Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/169

12 s.x. FEB. is, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 135 fellow-professionals and the poor and i " With these statements before us," he charitable institutions, and without greed or says, " we may attribute the origin of the guile. And she was quite incapable of j * coal money ' to the Romans," and pro- selling herself : her husbands were real ! ceeds to meet and reply to the universal husbands while they lasted, and her reten- question, what is the " coal money," tion of not only her first lover's name but j what was its origin, what was its use ? his religion, not in any way hers, seems to | by characterizing the various theories show that that romance never quite died. j advanced by some antiquaries as un- FORBEST MORGAN. 1 satisfactory ; whilst those who are better Hartford, Conn. j acquainted with the use of the lathe have i determined that they are simply the refuse KIMMERIDGE COAL MONEY (12 8. ix. 450, j of the turners, and enters into a discussion 495). May I, in addition to the editorial i upon t h es e conclusions. note at the earlier reference refer MR. j Mr Augten WQuld seem to have read &n ARDAGH to the article by the Rev J H .. | additional paper on the subject in October, Austen at p. 82 of the Papers of the Purbeck Ig59 and a ^ ai ft shorter J supplementar y Society a journal running intermittent y, Qne in the ^ and Qnl nu ^ er f ^ irom 1852 to 1869 whilst aggregating only !gecond volum6) pub i ishe d in 1869f in ) f n one volume and the first number of a second, ; ^ h he stateg ^ he finds st lv of which complete copies are practically, confirmatory evidence of his theory that a impossible to obtain? This Society w as attached to Kimme- the precursor of the present flourishing ridge coal and analogous substances. - r - v. --r- i TT * T A. XAVltiW 1>VPU CVUVt C*AAC*.LV^tiV7LiO D U.JLFO l/CbUX/X/Oc Dorset .Natural History and Antiquarian. ., _ T. _, .... _ Field Club inaugurated in 1875, and of ', _ At the la *f ref erenc , e. m N. & Q MB. V*. which I am one of the very few surviving. HABCOUBT-BATH mentions an article on the original members. i f^f of Kimmeridge " coal money" by the In this article Mr. Austen (who was the ! ate Mr ' / C - Mansel-Pleydell to be found secretary and one of the principal founders ! m one of the early volumes of the Dorset of the Purbeck Society) gives a long, ! Batumi History and Antiquarian Field interesting and well-illustrated account of g^ c : 189( ?' Mr Mansel-Pleydell was this "old antiquarian puzzle," as the ! the first president of this Society at its editorial note not inaptly calls it. But as ! inauguration m 1875 and remained so until it is extremely unKkefy to be within the i hls death m May 1902-a man with a reach of your correspondent, may I be i m ost gifted mind and charming personality, allowed to give a few short extracts from T kn w ^ m welL) u H |> contributed two the paper, which was read in Purbeck in 22? artl ^ es m u. th ? P ( ro ^^ of this November, 1856, and may prove of interest ! S 1 oc 1 iet > r on the subfct of the Kimmeridge and value to him. The author prefaces his ! shal P7 e ~? n on th ? ,, c t! mone y ( vo f : remarks by saying : P- 178 ( 1892 ) ) and the other on the geological I have in my possession specimens of everv formation and the commercial and economic variety which has been discovered, and still I am forced to confess that the more I search, the more I inquire, the more conflicting becomes ths evidence obtained. . . . The material of which they are formed is a value of the shale (vol. xv., p. 172 (1894)). The earlier of these papers is no doubt that to which Mr. Harcourt-Bath refers. These papers, though not so difficult of j_j.it; incvu-i. AC*J. v/j. VTUavu v**^ y cti^ iv/i iii^u. 10 c* -. . 1 ^-^ -. i N A. bituminous shale called Kimmeridge Coal, of access as those of the Purbeck Society, may which there are extensive beds on that immediate j not be readily available to Mr. Ardagh, so part of the coast. It is still used by the inhabi- ma y I again be allowed to transcribe for his tants of _ the neighbourhood _ as fuel. _ burns benen t a short extract or two from Mr., with a white ash and slaty residue, and Mansel-Pley dell's article ? In this paper emita a disagreeable bituminous odour. A few * i-*w i > cai s since it was extensively worked for the I can find no reference to the earlier ones purpose of making naptha [sic]. on the same subject by Mr. Austen (but his name is mentioned) though of their exist- ence, one would think, Mr. Mansel-Pleydell could scarcely have been unaware at one time, as he was vice-president of the Purbeck Society when the first of these articles was written so many years before. these forms, and criticizes the opinions which The long space of time, however, and the had been published respecting these relics. common knowledge of the subject which The difference in the varieties of the " Coal money " arises from two causes ; first, the different kinds of chucks of the lathe used, and secondly, the number of rings cut off one piece ; the usual form supplying only one, whilst from that of a conical two or more have been taken." Mr. Austen gives several instances of