THE MUSEUM. 



133 



It has been asserted that the tilting 

 was a result of lateral pressure. This 

 formation, taken alone, gives no evi- 

 dence that such was the case. It 

 seems to have been raised by some up- 

 ward force commg from beneath the 

 eastern side. In many places the lay- 

 ers are bent as though, when the rock 

 was in plastic ■condition, it had been 

 subject to a lateral, or rather longi- 

 tudinal pressure which was exerted 

 from north to south. I know of no 

 place where such pressure was suffi- 

 cient to produce a dislocation, or where 

 there is any evidence of an easterly 

 pressure. The entire formation may 

 form a part of an immense anticlinal 

 but we must go many miles to find 

 any indications that such is the fact. 



As before stated, beds of limestone, 

 milky quartz and granite are found in- 

 terstratified with the clay slate of this 

 formation. It is said that the milky 

 quartz is but a metamorphic form of 

 the limestone, and it seems very prob- 

 able that such is the case: but the 

 tjuestion as to how came the limestone 

 to be interstratified with clay slate still 

 remains. For myself I am satisfied 

 that the limestone is of organic origin. 

 I believe it to be composed of the shells 

 of certain species of mollusks which 

 then inhabited that boay of water in 

 which this formation was deposited. 

 The limestone has been so changed in 

 its character by the action of heat and 

 other agencies, that there is nothing in 

 its appearance to indicate that such 

 was the case. Nevertheless, a chemi- 

 cal analysis shows that it is possible, 

 and, in absense of any more positive 

 information I shall continue to advo- 

 cate this theory. 



Admitting the possibility, there is 

 yet one difficulty in the way of a per- 



fect understanding. I can, as yet, 

 give no satisfactory reason for the 

 limestone occuring in regular strata 

 one above another. It seems most 

 natural to suppose that the deposition 

 of silt and shells would have been sim- 

 ultaneous and continuous, in which 

 case the limestone and clay slate would 

 have been intermixed instead of inter- 

 stratified. I am in hopes that further 

 study will enable me to solve this prob- 

 lem, and I believe I shall be able to 

 do so after another season in the field. 



The Science of Geology, and the 

 Bible Account of Creation. 



(CONTINUED FROM LAST NUMBER.) 



The first traces of life appears in the 

 Silurian formation, composed of sand- 

 stone, limestone, slate, &'c. In En- 

 gland this formation is of irhmense 

 thickness — something near thirty 

 thousand feet, and the first signs of 

 life are a few simple marine plants, 

 of a class similar to the sea-pens of 

 our modem seas. In this formation 

 too is found in great abundance a low- 

 ly kind of star fish, fixed upon the top 

 of a flexible stalk, the root of which 

 is fixed in the bottom of the sea; here 

 too we have a few graptolites, brach- 

 iopods, trilobites, and Crustacea. 



The upper Silurian presents similar 

 fossils to the lower, but in the Devon- 

 ian we become acquainted with corals 

 in great abundance. It may be re- 

 marked that up to this period we have 

 no traces of land plants. From what 

 we at present know of geology, the 

 flora and fauna of this period is of a 

 marine character. But a writer on 

 the subject, who is not favorable to 

 the Scripture account says — "There 

 are reasons, apart from the fossil his- 



