Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 3.djvu/406

 and fossil wood, &c. together with specimens of all the earths and stones, more or less worn by trituration, which the district produces; I apprehend also that fragments of strata are deposited here which have come from a great depth, for pieces of very pure laminated coal are frequently to be met with which burn with a very bright light, and leave but a small residue of ash. Other pieces of jetty coal often occur breaking with a conchoidal fracture, but these agree in every respect with a thin stratum of this fossil which has been discovered at superficial depths in some situations in the shale stratum.

On the Lincolnshire coast, a considerable quantity of coal agreeing in properties and appearance with the latter of these varieties, is washed up by the sea, and is often collected by the poorer sort of the inhabitants for fuel; and along with this particular species of coal, slates similar to those in the shale measures often occur, a fact which gives us reason to suppose that the seam of coal from which these specimens have been displaced extends under the incumbent strata already noticed, into the sea, where the coal seam is denudated and from whence these washings proceed.

As the discovery of coal would be a circumstance of much importance to this country, it might be worth while to have it ascertained whether a seam of this jetty coal (called by the country people gromel) does not exist in sufficient thickness, and at such a depth, as would render it worth the miner's pursuit; the expense of the boring requisite for this purpose might be defrayed by a subscription among the different land proprietors in the district.