E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 87 



served, unless broken by some accident. From this fact Pro- 

 fessor Meek infers that the waters of the lakes and streams 

 were, during the tertiary epoch, more or less alkaline, as is 

 the case with a large number of those found there at the 

 present day. 4 Z>, vol. L., 423. 



ANIMAL ORIGIN OP PETROLEUM. 



As a counterpoise to the suggestion of some geologists 

 that petroleum and asphaltum are of vegetable origin, it is 

 now maintained that these substances are derived from ani- 

 mal remains. . This latter view is thought to be substantia- 

 ted by the fact of the absence of iodine, which would have 

 been. present if derived from sea-weeds ; and also, on the oth- 

 er hand, by the presence of ammonia, which does not belong 

 to the vegetable kingdom. Furthermore, asphaltum and bi- 

 tumen frequently occur in strata which are rich in animal re- 

 mains, from which they may have been derived by the action 

 of intense heat with great pressure. 1 C, 1871, in., 48. 



ORIGIN OF COAL PROM SEA-WEEDS. 



A French geologist, in a memoir upon the origin of coal, 

 takes the ground that it is derived entirely from marine 

 plants, such as fucus, or sea-weed, which are destitute of 

 woody fibre ; and that its first place of deposit must necessa- 

 rily have been at the depth of the sea, and in a place differ- 

 ent from that in which these plants had their growth. The 

 arguments adduced by him are varied and ingenious, and 

 will doubtless be responded to in due course of time by those 

 w T ho maintain that the same substance was derived from the 

 gradual accumulation of terrestrial plants of somewhat va- 

 ried forms. 7 B, June 4, 212. 



ORIGIN OP THE PHOSPHATE BEDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Professor Kerr, in a communication before the American As- 

 sociation upon the origin of the South Carolina phosphates, 

 is inclined to refer them to accumulations of a species of 

 Lingula, a mollusk (or a worm, according to Mr. Morse), 

 which has recently been discovered in abundance along the 

 sounds of North and South Carolina. The shell of this ani- 

 mal, he states, consists of phosphate instead of carbonate of 

 lime, and its habitat is at the precise level of the Ashley 



