A Letter to Mathew Maty, M. D. Sec. R S.; Containing Some Observations on a Singular Sparry...

A Letter to Mathew Maty, M. D. Sec. R S.; Containing Some Observations on a Singular SparryIncrustation Found in Somersetshire. By Edward King, Esquire, F. R. S.Author(s): Edward KingSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 63 (1773 - 1774), pp. 241-248Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/106158 .

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tXj sqler to Mathew Maty, M. D. Sec. R S.; contantng /ome Obfertlatio#l oya a fingalar Sparry IxcraJi6gtiar J>Xa ir SomerSetffiire. e Edward King, EP*e, FX R. S

Joht StreF, Dec, *8, tt7R*<

SIR^. ltead March 23X H 2, fummer before 1aR, whe-ll r

I773* 1 was ill Somerfetffiiret I received af preSent of a very curious foffill firotn theRev Mr. Catcut of Brifl:ol, a geIltleman who has takn much pains to colleA the foffill bodies of that County; and is very illdefatig-able in his .refearches. And as -Some few fitlgular oSfervatiotls occtlr tof me xvith regard to this extraordinary maEs, I take the lil)erty to trouble you with them; and re+ quell, if you think them at all deServillg atly con- Siderations that tlley -may be laid- before the Society, together with a drawing of the fioflil:, (Tab. X.) antl with tle very exad account I receifired of its produd?cion from Mr. Catott.

In the parilb of Eligh Littleton, in the County of imerfet fituated about lmidway hetween Braol- and Wells, are feveral Cleal-mirles ; and about the <:awd of the year x766> a llew fhaft (or pit) was

openeds

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[ 242 ] for the purpofe of conveying air into m adioining work, called Mearn's coat-pit; but when thls {hafe was fini(hed, the water that flowed in from the fidesfi and which at firA was taken up by backets, greatly

incommodecl the under-works; and therefUre} to prevent this inconventences the minerst at about the depth of ten fathom, and juR below the place where the water broke in, affixed to ehe four fi1des of the pit forne wooden fhoots (as reprefented at Fig. a.) about fbur or five inches wide, and as many deep; all ofthem s little inclined towards one corner where was a hollow perpendicular pipe or trunk of elm, nearly a long Equare (as repreSented at A), being about Seven inches and an half one way, and four *nches and art half the other; and through this the water, that fell nto the lateral Ihoots, was conveyed down to the eYel (or pailFage out); which betng about fieven fa thoms lower than the ffioots, the hollow perpendi cular trunlz was dbout fourteen yards in length

This trank having been t}sus fixed up, in the latter end of the year t766, was in about thtee years time, or rather lefsf found to be much ob(irudted, andw fiopped up; fo thats in AuguR t76g, the miners were obliged to take it up: and then, on examining it, and taking it to pieces, they found the whole; cavity, from one end to the other, nearly filled with a fort of fparry incruRation, fomewhat fofter than marb}e, but harder than alabaRer, and which there fore I Ihall venture to ca11 a fpecies of marble. And the fpecimen now laid before the Society, and repre- lFented by the drawing (Fig. Io)s and alSo another ecimen of dle like forb prefented to the Socxety,

4 are



r :43 ] wre merely tranfterNe ReEtions of the fiubfiance, vvith thich the pipe was filledW

The water, that flowed into the pit on .all f1des, iiNued firom a Icratunj of hard brown and reddi find {lone, replete witll Ihining fiparrJr mic} and fiome - ocherous matter, and had, in its paSage through the trunk} regularly filled up the cavityy by nOw degrees, with folid incrllRations > infomuch that the increaSe of the marble is marked much in

-the fame manner as the increafie of the growth of a

tree appears to be, when tbe trunk of it is cut lloriS

zontalXy: and at lalac the water had left only the cavity, which now appears in the middle of the blocku

and which was uniform In its figure from one erld

of the pipe to the other, and nearly fimilar to the

original cavity; but whichs at SaR, not being arge

etlough to let all the water paSss occaEloned the dif-

colrery. Since thae timefi in order to plearent the inS

convenience (if poE1ble3 a new trwnk has been madey

larger than the firlt, and yerf in 3une I77Is thlS new trunk alSo was fo far filled up -wlth -the rparry incruRation, that there was but JuR room to thrllk four fingers into the central catity; and the laterat Ihoots, or troughs, atWo have filled fo faR, that tlley have been obliged) every now and thens to deas them out.

This, Sir-, is the hi{tory of the fpecimen now laid before the Society, and of t}}e Mint from whence it came; and the obferarations I would beg leave to make, are the following.

I0, AS the water flowed in from the ffiooth on two fides of the fquare trunk or pipe, it is manifeR

that the ilreams muil have firicken againR each

Vo. LXIII K k otlaer



[ 244 ] other, at tlle corner of the pipe where they firflc met, alzd alfc) at the oppofite corner. And, as it is a knosvn principle of mecllanics, that a body, whicl] is afted upon by tWQ forces moving in different di reEtions, will defcribe the diagonal of a parallelo- gram, of which the diredions of thofie forces -Ihall 1oc- the fides--; fo here, the line in hicll the two flreanls met, and impeded each ot}erXs motion., has plainly, as the marble increaSed-, gone on in the diagonaI of fuch a paratlelogram from both the cor- ers; vix. from that where tlle pipe joined the

ffioors, or troughss and from the oppofite one: lDut it is alfo very remarkables that there is iXuch a dit gonal line, not only at thefe corners, but in like uanner at ths other two; which can be accoulited for no otherwife, than by fuppofing that eacln of the two Rreams, dalhing againIt the appoElte fide of the pipe, formedcontinuallyi thesvholewaydown, another Ilream , in a contrary diredion , as repre Len ted in Fig. 3; and rOX both together, produced the fame effeEt throughout the whole pipe, as if there had been-four Ilreams flowing over the four fides. Upo) examining the block, however very flriEtly, it appears, that the lines in the diagonal one ways are llonger than tllofe in the diagonal the other way* arld indeed the fpccimen of the pipe, prefented to the Socinty, has even broken in halves, exadcly ill one of the diagonals, though the block here defcribed renains intire, and has the appearance of having liad its Rdes joined accurately, in the manner in which -a likilful wolltnal] would fit four boatds. to- b- blued tobeth¢.r

2d1



[ 245 ] zdly, At the p]ace marked B, Fig. , there feelms

to have been, by fome accident or otller, the point of a Emall nait projeEting into the pipe; and llere, it is very remarkable, that, either by the dafhing of tlle water, or rather perhaps by an effeA which iron has been obServed to have of hallening and increaSilog petril5cation, the incrufiation has gone on faIler than in other parts of the fame filde; but fO regularly, that, from the point of the nail- to the inner cavity, there is a fwelli-ng, or protuberance, fo uniform, that it makes throughout nearly the fame feg- ment of different circles, of which theDpoin-t of tlle nail is the common centerX andvthat not merely diredtly oppof1te to the nail, but throughout this whole block and even further downwards.

3dly, The regular increafe of thefe fegments of circles is vifible in each lamina of the- block (if I may be allowed that expreflslon) and in each lamird

the diameter of the circle increafes in due pxportion; fo that it is Rill nearly the fame fegmene; thoughw if there be any difference; it is ratller a fmallerpor- tion of a larger circle; ass from the canfe which occafioned it, one would be led to expedr. Arld with regard to theSe: lanin<, it is worth obServing, that as they mark the increaSe of the marble uniformly all round, as the growth of a tree is marked (only the snarble increaSed inward, whereas a tree grows out- ward) fo they feem to have become vifible, and to have beetl thus diRindly marked, by means of the water bringing, at diffierent times more or leSs oker along with the Eparry mattBr: and this is the more probable, as the whole cotlntry all rouxld abounds

K k 2 with



t 246 ] wtth beds of oker, and the nraters are iRometimea much tinged with it.

4thly, The cavity left in the middle of the l)taock is not perfedly flmilar to the orig!lal cavity of the trunk, -or plpe ;- becauSe the water did not flow quite uniforrnly o-ver the edges, at the ellds of the thoots or troughs, -in confequenc; probably, of their not. lyin$ exaEtly hc)risontally: whence, more water fell- upon and agaixlR one part of the f1des of the trunk, than agalnk the othere

sthly, Tlls outrlde of the block has takers ofFim- prefl1ons of all tShe roughneSes, knots<> aryd {hivers of i:ze elm L)oards, which cotnpolEd the trunk or pipey even more accurately tllan they could havc been taken of by wax} plaiRer of Paris or almoft any compo&tion; *hatever and certainly much loore durably: whch impreiRions,-although tlleyare nat -i well reprefented in the Sdrawing, in conSequence ef their Enene yet appear ifficielltly plainy both on tlle fpecimen here deScribed,> and on that preSentedX Z the SQCjCtY, and are eveedingly well deferuing of notisee

There is in the PhileIophKalTranfadtions (Vol*LX*. p^ 47.) a very curious paper- froln our learned foreign Menlbcr It. E. lta4?e concerniag the ptsoe;3udrion of white marbl-4> in a; fimila.r mmner; in whtch paper he montions the tak'ng of F imprefl:ions of tnedallions by neans of petrifying sraters. And I; rember a: paper svas read at the R+oyal Society fotnt time agoa colttaining anj £COUt of fevelal imipreSon¢, aAually fo taken oS in a ort tinseS ill durable lnarbleX by mearls of a petrtifying water, net Bologna irl Italy: m?in imeof the impreXorls were alSo fent, both to

th: 3



[ 247 ] tlle Royal Soctety, and to the Britifh MuSeum. An-d; as this block here defcribed, and the whole contents of the pipe, of above forty feet in length, were formed in lefs th!an three years, there is reafon to concludeb that tlze water of sthis NIine in Somerfiet- mire isas capable cf beillg improved to the purpoSes of a ncw manufadoryy as elther that near Bo lognay or thofe of Germany and Bohemea. And st ss perhaps worth mentioning, that fomethillg of this fort has adrually been attemptedy with good xfucceSsy in Peru; for we aFe told by P. Fetillee (tbrho made $everal curious obServations -jn South America, botk phyfilological alld at}rorlamtca}> in 17O9) that he law mally flatues alld bealJtlful vaSes (or holy water poXs), in the churches at I>ilzaa, which were fimply ca{t 1n moulds, by means alone of a petrlfying water llear Guankabalika, or Guat liavelikav And this cir- con;lfialzce is alio nzentioned (p. 236.), in a lDefcrip- tlon of Pertl, publied tn I748s a great part of which i;s taken froln Feutllee's account

6thly, T}wis blgk of 1narble takes a very fine polidl, as appears by the fpecitnen, the fedions of wbic}) ale polifiled i tnd if cafis of lmedaIs, or other tllingsX xxtere taken in firnootll nzoulwds, well formed, t}eir .6urfaces >to^uld, therefoe, probably aj?pear well polifted; as thofe vf the la3edalszdid, which came fron Bolognaw

7t1A1y and llRlys I would only add, tElat Dr. Po cocke, in 11is Travels (Vo]. II. pv 264.) defcribing a very ctlrious grotto in the inand of Candia, or Crete, svhic}l exceeded al3 others that he ever faw in beatltyt aIld the Ilenclernefs of the pillars, one of svilitll is ncal tweslty fcet lzigl) and^,even tranfparentX

fays,



[ 248 J

fayss '' As I had feen Rones of this kind hewn out << of a rock at Mannt Lebanon, which were ured ats " white marble, and-appeared to be alabaIler, this xc made tne imagine, that w}len thelE forts of petri- <s fa5tio-ns are hard enough to receive a polilh, theg sc then become the oriental tranfparent alabaRer, ' which is fo mllch valued, and of which there are <' two curious colllmns at the high altar of St. Mark <' in Venic-e." Perhaps Dr. Pococke does not here fufficiently di{linguiffi between marble and alabalRer; but I.add his remarks merely to hew how valuable ehefe incruflcations may become, and llow much they defierve not to be negledred.

I am,

S I R,

Very refpeEcfillly,

Your moR obedient,

humble Seraranta

Edward King.

XXXI. Ev



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