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course of his explanations, he said if the land should 

 sink 200 feet, the middle section would become an island. 



Comiug to examine the structure of the mountains, we 

 find the characteristics of the Alpine and Jura mountains 

 well represented, and the material very much the same. 

 From the Catskills, away to Alabama, on the western side 

 of the. great valley he had spoken of, were the graceful 

 curves and that appearance as of steep embankments. 

 The highest of our Jurassic mountains is over 4000 feet. 

 The eastern range is composed of crj'stalline schists, with 

 inverted strata. 



Prof. Hitchcock spoke of the relations of this moun- 

 tain mass to the water of the ocean. Probably ages ago 

 these xVtlantic mountains approached the Alps in altitude 

 more nearly than now — the sea having, within these 

 ages, encroached upon the land. 



Our eJura mountains are properly called Appalachian ; 

 and our Alpine portion we can call the Atlantic system — 

 a name suggested forty years ago for that region, by 

 Featherstonehaugh, the geologist. 



Dr. Wheatland alluded to his first visit to these 

 mountains forty-five years since. At that time a stage 

 coach in one direction every other day, — returning on 

 the intermediate days, — with a few small wayside inns at 

 intervals of some three or four miles, proved a suificient 

 accommodation for the summer travel. He stopped at 

 Tom Crawford's, a few rods on the other side of the road 

 near the entrance of the Notch. The foundation of that 

 house is now visible. The winter travel was very large — • 

 the farmers from northern New Hampshire and Vermont 

 coming in large numbers together in their sleighs with 

 produce to barter in cities on the seaboard. 



Eighteen years after he again visited these mountains. 



