An Account of the Fossile Thigh-Bone of a Large Animal, Dug up at Stonesfield, Near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire. In a Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. from Mr. Joshua Platt

An Account of the Fossile Thigh-Bone of a Large Animal, Dug up at Stonesfield, NearWoodstock, in Oxfordshire. In a Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. from Mr. Joshua PlattAuthor(s): Joshua PlattSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 50 (1757 - 1758), pp. 524-527Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105293 .

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[ 524 ] want of Ileep. Thefe were foon fucceeded by re_ gores terdi, Jabfaltus} delirium, or fiupor. The pulSe was commonly very quick, but feldom tenSe or krong; : was fometimes heavys anS undofe. The blxd oftentimes florid, but loofe; Gometimes lividS very tarely fixy: in fome however, at the very at-- taclt, it was pretty denSe and florid. The tongue was generally fotll, brown, and fometimes blackiSh.> -and towards the crirls often- dry. The urine wasR commonly high coloured. and in fmall quantity--> freqntly turbidf and towards the end depefedt a great deal of lateritious Sediment. A vaIt number were feized with this fever, during, and foon after, the excefl51ve heats; tho' but few died in proportion.* Lang and grtat heats always very much cxalt the acrimony of- the bilious humours ; of which we had this funamer. abundmt-iallaxes.

Bl@eding early-- was generally -teneficial ;* profiurea

aIways hurtful) efipecially near the Ilate of the fever.

LXVIII. A 94ccovrt of the fnf le 7+one af a largy wXir%sl; dug gp v StonesfieMX

- xear WodRock, io? OxfordfEire. IrZ tzf I,eer to Mr. Peter Collin;on, ER..s pom MP. JolBua PlattaW

Dear Sir, Read Feb 2* ^ B O U T three-- years ago I fent yous

75-8* fome vertebrg of an enormous fises1

which were found in the nate-*one pit at Stonesfieldy near Woodilock,- iri- thts county.

I hare

[ 524 ] want of Ileep. Thefe were foon fucceeded by re_ gores terdi, Jabfaltus} delirium, or fiupor. The pulSe was commonly very quick, but feldom tenSe or krong; : was fometimes heavys anS undofe. The blxd oftentimes florid, but loofe; Gometimes lividS very tarely fixy: in fome however, at the very at-- taclt, it was pretty denSe and florid. The tongue was generally fotll, brown, and fometimes blackiSh.> -and towards the crirls often- dry. The urine wasR commonly high coloured. and in fmall quantity--> freqntly turbidf and towards the end depefedt a great deal of lateritious Sediment. A vaIt number were feized with this fever, during, and foon after, the excefl51ve heats; tho' but few died in proportion.* Lang and grtat heats always very much cxalt the acrimony of- the bilious humours ; of which we had this funamer. abundmt-iallaxes.

Bl@eding early-- was generally -teneficial ;* profiurea

aIways hurtful) efipecially near the Ilate of the fever.

LXVIII. A 94ccovrt of the fnf le 7+one af a largy wXir%sl; dug gp v StonesfieMX

- xear WodRock, io? OxfordfEire. IrZ tzf I,eer to Mr. Peter Collin;on, ER..s pom MP. JolBua PlattaW

Dear Sir, Read Feb 2* ^ B O U T three-- years ago I fent yous

75-8* fome vertebrg of an enormous fises1

which were found in the nate-*one pit at Stonesfieldy near Woodilock,- iri- thts county.

I hare



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r 525 l I have lately been fo lucky as to procure from the

{ams place the thigh-bone of a large animal, which probalJly belonged to the fame creature, or one of the fame genus, with the qwerfebr above-rnentioned.

As the boner and the ftone, in which it is beddeds sreigh no leEs than turo hundred pounds, I have fent you a drawing of it (Sge TAB. IIX.); from which, and the following ffiort defcription, 520u may, I hope, fortn fome idea of this vwonderful foflile.

The bone is 29 inches iri length ;^ its dlameter, at the extremity of the two trochanters, is 8 inches; at the lower extremity the !condyles form a furface of 6 inches.. The leXer trocllanter is fo well ex_ prefled in the drawing, that yow cannot luifiake it; and both the extretnities appear to be a lierle rubbed by the fluAuating waterX in vwhich I apprehend it Iay fome iime ltefore the great jumble obtained, which brought it to thls place; and from w.hence r imagine it tQ have been part of a Skeleton before the floodu For if it had been corroded by any menx kruum ia ths earthy or during the great conflux of water before-the draining of the earth, it muSt haue fuffered in other parts as well as at each end : but as the extremities only are injured, we can. attibute f.uch a partial effedc to the motion of the water onIr, which cauSed it to rub and Itrike again the fand, eC.

The fmall trochanter was broken in lifiing it Out: of the hamper, in which it was brought to me; but saot unhappily; fince all the cancelli were by that means diScovered to be filled with a fparry mattert that fixel the line of the Itratum, in: which it lay. The outward coat or cortex is fmooehs and- of a

duRy



[ g>-6 ] duCky brovvn colour, refembling that of the Rone, in which it is bedded.

One half of the bone is buried in the Ilone; - yet enough of it i;s expofed to Ihew, that it is the thigh- -bane of an animal of greater bulk than the largeR ox. I have compared it with the recent thigh-bone of -an elephant; but could obServe little or no re- Sembla=e between them. If I may be allowed to aXume the liberty, in which fofllliIts are often is fldulged, and to hazard a vague conjedcure of my own, I would fay it may probably have belont,ed to the hippopotamus, to the rhinoceres, or fome fuch large animal, of whofe anatomy we havfe not yet a competent knowlege.

The nate-pit, in wh-ich this bone was found, is about a quarter of a {nile north-weR from S-tones- field, upon the declivity of a rirlng ground, the upper ilratum of which is a vegetable mould about eight or ten inches thick: under this is a oed of rubble, with a mixture of fand and clay, very coarfe, about fix -feet deep, sn which sre a great number of atoeniar both plain and Ilriated, and many -fmall ob- long oyficers, which the workmen call xthe fickle oyRer7 fome of them being found crooked, and bearing fome refemblance to that intrumerlt; but all differing from the curqJi-rogira * of Moreton.

Immediately ander this firatum of rubble is a bed of foft grey ftone, of no uCe; but -containing the echini ovarii, with great anafflill) the clypeati of different flses, all well preferved; and alfo many vnomi and peffflines. This bed, which is about We-

",, _

* Erhat Idhwyd calls oJ?rerm miaus falsatam, N. 45 I. ven



t 527 ] ven or eight feet in depth, lies immediately afibotatf the ltratum of Itone, in which the bone sras foundf

trilis ltratum is never wrought by the workmen, being arenarious, and too foft for their utev It is about four or five feet thick, and forms a kind of toof to tI<em, -as ehey dig out the Rone, o£ which the Ilates are for-med y for they work thefe pits sn the fame manner as they do tlle coal-pits, leaving pillarss at proper dificances to keep their roof from falling ine

This laft bed of. flate-frone is about five feet depth,* and lower tlzan this they never dig. So that the whole depth of the pit amounts to about 24 or xS feete

It was by working out the llate-itone? that this! bone was diScovered Ilicking to the roof of the pit, where the men were purfuing their work; and with a great deal of caution, and no lefs pains, they got it down intire, btlt attached to a large piece of Sone , and itl this Itate it now remains in my poIfefl lon.

There is no water in the works, but fuch as de- fcends from the furface thro' perpendicular filfures,* and the whole is Epent iru forming the Raladcites and Ralagmites, of which there is great lraricty, and whofe dimenfions are conRantly increafing. One of the workmen has been fo curious, as to mark the time of the growth of fome of them for fevual years paIl.

I am, with the greateIt elteem> Dear Sir,

Your ever obedient, and moR humble Servant

Jan. so. I758. Jolhua PlattF

tgIX*.



Documents

An Account of the Fossile Thigh-Bone of a Large Animal, Dug up at Stonesfield, Near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire. In a Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. from Mr. Joshua Platt