Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 4.djvu/455



An extract of a letter from Dr. Murray, of Harrogate, to Mr. Sowerby, was read, mentioning that sulphate of strontian had been found in limestone on the banks of the Nidd, near Knaresborough.

A notice by Arthur Aikin, Esq. was read, on a green waxy substance found in the alluvial soil near Stockport, in Cheshire.

In 1811 a specimen from the above mentioned place was communicated to the Society by Dr. Henry. On a chemical examination Mr. Pepys found it to be a combination of resin and oil mixed with a quantity of brown quartzy sand. Its colour was bluish green, and was at first supposed to be occasioned by copper, but no metallic matter except iron was discovered in it. From its composition, and the small depth at which it was found, it was not supposed to be a natural product, but Mr. Aikin is inclined to doubt this conclusion, having met with, in the Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, under the article Sabliere, an account by M. Patrin, of the discovery of a similar substance at the foot of the hill of Menil Montant, near Paris. It there occurs in sand, accompanied by fresh water shells.

A notice by C. Mackintosh, Esq. on the albuminous strata at Campsie was read.

The coal formation which the Scottish albuminous strata accompany, may perhaps be traced and identified in four distinct points of this particular district of Scotland, namely, Campsie in Stirlingshire, Kilpatrick in Dumbartonshire, and Hurlet and Houston, in