explored. Its ores of lead, as at the Rossie mine; the endless quantities of magnetic and specular iron ore; the ores of copper and zinc, only partially examined; the abundance of marble, white or variously colored or clouded; and its hydraulic limestone, must be the source of great wealth, at some future day, to the inhabitants. The particular minerals cannot be noticed. The similarity of them to those of Orange county is very striking.

In his report on the first district, Mr. Mather has detailed the abundance of peat in the counties examined the last season. The use of peat for fuel or manure is yet little known here. From the report we learn that

"1. Peat is equal in value to oak wood, bulk for bulk. "2. Peat lands are more productive, by far, than uplands. "3. Peat manure is more valuable than stable manure." Rep. p. 224.

A compost of peat, lime and stable manure is to be made, so that the peat may be thoroughly acted upon and its riches developed. Much valuable information from intelligent agriculturists on this subject is found in the Rep. p. 216— 224. We think that Mr. Mather is performing on this matter a work of the highest interest to the farming community and all the people. He who makes "two blades of grass grow where only one grew before," is a public benefactor. Indeed, the economical geology of this section deserves much praise.

The Hudson slate group is considered the lowest of the transition rocks of this district, and is supposed to correspond with the rocks in Wales called, by professor Sedgwick, "the Cambrian system." "It occupies most of the country between the high lands on the southeast and the Shawangunk mountains on the northwest." It lies on the west bank of the "Hudson, from Kingston to Albany." extent on the east bank is not definitely given. The settlement of the various particulars of superposition, organic remains, and equivalence to other series, is promised in the final report.

Its

In the partial report of professor Emmons on the second geological district, we find a large mass of practical and theoretical matter. The statements on the character of the iron manufactured in this district have great interest, and must give a higher value to this product. The speculations upon the formation of the veins of ore, and the transference of oxyd of iron to some distance, have much boldness and

plausibility. But they cannot be abridged, and require particular examination. There is considerable difference in the height of mount Marcy as given by different observers, and many attempts have been made to settle this question. In doing this, other interesting results have been obtained. This portion of the work was performed by professor F. N. Benedict, of the university of Vermont; and we agree with professor Emmons, that it manifests great accuracy and patience and care. A near approximation to the height of mount Marcy is, 5337 feet above the level of the sea. Several other mountains in that district are from four to five thousand feet high. West of the Adirondack mountains, which border the western bank of lake Champlain, is a large tract of high table land, extending, in some directions, one hundred miles. In this high plateau, the elevation of twelve lakes and ponds has been found to be nearly the same, while they are in very different formations. One of them contains twenty or more square miles. Their elevation above the level of the sea is given. as follows:

The extensive facilities for navigation by batteaux is remarked, and is a benevolent provision for international trade. The Hudson, Saranac, and Racket rivers here take their rise.

The extreme lakes are separated from each other by a distance of seventy to ninety miles. The mountains present several prominent peaks, and being Alpine in their character, give the productions, and especially the vegetables, of cold and elevated regions.

At the close of his report, professor Emmons speculates on the causes which have been adduced to account for the grooves, scratches, abrasions, and polished surfaces, which have been found upon rocks. The rush of waters in the Noachian deluge, or icebergs carrying with them imbedded rocks, may be adequate causes for some of these effects; but they seem wholly inadequate to explain all that the discoveries have developed, especially to polish the extent now known.

Professor E. attributes the polishing to the effect of "running water bearing along sand and gravel, alternating with currents of great power, during which increase, larger stones were forced along." The latter are introduced as the cause of the grooves which abound on the polished surfaces, and which appear to have been formed after the process of polishing had been completed. But these grooves must have been made by angular stones, and not by smooth surfaces; and angular boulders are found in the earth and gravel which now cover the polished rocks. They are abundant under the surface as well as upon the surface in and about the city of Rochester, and in places directly over the polished surface. Whenever these boulders of granite, gneiss, quartz, mica slate, and greywacke, were removed to this part of the country, it is certain that the present surface of the earth was greatly mixed up with them in the last catastrophe of the waters sweeping over this quarter of the country. The polishing could not have been done by transported rocks or stones, for their smoothed surfaces could not all have disappeared. Some would be found, or fragments of them. Still, the appearance is as if the polishing had been effected by sand in motion. There is too great unevenness in the polished surface also have been effected by such unyielding materials as rocks. The polished surfaces differ many feet in elevation in the course of half a mile; they also often rise a few inches in a foot, as by steps, and yet perfectly polished in all the slope; besides, they present long scalloped surfaces, as if they had been smoothed by a wide scalloped planing-iron and then finely polished. If this has been effected by the influence of water and sand, nothing seems so probable as that ice moved by water has been the instrument for carrying the sand backwards and forwards, and thus producing the polish. This must have been a recent operation compared with the elevation of the strata; for this polishing has been carried directly over the out-cropping layers and up the slopes, which preserve their perfect contiguity. It may be that the polishing took place before the icebergs of modern days were formed, Rep. p. 351; but evidence is not produced that enough of ice had not been formed to accomplish all this result. The subject is one of great obscurity, and perhaps the facts yet known are not sufficient to lead to any plausible theory. We are glad the subject is attracting attention, for its curi

to

osity demands it. Since the foregoing was written, we see that a distinguished geologist in Europe has advanced the same theory, assigning as the cause of the polish the motion of fields

of ice.

In the third district, Mr. Vanuxem has shown that the primary rocks occupy a large space, and indeed "constitute the base or substratum" of this geological division. The rocks are granite, gneiss, sienite, and various hornblende associations, attended by more or less granular limestone. These rocks are spread over Fulton county, the north part of Herkimer county, all of Lewis east of Black river, and of Oneida on the northeast, and form the south and western part of the great primary range of this portion of the northeastern section of the state, which disappears under the newer rocks on the west side to re-appear again "west at the Ozark mountains and the iron mountain of Missouri." Rep. p. 369. The gneiss of this range appears on the Mohawk river, at the Noses, and at Little Falls. The primary have been greatly acted upon by disturbing powers, which raised and highly inclined them, while the transition lie nearly horizontal, as if they had been the deposit of quiet seas. This is one of the facts which go to reveal the relative ages of the powers that have disturbed the rocks, as the inference is inevitable that the deposition of the transition in this district took place after the disturbance and dislocation of the primary. In other cases, the dislocations and general disturbance have effected the transition and even the secondary, and must, therefore, have been posterior to the forming of even the secondary strata in those places. It is by particular examination of the various strata, that such amazing conclusions in geology are substantiated by fact. Indeed, if the surface of the earth has been the scene of great and successive convulsions, it is not a wonder that the record of them should be read in after ages on the very memorials of those changes. It is no wonder that by such observations very different ages should be assigned to various mountain ranges of our globe, and that our own mighty Andes with its numerous volcanoes should be one of the later ranges that have been raised up from the deep. Taking, too, the primitive range in this State, and its appearance in the south part of the State, for the eastern limit, and the Ozark or perhaps the Rocky mountains on the west and the range of primitive which stretches across from lake Superior towards Quebec for the northern limit, what a noble

basin for the display of the transition and secondary formations, for mines of iron and coal and salt, for the development of the organized beings which once flourished in the primeval waters,

a basin commensurate with the great western valley, as great in its geological interests as it is magnificent in its size and fertile in its soil and exuberant in its riches! In the bosom of this valley, some hundred millions of happy immortals might live and love, flourish in peace and triumph in goodness, and admire and enjoy the beneficence of the great Creator.

The "calciferous sand-rock" of Eaton occurs in great abundance in this district, and reaches the thickness of 250 feet at Little Falls, the Noses, and Middleville. Near Amsterdam, St. Johnsville, the Noses, etc., are fine localities. It contains hosts of rock crystals in its cavities, which are offered for sale at these places by the children. It is a curious fact that many of those crystals are found rounded on their angles and edges in the cavities by friction from some circular motion. Some of these cavities have a peck or more of these crystals all rounded in this manner, and many of them with a deposit of anthracite upon them, formed since the rounding was done. Rep. p. 369.

Separated from the calciferous rock are the Fucoidal layers, a rock in which these organic remains first appear. They lie on the preceding rock, and are seen to great advantage opposite to Fort Plain," and "by the side of the railroad," and at the "falls on the creek near Spraker's basin." These localities are of easy access. Rep. p. 369.

Unable to pursue the report further, we rejoice at the prospect of knowing more of the organic remains which form so great a part of the rocks above the primary, and which so abound in this state. The correct arranging and naming of the fossils is a most important part of the survey. Science has a claim upon us for the faithful completion of this great work. The object is but half accomplished, and even less than that, if it is limited by the economical results. These are relatively of confined importance, and have little direct influence upon the mind. But the scientific results become the property of the world, and extend their advantages wherever science is known. They act on the learned part of the race, and on all mankind; and the blessings of them will be diffused, as the history of nature is read on our rocks, over the world.