163 



the deplorable circumstances we are in upon the account 

 of our being exposed to imminent danger both from 

 French and Indian Enemies and to request of them of 

 such aids as to their great wisdom may seem fit meet and 

 which may be sufBeient to enable us with a Divine Bless- 

 ing vigorously to repell all attempts of our said enemies. 

 —Pages 98 and 99. 



Dr. Wheatland concluded his remarks by introducing 

 Prof. Charles H. Hitchcock, saying, — "Having thus 

 briefly alluded to the observations of a diligent explorer 

 of these mountains some forty or fifty years since, we 

 now introduce one who is engaged in a somewhat similar 

 occupation as the present accomplished head of the State 

 Geological Survey of New Hampshire." 



Alludins: to Dr. Wheatland's reference to the Essex 

 County naturalist, Prof. Hitchcock said that William' 

 Oakes was one of the early explorers of these mountains, 

 and did his work in a very thorough and satisfactory way, 

 his preserved specimens of pressed plants being the best 

 prepared of any he had seen. 



Prof. Hitchcock then spoke of the mountains in their 

 relation to other parts of the country, comparing the 

 White Mountains of New Hampshire with the Alps and 

 Jura Mountains of Europe. The Alps are a chain of 

 mountains runninoj east and west throuirh the south of 

 France, a part of Switzerland, and across to the Black 

 Sea — terminating with the Balkans (where the Russians 

 and Turks are now fighting), which are really a continua- 

 tion of the same ran^e. He described the formation of 

 the summits of these mountains and their varied heights, 

 they being also of the same material as our White Moun- 

 tains — gneiss and granite, chiefly. He also in a very 

 plain way described and illustrated the commonly ac- 

 cepted theory of the formation of mountains, which is by 



