224 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [MaY 22 



Bruce, dated July 4, 1811*, iu which he criticises, William 

 jMaclure's geological map of the United Statesf iu so far as it 

 relates to this region, and amends his former conclusions in 

 regard to the "primitive" character of the rocks, regarding 

 them all as "alluvial," except "the strata of granite and 

 gneiss which occur at and near Hurlgate." He is largely- led 

 to these later conclusions by the discovery of clam, oyster and 

 periwinkle shells and " carbonated wood " many feet below the 

 surface iu Brooklyn, New Utrecht, Flatbush, Newtown and Bush- 

 wick, in or below the Drift as we know it to-day. He continues: 

 "I say nothing of the ivood discovered sixty feet deep, a little 

 to the eastward of Westbur}' Meeting-house ; nor of the bark, 

 and other parts of a tree, raised from the depth of forty feet at 

 Eastwoods ; because both these places are situated to the south 

 of the barrier ridge, and are within the district allowed by all 

 to be alluvial. " 



On July 15, 1823, John Fincli read a paper before the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, entitled •' Geological Essay 

 on the Tertiary Formation in America "J, in which he refers the 

 Staten Island, Long Island, Raritan and Gay Head clays to the 

 tertiary. 



Shortly after this followed the researches of Vanuxem and 

 Morton, previously mentioned, which really mark the begin- 

 ning of our modern conceptions of the true relationships of the 

 strata. 



In 1837 and 1838, in the first reports of the geological surve}- 

 of New York§, mention is made of the clan's and sands on Staten 

 and Long Islands, but with only vague allusions to their prob- 

 able geological relations — the deposit on Staten Island being 

 supposed to be "similar in its general character to that of 

 Cheesequake and Matavan Point, on the New Jersey shore, and 

 it appears to have a similar geological position," while iu regard 

 to Long Island the contorted condition of the clay strata and 

 the large amount of lignite contained in them are mentioned, 

 and also that "thej'^ have the external characters of potters' 

 clay," but they also are referred to the tertiary. 



In the final report, jjublished in 1843||, Mr. Mather arrives at 



* Am. Min. Journ. i. 129-133 (1814). 



t Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vi. 411-428(1809). 



t Am. Journ. Sci. vii. 31-43 (1824). 



S As.sembly Document No. 161. Communication from the Governor IW. L. 

 Marcy] relative to the ceological survey of the State. First Ann. Kept. 1st Geo). 

 Dist. Wm. M. Mather (Feb. 11, 1837), and Assembly Document No. 200, Second 

 llept. etc. (Feb. 20, I838j. 



II Nat. Hist. N. Y. Part iv. Geology. Part i. comprising the Geology of the 

 First Geological District- 



