126 Geological Collections. 



sion ill the United States : \st, The genuine antlu-acite, or glance coal, 

 found in the transition argillite, as at Worcester, (Mass.) Newport, (R. I.); 

 also in small quantities in the north and south range of argillite, along the 

 bed and banks of the river Hudson : 2c?, Coal destitute of bitumen, usually- 

 called anthracite, but diifering greatly in its character from the anthracite 

 found in argillite. It may be called anasphaltic coal. This is embraced in a 

 slate rock, being the lowest of the lower secondary series of rocks. This 

 coal formation is equivalent to the greatest coal measures of Europe. But 

 there is always bitumen, in a greater or less proportion, though the propor- 

 tion is often exceedingly small. The principal American localities of this 

 coal, hitherto discovered, are in the state of Pennsylvania ; as at Carbondale, 

 Lehigh, Lackawaxen, Wilkesbarre, &c. : 3c?, The proper bituminous coal ; 

 as at Tioga, Lycoming, &c. This coal is embraced in a slate rock, which 

 is the lowest of the series of upper secondary rocks : ^th, Lignite coal, which 

 is found in a very extensive stratum in the state of New Jersey, along the 

 south shore of the Bay of Amboy. — Prof. Eaton, in Trans, of the Alhany 

 Institute, June, 1830. 



Claims to Priority in the Advancement of Geological Theories The Editors 



of the Journal de Geologic have given, in their fourth number, an account 

 of a curious little work, in which one of the earliest approaches was made 

 towards the true theory of disturbed strata, and in which the author demon- 

 strates his views by the aid of figures. The author is Nicholas Stenon, and 

 the treatise, entitled " De Solido intra Solidum naturaliter Contento," was 

 published at Florence in 1669, and translated into English in 1671. 



At the outset, the author says clearly, " that the beds of shells are nothing 

 else than deposits from the waters of the sea, and that, by observing the 

 number of layers of these sediments, we may discover how often the sea 

 has been disturbed in each place, by the mixture of foreign matters." He 

 demonstrates the absurdity which had been committed before, and which has 

 been renewed since his time, of rejecting the opinions of the ancients on the 

 existence of fossil marine debris, in regarding them as the freaks of Nature. 

 In the three articles on horizontal beds, the mountains, and the streams 

 which flow from them, there are ideas quite in accordance with received 

 opinions. Thus he mentions the diiFerence of age that exists between a 

 rock, containing fragments of another, and a formation in which such frag- 

 ments are not found. He says positively, that " the disturbed beds have 

 been deposited horizontally. The frequent interruptions in beds, precipices, 

 valleys, caverns, &c. are due to the action of fire, or to the motion of waters. 

 The change of the position of horizontal beds has been caused by a violent 

 convulsion, produced by the sudden inflammation of subterranean vapours, 

 or by the sudden weakening of a great neighbouring mass. The efl!ect of 

 these violent shocks is to dissipate into dust the earthy matter, and to 

 divide the more solid stony matter into fragments. [Do not these words 

 contain an explanation of the formation of many arenaceous deposits ?] 

 Horizontal beds might be disturbed by the spontaneous weakening of the 

 higher deposits, which, not being sufficiently supported, bend under their 

 own weight, and take different inclined positions, while those consisting of 

 matter of a high degree of tenacity, bend into arches. These changes of 

 position explain the inequalities of our globe, the mountains, the valleys, 

 the reservoirs of superior waters, the elevated plains, and the low countries." 

 Further on he concludes, " that the mountains which we see at present have 

 not existed from the beginning, — that some of them are merely the production 

 of igneous eruptions, — and that they have different directions on the earth's 

 surface. The mountains thus framed might also give passage to aeriform 

 fluids, dilated by the heat, as well as to fetid exhalations, and to mineral springs 

 of various temperatures. In his article on shells, he distinguishes between 

 calcined shells, petrified fossils, and impressions of shells. He speaks also 

 of animal remains, of crystals of diamond, of marcassites, &c. In fine, in 

 bis article on tJbe ehang«s which have taken place on the surface of Tuscany, 



