours, from the top of the firm rock to the foot
o f the cliff .wafhed by the fea, not in a perpendicular but angular
direction, and yet preferving a parallelifm one to another in a zigzag
manner, as reprefented Plate and Fig. ibid. G W ; a phenomenon
plainly intimating the ofcillating motion with which the
fordeS)
fordes, diffolved by the flood, was agitated in fome parts before it
fettled and' finally concreted : I pafs over the flxodes and pebbly
ftrata of Porthnanvan (as already fet forth, pages 76. and 150),
though equftlr^yjdsrices of the Again: In other countries,
■ where arC plenti^ifly charged with fufpended fpar (ufually
termed petrifying watei||^^P',%e||k^tthf®'to. the j&y&as which
the d/flpge had every where -produced, and afterwards deferted, were
either immured in new forming ftcfoekqf lime, and marble, or the
nidus's, they formed were filled with ftones or femimq&^lliek concretions.
It could not be fo^fat leaft fo frequent) in Cornwall where
{par is very rare; \ pfeffifyitig^Btors^^:^ none, and the bale o f oqr
ftone moMy gifarfz. foThfere..are in other pats fome figured foffils
in flinty nodules, as echinite$, Ifflc. but flfiits are fo fc^rce- in Cornwall,
that ft has been till 'now doubted 'whether there are any native
in the rnitrvty y there' are nov^qyer fomq £fef page io6j>)# but being
broke* I have hfX '3s. yet 'fating,' any nuiriqg^p^|j[^e'm them* Again ;
In chalky ftr&tci, many #f the tendereff fhells (fudl as fpines. qf
jfie -in great quantity,„ but in Cornwall
we have little or chalk.; When -w? cbnfider therefca&^e
mineral impregnation .of pur waters, and the hard cryftalline bans
of our Cornifh ftones, incapable of ’ yielding to the waters of the
flood, and the foarcity b f1 fpar and; chalk,; we fhai xtot think if
ftrange, that fo fmall a diftrift’ as this county fhould have few extraneous
foffils to boaft of. But after all, it is yery; certain that we'Eave
fome marine and ^tinrieoUs ys;pdu£tiqins inclofed m our Cornifli
ftones, although they did not occur to the learned gentlemen before-
mentioned during thdr fhort viftts to this county. One caft of a
{hell in mundic, and fome Vermicular remains, may be fcen Plate
xv. page 137* Fig. xm and .xty, and Plate xVi. page 14.1, Pig-
u v , i v , and tvif .Some, plant-like ..cafts in the fame femi-metal
may he feen, ibidem, from Fig^iidiir to-Fig..|SxHii.:ij(fo^i my awn
collection, and probably many other forts, vegetable as well as tef-
taceous, may occur to others among qti'rhmnerals. The moft likely
places to afford them in ftone to a diligent enquirer, I take to be
the northern coaft near Lower St. Column and the fhor’e of Cuthbert,
Carantoc, and Piran faiids, Where we have alabafter, ftalafflites, and
the fand-ftone, in which laft I find bits of flat: the hart’s horn a|^
(Plate xxvn. Fig. v.'J was extracted; in the year *752!, from the
middle of a ipdk of this Cbrnifli freo^fttofie; at New-Ktye, in the
parifh of Lower St. Columb, Comwadl* (fee page- 95) which I therefore
give in its natural fize as k was taken out, the letter G marking
the incifion made by the pick-axe of the ftone-eutter who found it.
The ferapings- became diffolved in vinegar, which puire hart’s-horn,
put into the fame acid, would pot do: the horH’had loft its natural
4. C toughnefs