Trans. N. V. Ac. Scz. 148 ^^}' I4^ 



same sonorous properly as that displayed on any disturbance or 

 sudden pressure of the sands of the beach at Manchester, and 

 others without it. The limited literature of the subject was dis- 

 cussed; the results of the microscopic examination of the sands 

 given in detail ; and a theory suggested in explanation of the 

 peculiar sounds. 



Dr, P. De p. Ricketts remarked on a specimen of sand in his 

 possession, from the Desert of Sahara, which fell upon the deck of 

 a ship fifty miles off the coast of Africa. 



Dr. JuLiEN then read a paper 



ON A FORM OF GRAPHITE FOUND AT TICONDEROGA, N. Y. 



(Abstract). 



The presence of carbon, in amorphous form or in combination, in 

 meteorites, its wide distribution through a certain band of the Archaean 

 strata, and the further evidences of an enormous amount of deoxidation,. 

 can be explained, in the present state of our knowledge, only by refer- 

 ence to the life-force. The occurrence of organic structure, more or less 

 perfectly preserved, in the Cambrian strata of Great Britain, the Cam- 

 brian and Huroniau of Canada, the Huronian of Michigan, and many 

 strata of Cambrian or Siluro-Cambrian age along the Appalachian belt, 

 as far south as Georgia, corroborate in part this view. The distribution 

 of graphite in the crystalline rocks of Canada, and the obscure fibrous 

 structures therein detected by Dawson, were then discussed, and Us 

 more limited dissemination through the crystalline rocks within the 

 boundaries of the United States. A description was then given of the 

 graphite vein at Ticonderoga, N. Y., and of a bed ot fine-grained white 

 marble penetrated by graphite in slender blades, with fine longitudinal 

 fibralion, which suggested the similar form and structure of the leaves 

 of a water-plant. 



DISCUSSION. 



The President remarked that the comparison, made by Dawson, 



of the amounts of carbonaceous matter in the Laurentian and coal 



formations can only be accepted as local. In either case, it is far 



exceeded by the amount of carbon now found in the bituminous 



shales, etc., of Devonian, Carboniferous, and later age. 



Graphite must be of organic origin and derived mostly from 

 plant life. It is true that limestones are often found saturated with 

 carbon derived from animal remains, at least in some portion ; 

 since there are usually only traces of animal organisms, and the 



