S74 Scientific Intelligence. 



mations, it is the most recent hitherto discovered in India ; for Capt. Frank- 

 lin has subsequently traversed the range at the foot of which it extends, 

 and has found no traces of an oolitic formation, and thinks it obvious, that, 

 if such a formation does exist in India, it ought to be found there. 



" Common kunkur, on analysis, is found to contain the elements of 

 oolite and chalk. May not this concretionary formation, therefore, which 

 seems peculiar to India, be the remains of what, under different circum- 

 stances, might have become (as in England) regular oolitic strata ? Capt. 

 Franklin observes, that these irregular beds of kunkur, which are found 

 following every water-course, and forming its banks, have all the appear- 

 ance of having been deposited under circumstances peculiarly unfavourable 

 to regularity ; and it may be asked to what agency, but that of running 

 and turbulent water, can such appearance be satisfactorily ascribed ? 



" With regard to organic remains (the most interesting of all the bran- 

 ches of geological science), it is to be feared that India is not likely to prove 

 a productive field. The coal strata, when public spirit and enterprize 

 shall excavate them, will probably afford other varieties of vegetables and 

 fishes, besides those already mentioned ; and the lias limestone may con- 

 tain specimens of the sauri tribe ; but hitherto, the most striking feature 

 in Indian geology is the almost total absence of organic remains in the 

 stratified rocks, and in the diluvial soil. 



" Silicified wood has been found in the diluvium of Calcutta and Jub- 

 bulpore; but bones of animals have never yet, we believe, been discovered, 

 either in diluvium or in stratified rocks ; in this branch, however, the ex- 

 tensive deposits of fossil bones recently discovered in Ava, apparently ante- 

 diluvian, and, perhaps, the yet unexplored caverns in the limestone strata 

 of Sylhet, Cachar, and Assam, promise a fruitful field for future researches. 



" Mr Calder concludes his observations by introducing a view of the 

 system of Indian geology adopted by the late Dr Voysey, as communicated 

 in some of his last letters to his lamented friend Dr Abel ; and, as they 

 contain almost the only record he has left us of the general conclusions to 

 which his philosophic mind came, and it is desirable to preserve every ray 

 of light from so valuable a source, to guide our future research, the follow- 

 ing extracts are transcribed verbatim from his letters. 



" On the 1st of August 1823 he writes as follows : — ' It may appear ra- 

 ther presumptuous in me to attempt a sketch of Indian geology after so 

 short a residence, particularly when you recollect that Smith's map of Eng- 

 lish geology took him twenty years to complete. There is, however, this 

 remarkable difference between the two countries, that in India, instead of 

 twenty different formations, as in England, there are only four, viz. the 

 granitic, the sandstone, the clay-slate, the trap, the diluvial. All of these 

 have subordinate rocks : but they are never found in any of the other for- 

 mations, and they all occupy a vast extent of surface.' 



" In a subsequent letter, of the Hth September 1823, he gives the following 

 synopsis of Indian geology, between the parallels of 27° and 28° north lati- 

 tude, viz. : * The geology of India may be divided into four formations 

 roch of which ]wssessing characteristics in common, which strongly mark 

 tlieir contemporaniety. 



