Just one note. My family comes from Charleston. In Charleston society, you
aint nobody unless there is at least one book noting that your
great-grandfather fired the first shot in the "war between the states". A
recent survey finds 245 Great-grandfathers fired that first shot. After that,
no-one did much shooting.
    Art

David Campbell wrote:

> Many of the early records for fossil mollusks here in the U.S. were from
> pits dug by farmers for shell, limestone, and phosphate as fertilizers.
> Edwin Ruffin was so famous for advocating the use of these on fields that
> it was said that he would fizz if you put acid on him.  He was also
> interested in the fossils, and Anomia ruffini was named for him.  However,
> he is most famous for purportedly firing the first shot of the Civil War.
> He commited suicide when the war ended unfavorably.
>
> Dr. David Campbell
>
> "Old Seashells"
>
> Department of Geological Sciences
> CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
> USA
>
> [log in to unmask]
> 919-962-0685
> FAX 919-966-4519
>
> "He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
> Gold Bug