Rink. I 292 [March 20, 



Strata of Volcanic Origin, Native Iron. — Towards the close of the 

 periods In which the remarkable remains of an ancient vegetation were 

 accumulated, igneous matters must have burst forth from the interior of 

 the earth and covered them to an amazing height and extent. As to their 

 texture, their origin and mineralogical character they are undoubtedly to 

 be classed with lava-streams, although in certain respects distinctly differ- 

 ing from them. These ancient lava-rocks, the trap and basalt, differ from 

 those of present volcanoes by the absence of conical-shaped mountains that 

 might indicate the channels through which the burning streams forced 

 their way to the surface of the earth. In fact there are but few traces to 

 be seen of their connection with the unknown depths whence they 

 originated. We have before us extensive table-lands, between 2000 and 

 5000 feet high, with walls more or less perpendicular or terrace-shaped, 

 and exhibiting a series of horizontal strata one above each other in a re- 

 markably uniform manner. At the foot of these cliffs the sandstone in 

 which the fossil plants are imbedded generally appear, forming slopes on 

 lower hills, apparently the edges of a more extensive formation that lies 

 concealed under the trap. But as regards the igneous rocks here in ques- 

 tion, I shall only mention a discovery recently made concerning one of 

 their most interesting features. 



Native iron was found in Greenland thirty years ago, in the shape of a 

 few loose pieces on the surface of the earth. In 1870 enormous blocks were 

 found by Nordenskbjld, the largest of them being estimated at 46,200 pounds, 

 specimens of which the following year were brought to Europe by a Swed- 

 ish expedition. Nordenskjold observed that the basaltic rock in the 

 immediate vicinity of these loose blocks of iron contained lamina of the 

 same metal imbedded in its mass. The first pieces that had been found in 

 Greenland, like native iron on the surface of the earth in other parts of 

 the world, was determined as meteoric iron. The occurrence of iron in 

 situ as a constituent part of the basaltic rock seemed to subvert this theory 

 of a meteoric origin. Nordenskjold, however, maintained it, stating that 

 the downfall had taken place during the formation of the basalt. A long 

 dispute arose about this question, which now must be considered as ended, 

 the meteoric origin almost universally having been dba,ndoned on account of 

 a discovery made by Steenstrup during the last year of his stay in Green- 

 land. It is also well known that John Ross, in 1818, found the Eskimo of 

 Cape York in possession of knives in which they had inserted iron found 

 by themselves in their country. Now Steenstrup, in 1879, on examining 

 old Eskimo graves in the Umanak-fjord discovered in one of them knives 

 just of the same description as those found by Ross, and with them in the 

 same grave pieces of basalt were also discovered, which on being closely 

 examined exhibited grains or nodules of iron like that inserted in the 

 knives. It was the more obvious that the basalt pieces had been intended 

 for such use, as in the same grave stone knives were found in connection 

 with the raw materials of which they were made ; quartz, chalcedony and 

 such like. These facts suggested the idea that iron had been more com- 



