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Yoiftgfjiw JMjtlogopljira! Society.

ANNUAL REPORT

MDCCCLXXYI.

ANNUAL II E P O R T

OP THE COUNCIL

OF THE

Y 0 R K SHIRE

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

MDCCCLXXYI.

PRESENTED TO THE ANNUAL MEETING,

FEBRUARY 6th, 1877.

. AA- ■ :'N-

• . < K ■ ... ■■lO ! >. j

t - - -

Y OEK:

J. SOTHERAN, BOOKSELLER, CONEY-STREET.

1 8 7 7.

PATRONESSES

OF THE

Pjtlosopljtcal goctetg.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.

H. R. H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES.

P A TBONS.

H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

H. R. IP. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT.
T1IE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY, 1877.

PRESIDENT :

Ills Grace the Archbishop of York, F. E. S.

YICE-PRESIDENTS :

The Eight Hon. Lord Londesborough.

The Hon. and Very Eey. the Dean of York, D. D.
William Henry Eudston Eead, M. A., F. L. S.

Egerton Yernon Harcourt, M. A., F. G. S.

The Yen. Archdeacon Hey*, M. A.

The Eey. Canon Eaine, M. A.

The Eey. John Kenrick, M. A., F. S. A.

William Eeed, F. Gr. S.

John Francis Walker, M. A., F. L. S., F. Gr. S., F. C. S.,

Member oe the Committee of the British Association, &c.

William Walker, F. Gr. S.

TEEASUREE :

William Gray, F. E. A. S., F. G. S.

COUNCIL ;

Elected 1875, .Joshua Oldfield.

John March,

Edward Allen, F. G. S.

Frederick L. Mawdesley.

Elected 1876. .William Matterson, M. D,

The Eev. George Eowe, M. A.

Tempest Anderson, M. D., B. Sc.,

Fellow of University College, London.

Joseph Wilkinson, F. E. G. S.

Elected 1877. .John P. Wood.

Eici-iard Pearson.

J. H. Gibson, M. D.

Edward W. Smithson.

HON. SECRETARY:

T. S. Noble, F. E. A. S., F. G. S.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.

CUEATOES :

Geology . W. Reed, F. G. S.

Comparative Anatomy . . T. Anderson, M. D.

British Ornithology . . W. H. Eudston Eead, M. A.,

F.L.S.

Insects and Crustacea . . Yen. Archdeacon Hey, M. A.

Ethnographical Collection S. W. North, F.G.S.

(Rev. John Kenrick, M.A.
Rev. W. Green well, M.A.

\Rev. J. Baine, M.A.

Library . Bev. G. Bowe, M.A.

Botany . William Matters on, M.D.

CoNCHOLOGY . S. W. NORTH, F.G.S.

Observatory & Meteorology fW. Gray, F.B.A.S., F.G.S.
under the care of a Committee s Yen. Archdeacon Hey, M.A.
consisting of . \T. S. Noble, F.B.A.S., F.G.S.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL

OF THE

YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,

February 6th, 1877,

In presenting tire Report to tlie Yorkshire Philosophical
Society for the year 1876, the Council propose to follow the
usual plan of first dealing with the finances of the Society
during the past year, and then of directing attention to the
various scientific departments of the Museum.

The Council congratulate the Society that the Income for
the past year has been above the average. A larger number
of members than usual have been elected, and the income
arising therefrom, together with the receipts at the gate (which
are above the average), makes the total income of the Society
from all sources £1526 11s. 9d., the greatest amount on record.

The total expenditure has been £1413 16s. lid., leaving a
balance to the credit of the Society of £112 14s. lOd. on the
receipts and expenditure for the year. This, added to the
sum to the credit of the Society at the close of the last
year’s account, namely, £317 7s. 6d., leaves a balance in the
Treasurer’s hands to the credit of the Society of £430 2s. 4d.
on the ordinary income account.

The Council have to report that the balance to the credit of
the Society would have been much larger but for various items
of special expenditure, which are not likely to occur again for
some years to come, and of which the chief are the following :
A sum of £40 4s. has been expended in the repair of and in
re-asphalting the Walks in the grounds of the Museum. A

REPORT OF THE

further sum of £27 7s. 6 cl. lias "been spent upon new Geological
cases required by the Curator of that Department for the
Yorkshire Doom; and a sum of £107 4s. 9d. has been laid out
in improvements to the Hospitium. The amount of £64 5s. 6d.
has been expended by the Council in the purchase of Doman
and other Antiquities.

The total expenditure on the New Lodge and the Approaches
has amounted to £1353 19s. 3d., whilst the various donations
which have been received, amount to £693 17s., leaving a
balance of £660 2s. 3d. to be provided for. The large sum .
received in donations is an evidence of the great interest that
the public have taken in this improvement, which has been
the means of securing a handsome approach to the grounds of
the Society. The Council do not propose to close the Building
Account for the present, but to forward a copy of it to each
Member, with the names of the donors and their subscriptions,
in the hope that farther donations may be received, sufficient
to clear off the greater part, if not the whole, of the balance,
so that no portion of it may be charged upon the income of
the Society.

It will be in the recollection of the Members, that at the
last Annual Meeting, reference was made to a negociation then
pending between the Committee of the Yorkshire Fine Art
and Industrial Exhibition and the Society for obtaining
possession in fee of the land and premises belonging to the
Society (part of the Manor Shore Estate), and leasehold for
years of the Crown. During the past year, the Council have
agreed, at the request of the Fine Art Committee, to become
the Grantees of the fee simple of this property for the sum of
£4000, paid to the Crown Deceivers by the Committee, with
the object of obtaining from the Society, as Grantees, a lease
for a long term of years of the greater portion of the land, for
the purpose of erecting thereon a building suitable for the
exhibition of works of Art and Industry. It is part of the
scheme, that the Bird-in-Hand Inn, situate in Bootham, the
property of the York Corporation, shall be pulled down to
make an approach to the Fine Ait Museum when completed,
and although the Trustees of the Society, in obtaining posses-

council for 1876.

sion of tlie leaseliold property, did so with, the object of
preserving it as an open space, and eventually, when their
income permitted, of annexing it to the grounds of the Society,
they felt hound, under the circumstances, to co-operate with
the Committee in obtaining the fee simple of the land, and, so
far as their power extends, to aid in the promotion of a scheme
which has for its object the instruction of the people and the
improvement of the city. In July last, the purchase money,
£4000, and the cost of the grant, £10 10s., were paid to the
Representatives of the Crown, and the Council hope soon to he
able to announce that the Crown Grant has been received, and
no time will then be lost in completing the arrangement.

The Curator of Geology reports that the cases required
for the better display of the Yorkshire Fossils have been
completed. The re-arrangement of the specimens has been
carried out to the end of the Inferior Oolite series (our
Honorary Member, Mr. XTudleston, having kindly assisted).
The gallery contains the following, viz., Peat deposits, drift
from the sea coast, Fossils from the gravel pits around York,
chiefly collected by the late Mr. J ames Cook ; Chalk, Red
Chalk, Speeton Clay, including Neocomian, Portlandian and
Kimmeridgian strata ; then the Coralline Oolite, of which the
Society possesses a magnificent series ; the Lower Calcareous
Grit, Oxford Clay, Kelloway Rock, and Cornbrask.

In the lower room, the Inferior Oolite series, which is kept
in separate sub-divisions, consists of the Upper Plant Bed,
Scarbro’ Limestone, the unique and valuable collection of
Brandsby Slate, part of the Cook collection, then the Middle
Plant Bed, the Millepore series, the Whitwell Limestone, the
Lower Plant Bed, the Red Inferior Oolite of Glaizedale, and the
Peak Dogger Beds. In re-arranging the collection, space has
been left for additions. It is hoped that dming the present
year the lower room will be completed. The Lias series are
already named and divided into zones by the Rev. J. F.
Blake, whose valuable work on the Yorkshire Lias appeared
dining the past year. The collection of Carboniferous Lime¬
stone Fossils is unfortunately very deficient.

UEPORT OF THE

The Society has received, through the kindness of Thomas
Lightfoot, Esq., of Masham, cores obtained by boring through
the Carboniferous series for an Artesian Well at Masham;
this is described in a paper which will be appended to
the report. In the General collection there is nothing
special to report, except the gift of some Lias Fossils from
Leicestershire, from John James Grut ch, Esq., and a large and
fine specimen of Ammonites Engelhardti from the Middle Lias
of South Petherton, from J. F. Walker, Esq. When the
arrangement of the Yorkshire Fossils is complete, attention
will be directed to the improvement of the general Geological
collection, as several strata are very imperfectly represented,
especially the Rhaetic, Devonian Mollusca, and nearly all the
beds of the Lower Silurian and Cambrian Formations. These
deficiencies are pointed out in hope that some of our Members
■will try to obtain them for the Society, and assist in keeping
the Geological collections of the County Museum in a position
worthy of a Society rendered illustrious by the labours of
Harcourt and Phillips.

The Curator of Insects and Crustacea reports that the
collections are in good condition, and that great care has been
taken to protect them all, and especially the magnificent Allis
collection of Lepidoptera, from the depredations of mites and
other insects which haunt cabinets. Mr. Hind, of this city, has
presented pairs of two rare and interesting moths, Eupithecia
pimpinellatci and E. albipunctata , both from the neighbourhood
of York, which have been placed in the Allis collection.

The progress of the Antiquarian Department in 1876,
although not so great as in several recent years, has been of
a satisfactory character. The excavations at the new Railway
Station are drawing to a close, and have yielded dining
the past twelve months, comparatively little. A few objects,
however, from that source, have come to the Museum,
which add to the completeness of the collection of Roman
antiquities. Among these, the Curators may mention a leaden
coffin, one or two sculptured stones, and some personal orna-

COUNCIL FOE 1876.

ments of considerable beauty. To the Dean and Chapter of
York, the Society is indebted for some carved stones from the
South Transept of the Minster, among which are some inter¬
esting specimens of Purbeck and Pefworth marble, which were
brought into the North in the middle of the thirteenth century.
Two other gifts to the Society dining the year deserve a special
mention. The first is that of a number of Roman vessels of
bronze, which wTere discovered in the neighbourhood of
ICnaresbrough about 1860. Some of these were presented to
the Museum by Mr. Gott in 1864 ; through the great kindness
of the same gentleman, the Society now possesses, with one
exception, the whole of this “ find ” that exists, and Mr. Grott’s
two donations, when joined together, form a unique and very
remarkable collection of Roman work in bronze and iron.

Of a somewhat later date, although by no means inferior in
interest, are tivo large coffins, formed out of oak trees of con¬
siderable size, which were discovered dining the summer of the
present year in a very early burial ground at Selby. They
will be added to the collection in the British and Saxon Room,
where they will bear testimony to the generous kindness of
Messrs. Morrell, Atkinson and Woods.

The Council have secured for the Museum, by purchase, a
valuable collection of objects from the lacustrine dwellings in
Switzerland, which will be exhibited when sufficient space is
found for that purpose.

In addition to the acquisition of these and many other objects
of interest, the Curators have made considerable progress in
the re-arrangement of some of the collections. This will be
especially observable in the lower room of the Hospitimn, in
which the sculptured stones have been classified and shewn to
greater advantage, and a series of Roman tombs has been set
up, which cannot fail to attract the attention of the visitor.
The Curators in this work thankfully acknowledge the assistance
that has been rendered to them by Dr. Gibson.

In the Coin Department much good work has been made in
cataloguing and arranging the acquisitions of recent years.

The Curators are glad to mention that some valuable additions
have been made to the collection of English Pottery which the

REPORT OE THE

Society possesses. It is their earnest wish and design to make
this collection still more important, by including in it specimens
of the more recent English wares, especially those which have
had their origin in the North of England. The Curators
venture to appeal to the Members of the Society generally to
enable them to carry out what they desire to see gradually
effected. There is no reason why the York Museum should
not be made what the Liverpool Museum is now, through the
generosity of Mr. Mayer, a repository of a continuous series of
the productions of the ceramic art, from the earliest period to
the present day.

In conclusion, the Curators beg to direct the attention of the
Council to the fact that only a very small portion of the
Monkman collection of British antiquities is at present exhibited.
The fittings of the British and Anglo-Saxon Boom are wholly
inadequate for that purpose.

The Curator of Comparative Anatomy draws attention to
the extent and great value of the Society’s collection. The
best known part of the collection is the splendid series of
skeletons of birds, formerly belonging to the late Mr. Allis,
and to the collecting and preservation of which he devoted the
greater part of his life. It includes a vast number of complete
specimens, each of which, with one exception, is formed from a
single bird. The collection is almost, if not quite, unique,
and the late Professor Grant, of University College, spoke
highly of its value. It is, of course, chiefly important from
the number and variety of the specimens affording materials
for comparison ; but, apart from this, many individual speci¬
mens are of great value, both scientifically and intrinsically.
The skeleton of the Dinornis robustus , presented by Dr. Gibson,
is the largest and most perfect specimen known, and is now
one of the most valuable treasures of the collection.

The Mammalian collection contains many choice specimens,
but bavins; been formed rather from casual donations than
from any systematic collection, it is somewhat deficient in some
of the ordinary forms, which no one probably has thought fit
to supply, because they were within every one’s reach.

COUNCIL FOU 1876.

Tlie Curator has added a list of a few of the most apparent
gaps in the series, in the hope that some of our friends, as
opportunities arise, may secure and present them.

Monotremata ; Echidna.

Marsupialia ; Wombat , (Phascolomys) Petaurus.

Solidungula ; Skeleton of a celebrated Pace Ilorse , Skull of an
Ass.

BiUminantia ; Skull of Sheep and Goat.

Bodentia ; Hare , ( Lepus timidus.)

Cheiroptera ; Any kind of Bat.

Quadrumana ; Semnopithecus , Colobus.

The principal donation during the year has been a remark¬
ably fine series of Dinornis bones from New Zealand, for which
the warmest thanks are due to Dr. Gibson. They are of
several species, the principal being the Dinornis elephantopus.

A number of bones, discovered in the railway excavations,
with other Boman remains, doubtless of the same age, are
now in process of arrangement, and will shortly be placed in
the cases. These will be interesting as affording data for
comparison with existing types, and may possibly prove to
have important bearings on the variations of animals under
domestication.

The Curator of Botany reports that W. H. Buclston Bead,
Esq., has presented to the Society during the past year,
twelve different species of Plants, and that Mrs. Plenry Watson,
of York, has given to the Society a Tree Fern from New
Zealand.

The Curator of Ornithology has only to notice the gift of
four eggs of the common Snipe ( Scolopax Gallinago).

Mr. Wakefield in his remarks states that the excessive Bain-
fall during the past year has not been confined to England or
Europe, but has extended over the greater part of the globe.
It appears, from statistics, that damp moist weather has a
prejudicial effect on the health when not accompanied by a
very heavy rainfall, but whenever a heavy rainfall prevails,

REPORT OE THE

there is an improvement in the general health, and this
perhaps somewhat accounts for the low death rate which had
been found in the Registrar General’s reports during the past
year.

The mean height of the mercurial column for the year,
corrected to 32° F. and mean sea level, was 29*8628 inches,
being *0628 inch, below a mean of the last 40 years. Five
times in March, once in April, and six times in December, the
barometer fell below 29 inches. The highest point reached
was 30*680 inches on January 15th, the lowest point touched
being 28*439 on December 4th, giving a range of 2*241 inches.
The mean temperature has been 1*10 degrees above the average.
The following table exhibits the months of excess and defect
respectively.

Excess. Defect.

January ....

• 6

*79

March ....

... *77

February ....

2*23

May . . . .

. . . 2*74

April .

•86

June . . . .

... *39

July .

4*46

3*90

August ....

1*74

September . . .

*01

October ....

3*64

November . . .

•38

December . . .

• 0

2*99

17*10

3*90

12)13*20

Excess for the whole

year

1*10

The amount of rainfall has been 31*70 inches, or an excess
of 7*66 inches of the mean of 40 years. The nearest approach
to this amount during the past 40 years being 36*02 inches in
1848, 30*37 inches in 1860, and 39*85 inches in 1872. The
number of rainy days in 1872 was 216, against 194 in 1876.
The deficiency being for January *78, May 1*05, July *92, and
August *68, and the excess for February *71, March 1*46,
April *55, June *17, September 2*41, October *36, November
1*31, and December 4*12.

COUNCIL FOR 1876

The total fall of rain during the month of December was
5’95 inches, and there has been no instance since 1815, when
the fall in that month has been so large.

METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, YORK, 1876.

BAROMETER.

RAIN.

THERMOMETER.

Month.

Highest.

Lowest.

Mean.

Inches.

Days.

Average

Maximum.

Average

Minimum.

Mean Temp.

Highest.

Lowest.

Jan.

30-680

29-663

30-2527

•94

42-16

32-03

37-09

Feb.

30-090

29-087

29-7225

2-18

45-78

34-28

40-03

Mar.

30-106

28-525

29-4771

3-05

46-03

33-03

39-53

April

30-448

28.966

29-8445

2-05

54*80

38-33

46-56

May

30-523

29-646

30-1643

•66

58-51

40-45

49-48

June

30-235

29-616

29-9744

2-51

67-40

48-04

57-72

July

30-446

29 646

30-0290

f- *

72-68

53'45

63-06

Aug.

30-345

29-000

29-9069

2-05

7M9

50-90

61-04

Sept.

30-315

29-382

29-7432

4-62

61-70

47-53

54-61

Oct.

30-329

29-195

29-9184

2-78

58-13

45-35

51-74

Nov.

30-329

29-354

29-8762

3-38

47-73

36-23

41-98

Dec.

30-210

28-439

29-4452

5-95

45-84

37-55

41-69

30-680

28-439

29-8628

31-70

194

55-99

41-43

48-71

REPORT OF THE

RAIN FALL, 1876.

Museum.

Malton.

Month.

Total

Depth.

Greatest Fall
in 24 Hours.

Number

of Days on

which -01 or

more fell.

[

Inches.

Depth.

Date.

Inches.

Jan.

•94

•34

r-H

•97

•76

Feb.

2-18

•33

2-33

2-38

Mar.

3-05

6«

2-82

3-17 !

April

2-05

•59

1-70

2"50 i

May

•66

•30

•66

•86

June

2-51

•90

2-44

2-58 1

! July

1-53

'73

1-84

2-18

Aug.

2-05

•55

2-37

2-05

Sept.

4-62

•77

3-49

3-70 :

Oct.

2-78

1-09

2-19

2-26

Nov.

3-38

•75

3-18

3-58

Dec.

5‘95

•66

5’75

6-04 j

31-70

194

29-74

32-06

COMPARATIVE PREVALENCE OF WINDS.

N.N.E.

N.E.

E.N.E.

E.S.E.

S.E.

S.S.E.

s.s.w.

s.w.

w.s.w.

MT.

W.N.W.

N.W.

N.N.W.

Tlie following observations made at Langton, Malton, liave
been kindly supplied by the Rev. A. Skadwell, M. A.

WINDS.

Direction. Number of Days.

S. to W . 147

W. to N . 75

N. to E . 66

E. to S . 60

Calm . 18

366

COUNCIL EOR 1876.

Days on

which the Wind force was

estimated at 6 and over

6 on the sea scale,

or from ‘ strong ’ to

‘ whole gale,’ maximum

being 12.

January 23.

September 5.

December

March

11.

October 11.

April

14.

November 12.

11.

June

15.

„ 13.

12.

Aug.

„ 25.

19.

27.

30.

No gales at either vernal or autumnal equinox, hut rather
an unusual period of calm at both.

January was the driest month, and had the greatest number
of calm days, and also the highest mean barometric pressure,
amounting to 30 '21 inches.

The river Derwent attained its summer level first on July 25th ;
was in a state of flood nearly throughout December, on 21st
showing 11 feet, and on 30th 10 feet 7 inches above level.

Thirty-two new Members, four Lady Subscribers, and three
Associates have been added to the Society during the past
year, whilst eighteen Members, five Lady Subscribers, and six
Associates have been removed from the Society’s list by death
and resignation.

Among the Foreign Honorary Members of the Society, the
name of a distinguished French Naturalist will no longer
appear in the Society’s list. M. A. T. Brongniart, Member
of the Academy, F. B. S., and Member of the principal learned
Societies of Europe, died on the 18th of February last, at the age
of 75. This illustrious French Botanist has for half a century
justly occupied a prominent place as a man of science. He was
the son of Alexandre Brongniart, the famous naturalist, who died
in 1847. At the age of nineteen he wrote his first and only
Zoological paper, on a new genus of Crustacea. He afterwards
devoted himself wholly to Botany, especially to the study of
fossil plants. In 1828 he commenced his great work, “ Histoire
des Yegetaux Fossiles on Becherches Botaniques et Geolo-
giques.” (4to,, p.p. 488, illustrated by 166 plates). The work

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1876.

was arrested, by M. Brongniart’s ill health when it had reached
to 12 parts, and was not resumed for nine years. Only three
additional parts were then issued, and the work remains in¬
complete, to the great regret of all students of Fossil Botany.
M. Brongniart wrote the article on Fossil Plants in the
“ Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle,” (1849). He also con¬
tributed numerous separate papers on recent and Fossil Botany
to the Annales, etc.

The following Lectures have been delivered in the Theatre
of the Museum during the past year.

Subject. Name oe Lecturer.

Becent Excavations in Borne . . Bev. A. Shad well.

Antartic discovery . Captain Davis, B. 1ST.

Some recollections of a recent ) _ _ _

, [ Bev. F. Lawrence.

visit to Belgrade, &c . )

The Council recommend for election the following gentlemen
as Honorary Members of the Society : William Whitaker, B.A.,
London, F.G.S., Geological Survey ; C. Fox Strangways, F.G.S.,
Geological Survey; Prof. John Morris, F. G. S., University
College, London ; J. W. Judd, F. G. S., Prof, of Geology,
Boyal School of Mines ; A. H. Green, M. A., F. G. S., Prof, of
Geology, Yorkshire College of Science; P. M, Duncan, M. B.,
F. B. S., President of Geological Society, Prof, of Geology in
King's College, London.

Four Members of Council retire during the present year by
rotation, viz. : William Whytehead, Esq., Bev. M. B. Bresher,
J. P. Wood, Esq., and Bichard Pearson, Esq. The two latter
gentlemen, in accordance with a special ride of the Society,
having been elected only for one year, are proposed by the
Council for re-election, along with Dr. Gibson and Edward
Smithson, Esq., as ordinary Members of Council.

THE

TREASURER OF THE YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

IN ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR 1876.

INCOME.

£. s. d. £. s. d.

Annual Subscriptions, Sfc. :

Members . 675 1 0

Lady Subscribers . 75 3 0

Associates . 18 0 0

Arrears . 6 5 0

- 774 9 0

Admission Fees of New Members :

Paid in Full . 27 0 0

Paid by Instalments .... 44 0 t)

Compositionsin lieu of Subscriptions

Keys of the Gates .

Temporary Subscriber .

Rents :

New Manor Shore Pro¬
perty . 100 9 1

St. Mary’s Lodge . 54 10 10

Cottages in Mary gate . . 16 1 4

Boat Yard . 5 0 0

- 176 1 3

Gate Money . 288 17 6

Swimming Bath . 40 0 0

Sale of Guide to Antiquities, &c . 14 19 0

Use of Tent. . . . 21 0 0

Sale of Duplicate Antiquarian Speci¬
mens . 25 0 0

Permanent Debt :

Yorkshire Insurance

Company . 1900 0 0

Due to Two Members,

<£50 each . 100 0 0

- 2000 0 0

71 0 0

72 0 0
42 5 0

1 0 0

Balance in Treasurer's
hands, 31st Dec., 1875 .. 317 7 6
Surplus of Income, 1876.. 112 14 10

- 430 2 4

EXPENDITURE. 'mx.

£. s.

d. £.

Crown Rents .

90 2

Corporation Rents .

19 15

Rates and Taxes .

15 6

Water Rents .

6 13

Insurance . .

6 6

138

Salaries and Wages:

C. Wakefield . . .

140 0

H. Baines (Pension) _

101 18

J. Davison (Do.) ....

26 10

J. Fielden .

70 4

Lodge Keeper .

46 16

Attendant, Museum ....

46 4

Do., Hospitium . .

13 14

Gardeners .

139 13

584 19 11

Interest to Insurance Company ..

. „ 75

Intei'est to Bankers .

General Expenses and Repairs :

Museum .

52 9

Estate .

21 2

— 73 11

Gardens, Greenhouses, 8fc. :

General Expenses and

Repairs .

73 1

Seeds, &c .

4 14

Coals and Coke .

9 3

Asphalting Walks .

40 4

New Boiler in Green-

house . . .

27 10

- 154 13 0

Purchase & Preparation of Specimens 4 4 6

Library : Books and Binding . 21 18 7

Swimming Bath . 21 16 2

Miscellaneous Expenses :
Printing of Report and

Communications ....

Printing, Stationery, &c.

Binding Catalogue of

Antiquities .

Coals and Gas .

Expenses of Lectures . .

Do Observatory

Do. Bands ....

Do. Hospitium .

Do. Repairing

and Painting

Steps of do. ....

Do. Roman

Antiquities ....

Do. Antiquities

from Swiss Lake

Dwellings .

Do. New Geo¬
logical Cases
(YorkshireRoom) 27 7 6
Postages and Petty Ex¬
penses . 0 17

- 322 19 11

1413 16 11

Excess of Income for the Year 1876 112 14 10

£1526 11 9

Permanent Debt :

Yorkshire Insurance

Company . 1900 0 0

Due to Two Members,

£50 each . 100 0 0

- 2000 0 0

Deficiency on the Entrance Lodge
Improvement Account, not yet

closed . 660 2 3

Less Balance of General Account . . 430 2 4

£229 19 11

Due to the Treasurer

MEMBERS ELECTED IN 1876.

Baker, George, The Pavement.

Burtchby, John, The Pavement.

Busbell, Henry, Tanner Row.

Chapman, Alfred, 37, Petergate.

Comber, Bey. H. G. W., Museum Street.

Darling, William, Coney Street.

Dillon, Mrs., Coney Street.

Ellison, Balph Carr, Bunstan Mill, Gateshead.

Forester, The Hon. and Bev. Canon, Gedling , Notts.
Giddy, Charles, Coney Street.

Gray, Edwin, The Minster Yard.

Greenwood, William Francis, Stonegate.

Groves, John, Jun., Parliament Street.

Haynes, Edmund L., 29, St. Mary's.

Herring, Francis, Petergate.

Hoggard, Henry, Chestnut Grove, Meworth.

Horsley, Thomas, Coney Street.

Hotham, Capt. John, Scaftworth , Bawtry.

Howey, Edwards Werge, Clifton.

Last, Edwin William, 12, Bootham Terrace.

Masterman, Thomas, Petergate.

Millington, Matthew, 25, Colliergate.

Botherford, John, 18, Bootham Terrace.

Saville, John, Monlz Bar.

Teasdale, John, 36, St. Mary's.

Thomas, William Gordon, Settrington House.

Thompson, Sir Henry Meysey Meysey, Bart., Kirby Hall.
Tiplady, Mrs., 15, Gillygate.

Whytehead, Thomas Bowman, South Parade.

Wilson, Henry Andrew, Mary gate.

Wolstenholme, Charles Dean, Gillygate.

Wood, Henry, 2, Portland Street.

LADY SUBSCRIBERS ADMITTED IN 1876.

Croft, Miss, 7, Park Street. *

Key worth, Mrs., Park Street.

Mercer, Miss, The Minster Yard.

Tesseyman, Mrs., 19, Tanner Row.

ASSOCIATES.

Allanson, Edward Peter, 50, Gillygate.
Camidge, John, St. Saviour gate.

Trundle, Rev. George, 4, St. Mary's.

RESOLUTIONS

PASSED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, FEBRUARY 6th, 187T.

— — o — —

1. That the Report of the Council now read be adopted and
printed for circulation amongst the Members, Lady Subscribers,
and Associates of the Society.

2. That the thanks of the Society be given to the Members of
Council retiring from office, also to the Treasurer, Secretary, and
Curators for their valuable services ; and that authority be given
to the Council to give admission to the Public to the Museum on
Whit-Monday and Tuesday, under the same regulations as last
year.

3. That the thanks of the Meeting be given to the Chairman,

DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

GEOLOGY AND MINEBALOGY.

Gutch, Mr. J. J . Specimens of Soap Stone and Ser¬

pentine, from the Lizard, Cornwall.

Specimens of Granite, from Bocks
north of Inverness.

Healy, Bev. E . Cabinet and Specimens of Tin, Lead

and Copper Ores, from Cornwall.

Specimens of Quartz and Iron and
Copper Ores, from India.

Lightfoot, Mr. Thos., Mas- \ Cores from the borings for an Artesian

ham . j Well at Masham.

Baine, Bev. Canon ...... Two Corals, from Nunnington.

Bowe, Mr. G. H . Two Specimens of Bock Salt.

W7alker, Mr. I. E . Specimens of Braehiopoda.

Am. Goliathus, from Appleton Church
Quarrv.

Am. Engelhardti , from South Petherton.
Eossil, from Crambeck.

Wolstenholme, Mr. C. D. Hippopodium ponder osum , from the

Drift, York.

- - o - -

ZOOLOGY.

Crompton, Miss Henrietta) . . .. _ _

^ 1 j Fungia hhr enter g\i , from the Bed Sea.

Hind, Mr. B . Two Specimens of Eupithecia pim-

pinellata.

Do. do. do. albipunctata.

Four Snipes’ Eggs.

Triquetra rufosissimus , from Peru.

Belph, Mr. M. . . .
Walker, Mr. J. E.

O • • 0 • t

BOTANY.

Bead, Mr. W. H. Budston 12 Ferns and Plants.

Watson, Mrs. H . Tree Fern, from New Zealand.

- o — — -

MISCELLANEOUS.

Cobb, Mr. W. Preston . . Wool of the Vicugna, from Upper

Peru.

Knapton, Miss . Portrait, in Oil, of the late Philip

Knapton, her father.

Norcliffe, Mr. F. B . A Lapland Lasso.

Two Esquimaux Pulleys, two Har¬
poons, a Fish-hook, a Dagger, a
Sling, and four Bone Ornaments.

- -o — —

ANTIQUITIES.

Allen, Mr. E . Part of a Eoman Glass Vessel.

Anderson, T., M. D . Middle Brass Coin of Trajan.

A Nuremberg Token, found in York.

Balmford, Mr . A Nuremberg Token, found in Coney

Street.

Cattle, Mrs., Selby . Mediaeval Key, 15th saec., found at

Selby.

The Dean and Chapter of j Pillars and Bases of Purbeck Marble

York . ) and other Sculptured Stones, from

the South Transept of the Minster.

Dixon, Mr. W . Early Spring Lock.

Dutton, Mr . A round Cup, perhaps Mediaeval.

Gibson, J. H., M. D. .... Two Eoman Vases, one of Samian

Ware with ivy leaves, found in
Bootham Terrace.

Gott, Mr. Thos., Knaresbro ’ A collection of Eoman Utensils,

Bronze and Iron, found at Knares-
borough.

Greenwell, Eev. Canon . . Eoman Knife-handle of Bone, found

in York,

Morrell, Mr. W. W .

Atkinson, Mr. J. T. . .

Woods, Mr. G- .

N. E. Railway, Directors of

Purchased .

Paine, Rev. Canon

Swaine, Mr. E

Wade, Rev. G. F .

Two Saxon Coffins and a Head-post of
Wood, found at Selby.

A Lead Coffin.

A large Stone Phallus.

A Carved Capital.

Two Suites of Jet Ornaments.

A Jet Armlet.

An Enamelled Silver Eibnla.

Urns, &c.

A small Child’s Coffin, with Lime
impression.

An Enamelled Fibula, in shape of S.

A Series of Implements, Pottery, &c.,
from the Swiss Lake Dwellings.

A Leaden Bulla of Pope J ohn XXIII.,
found in Durham.

A Foreign Jetton.

Two old English Glass Bottles.

A Leaden Bulla of Pope Nicholas IY.

A middle Brass Coin of Hadrian, with
Britannia in the Exergue on the
reverse.

A Halfpenny Token of Fran. Bray,
the Globe, in York, 1666.

The Head of a richly Carved Stall of
Derbyshire Marble, found in Law¬
rence Street.

LIBRARY.

Association, British, for the
Advancement of Science
Association, Geologists’ . .
Author, The .

Report for 1875.

Proceedings, vol. iv., Nos. 5 — 9.

Note on a proposed International Code
of Sjunbols for use on Arclieeolo-
gical Maps, by J. Evans, F. R. S.
Yorkshire Mints under the Danish
Kings, by Rev. D. H. Haigh.

Author, The

Author, The . Where was Cambodunum? by Bev.

D. H. Haigh.

Author, The . North Sea Dredging, by J. Leckenby,

F. G. S.

Author, The . On a Eoman Villa near Maidstone, by

C. Boach Smith.

Author, The . The Abbe Cocliet, by C. Boach Smith.

Author, The . . Macbeth, Earl Siward and Dundee,

by Prof. G. Stephens.

Author, The . Tables of Temperatures of the Sea at

different depths beneath the sur¬
face, by Jos. Prestwich, M. A.,

F. E. S.

Committee, The . Catalogue of the Yorkshire Exhibition,

held at Leeds, 1875.

Club, Warwickshire Field Proceedings for 1875.

Davies, Mrs . Gale’s Antonini Iter Britanniarum.

Gordon’s Itinerarium Septentrionale.

Bud’s Codicum Manuscriptorum ec-
clesife Catliedralis Dunelmensis
Catalogus Classicus.

Buckman and Newmarch’s Illustra¬
tions of Eoman Art in Cirencester.

Akerman’s Coins of the Eomans
relating to Britain.

Collectanea Antiqua, 6 vols., 8vo., by
C. Eoach Smith, F. S. A.

Antiquities of Bichborough, Eeculver
and Lymne, in Kent, by C. Eoach
Smith, F. S. A.

India, Geological Survey of Palseontologia Indica, series ix.,

pts. 2 — 4.

Memoirs, vol. xi., pt. 2.
Becords, vol. viii., pts. 1 — 4,

pt. 1.

Institution, Boyal, of Great f
Britain . j

Proceedings, No. 62, 63.

vol. ix.,

Institution, Smithsonian . . Beport for 1874.

Beport of the U. S. Geological Survey
of the Territories, vol. ii.

Mayer, Mr. Joseph . Catalogue of the Library and Museum

of the Historic Society of Lanca¬
shire and Cheshire.

Procter, W., M. D . La Normandie Souterraine par M.

L’Abbe Cochet.

Publishers, The . Nature (Journal) for 1876.

Purchased . Lapidarium Septentrionale, by Bev.

J. C. Bruce, L. L. D.

Hiibner’s (E.) Inscriptiones Britannise
Christianse.

Bead, Mr. W. LI. Pudston Transactions of the Linnean Society,

vol. xxix., pt. 3.

Journal of the Linnean Society :
Zoology, Nos. 60 — 65.
Botany, Nos. 83 — 86.

Bichardson,Bev. H., Etchil- 1 Stonehenge and its Barrows, by Win.

hampton , Devizes . ) Long, M. A., F. S. A.

Society, Chemical . Journal for 1876.

Society, Geological . Journal, Nos. 125 — 128.

Society, Leeds Literary and ) _ Q>7_

1. IiilosopiiiCcil . )

Society, Leicester Literary ) ^ _

.. ’ J Peport for 187o.

and Philosophical . ;

Society, Liverpool Literary ) proeeedingSj No> 30.

and Philosophical . ;

Society, Manchester Liter- ) Memoirs, vol. v., 3 series,
ary and Philosophical . . ) Proceedings, vol. xv.

Catalogue of Books in the Library.

Society, Meteorological . . Contribution to the Meteorology of

Japan, by T. H. Tizard, Staff
Commander.

Quarterly Weather Peport, pt. 2, 1874.

Peport for 1875.

Toynbee’s Physical Geography of the
Atlantic.

Society, Poyal Astronomical Astronomical, Magnetical andMeteoro-

logical Observations at Greenwich
in 1873.

Society, Poyal, of Edin- ) Transactions, vol. xxvii., pt. 3.
burgh . j Proceedings, Session 1874-75.

Society, "Warwickshire
Natural History and

Archaeological .

Society, Zoological . Transactions, vol. ix., pts. 5 — 9.

Superintendent, The .... Geological and Geographical Survey

of Colorado and adjacent territory,
1874.

• - o -

SEEIAL WORKS SUBSCRIBED EOR.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (4 vols. with Atlas of Plates and
Supplement published).

Birds of Asia, by John Gould, P. P. S. (28 parts published).
Natural History of the Tineina, by H. T. Stainton, P.P. S. (13 vols.

published).

Nautical Almanack.

Proceedings of the Zoological Society, with Illustrations.
Publications of the Pakeontographical Society (28 vols. published).
Publications of the Pay Society.

Sowerby’s Thesaurus Conchyliorum, col. plates (32 parts published).
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine.

Annals and Magazine of Natural History.

Geological Magazine.

Journal of the British Archaeological Association.

Numismatic Chronicle.

Memoires de la Societe Paleontologicpie Suisse.

Report for 1875.

COMMUNICATIONS

TO THE

MONTHLY MEETINGS

OE THE

YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,

1876.

J anuary 4th. — The Pev. Canon Paine read the following
paper on Ponian cemeteries at York, their arrangements and
the mode of burial in them : — He said : 6 The recent excavations
in one of the large Roman cemeteries of Eburacnm have
added much to our knowledge of the rites of sepulture in use
among the great nation of the world, and have given us some
idea of the very large population of our city in those early
times. These cemeteries were outside the Roman towns and
cities, although they were occasionally disregarded when the
population overflowed the camp, and extra-mural habitations
became necessary. This is especially observable in Micklegate.
In the earliest period of the Roman settlement, Micklegate-hill
was used as a burial ground, especially the neighbourhood
of the old Trinity Gardens ; in process of time the hill was
needed for temples and houses, and the previous interments
were forgotten. Under the city wall, close to Micklegate Bar,
is the pavement of a building of this description, which shows
how a part of an old burial ground had been encroached upon
and passed by. There is another point also about which we
must disabuse ourselves. The old Roman laws decreed the
sanctity of the grave, but Roman practice, at least under the
later empire, most certainly disregarded it. We find bodies
interred, sometimes, two or three deep. We often find sepulchral
urns which have been broken by persons who have been digging
out a place to deposit some similar vessels. Even the large

Roman coffins were, I believe, used more than once. There
was evidence of this in the discovery on the Mount of the large
sarcophagus of iElia Severn, which was covered with an
inscribed slab commemorating a very different family. Nay,
more ; we have proof in various places that the Romans them¬
selves, when in want of stone, w^ere not deterred by religious
feeling from breaking up monumental slabs and using them as
building materials. Christians, as we know, have followed in
this respect the Pagan custom.

The cemeteries at Eburacum were for the most paid by the
sides of the chief roads. They were probably fenced in and
planted with shrubs and flowers, among which every here and
there stood or lay a headstone or cippus bearing an inscription
to the dead. Beyond the fence, in the open field, other inter¬
ments would take place, but in no regular order. The cemetery
for the richest classes at Eburacum was that on both sides of the
road to Tadcaster, which has yielded, and will no doubt
continue to yield, many treasures to the York Museum. You
trace these interments over the crest of the Mount, in Mount
Yale, and as far as Dringhouses, if not beyond it. You find
burials and tombs in Clementhorpe, and in the direction of
Bishoptliorpe. On the other side of the river many interments
have been discovered, in the direction of the Castle and Eisher-
gate. You find them also outside Monk Bar, near the Malton
road ; whilst down Bootham, on both sides of the way to
Aldbrough, there have from time to time been discovered
traces of a very large cemetery. It was in the brickfields
between the road and the river that the antiquaries of the 17th
century used to get the urns which adorned their museums,
and vast numbers must be still in the ground on both sides of
the road, for at least a mile from the Bar. Sepulchral memorials
have been found in great quantities at Burton-lane and in
Clifton. The pair of fine stone coffins now in St. Leonard's
Hospital came from the corner of Clifton-green ; and there is
another, used as a horse-trough, lying on the left-hand side of
the road before you come to that place.

It is to the excavations for the North Eastern Railway that
we are indebted for the discovery of the great cemetery on the

opposite bank of the river, in what used to be called the
Bishop’s Fields. The explorations which began five-and-thirty
years ago, have, as you know, been recently continued with
very great advantage to the collections in this Museum and
the cause of historical inquiry. The extent of this great
cemetery on the west bank of the Ouse cannot easily be defined.
It certainly reached from the river as far as the old railway
lines towards the north, and extended in length for the greater
part of a mile from the city walls, whilst beyond this dis¬
tance graves have been discovered. They were found, for
instance, on the slope of the hill fronting the Gas Works. I
told you in a recent paper that the chief approach to this great
burial ground seems to have been by a carefully prepared road
running from close to the baths, which were partly on the site
of the present railway station, towards the north. It was a
carefully constructed cart-road, able to bear very heavy weights.
On either side of this road, just across the moat of the city
wall, graves were found in profusion, but chiefly those of
women and children, and close to the way were several large
wrought stones, placed there as if for coffin rests. After this
the interments spread far and wide in vast numbers. The
excavations, as you know, have been irregularly made ; still I
cannot be under the mark in stating that the remains of at
least 2,000 persons must have been disturbed. It was evident
also that the ground had been used as a cemetery for a very
long period.

It is, I believe, generally allowed by scholars that the
burning of the bodies of the dead was an early method of
sepulture among the Homans. In a particular part of this
large cemetery running northwards for about a quarter of a
mile from a point a little to the north of Mr. Close’s late house,
we came upon a distinct portion in which none but burnt
bodies were laid. How far this extended towards the west we
cannot tell, as we were unable to trace it, but towards the east
it ended in a line so straight that this could only have been
preserved by some fence or hedge on the surface. There were
no traces of a wall. The sepulchral urns found in this inclosure
were not only numerous, but of a comparatively high style of

art, and there is evidence, I think, to show that the ground
was being used during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, in
the beginning of the second century of our era. No trace of
an ustrmum , or the paved square on which the bodies were
burnt, has as yet been discovered. The disuse of the custom
of burning the bodies of the dead is ascribed to the influence of
Christianity, and, no doubt, with truth. Still it is probable
that during the period of the Homan occupation of Britain
the practice of cremation was never wholly disused. Outside
this enclosure, of which I have been speaking, we find burnt
and unburnt bodies in close proximity, but irregularly laid,
and, for the most part, without any crowding, as if the space
had been originally an open field, where each person might
choose his own burial place. At some five or six feet below
the present surface you come to the bones. At the depth of
eighteen inches or two feet you reach the old Homan surface,
and in the space towards the river it is easy to see that this was
a promenade and playground. Fragments of vessels and other
things are tossing about. A number of rounded bases of Samian
vessels tell us that the Homan boys used to play here at some¬
thing like our present game of hopscotch — the quality of the
clay always making even a fragment of the vessel prized, and
the colour making it discernible among the grass. In one
instance the roundlet had been inverted, and in the hollow
cavity some Homan youngster had put his minium , or red paint,
which still comes off when you touch it with your finger. All
this was done among the graves of the dead. Other days come
back to us with a vivid freshness. We seem also to see the
process of levelling the inequalities of the ground, just as it
may be observed at the present day on the other side of the
river. At a particular place not very far from the Scarbro’
Hailway Bridge, we found the debris of some Homan house
which had been carted away out of Eburacum and utilised
here. Numerous specimens of stucco, or wall-painting, were
discovered, mingled with pieces of tesselated pavement and
other things as well, just as they were shot out by the Homan
carters, fifteen hundred years since. I have stated already
that the westernmost portion of the cemetery of which we have

been speaking, was reserved for burnt bodies ; with the much
larger part of it which lies between that enclosed space and the
river we have now to deal. From the position of the graves in
certain directions I am decidedly of opinion that it was laid
out in walks, and that here and there little enclosures were
reserved for particular families. This may be inferred, I think,
from the stone coffins, which were always underground, and
which are peculiarly arranged, for the most part, in groups,
and from the line in which they are often deposited. I
shall speak about these stone coffins on some future occasion.
Flow, it may be asked, was the site of a grave generally
marked ? As a general rule it is probable that there was no
mark whatever. The mound would fall away. There were
few sculptured memorials out in this open field. In some cases
we found at the head or the foot of the grave, or at both, a
small block of wrought sandstone some two feet long, which
was originally visible on the surface. Some specimens of these
stones may be seen on the south side of the Ilospitium lying
against the wall in the footway. In other cases a flat stone
was laid over a grave ; in others, again, there was above a
grave or an urn a few cobbles to show the intruding digger
that there was something below. It is quite possible, also, that
just as in the poorer portions of the cemeteries of the present
day, the interments may have been marked by little blocks of
wood, possibly with some inscription painted upon them. Let
me now speak about the different modes of interment. The
most expensive method was the use of a large stone coffin, of
an average weight of two tons ; of these, I believe, at least fifty
have been discovered during the two excavations for the North
Eastern Itailway, but I must reserve my remarks on this part
of my subject for some future occasion, as there is scant time
to do justice to it now. Passing by also the domed brick tomb
which is under Mr. Flower’s house on the Mount, and a brick
room or columbarium that was discovered in Bootham some two
hundred years ago, which is now destroyed, I may remark
that two other brick graves have been discovered during the
railway excavations, one of which is now in the Museum. A
large coffin of wood was originally deposited in it over which

several large roofing tiles were laid as its only protection.
There have also been found during the two excavations for the
railway, as far as I can make out, some six or seven tombs
made of large tiles, resembling those which may be seen in our
Museum, arranged like the roof of a house, under which were
deposited the burnt bones of some Roman gentleman or lady,
occasionally with vessels and ornaments. Two of these are
now in the Hospitium, and a third found its way many years
ago to Mr. Bateman’s Museum in Derbyshire. They are
generally stamped with the mark of one of the two legions
which had their head quarters at York, thus showing to which
regiment, as we may say, the deceased person was attached.
Another mode of interment was by coffins of lead generally
enclosed in wood. Six of these, of various sizes, have been
brought to the Museum from the excavations during* the last
few years, the finest of which is that laid inside the stone coffin,
which contained the lady with the hair. Another lead coffin
of a large si^p was found, with the iron bands nearly complete,
by which the wood and the lead were kept together. This will
be set up before long, and exhibited in the lower room of the
Hospitium. In several instances we came upon the fragments
of a lead coffin, so decayed that it was impossible to preserve
them. We have also found in the course of these excavations
two ossuaria or leaden urns, containing burnt bones; one of
them, as I have already told you, is inscribed. The number of
persons who have been buried in coffins of wood is considerable.
We can trace these by the iron coffin nails. In some instances
we find that gypsum has been poured into the coffin. But there
are also a great number of persons who seem to have been laid
in the ground without any coffin at all. As a general rule the
bodies face the south or the east ; sometimes with a point of
west in the direction, but in no instance have wre found any
one laid with his head towards the north. Into the question
of urn-burial I must go at some future time. But, in conclu¬
sion, let me chronicle a most interesting discovery. In two
instances, on the outskirts of the ground, just where we should
expect to find them, we came upon two putei or pits, used for
the burial of slaves and persons of mean repute. They were

contiguous to each other, perhaps ten or twelve feet deep, some
fifteen or twenty in width, and thirty perhaps in length. Into
these the bodies seem to have been thrown without any order
or respect, the feet being often higher than the head. A thin
covering of earth seems to have been cast over each corpse
until a certain distance from the surface was reached. Each
of these pits contained a large number of skeletons — that they
were of the Roman period was evident from the fragments of
pottery which were found near and among them.’

April 4th. — W. H. Hudleston, M. A., F. G. S., and
John Francis Walker, M. A., F, Gr. S., &c., “ On the
distribution of the Brachiopoda in the Oolitic strata of York¬
shire.”

In preparing this list of the species of Brachiopoda found in
the Oolitic strata of Yorkshire, we have not attempted to
reprint a complete list of all the species which have been said to
occur in these strata, but have only enumerated those species
which we have ourselves found, or of which we have authentic
information as regards locality and horizon. The references are
made to sections in Mr. Hudleston’s Papers on the “ Yorkshire
Oolites,” which have appeared in the Proceedings of the
Geologists’ Association. The new species are, or will be, fully
described and figured in Mr. Davidson’s supplement to his
great monograph on Jurassic Brachiopoda. We include in our
list 27 species, of which 7 occur in the Dogger beds of the
Inferior Oolite, 4 in the Millepore series and its inland
equivalents, one of these also occurs in the Scarbro’ Limestone,
5 in the Cornbrash and A n'c«7tf~shales, 2 in the Kelloway Rock,
2 in the Oxford Clay, 5 in the Lower Calcareous Grit and
Passage beds, 1 in the Coral Rag, and 3 in the Kimmeridge
Clay. The number of species of each genus is, Lingula , 2 species.
Discincc , 2 ; Terebratulci 7 ; Walclheimia , 7 ; Rhynclionella , 9.
The number of species contained in the Inferior Oolite of York¬
shire is very small when compared with that of the South of
England ; the estuarine conditions under which the upper part
of this formation was deposited in this area appear to have
been unfavourable to their development. The specimens

found in the Dogger beds occur often as casts, or with their
shells so badly preserved that it is difficult to determine whether
more than one species is present, so they are referred to
Terebrcitula trilinecita , a species which was founded by Young
and Bird, on internal casts. Another peculiarity of the
distribution of this group in Yorkshire is the number of species
which occur in the Lower Calcareous grit and Passage beds.
The following Yorkshire species are very rare : Terebrcitula
Bentley i, Dav., Walclheimia bucculenta, Sow., Waldheimia
impressa , v. Buch., Rhynchonella Icicunosa , Schlot., Rhynchonella
inconstcms, Sow. Among the species which are rather scarce are
Terebrcitula bullcita , Sow., Terebrcitula Fileyensis , Walk., Tere-
bratula insignis , var., Maltonensis , Oppel., Terebrcitula intermedia ,
Sow., Rhynchonella spinosa , Sow. The following species are
very abundant, viz., Lingula Becinii , Phil., Discinci reflexci , Sow.,
Terebrcitula trilinecita , Y. and B., Waldheimia Hudlestoni, Walk.,
Waldheimia obovatci , Sow., Rhynchonella Leedsii , Walk., Rhyn¬
chonella socialis , Phil., and Rhynchonella Thurmanni, Yoltz.
The other species are moderately common.

Lingula Becinii , Phil. This species is very plentiful in the
grey micaceous sands of Blue Wyke (lower part of B, fig. 3).
It also occurs in a ferruginous stone at Castle Howard station
(2. a., fig. 7).

Discinci reflexci , Sow. It occurs at Blue Wyke along with the
above species, but scarcely ascends to the top of the Grey Sands.
Found also in the ferruginous bed at Castle Howard.

Rhynchonella cynocephala , Rich. Occurs chiefly at Blue Wyke
in the upper part of the Yellow Sands (C. fig. 3), but usually
below the Terebrcitula- bed.

Waldheimia ? sp. n.? Found in blocks of shelly dogger,
belonging to the Yellow Sands, which have fallen from the
cliffs ; these are in position probably a few feet below the
Terebrcitula- bed.

This shell is small, circular or ovate, the smaller valve
carinated, somewhat resembling Waldheimia Walkeri from the
Neocomian of Tealby.

Terebrcitula submaxi Hat a, Dav. Specimens resembling this
species occur in the Rosedale Ironstone, but their precise

position is unknown. Some of the specimens found in tlie
Terebratula- bed (C. b, fig. 3) may belong to this species.

Terebratula trilineata , Y. and B. This species occurs at Blue
Wyke (C. b, fig. 3). Also in fallen blocks along the coast as
Casts in a chocolate-coloured matrix. It is found in the shelly
bed of the Dogger at Crag Hall (D. z, fig. 4). Also at Bose-
dale, Grrosmont, Grlaizedale, &c. This species appears to be
closely allied to Terebratula Haresfieldensis, -Day. , which occurs
in the Midford sands of Haresfield and Frocester in Grlostershire.

Rhynchonella subobsoletci, Day. Occurs in the Dogger proper.
(D. fig. 3).

Terebratula submcixillata , Day. There is a fine specimen in
the York Museum from the Whitwell limestone ; we also haye
found it in this quarry. There are some crushed specimens in
the York Museum which probably belong to this species, they
are supposed to have been found in the blue marly shales of
Grristhorpe, where Mr. Hudleston has obtained a specimen which
is also crushed. These marly shales belong to the Scarborough
Limestone series.

Terebratula bullata, Sow. This is a form intermediate bet'ween
T. globatci and T. splicer oiclal is. It occurs in the blue sandy
limestone (6, fig. 7,) a little above the Whitwell Oolite at
Crambeck.

Rhynchonella spinosa , Sow., var., occurs in the same blue
limestone.

Rhynchonella Crossii , Walk., is common in the Lincolnshire
Limestones of Brough, near Hull, crushed specimens of a
Terebratula , probably T. bullata, occur in the same stone.

Waldheimia lagenalis, Schlot. This species is common in the
Cornbrasli of Scarborough, it also occurs in the Avicula- shales.

Waldheimia obovata, Sow. Is very abundant in the Cornbrasli.
Besides the typical variety, a narrow form occurs which has
been confounded with W. digona , from which it is quite distinct ;
the curious rhomboidal globose variety also occurs.

Terebratula intermedia, Sow., as a small variety.

Terebratula Bentleyi, Dav. This rare species has been found
by Mr. Leckenby in the Cornbrasli on the north side of Scar¬
borough. i

Rhynchonella Leedsii , Walk. This species used to be con¬
founded with R. concinna, and 11. varians. It is a globose
species, the folds extending little more than half the length of
the valves. This species occurs in the Cornbrash north of
Scarborough. It is plentiful at Stilton, near Peterborough.

Waldheimia ornithocepiiala , var. W. umbonella , Lam. This
species is found in the Kelloway Rock of Scarborough Castle-
Hill. It is a thicker and rounder shell than the typical W.
ornithocepiiala from the Fuller’s Earth Rock.

Rhynchonella socialis , Phil. R. varians pars. This species
occurs in great numbers in the Kelloway Rock, it has also been
found in the Oxford Clay of Scarborough Castle Hill, where it
is rare.

Waldheimia impressa , v. Buch. A single specimen of this
species from the Bean collection is in the York Museum. It
was named by Bean, Terebratula laevigata . It is from the
Oxford Clay of Scarborough.

Waldheimia bucculenta , Sow. This species occurs sparingly in
the Passage-Beds of the Lower calcareous grit of Appleton
near Melton. Mr. Walker has found it on the same horizon
at Filey Brigg (B. d. fig. 13).

Waldheimia Hudlestoni , Walk. This is a small narrow
elongate ovate species, it occurs abundantly at Filey Brigg,
(lower part of B. d. fig. 13,) also at Hackness, in an intercoral-
line brash of a Lower Coral Rag which is about the same
geological horizon. A large mass full of this species is in the
York Museum.

Terebratula Fileyeusis, Walk.

A species formerly supposed to be T. globata ; it somewhat
resembles some of Quenstedt’s figures of T. bisuffarcinata. It
is found at Filey, principally in the Lower Passage-beds, (B. d.
fig. 13,) and has been obtained at Snainton. Mr. Hudleston
has found a single specimen in the Lower Calcareous Grit proper
of Scarborough Castle-Hill.

Rhynchonella Thurmanni , Voltz., part of R. varians. This is
very abundant both in the Passage-Beds and in the Lower
Calcareous Grit proper. It has been found at Filey, Appleton,
Castle Howard, and many other places.

Rliynchonella lacunosci, Schlot. One or two specimens of this
species have been found in the Lower Calcareous Grit of Oliver’s
Mount near Scarborough, and in Beedale above Wykeham.

Terebratula ins ign is, Schubler, var. Maltonensis, Oppel. This
species appears to be confined to the Coral-Rag or Cidaris
florigemma- zone. It is somewhat locally distributed. Good
specimens have been found at Whitewall near Malton, and at
Oswaldkirk. In the Echinoderm-bed at North Grimston it
has occasionally been found in the soft and almost chalk-like
limestone associated with the marly Oolite in which the sea-
urchins are so plentiful. Found also on Cawton Heights, and
near Helmsley. Generally speaking, this fossil may be said to
occur in the intercoralline brash of the Cidaris jiorigemma-zone .

Lingula oralis, Sow. Has been found by Mr. Hudleston in
the Kimmeridge clay of Burdale, and by Mr. Walker in the
same formation at Speeton Cliffs.

We add to our list, on the authority of Mr. Judd, (Proc. Geol.
Soc., Yol. xxiv, page 224,) Discina latissima, Sow., and Rliyn-
chonella inconstans, Sow., from the Kimmeridge clay of Speeton
Cliffs.

It is difficult to explain why the great coral reefs of the
Middle Oolite in England were unfavourable to the development
of Braehiopoda, which are so abundant in the same formation
in Germany.

The Inferior Oolite of the South of England, which was
probably deposited under somewhat similar conditions, is also
crowded with Braehiopoda.

The following species of Braehiopoda have as yet only been
found in Yorkshire, viz., Terebratula Filey ensis , Walk., Tere~
bratula insignis, var. Maltonensis, Oppel., Terebratula triline at a,
Y. and B., Walclheimia bucculenta, Sow., Waldheimia Hudlestoni,
Walk., Waldheimia sp. n., from the Yellow Sands below the
Dogger.

The following table shows the distribution of the species.

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May 2nd.— The Eev. Canon Eaine read a paper on
“ Eoman Children and their Burial.” He said :■ — £ The object
of the few remarks that I shall make to day is to give some
slight explanation and illustration of the curious relics which
are before you upon the table. They bring back to you the
amusements of Eoman Children, and the vessels and ornaments
with which they were laid in their graves. Children in their
games seem to have been much the same in all times. Of the
pila or ball, the Eomans were very fond; nay, it was the
favourite exercise of many of all ages. The most popular, and
surely the most difficult game of this kind, was what was called
the pila trigonalis , played by three persons who stood in the
form of a triangle, and manifested their skill by throwing and
catching the ball in the left hand. The roundlet of baked clay
upon the table is, as I suppose, the heart or core of a pila , and
was covered originally with some soft material. It was
discovered some years ago under the residence of Dr. Gibson
in Bootham, in a little place which might be considered the
baby house of a child. The whistle, of which there is a
specimen exhibited, has been the delight of the young in all
ages ; the flagrum or whip, made of less durable material, has
perished long ago ; so has the top, the volubile buxum , to which
it was often applied ; so the arundo longa on which the Eoman
youngster galloped off to his Banbury Cross ; so also the trochus ,
or hoop, which was driven along like ours by a stick with a
hook at the end. "Unlike ours, however, the Eoman hoop had
sometimes bells attached to it. There are in our museum
several pieces of glass which we may call marbles. The little
roundlets of stone and glass before you are the bases of vessels
prepared with the greatest care for a game somewhat resembling
our hopscotch, if not identical with it. Below them is a
solitary die of jet, probably for the amusement of a child, as it
is not truly formed. As far back as the days of Horace the
Eoman lad is rebuked for his ignorance of horsemanship and
the chase, and his love of the Greek hoop and the forbidden
dice. The same unhappy tendency at a still later period
aroused the indignation of the great Eoman satirist.

The photograph which I exhibit represents the favourite

toys of some little cliild, which were taken out of its grave at
Cologne, and are now preserved in the Mayer Museum at
Liverpool. They are embedded, you will observe, in a kind of
plateau to display them properly. In the centre is the doll,
made of ivory, with those wonderfully pendulous legs which are
the child’s delight. Around it is a remarkable collection of pots
and pans, with which the little one would mess and cook;
water bottles too ; a little bronze pounder to crush or work with ;
a plate to hold the result of the young housewife’s labour ; a
spoon to eat it with ; and, there too, in a conspicuous place, is
the inevitable die. It is evident that people in those days
entered earlier into the school of cookery than they do with us.
Which of the two, I wonder, could supply the best dinner.

The other relics upon the table are funereal, taken out of the
graves of children, and are all of them curious. You will
observe several little feeding bottles, to which tubes have in all
probability been appended. One or two of these were the first
vessels of the kind that were found in England, and the late Sir
lames Simpson wrote a paper on the subject. Others have
been found since, but very few, and it is curious to know that
vessels of a similar form are a part of M. Schleiman’s celebrated
find at Troy, although that distinguished investigator seems to
be ignorant of the purpose to which they were devoted. You
observe a vessel of reddish clay moulded in imitation of the
hoops on a barrel. That contained the bones of a child. The
two vessels beside it were filled with food and drink for the
youngster for a future state. They are of better material than
ordinary, and suggest relatives of wealth as well as affection.

Several little stands upon the table exhibit the ornaments
which were deposited in the graves of children — armlets of jet,
bronze, or bone, among other things. Like the contents of
many a nursery now-a-days, they are not the works of high art,
and criticism must be disarmed. On one side is the small brass
coin, which was put into the infant’s mouth to pay its fare
across the Styx to the inexorable ferryman. It is a coin of one
of the Constantines — fifteen hundred years ago and more.

To another collection of curious objects a remarkable history
belongs. They were found on the Mount. An urn, unhappily

broken into fragments, was discovered, containing the ashes of
a child. Below it, in what had been originally a wooden box,
were the little creature’s ornaments, chains of bronze and beads,
bracelets of various substances, and two silver earrings, uncouth
somewhat in shape, but earrings still. It is a touching picture
both to heart and mind.

Still more interesting is the story of the two damaged glass
bottles and the covered cups in the centre of the table. Some
two or three years ago, under the New Station Hotel, we
came upon the pair of large stone coffins which are now laid
side by side on the south side of the Hospitium, just as they
were originally found. In one of the two were laid the
remains of a mother and a child. The body of the woman was
so twisted as to leave room for the child, whose head was laid
against the foot of the coffin. The coffin itself contained
nothing except the bodies, as was almost always the case. But
on the outside, at the head of the sarcophagus, were laid the
vessels I am alluding to, which were filled originally, no doubt,
with milk and farinaceous food for the use of the pair that
were mouldering within. The two earthern saucers might
seem to be parts of the same vessel, but they were not. They
were separate when found, and each must have had originally
a cover of its own. The Romans had a habit of visiting at
certain times the graves of their friends, and of renewing on
such occasions the offerings of food and other things. The
coffins of children were of various materials. We have them
in the Museum both of lead and stone. It was not the custom
to commit to the funeral pile the remains of children who had
not cut their first teeth. They were buried, as Pliny tells us,
in places called suggrundaria by themselves. But this
prohibition only extended to infants. Those of a more
advanced age were treated in all respects as adults. The
leaden coffin which is exhibited is a somewhat peculiar
specimen of that kind of sepulture. Instead of being enclosed
wholly in wood, a board seems to have been laid over the top,
and fastened down to the overlapping edges. This is evident
from the marks of the nails.’

Oct. 3 nr>. — The Rev. Canon Raine read the following
paper on “ Roman Bronze Vessels found near Knaresbro’ ” : —

‘The vessels and implements of bronze and iron upon the
table were discovered by some drainers a little to the north
of Knaresbro’, at the depth of three or four feet, about the
year 1860. The finders brought the things, which filled a
large sack, to Mr. Thomas Grott, of Knaresbro’, who, in 1864,
was good enough to present a selection from them to this
Museum. Mr. Gott’s donation consisted of eight vessels and
the fragments of one or two others. The most conspicuous of
these is a large bronze basin, 18 in. in diameter and 3 J in depth,
slightly ribbed and crimped, with a small hole in the centre,
showing, I think, that some time or other it had been fixed
upon a screw or something of the kind. With this there were
three or four basins of the same material, of various sizes, but
running from 12 to 8 in. in diameter, and 4 to 4J in. in depth.
With these were a bronze clish, round and plain, having a
nicely cast base ; and portions of two colanders and handles,
each of which has been pierced in the side and base with holes
arranged in various elegant designs.

Within the last few weeks I learnt that many other tilings
had been discovered at the same time. These Mr. Gott was
good enough to show to me, and, without any solicitation on
my part, in the kindest manner he most generously added them
to the collection which he had already bestowed upon the
Museum in 1864. These additions consist of — 1. A fine bronze
vase, of undoubted Roman type and character, 12 in. high,
9 in. in diameter across the top, and 4| across the base.
The bottom, which has been renewed sometime, is gone.
2. Two bowls similar to those previously described, and respec¬
tively 12 and Sin. in diameter. 3. A large basin, 11 in.
across, and about 2 in depth, with the edges very prettily
ornamented with a raised pattern. 4. Parts of two colanders,
with handles similar to those given to us in 1864, and orna¬
mented in a similar way. Also, the basins of two others, each
beautifully ornamented with small holes in devices. On one of
these the gammaclion, or gamma shaped cross, occurs, an
ornament in use among the Romans, and other races of man-

kind. I do not think that it has occurred in Yorkshire before.
5. Another colander of thicker material, 7 Jin. across and 2\
deep. 6. A plate, 9 in. wide and l\ deep, with a small cavity
in the centre with some traces of a handle. 7. A scale howl,
3J in. across and 1 deep, with the four little rings in the edges
to which the chains have been fastened. 8. Five bronze rings,
from 3 J to 2 in. in diameter, and varying in thickness. 9. Part
of a spur, and four axe heads, all of iron, and of various sizes
and shapes. The iron is so well preserved that several of the
axes have been in very recent use. Another axe-head, with a
hammer at the end, is in the possession of Mr. Grott, and a bronze
cup, which I have not seen, is in private hands. These objects
which I have described, constitute the whole of this important
find that is now in existence. But these unfortunately were not
all. Through the accidental mistake of a servant a number of
other objects were consigned to the melting pot. Among these
were several other 9 -inch plates ; some fiat plates with handles,
somewhat oval in form, and with rims slightly ornamented ;
portions of other basins, dishes, &c., a number of bridle bits ;
a great quantity of iron nails and implements ; and among
them what seemed a fire grate with some four bars. The loss
of these curiosities is greatly to be regretted, but in the
remnant the York Museum possesses a series of bronze vessels
of Eoman use and manufacture, unrivalled in number and
importance. We have been somewhat doubtful hitherto to
what race and age these utensils were to be ascribed. From a
consideration of these objects themselves, and from comparing
them with others that have subsequently been discovered, it is
certain, I think, that they are Eoman. There is a network of
Eoman roads in the neighbourhood of the place where they
were discovered. Whether they were secreted or lost, it is
impossible to say. Many of the bronze vessels are patched and
in decay, and it is probable enough that they were so when
they were laid in their long resting place.

In the last number of the Transactions of the United
Architectural Societies there is a valuable paper upon Eoman
bronze vessels by Mr. Baker, of Hargrave, Northants. That
gentleman has much to say about the vessels which Mr. Gott

was kind enough to present to this Museum in 1864, hut he
has never seen the addition which has just been made to them.
Mr. Baker, however, compares what we had with some recent
discoveries in other parts of the country, and makes some
valuable suggestions as to the use to which these vessels were
put. In 1856 a nest of five bronze vessels, resembling shallow
pans, was found at Stittenham. They were laid one inside the
other, and each has a somewhat long handle. They differ from
ours in fabric, and probably in use. They are now preserved
in the Museum at Castle Howard. Similar vessels have been
not unfrequently found. We have one in our own Museum.
Two sets of bronze vessels, however, have been recently
discovered, with which ours may be advantageously compared.
One was found in the far north, in Sutherlandshire, consisting
of two perforated colanders, a shallow pan or dish, a basin, and
three bowls of different sizes — seven objects in all, which were
laid one inside the other, like the vessels at Stittenham. The
other find was made in 1874 in a Boman cemetery at Irchester,
Northants. It consisted of eight vessels, in very excellent
preservation, one inside the other, and all deposited in a kind
of bucket or pail. Mr. Baker gives a most minute description
of these curiosities, and, better still, his account is accompanied
by drawings which enable us to see at once how closely these
vessels resemble those which we possess ourselves. There are
four bowls, a basin with crimped edges, and three perforated
colanders. Like ours, several of them have been patched and
mended, but they are in so good a condition on the whole that
Mr. Baker speaks of the burnish remaining upon them, to such
an extent as almost to resemble gilding.

Now, although there is some similiarity between Celtic and
Boman metal- work, there can be no hesitation in saying that
all the vessels that I have been describing are of Boman
workmanship. The urn upon the table is sufficient to decide
that, if every other proof were wanting. But to what special
purposes were they applied? The first thought is that they
were part of the ordinary furniture of a kitchen. But
Mr. Baker very pertinently observes that the thinness of the
metal and the condition which they are in at present contradict

the theory of their having been subjected to fire. It seems
more probable, as Mr. Baker, and Mr. Edmund Oldfield before
him, suggest, that these have been wine vessels. Mr. Baker
goes into elaborate calculations in order to show the number of
ounces and pints that the bowls would contain, and these he
translates into the measures in vogue among the Homans.
Whether he is exact or not in his measures, it is not easy to say,
without a close examination of the subject ; but it is, I think,
more than probable that we have before us a collection of
Homan wine vessels. The wine which the Homans made was
full of sediment and dregs, and one of the processes of clearing
it required the use of one of these finely perforated colanders,
such as you see upon the table. Again, these colanders were
made use of to cool the wine with ice or snow, and to dilute it
also, for the Homans were very fond of diluted wines. Filled
with such a beverage the bowls before me, even when brimming
over, would not alarm or injure the Homan drinker. He
thought even more at times of the quantity than of the quality
of the wine that he swallowed. In the vessels before us I seem
to see the means by which the juice of the grape was strained
or tempered for him. These are the cola or strainers through
which the liquid passed from one vessel to another. The plates
and dishes were probably for the snow or ice with which it was
cooled or diluted.

November 7th. — The Eev. Canon Haine read the fol¬
lowing “Account of an early Cemetery recently discovered
at Selby.’7 — In the summer of 1857, when the Selby Board
of Health were making a drain in a pail of that ancient town
which is generally known as the Church Hill, the workmen, at
a depth of some eight feet, came upon an early cemetery. The
interments in it were of a remarkable and most unusual
character. In every instance the body was laid in the trunk of
an oak tree which had been split, and then hollowed out to
permit the reception of the corpse. There was nothing to show
that the two divided parts had been fastened together with
bolts or pegs, but the lid seemed to have been simply laid down
upon the coffin. Mr, Morrell, in his valuable history of Selby,

informs ns that as many as fourteen of these coffins were
discovered, the greater part of which it would no doubt he
impossible to raise in consequence of the shape of the drain.
One, however, is in private hands at Selby, and another, by
the kindness of Mr. C. T. Newstead, was presented to our
Museum shortly after its discovery. This coffin, which has
been considerably injured, is over five feet in length, and seems
to have been shaped with an axe. It contains the skeleton of a
female in a good state of preservation, although the bones have
taken the colour of the wood and of the soil with which they
were covered. A peculiarity in the head requires a remark.
In the centre of the skull there is a small round hole discernible,
which has evidently been made with an instrument. A similar
hole was discovered in the skull of a Homan lady which was
dug up in the recent excavations for the new railway station at
York. What means this handiwork of very rude and early
surgery? Professor Polleston suggested to me that it might
possibly have been intended to prevent epilepsy. At the neck
of the lady from Selby, on whose skull this rude operation had
been performed, was a set of seven large beads, (now destroyed)
of which, unhappily, we possess only a drawing. They are of
graduated sizes, with a large bead in the centre, and of an
elegant shape. As far as I can gather, they were of hard clay,
with lines of red running around the edges. Another bead, of
plain brown stone-colour, from the same place, was presented to
our museum by Mr. Morrell in 1864. In the course of the
summer of this present year the re-building of a public-house
on the Church Hill at Selby afforded a better opportunity of
examining this ancient burial ground, and by the great kindness
of the owner of the property and of Messrs. Woods and
Atkinson, every facility was given to Dr. Gibson and myself
for making a more minute investigation than was possible in
1857. The space excavated would not, I think, be more than
thirty feet by twenty. In this coffins were discovered at
various levels from five feet to about eight. Of these there
were between fifteen and twenty uncovered, either entire or in
fragments. The whole were in black earth saturated and
dripping with moisture, and in many instances the wood was

so rotten that it was impossible to lift it np. The coffins as
may he imagined, were closely packed together ; in several
instances two or three were side by side. As to position, all lay
east and west, although by no means towards the same point.
When the coffins were opened it was found that they had been
subjected some time or other to the tidal action of the river.
Warp, stones, and pieces of wood had been washed in, and in
several instances the lighter bones of the body had been thrown
by the water into a heap at the head of the coffin. The fact
that the lower part of the Church Hill next to the river is a
deposit of recent times, goes far to explain this. It is evident
that the river has been nearer to this cemetery than it is at
present, and that through some drain, perhaps, the tidal water
has been able to penetrate and leave its deposits among the
remains of the dead. Out of this excavation seven coffins were
taken, two of which, through the kindness of our friends in
that town, have found their way to the Museum at York. The
neighbouring ground is no doubt filled with similar remains ;
when the next house was rebuilt some time ago they were
found in the soil which it covers, and there will no doubt be
ample opportunity in coming years of continuing investiga¬
tions into this most interesting graveyard. I shall now give
a more detailed account of the seven coffins that have been
preserved. It must be remarked before I begin to do so, that
they are all of oak : —

1. A coffin 7ft. 5in. in length, 22in. wide at the head and
16 Jin. at the feet. The interior is hollowed out by the axe,
leaving a thickness of 2in. The two ends are solid, about 5in.

thick. The lid, which is broken, is rounded, and when put

together the whole must have closely resembled the trunk of a
tree. In the inside, which was filled with warp and stones and
wood from the river, was the skeleton of a man in good
preservation. The teeth were considerably worn. Extending
from the right hand to the foot of the coffin, and laid under the
left leg, were the remains of three long, thin, hazel rods or
sticks.

2. The coffin of a child, 3ft. 6Jin. long, and of uncertain
width. It has been made of boards, neatly fastened into each

other with wooden pegs, and very ingeniously wrought. The
whole, unfortunately, is in great decay. Some of the hones
were preserved, and we found the remains of a hazel stick, laid
over the body from the right hand to the left foot.

3. A coffin, of which the sides are gone, hut the bottom is
in good order, and is nearly flat. The outside length is oft.
8jin. ; the width at the shoulder 18in., and at the foot 9in.
The wood is three inches thick. The body in this instance has
been too long for the coffin, and it has been necessary to cut
away the wood to make a place for the head. The lid is flat.
This coffin was examined by Dr. Parsons, of Groole, who found
the bones in confusion, no doubt through the action of the tide.
The skull is broken. The deceased person was, I believe, a
woman.

4. A long thin coffin 6ft. 6jin. long, each end being 6in.
thick. It contains the bones of a man who has been six feet in
height. The skull is injured. In the left hand was a hazel
twig.

5. A coffin 5ft. 8jin. long by outside measurement, 18in.
wide at the head, and 13 jin. at the foot. The sides are 1 jin.
and the bottom 3in. thick. This coffin is in excellent preser¬
vation, and is very well made. The lid is flat, in one piece.
The coffin seems to have been too short for its tenant, and the
difficulty was met by sawing off the end, which was laid against
the feet of the corpse. The skeleton is that of a woman in
very good preservation. By the action of the tide the smaller
bones were heaped in confusion at the upper end of the coffin.
This coffin is now in the possession of the Society.

6. A coffin 6ft. Tin. in length, 15in. wide at the head, and
llin. at the feet, with a flat lid, in two pieces. The depth
inside is 19in. The skull is broken by the lid pressing upon it.
In the right hand of the skeleton, which was probably that of a
woman, was found a small bunch of hazel twigs.

7. The coffin of a woman, long and narrow, being 6ft. 9in.
long, 19 jin. wide at the head, and 15in. at the foot. The lid
is rounded, and so is the interior. The hollow of the coffin,
(now in the possession of the Society) seems to have been filled
up to make a bed for the skeleton, the right arm of which is

laid across the breast. The coffin has not yet been minutely
examined to see whether there are any hazels in it. The earth
at the bottom of the coffin was almost of a metallic hardness,
and to ascertain its composition a portion of it was submitted to
Dr. Procter, who obligingly favoured me with the following

analysis of it : —

ANALYSIS OF THE DRY EARTH.

Organic matter . 6 95

Phosphate and oxide of iron . 42*30

Phosphate of allumina, and magnesia,

and carbonates . . 15*60

Insoluble silicious matter (sand) . 35*15

100*00

In coffins Nos. 3 and 5 the same accomplished analyst
detected the presence of Yivianite.

We have, therefore, seven coffins in all, four of which are
rounded inside and out ; two others have flat lids ; and the
seventh, that of a child, seems to have been made more after
the modern fashion, of five boards fastened together with pegs.
The wood has been cut and smoothed with the axe. The
bodies have been laid upon their backs, with their hands
stretched out by their sides ; in one case only the right hand is
laid across the breast. In four instances we detected the
presence of hazel rods or twigs in the hands of the deceased.
In coffin No. 6 I found a sherd of unmistakable Samian ware,
but this had drifted in no doubt from the river. Not an
ornament or utensil was found inside or outside, except a small
bronze stud, of early character, upon which no argument can be
based. This was discovered among the loose earth in the
cemetery. I must not forget to remark that in two or three
cases an oaken headpost, some two or three feet long by one foot,
and perhaps ten or twelve inches thick, was found at the head of
the coffin, to mark the place of sepulture. This must originally
have been above the surface of the ground, so that the depth at
which these coffins were laid must have been extremely shallow.
Such was the system of burial among the Saxons or English.

We must now consider the date of this cemetery. One daily

print, deceived by the presence of a stolen mail bag which was
found among the rafters of the inn, and imagining that the
character given by the author of Guy Mannering to a well-
known northern hostelry belonged to other baiting houses as
well, stated boldly in a leading article that mine host of Selby,
in days not so far gone by, robbed and murdered his guests,
and hid their bodies beneath the cellars of his house ! This
theory may only be mentioned to be dismissed.

Another view is that this is a Christian cemetery of the
eleventh and twelfth centimes, and that the name of Church
Hill, which the place bears, is evidence of the existence of the
first Christian church or monastery upon the site. To consider
this we must enter very briefly into the early history of the
ecclesiastical colonisation of the place. The chronicle of Selby
tells us how, soon after the Conquest, Benedict of Auxerre
came over the sea on a mission to Selby. After many adven¬
tures he found the place he was in quest of, and landed,
probably, at the bottom of Ousegate, setting up upon the
river’s bank a cross of wood. On this site, which would be
regarded with sacred interest thenceforward, Benedict erected
some temporary buildings for residence and worship. They
were probably of wood. A stone church was begun in a very
short time upon a different site. It is evident there was no
ecclesiastical building at Selby, when Benedict came to it.
The church at the end of the present Ousegate was only a
temporary structure, and the Christian dead would be laid,
not around it, but within the enclosure devoted to the church
of stone, which seems to have been almost immediately begun.
If any member of the sacred brotherhood died in the interval,
we are only following analogy if we suppose that his body
was afterwards removed to the consecrated enclosure. In 1274
we learn that there was a chapel in the town of Selby bearing
the name of St. Germanus, but that it was not consecrated,
seeing that the dead were interred in the burial ground of the
monastery. The historical argument therefore is against the
idea of there having been any Christian cemetery at the
Church Hill. The name may have its origin in the erection
on the spot of a temporary church before the present abbey

was built, but the mere fact of the site having belonged in
after days to the abbey is a sufficient reason for the name, just
as Bishophill in York signifies the hill or property of the
Archbishop.

We must go back to an earlier period than Abbot Benedict
and the Norman Conquest for the origin of the Selby Cemetery.
When he set up the cross upon the river’s bank these forgotten
members of an ancient race were laid in their wooden tombs
below it. They had been there probably for many a long
century even then. Instances of a similar mode of interring
are attainable, although by no means frequent. At Gristhorpe,
near Scarbro’, a remarkable coffin has been found, which is
ascribed to the bronze age, and this is nearly identical in shape
with the best of those found at Selby. Near Haltwhistle, in
Northumberland, a similar cemetery has been discovered, in
which the dead are all laid in trunks of trees. Professor
Worsaae records the finding of one or two similar burials in
Denmark, which he ascribes to the same chronological period.
I do not see why these at Selby may not be also of a very early
date. The beads found in them in 1857 point most probably
to English or Saxon workmanship. The cemetery is in a
position which our Teutonic ancestors were fond of selecting.
In the wooden tombs in which they were interred there is the
idea of a canoe or boat to carry them over the dark water
which was to be crossed by the dead. The oaken trunk is the
toctten baum of our Herman forefathers. A most remarkable
illustration of the Selby cemetery is to be found in a paper by
Mr. Wylie, in 1855, describing an ancient graveyard at
Oberfiacht, in Suabia, which he ascribes to the fourth or fifth
century. Here in little chambers of wood was laid the baum or
coffin-tree of the dead. Ligentem quercum , decisis undique ramis ,
constituit tumulo. In these trees were evidences of wealth and
importance — such as we may look for in vain at Selby — weapons,
domestic utensils, and a great variety of ornaments. Beads are
common to both. On the coffin lids in Suabia the forms of
serpents were sculptured, a mysterious symbol which has not
been observed in a like position in England, except on stone.
There was, however, one remarkable point in which the two

cemeteries are alike. I mean tire existence of hazel rods in the
coffins. In Germany there were nuts as well, hut these have
not been detected here. The presence of hazel rods or twigs
has never yet been observed in any early tomb in this country.
Obviously it is only in such coffins as these that it would he
possible to find them preserved. A veneration for the hazel
lingers still in the superstitions of Grermany. In this instance
the superstitions are evidence of an ancient belief common to
the whole Teutonic family, whether at home or in England.
In the cemetery at Selby we have, I believe, the remains of
what — pace Mr Freeman — we may still venture to call an old
Saxon community, poor in worldly wealth, which lived by
hunting in the woods and fishing in the Ouse. When anyone
died, the oaks under which he so often followed the chase saw
one of their brethren fall to be roughly shaped into a coffin for
the dead. Even in Abbot Benedict’s time those oaks wrere in
profusion at Selby. Where are they now P The only remnant
of them that survives may be found in Stainer wood. But here
they are far inferior in size to their sylvan ancestry. There
were giants in those days.

Dec. 5th. — The Rev. Canon Raine read the following
paper by the Rev. S. S. Lewis, of Cambridge, “ On two Greek
Inscriptions found at York” : —

“ Of the eleven inscriptions in the Greek language which are
known to have been found in England not the least interest¬
ing, and from various points of view, are the two of which an
exact fac-simile, made from the originals, is given on the op¬
posite page. The tablets on which they are punctured were
found about thirty-five years ago in digging foundations for the
old Railway-station at York, and are happily exhibited in the
Museum of this Society : they seem to have been originally
suspended, but rust (or some other cause) has joined them back to
back, and thus helped to preserve these curious monuments of
Greek speech and Roman dominion which may probably, from
the shape of the letters and the rudeness of the puncturing,
be assigned to the second or third century a.d.

The material is thin bronze which in the course of time

lias become overlaid with a dark green patina, but still shows
some traces of having been coated with silver. The inscriptions
have been mentioned by Professor E. Hiibner in his very
valuable work entitled Inscriptions Britanniae Latinae (Berol.
1873, p. 62), but as yet no thoroughly satisfactory reading and
interpretation have been published.

The following appears to be the purport : —

(1) 0 E O -I- c (2) QKEANQI

TOIC TOYHTE K A I TH0YI

MONIKOY HPAI AHMHTPI

TQPIOY CKPIB.

AH “HTPIOC

that is,

(1) 0eo?9 7 0?9 TOO pief-iOVLKOV TTpalTlVpiOV 'S.Kpifi. ApUppiOS.

(2) Qiceaviv kcu T )j6vi Arj/JLrjrpios.

The second inscription is a natural invocation or thanks¬
giving to the marine powers on the part of Demetrius, and
presents no difficulty beyond that of deciphering it, in which I
received material help from Canon Paine ; the occurrence how¬
ever of two different forms of w in the same word is notable, as
being also found in the legends on Bactrian coins. The latter
form, as M. Longperier has suggested, occurs in the well-known
TNQ0I CAYTON on the field of the Vatican mosaic which bears
the portrait of Cliilon (cf. Winckelmann, Mon. Ined . i. p. 222,
tav. 165, Roma 1767).

But I feel great doubt as to the letters at the end of the fourth
line in no. (1) ; if they be CKPIB*, as I have ventured to read
them, they may stand for Scribonius the gentile name, or Scriba
the profession, of Demetrius, though in this latter case they
would more naturally have followed the personal name. In
the days of decadence, to which this inscription may be as¬
signed, such mongrel nomenclature is by no means uncommon ;
cf. ErNATlQC * riACTOP and EGrN(atius) DYONISIYS (sic)
(Hiibner, Inscrr. Brit. Led. pp. 85 and 98), c>7reicov\aTicp, idp'cros
(Ev. S. Marc. vi. 27, xii. 14). Professor Churchill Babington
suggests that these letters should be read as OKPIK or OKPIN,
referring in the former case to Ocriculmn (the modern Otricoli ),
in the latter to Ocrinum, the Roman name of the Lizard Point :

but from tbe letter at tlie end of the fourth line B appears to
me to be more obviously extracted.* A parallel to the dotted
i in the first line is presented by the word TANOYAPIC, oc¬
curring in a Christian inscription on stone found at Saida,
which is preserved in the Louvre.

The words 6eo7 t cus too ij^ef-toviKoo 7rpanivplov 1 To the Grods
of the Grovernor’s praetorium’ give an interesting example
of the worship of special dei castrenses to which Tacitus more
than once alludes {Ann. i. 39 : n. 17 : Hist. in. 10), and also
(as has been suggested by Mr. Kenrick) throw light upon a
passage which has cost commentators much fruitless labour in

explanation — /ecu aVTol ovk eiGrjXdov eh to Trpamcpiov iva p.rj

fuavOuiGiv (Ev. S. Joh. xviii. 28) : for no strict Jew could
under any circumstances, but least of all at Passover-tide,
enter a Praetorium, if it was manifestly dedicated to heathen
Grods and contained an altar for their worship. Primum militiae
vinculum est religio according to Seneca (Ep. xcv. 35) : a com¬
mander was officially priest as well as general of his troops,
and offered prayers for them every morning ; so that a
Praetorium without an altar would be like an ambassador’s
palace without a chaplain.

Two Latin inscriptions, punctured on bronze tablets of
similar size and shape, are exhibited in the bronze room of
the British Museum ; around the boss of a bronze shield,
preserved at Newcastle, some punctured letters have also been
recognised (Hiibner, 1. c. p. 116, no. 570), but have not been
very satisfactorily explained.”

Dec. 5th. — W. Peed, Esq., F. Gr. S., read a paper on “ An
Artesian Well at Mashara in the North Biding,” prefacing
the account with some observations and remarks on other deep
borings showing their great value for a water supply and other
purposes.

The term artesian is derived from the Province of Artois in
French Flanders, where these wells have long been known,

* This opinion has received the high sanction of Professor Em. Egger,
(University of Paris,) who has contributed a translation of this paper to the
Revue Archeologique.

as also in Lombardy and the Adriatic Provinces of Northern
Italy, from a very early period. At the beginning of the
present century they were made with great success in the valley
of the Thames near Waltham and Tottenham.

But one of the most celebrated and best known was the one
at Grenelle, situated south-west of Paris on the right bank of
the Seine. This boring was undertaken at the strong recom¬
mendation and advice of Arago the distinguished Astronomer,
based upon his knowledge of the Geological structure of the
district. When he suggested it, the water supply of Paris was
not equal to the demand. This well, commenced in 1833, was
earned to the depth of 1806 ft. 9 in. through the whole of the
Chalk into the lower Green Sands. The water-bearing stratum
was reached February, 1841, the water rose to the height of
122 ft., the quantity being 600 gallons per minute, temperature
82° Fahr. On the opposite bank of the Seine at Passy, a well
was bored by the Saxon Engineer, Kind, the total depth being
about 1923 ft. and through the same strata with a diameter of
2 ft. 4 in. at the bottom, the well continues to throw up a
continuous stream at the rate of 5,582,000 gallons per day to a
height of 54 ft., temperature 82° Fahr. In the United States
there are several of these wells. At St. Louis, State of Missouri,
an artesian well was carried down 3147 ft., but only brine was
obtained, temperature 734° Fahr. But the deepest boring in the
world is at Sperenberg, 25 miles South of Berlin in the Triassic
series or New Eed Sandstone, for the purpose of obtaining
Pock Salt, and was carried down to a depth of 5570 English
feet. Salt began at 280 ft. The process of boring was by
percussion borers worked by rods, the time occupied being
about four years, and the total expen diture £8717 14s., or,
£1 11s. 6d. per English foot : the first 1297| English feet were
made by manual labour, for the remaining distance by means
of a steam engine. At Bourne, in Lincolnshire, there is an
artesian well 95 ft. deep, which yields over half-a-million
gallons per day, the pressure being sufficient to force the water
to the top of the houses ; this boring is in the Oolitic strata, the
average rate of increase of heat is 1 0 of Fahr. for every 40 to
55 ft. in descent in those wells.

The necessary conditions have been found in the Desert of
Sahara for their formation, and up to June 1860, no less than
60 have been executed, which are fed by the waters falling on
the exposed edges of the Atlas chain : they yield 4000 quarts
per minute, depth 160 ft., temperature 86° Fahr.

In our own country one of the most important borings is at
Middlesbro’-on-Tees, on the property of the Messrs. Bolckow
and Vaughan, in the Triassic-beds, where at a depth of 1067 ft.
Bock Salt was found in four distinct layers or beds, the
aggregate thickness being 100 ft. making a total of 1306 ft.
The borings went through two beds of Gypsum of 2 and 6 ft. :
upon analysis by Mr. Marley, 100 parts yielded 96 of Chloride
of Sodium and 3 of Sulphate of Lime, with minute portions of
the Sulphates of Soda and Magnesia, Silica, Iron, and Water.
At Saltholme on the Durham side of the Tees, Bell Brothers
had a boring made 1100 ft. deep, two separate beds of Bock
Salt of a thickness together of 100 ft. were found ; as commercial
speculations those deep borings would at present most probably
prove a failure, as they would not be able to compete with the
Salt works long established in Cheshire and Worcestershire.
In Nantwich and other places in Cheshire, the beds containing
the Salt are reached at a depth of from 50 to 150 yards below
the surface, and they vary in thickness from six inches to
nearly 40 ft. Those saliferous beds are situated in the upper
division of the New Bed Sandstone the Keuper ; the lower
division of the New Bed, or the Bunter beds are generally free
from Salt and yield water of very good quality, as in the case
of large districts in the centre and North of England. The
store-house of Salt beds is the New Bed Sandstone.

The artesian boring at the Well Garth Brewery, Masham,
the property of Mr. Thos. Lightfoot, commenced in October,
1875, was completed March, 1876, and undertaken in order to
obtain a pure and permanent water supply. The level of the
Brewery is 260 ft. above that of the Sea, and about 25 ft. above
the level of the adjacent river ITre or Yore ; the boring was
carried to a depth of 435 ft. The first attempts, before the
Diamond Bock boring was resorted to, left off about 35 ft. below
the level of the Brewery, and at this point the Diamond boring

began and was continued 400 ft. further. The first- 35 ft. were
composed of Gravel, Blue Clay and Marl, and the remaining
400 ft. were situated in the Millstone Grit, one of the series of the
Carboniferous Rocks. The cores are composed of coarse Grits,
dark Shales and Sandstones, and, as they were brought up, were
carefully preserved and arranged in proper order and sequence
in eight boxes with longitudinal divisions, giving an accurate
section of the strata in perpendicular depth ; they are of different
lengths, many having been broken in the process of extracting
them from the hollow cylinder ; some have the ends polished
which is caused by a broken piece in the cylinder revolving
with the crown, grinding its own end and that of the portion
next to it. They are three inches in diameter. On careful
examination no traces of organic remains could be found in any
of the cores.

The daily rate of progress in the boring varied much with
the nature of the Rock ; when through Shale the progress was
very slow, hardly four feet a clay, but through the hard Grits
and Sandstones, as much as 20 ft. was attained : the average
rate may be taken as 9 ft. per day of eight hours.

Water was first “ struck” at a depth of 126 ft., but it was
neither sufficient in quantity or pure enough in quality for the
purposes of brewing ; 179 ft. of five in. iron tubing were then
put down to keep out this supply and all other kinds of water
except what comes from the lowest point. This is a true
artesian well, the water flowing out by its own pressure and
with considerable force ; it would rise 35 ft. higher than the
outlet if the tubing were continued, and just flow over. The
water is confined by a convex hollow iron cap or cover,
connected with the non tube in the well, and conies out in a
sheet round the margin : it is clear and bright, very soft to the
taste, in great contrast to the waters from the neighbouring
springs ; there has been no intermission in the flow nor has any
diminution in the quantity or qualities been observed ; at least
2000 gallons run out every hour which would be amply
sufficient, not only for all the brewing purposes, but enough for
the whole population of the town of Masham. From its purity
and softness it is valuable not only for the brewery but for

various domestic purposes, as making tea, washing, bathing, &c.
The temperature of this water taken on the 1st inst. by
Mr. Thomson the Manager, was 55° Fahr. ; in the surface well
50° Fahr. In the artesian well there has been little variation ;
in summer the surface well was often as much as 10° colder
than the artesian, or five less than it is at present.

The first brewing made from it was in May last, and experi¬
ments were tried with various kinds of ale, all of which have
turned out satisfactory and kept good during the hot summer
months.

Dr. Stephenson Macadam, of Edinburgh, after the most
careful analysis of the water found it perfectly free from any
impurities either organic or inorganic, and to be eminently
suitable for its intended purpose, as stated in the General
Geological Eeport. The cores were generously presented by
Mr. Lightfoot, to the Museum, and are placed in the Geological
Doom containing the Yorkshire Series of Fossils to which they
form a most important unique and permanently valuable
addition, as illustrating the nature of the strata to a perpendi¬
cular depth of 400 feet.

The working and many other details were kindly supplied
conjointly by Mr. Lightfoot and Mr. Bowes, of Masham, who
watched with great interest its daily progress until completed.

Methods of boring : in the old one the apparatus formed a
sort of large gimlet, the steel boring tool or chisel being fixed to
iron rods which were screwed together and turned by two men,
the tool being raised and suddenly dropped by a man at the
end of a lever connected by a rope or chain with the gimlet
head, but modern engineering skill has superseded, at least for
large works, this primitive method, by the substitution of steam,
by which a boring tool of several tons weight can be used, the
percussion being sufficient to pierce the hardest rock. The
latest advance is the adoption of the Diamond Lock Drill,
where feet instead of inches may be bored through in some
strata. The drill called the Crown is a ring of soft steel from
three to seven inches and upwards in diameter, having 15 to
24 diamonds set at regular intervals round its lower edge :
this ring is attached to a cylindrical tube of steel ten or twelve

feet long, but to this any number of similar tubes may be
firmly welded ; above this are the long bollow boring rods, the
whole being set in motion and made to revolve on its axis by
suitable machinery driven by steam ; the rock as it is cut rises in
the form of round solid pillars in the cylinder, when full it is
drawn up to the surface and the cores extracted, sometimes in
lengths of six feet, at others in broken fragments. At the Sub-
Wealden Exploration at Netherfield, near Battle, in Sussex,
the crown revolved from 150 turns a minute in soft strata to
300 in hard rock. Water is pumped down the centre and rising
at the sides conveys the debris in suspension to the surface.
The so-called Diamonds in the Bock Drill are in reality a
mineral found in Brazil, and called by the Miners “ Carbonado
when first offered for sale the price was fourpence a carat, now
it is from 15 to 20 shillings ; it is not brilliant and has no
cleavage planes. Among English Diamond Merchants this
substance is known as and called “ Carbonate.”

These pieces of Carbonate being firmly set in a crown, form a
drill, which when driven by steam will pierce the hardest rocks :
the wear of the Carbonate is so small that in boring quartz to a
depth of 30 feet not more than one sixty-fourth of an inch
would be worn off.

The conditions necessary for carrying out successfully the
borings for an artesian well are the following : The existence of
a mass of permeable stratum or material, enclosed, except at its
outcrop, by two layers of impermeable strata. The lowest point
on the exposed surface of the porous matter through which the
water filters should be above the level of the point where the
well is proposed to be sunk. The mass or cubical capacity
for water of the permeable stratum should be sufficient to meet
the demands upon it, and there must be continuity of the
permeable bed for the uninterrupted passage of water, and
no flaw or break in either of the confining layers by which
the water might escape ; and this is a frequent source of
failure ; sometimes in deepening the bore instead of increas¬
ing the flow it ceases altogether, the water escaping through
another outlet, and the existence of one spring is no guarantee
that another will be found at the same depth in the neighbour-

hood, the subterranean pool being frequently of small extent,
and of the nature of a channel, and may circulate in irregular
trenches between impermeable strata. The determination of
the existence of these wells beforehand is a very difficult
matter, especially in a locality where no borings have been
previously made; when a hole is bored down through this
upper impervious stratum to the surface of the Lake below, the
water will be forced by the natural law of water seeking its
level, to a greater or less height according to the elevation of
the feeding column.

21 iu. by 10 in.

Three Inscriptions to the Genius Loci in the York Museum

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