102 TRANSATIONS OF THE [FrEs. 23 
structure. Either the gneiss is younger than, and has been 
introduced into, the limestone, or else it is a metamorphosed 
plutonic rock, which formed the floor of the sea in which the 
limestone was deposited. The absence of anything like an 
irruptive contact between the two rocks at once excludes the 
first supposition, and therefore the gneiss has been called, 
without hesitation, the older rock, The second supposition, 
which has been already mentioned, is somewhat favored by the 
structural relations of the rocks. Regarding the foliation as 
a secondary feature resulting from pressure, it would naturally 
be parallel to the folds of the limestone, which are due to the 
same cause. The foliation may date from the same period of 
metamorphism as does the folding, or it may have been complete 
before the deposition of the limestone. But even in the latter 
event, it seems probable that the pressure of the second stage 
of metamorphism would act in the same direction as that of the 
first, thus leading to a general parallelism between the foliations 
of the gneiss and the bedding of the limestone. 
This view of the gneiss as a metamorphosed -plutonic rock 
seems to afford the simplest explanation of the facts thus far 
observed, but it cannot be accepted even conditionally until 
sustained by much more extended investigation. That some 
portions of the gneiss will prove to be of igneous, and other 
portions of sedimentary, origin, is extremely probable. 
Schists.—Near the base of the limestone and imbedded with 
it are some peculiar schistose rocks, which outcrop near the 
gneiss, north and south of Gouverneur, and again in the village. 
These schists are variable in color, usually dark, and weather 
to a rusty color. They offer greater resistance to denuding 
agents than does the surrounding limestone, and, therefore, 
form low, steep ridges. Containing feldspar, quartz, biotite, 
hornblende, and augite, they somewhat resemble igneous rocks 
in composition, but their field relations indicate that they are 
of sedimentary origin, and have been subjected to metmorphism 
sufficiently intense to produce complete recrystallization. 
Sandstone.—Overlying the limestone is a heavy mass of sand- 
stone, often so much indurated as to be better called quartzite. 
The color varies from yellow to red, and the grain from very fine 
to that of coarse conglomerate. The rock outcrops in prominent 
ridges on both sides of the river, three miles north of Gouverneur, 
and extends several miles east and west, but was not traced to 
a limit in either direction. It is composed chiefly of quartz, 
