100 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



succeed each other, from below above, is the same as that in 

 which they were originally deposited; third, the contortion 

 of the beds is a purely local incident, the folds of one group 

 never extending to another associated with it ; fourth, the 

 three groups of rocks are folded simultaneously in the form 

 of the letter V that is to say, like the sides of a boat, a fold- 

 ing which does not alter the original order ; fifth, the vestiges 

 of carboniferous plants have hitherto been found in only two 

 groups, the lower and upper ; sixth, in the middle group ani- 

 mal remains of the three liassic orders have hitherto been 

 alone found, and these mixed together, all equally well pre- 

 served, and in the upper benches some remains of the oolitic 

 period ; seventh, in the inferior group the rocks with vegeta- 

 ble impressions are associated with others containing casts 

 of liassic mollusks, which are entirely wanting in the upper 

 group ;. eighth, impressions of leaves predominate in the low- 

 er group, and of stems in the upper. Besides these, in the 

 lower group there are found scarcely any traces of anthracite, 

 while this combustible is very abundant in the upper group. 

 For these and some other reasons, which our space will not 

 permit us to reproduce, Mr. Sismondi is led to assent to the 

 inference of Mr. De Beaumont, that the three groups of rocks 

 in question belong to one and the same geological formation, 

 namely, the Jurassic. 3 B, October 5, 1871, 64. 



OIL IN NOVA SCOTIA. 



According to a recent account, a company which has been 

 boring near Lake Ainslie, in Inverness County, Cape Breton, 

 struck oil a short time ago at a depth of 5C0 feet, with every 

 prospect of securing an ample supply. The discovery has 

 created quite a fever in Nova Scotia, and companies are being 

 formed, and large tracts of land secured, for the purpose of 

 going into the oil business. N.Y. Shipping List, Dec. 28, 1870. 



NEW VARIETY OF CANNEL COAL. 



A new and remarkable variety of cannel coal has recently 

 been announced in the American Gas-Light Journal as Inn- 

 ing been lately discovered on the Red Bank River, in Arm- 

 strong County, Pennsylvania. It is a variety of cannel coal, 

 but has the curious peculiarity that when cut, or even rub- 

 bed with a knife-blade, it assumes a brilliant lustre precisely 



