Coprolite

“ The occurrence of Coprolites is not, however, peculiar to the places just mentioned; they are found in greater or less abundance throughout the lias of England; they occur also in strata, of all ages that contain the remains of carnivorous reptiles, and have been recognised in many and distant regions both of Europe and America. [32]
The certainty of the origin of these Coprolites is established by their frequent presence in the abdominal region of fossil skeletons of Ichthyosauri found in the lias of Lyme Regis. ”

“ The phosphatic nodules occurring throughout the Red Crag of Suffolk are regarded as derived from the Coralline Crag. The Suffolk beds have been worked since 1846; and immense quantities of coprolite have also been obtained from Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The Cambridgeshire coprolites are believed to be derived from deposits of Gault age; they are obtained by washing from a stratum about a foot thick, resting on the Gault, at the base of the Chalk Marl, and probably homotaxeous with the Chloritic Marl. An acre used to yield on an average 300 tons of phosphatic nodules, value £750. ”

“ That single specimen Professor Dawson tells us he found in a coprolite, in the fossil excrement of a reptile enclosed in the trunk of an erect sigillaria. Could any one invent a more curious cabinet to preserve so fragile a specimen for millions of years? Can it in this case be argued, that of insect remains nothing was found in the carboniferous of Nova Scotia but the head and some other appurtenances of a single neuropterous insect, because that head and those appurtenances were all that had ever flourished there? ”

“ Phosphorite, when occurring in large deposits, is a mineral of much economic value for conversion into the super phosphate largely used as a fertilizing agent. Many of the impure substances thus utilized are not strictly phosphorite, but pass under such names as “rock-phosphate,” or, when nodular, as “coprolite” (q.v.) , even if not of true coprolitic origin. The ultimate source of these mineral phosphates may be referred in most cases to the apatite widely distributed in crystalline rocks. ”

“ In many places they have been worked, under the name of “coprolite-beds,” as sources of artificial manures. Bones of animals more or less completely mineralized are frequent in these phosphatic concretions, the commonest being fragments of extinct reptilia. Their presence points to a source for the phosphate of lime.
Another very important series of concretionary structures are the flint nodules which occur in chalk, and the patches and bands of chert which are found in limestones. Flints consist of dark-coloured cryptocrystalline silica. ”

“ In the cliffs near Lyme Regis coprolites are abundant in the Liassic formation, and have been found disseminated through the shales and limestones along many miles of that coast.
Fig. 100.—Coprolite of Ichthyosaurus.
What an admirable privilege of science, which is able, by an examination of the simplest parts in the organisation of beings which lived ages ago, to give to our minds such solid teachings and such true enjoyments! “When we discover,” says Dr. ”

“ In the same manner, a lamina of coprolitic matter would be coiled up spirally into a series of successive cones, in the act of passing from a small spiral vessel into the adjacent large intestine. Coprolites thus formed fell into, soft mud, whilst it was accumulating at the bottom of the sea, and together with this mud, (which has subsequently been indurated into shale and stone,) they have undergone so complete a process of petrifaction, that in hardness, and beauty of the polish of which they are susceptible, they rival the qualities of ornamental marble. ”

“ Examples of such coprolites are shown in fig. 24 A [154] , and in fig. 24 B an interesting manner of occurrence of these misleading bodies is represented. The framework of cells enclosing the nest of coprolites in fig. 24 B, represents the outer tissues of a Lepidodendroid or a Sigillarian leaf; the inner tissues have been destroyed and the cavity is now occupied by what may possibly be the excreta of the wood-eating animal. ”

“ And so, while on the surface of both the Secondary and Carboniferous coprolites there is space between the screw-like lines for numerous cross markings that correspond to the thickly set veiny branches which traverse the sides of the recent placoid bowel, the entire surface of the Lower Old Red coprolites is traversed by the spiral markings. ”

“ Yet within the last two or three years we have witnessed the spectacle of more than one medical man, of some repute in this island, laughing to scorn all the researches of Charcot and Bernheim, just as their prototypes a generation or two ago ignored the results of Cuvier and Agassiz, and held it an insult to the Creator to accept the scientific explanation of coprolites. ”

“ And there, too, lovely trout-like animals, the Palæoniscus—with all the fins and organs and body fresh and glistering, as if ready to leap to their prey, strewed in countless myriads around. Nor is the enumeration complete as to the kind and quality of the fossils of this curious deposit: there coprolites mark the habits of the predaceous monsters of the period—fæcal excrements composed of the remains of their victims—and in some places so numerous as to outweigh the calcareous matrix in which they are imbedded. ”

“ Not unfrequently there are layers of these coprolites, at different depths in the Lias, at a distance from any entire skeletons of the marine lizards from which they were derived; “as if,” says Sir H. De la Beche, “the muddy bottom of the sea received small sudden accessions of matter from time to time, covering up the coprolites and other exuviæ which had accumulated during the intervals.” ”

“ The phosphatic nodules of the Upper Greensand are erroneously called "coprolites," from the belief originally entertained that they were the droppings or fossilised excrements of extinct animals; and though this is not the case, there can be little doubt but that the phosphate of lime which they contain is in this instance of organic origin. [5] It appears, in fact, that decaying animal matter has a singular power of determining the precipitation around it of mineral salts dissolved in water. ”

“ They are extremely hard, and require powerful machinery to reduce them to powder, and hence their price is considerable, being about £2: 10s. per ton. Their composition varies somewhat according to the care taken in selecting them, and the locality from which they have been obtained. A general idea of their composition may be derived from the subjoined analyses:—
Within the last two or three years, coprolites have been found in great abundance in France, but they are of inferior quality, and rarely contain more than 40 per cent of phosphates. ”

“ The existence of Coprolites—the fossilized excrement of animals—has been considered a more than ordinarily triumphant proof of real pre-existence. Would it not be closely parallel with the presence of fæces in the intestines of an animal at the moment of creation? Yet this appears to me demonstrable. It may seem at first sight ridiculous, and will probably be represented so; but truth is truth. I have already proved that blood must have been in the arteries and veins of the newly-created Man (vide p. 276, supra) , and that blood presupposes chyle and chyme ”

“ Mantell has found them within the body of the Macropoma Mantellii, from the chalk of Lewes, placed in contact with the long stomach of this voracious fish: the coats of its stomach are also well preserved. [38] Miss Anning also has discovered them within the bodies of several species of fossil fish, from the lias at Lyme Regis. Dr. Hibbert has shown that the strata of freshwater limestone, in the lower region of the coal formation, at Burdie House, near Edinburgh, are abundantly interspersed with Coprolites, derived from fishes of that early era ”

“ Even if for some reason the predators died in areas other than within the fissures, thereby accounting for the absence of large bones, coprolites should appear in the deposits if, in fact, the fissures were feeding places. In view of the nearly undamaged condition of many of the bones recovered from the fissures, it is reasonable to expect that fecal material would be preserved.
The character of the matrix of the deposits varies from a homogeneous clay to clay interrupted by layers of soft, limey, conglomeratic rock, to a hard, well-cemented, calcareous conglomerate. ”

“ It had been discovered that the "upper greensand" [176] (here a narrow deposit immediately over the gault and usually some fifteen or twenty feet below the surface) was full of organic remains worth extracting for manure. These remains were never true coprolites, but mostly formless nodules rich in phosphate of lime, many being sponges, along with abundance of sea-urchins, mollusca, crabs, and innumerable sharks' teeth.
The industry brought a wave of prosperity to the district; for coprolites were worth some £3 per ton, and the average yield was some 300 tons per acre. ”

“ Probably that made in the United States is considerably more. In the first instance, superphosphate was manufactured by Sir John Lawes from spent bone-char. This was superseded by coprolites and Estremadura phosphorite, [Pg 383] Suffolk coprolites being for many years the chief material employed. This in turn was succeeded by the richer Cambridge coprolites, but of late years coprolites have practically ceased to be a source of superphosphate, the other mineral phosphates mentioned in the previous chapter—such as the South Carolina, Belgian, Somme, &c., phosphates—taking their place. ”

“ These coprolites, and the excrements of the Ichthyosauri, have been found in such abundance in England (as, for instance, near Lyme Regis) , that, according to Buckland's expression, they lie like potatoes scattered in the ground. See Buckland, 'Geology considered with reference to Natural Theology', vol. i., p. 188-202 and 305. With respect to the hope expressed by Hooke "to raise a chronology" from the mere study of broken and fossilized shells "and to state the interval of time wherein such or such castrophes and mutations have happened," see his 'Posthumous Works, Lecture', Feb. ”

“ The shells in it are such as still abound on the beaches of the eastern coast to-day—whelks, scallop shells, cockles, periwinkles, etc.
b. The Red or Suffolk Crag, its two names indicating its characteristic colour (a dark red-brown) and chief locality. From the base are obtained the celebrated phosphatic nodules miscalled "Coprolites," whence is manufactured an artificial manure, and with them are found the rolled and phosphatized [Pg 80] bones and teeth of whales, sharks, etc. ”

“ In some cases we have I believe trustworthy examples of the Bacteria themselves, both in coprolites and plant-tissues, but it is more than probable that some of the recorded examples are not of any scientific value. The examination of petrified tissues under the higher powers of a microscope often reveals the existence of numerous spherical particles and rod-like bodies which agree in shape with Micrococci or Bacilli. Minute crystals of mineral substances may occur in the siliceous or calcareous matrix of a petrified plant which simulate minute organic forms. ”

“ The copal is not found at a greater depth in the ground than 4 ft., and it is seldom the diggers go deeper than about 3 ft. It occurs in pieces varying from the size of small pebbles up to masses of several ounces in weight, and occasionally lumps weighing 4 or 5 ℔ have been obtained. After being freed from foreign matter, the resin is submitted to various chemical operations for the purpose of clearing the “goose-skin,” the name given to the peculiar pitted-like surface possessed by fossil copal. ”

“ Even the presence of it is very poisonous to some people and all workers in it are more or less affected.
The solvent or vehicle of the modern copal varnishes consists principally of linseed oil with some turpentine. Their base is Copal, a fossil, resinous substance of vegetable origin. The gums of which they are made have been chemically altered by long exposure in the earth. Other gums, as mastic, dammar, sandarac, and even resin are sometimes mixed with copal to cheapen the product or to cause more rapid drying. Copal is a generic name given originally to all fossil resins. ”

“ In Coleps (Gymnostomaceae) it is hardened and sculptured into the semblance of plate-armour, and the prominent points of the plates around the mouth serve as teeth to lacerate other active Protista, its prey; but, like the rest of the protoplasm, this disappears by decay soon after the death of the Coleps. Where, as in certain Oligotrichaceae, cilia are absent over part of the body, the pellicle is hardened; and on the dorsal face and sides of Dysteria it even assumes the character of a bivalve shell, and forms a tooth-like armature about the mouth. ”

“ Some rate its specific gravity so high as 1·139, which I should think one of the errors with which chemical compilations teem. Copal is too hard to be scratched by the nail, whence the excellence of its varnish. It has a conchoidal fracture, and is without smell or taste. When exposed to heat in a glass retort over a spirit lamp it readily melts into a liquid, which being further heated boils with explosive jets. A viscid oily-looking matter then distils over. After continuing the process for some time, no succinic acid is found in the receiver, but the copal blackens in the retort. ”