(_To the Editor of the Mirror._)
Sir,--Under the _Arcana of Science_, in your last Number, I observed an
account of the inroads made by the sea on the Isle of Sheppey, together
with the exhumation there of numerous animal and vegetable remains. As
an additional fact I inform you, that, at about three hundred feet below
the surface of the sand-bank, (of which the island is composed,) there
is a vast prostrate antediluvian forest, masses of which are being
continually developed by the influence of marine agency, and exhibit
highly singular appearances. When the workmen were employed some years
back in sinking a well to supply the garrison with water, the aid of
gunpowder was required to blast the fossil timber, it having attained,
by elementary action and the repose of ages, the hard compactness of
rock or granite stone. Aquatic productions also appear to observation in
their natural shape and proportion, with the advantage of high
preservation, to facilitate the study of the inquiring philosopher. I
have seen entire lobsters, eels, crabs, &c. all transformed into perfect
lapidifications. Many of these interesting bodies have been selected,
and at the present time tend to enrich the elaborate collections of the
Museum of London and the Institute of France. During the winter of 1825,
in examining a piece of petrified wood, which I had picked up on the
shore, we discovered a very minute aperture, barely the size of a
pin-hole, and on breaking the substance by means of a large hammer, to
our surprise and regret we crushed a small reptile that was concealed
inside, and which, in consequence, we were unfortunately prevented from
restoring to its original shape. The body was of a circular shape and
iron coloured; but from the blood which slightly moistened the face of
the instrument, we were satisfied it must have been animated. I showed
the fragments of both to a gentleman in the island, who, like myself,
lamented the accident, as it had, in all likelihood, deprived science of
forming some valuable (perhaps) deductions on this incarcerated, or (if
I may be allowed the expression) compound phenomenon. I have merely
related the above incident in order to show the possibility of there
being other creatures accessible to discovery under similar
circumstances, and in their nature, perhaps homogeneous. I left the
island next day, and therefore had no further opportunities of
confirming such an opinion; but the place itself abounds with substances
which would authorize such conjectures.