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Show 150 GRENr STONES CHAP. JIJ. it is, that boulders which at some ancient period have rolled down from a rocky mountain or cliff on to a meadow at its base, are always son1ewhat embedded in tho soil; and, when removed, leave an exact impression of their lower surfaces in the underlying fino mould. If, however, a boulder is of such huge dimensions, that the earth beneath is kept dry, such earth will not be inhabited by worms, and the boulder will not sink into the ground. A lime-kiln formerly stood in a grass-fioll near Leith Hill Place in Surrey, and was pulled down 35 years before my vi. it; all tho loo'"'o rubbish had boon carted away, excepting three large stones of quart?.:o e andstono, which it was thought n1ight hereafter bo of orne use. .An old worlnnan re- 1nernberod that they had been loft on a bare Rurface of l>roken bricks and mortar, clo o to the foundations of the kiln; but the whole surrounding surface is now covered with turf and mould. The two largest of these stonrs j nRti fi ecl, is of some little importance, as the so-call ed bench-stones, which surveyors fix: in t.he around as a record. o[ their levels, may in time become false standards. My son ll01·acc in tcn<ls at some futuro period to ascertain how far tltis has occurred. CIIAP. liT. UNDERMINED BY WORMS. 151 had never since been moved; nor could this easily have been done, as, when I had them removed, it was the work of two men with levers. One of these stones, and not the lar~est, was 64 inches long, 17 inches broad, and fron1 9 to 10 inches in thickness. Its lower surface was somewhat protuberant in the middle ; and this part still rested on broken bricks and mortar, showing tlte truth of the old workman's account. Beneath tho brick ruLbish the natural sandy soil, full of fragments of sandstone was found; and thi ~ could ?ave yielded very little, if at all, to the wmght of the stone, as might have been exp~cted i.f the sub-soil had been clay. The surface of the field, for a distance of about 9 i~ches round the stone, gradually sloped up to It, and close to the stone stood jn most places about 4 jnches above the surrounding ground. The base of the stone was buried from 1 to 2 inches beneath tho general level, ~nd the upper surface projected about 8 Inches above this level, or about 4 inches above the sloping border of turf. After the removal of the stone it became evident that one of its pointed ends must at first have stood clear above the ground by some inches, |
