Perry.] 344 [December 18. 



But more than this: the Red Sandstone, in several Instances, ex- 

 tends over ahnost the entire, if not over the whole, width of the Taconic 

 series of Dr. Emmons. This snjicrposition is well exhibited in the 

 counties of Addison and Chittenden. The Potsdam formation begin- 

 ning in Charlotte and Ferrisburgh on the west, stretches across the 

 country through parts of Hinesburgh and Monkton to Starksborough 

 on the east, overlying nearly, if not quite, all the so-called Taconic 

 rocks, which have been described as Silurian and jierhaps Devonian 

 beds, or as even later ones, metamorphosed. The latter and underly- 

 ing strata are, for the most part, covered by this widely extending 

 portion of the Red Sandstone; at many points, however, they so crop 

 out, as clearly to reveal their true character; and tliey may be readily 

 recognized by a practised eye. Something very similar is also ob- 

 servable in Franklin County. Taking our stand a little to the east of 

 Highgate Springs, we find ourselves on the v/estern limits of the sand- 

 stone.* Passing several miles eastward into the township of Frank- 

 lin, we meet with patches of, the same Red Sandstone, overlying 

 some of the most easterly portions of the Taconic range. I may like- 

 wise add that, in a hasty examination, made a fe^v years ago, of the 

 rocks in Canada just north of the last-mentioned locality, I found 

 similar indications of a like superposition of the Red Sandstone. 



Perhaps, however, some may be disposed to urge, by way of obvi- 

 ating the force of these facts, that there has been an inversion, or an 

 overturn, of all these rocky beds; that thus the Potsdam formation, 

 though really older than the Taconic strata, actually lies above them; 

 that consequently the latter are, after all, only later rocks in a meta- 

 morphic state. If appeal be made to local overturns, I reply that, so 

 far as I can judge, these are utterly insuiBcicnt to clear up the dif- 

 ficulties involved; for the sandstone and the adjacent rocks sustain to 

 each other substantially the same relations, through the entire length 

 of the State. Then the assumijtion of partial or local overturns is 

 altogether inadequate to account for the position of the rocks at va- 

 rious localities, such as those already cited, and especially those be- 

 tween Charlotte and Starksborough. A cursory examination in the 

 field ought to render this plain; should it not. it is thought that a more 

 thorough one cannot fail to do so. If, on the other hand, appeal be 

 made to a general overturn, comprising the main formations in west- 

 ern. Vermont, it is natural and right to demand the proof. The 

 onus proband i surely rests on theassertor. Now of any such inversion 

 I have been unable, after years of search and of repeated examlna- 



*A few isolated beds of sandstone are found even further west than the Springs, 

 along the shore of tlie lake, especially between Ship-Yard l>.ay ar.d the W^harf. 

 Some of them are finely folded. One of tlie best views of the folds is from the 

 water. 



