Letter 0758

[fol. 4] North Bierley July 8 702 Sir/ I received yours sometime agoe & am very much obliged to you for the offer of your assistance in order to a collection of naturel raritys; tis very likely you have duplicats of severall curiositiys often brought you to be sold when that happens doe me the favoure to be a purchase for me & I wil very thankfully disburst whatever you lay out upon my account any thing in naturell History cannot come amiss but in medals I doe not intent to concerne my selfe my collection of Bookes in Nat: Hist: is but very inconciderable being but an nue beginer in that way unles in Botany, & of that sort I am prety wel provided, though I want severall late Authors. I have nothing of Dr Turniforts unles his Cat: of the garden at paris & of Dr plucknets I have only the 3 parts of his phytographia of Boccon I have nothing but his Ion: el discription: plantaru put out by Dr Morison Dr Sherard tels me he wil helpe me with his 2 last volumes father plumes Booke I have not nor Rivinus his ordo plataru; I have Aldovandi opera omnia Gesneri opera Musica Wormiani Prontuis’s history of East & West Indies & of Brasil Dr plots Nat: Hist of oxfordshire & staffordshire & Dr Leigh of Lancashire if worthy to be named amongst the rest, alsoe whatever Mr Ray & Dr Lister have written only his synopsis Conchilieru. Muffets theatru Insectaru, & Willoughbys Ornithologia, Mr Lhwyd Lythophysucia Dr Woodswards Booke with what has been writen against it & Harry’s vindication there are the those of my small stock which I am very desirouse to increase if you meet with any Bookes in this way (without giving your selfe trouble) that wil be instructive to me you shall be thankfully be repayed I have litle to offer to you in relation to coale plants but what Mr Lhwyd has already printed severall years agoe he sent me 2 or 3 of them out of Wales, which put me upon the Curiosity of inquiring what our Coalemines might produce & by good fate the first day fell upon the place where afterwards I found them in great plenty & though I have not been idle since in searching whenever I found coalemines, yet never had the fortune to succeed elsewheare, the place is now quite deserted, soe that I have litle hopes of procuring any more from thence these impresses are found in a bluish stone about 7 or 8 foot above the coale where this stone lys deepe you rarely meet with any, the greatest depth I ever found them here is about 30 foot from the superficies of the earth; in dignig [sic] severall pitts to draine the water from the Coale in this place I had the advantage of observing, that where the stone was softest which was always nigh the top of the earth there I found the greatest plenty of these stoaneplants which would seem I favoure Mr Lhwyds Hypothesis about the origin of these Bodys [fol. 5] if they would agree upon comparing with the capilarys of this country but soe far from that that I never yet met with one Ferne that did in all respects exactly agree with any of these fossil plants & to believe that the essentiall part of the seed of these plants should be brought hither by rains from far countrys & deposited in the Bowels of the earth to soe as to produce plants, seems lyable to a great many objection, however the notion is ingeniouse enough that these receive theire formes from real plants I am fully convinced, having often met with the plant upon opening some of these stones but always very thin & membranouse & apt to be blowne away with the least winde how these plants came Hither I shall leave our friend D. W. to determine, who I hope in his large worke when it comes out wil give us ample satisfaction about this affaire but that the plants themselves were driven hither from remoate parts in Noahs flood & to remaine soe intire when all hard bodys were desolved as to give benig [sic] to these figures I feare wil not be very easy to account for & why 1000 capilarys are found for one […] plants in this stone I cannot give any satisfactory reason unles we should say severall of these retaine theire leaves all winter, when those of other plants & trees are fallen and corrupted if we should allowe this why then are not the leaves of Hollys Joy yew Juniper Broome & other evergreens found here which are all over this country in plenty but noe representation of any of these ever to be met with that I knowe of amongst our fossil plants the thicknesse of the stone where they are found varys, the deeper it lays the thicker & harder & vice versa where it is within 10 or 12 foot of the surface of the earth it is not above 3 or 4 foot thick but where 40 or 5 foot deepe perhaps 8 or 10 thick within this stone are often found small Iron stones with the figurs of plants upon them which can scarce be reconciled to the Dr not in of specifick gravity & levity of which you shall have specimens when I have a collection worth sending. there impresses are found in the midle of a redish stone dug up in the coalmines at nue Castle of a Lenticulare figure which the workemen there call CatsHead some of these I have seen in Mr Thoresbys collection Dr Listers pectenites umbratilip is prety plentifull in these parts, & lys immediatly above the coale sometimes a foot thick & often two, but where this prevails the miners always looke upon the coale to be bad, & as they terme it cats out the coale it wil not be easy to refer this to any shell I ever sawe, but I feare I have too long detained you with this discourse towards the end of the next month I wil send you a parcel of dried plants & hope that before that time to pick up some curiositys to send you along with them which shall be the endeavours of Worthy Sir your much obliged servant Ric: Richardson