Me. J. Brtce on Marine Fossils and Iron Ores. 97 



than a mile. The entire district appears to be a rich field, well worth}- 

 of a careful examination by an experienced mineral surveyoi-. Our sur- 

 vey was somewhat hurried, being limited to a single afternoon in the 

 month of September. There seems every probabihty, however, that the 

 capabilities of these properties will soon be fully tested by the establish- 

 ment of works, for whose successful prosecution the country offers more 

 than the usual facilities met with in mining tracts. 



II. 0:;f SoiiE Marine Fossils lately pound in a Quarry within 



THE City. 



The precise boundary of the upper fresh water and underlying marine 

 coal series not having been as yet exactly fixed, considerable interest 

 attaches, in the eyes of geologists, to any facts tending towards a deter- 

 mination of their respective limits. Such facts, as they come to light, 

 ought therefore to be placed permanently on record ; and with this 

 view the present brief notice is submitted. A full descriptive account 

 would be only a repetition of facts well known already. The locality 

 referred to is at the intersection of North Frederick Street with Parlia- 

 mentary Koad, exactly opposite the Town's Hospital. Here a quarry 

 was opened some weeks ago ; and a suite of fossils, which determine the 

 nature of the beds, found by Mr. John M'Diarmid of the Guardian 

 newspaper office. By him, Mr. Colin Brown, a well known cultivator 

 of geology, was directed to the quarry ; by Mr. Brown, my attention 

 was called to it. The strata are calcareous sandstone dipping S. at a 

 small angle ; and the fossils are of several marine genera of bivalve and 

 univalve shells, and some plants. The strata are overlaid by common 

 Till with striated boulders, all of the usual western or north-western 

 origin, so characteristic of om* superficial deposits. 



III. Notice or Some Iron Ores, and the Manueactubed Pro- 



ducts, FROM Nova Scotia. 



It is well known that the ironstones of the Scottish coal fields do not 

 yield metal of that toughness and strength which are required for many 

 castings, such as ordnance, hydraulic machinery, &c. It is therefore an 

 important object to obtain ironstones from other quarters, to mix with 

 our own in smelting, so as to give a material possessing the requisite 

 qualities. The mode of smelting has undoubtedly very great influence 

 on the quality of the casting, but the purity of the ore is not less influ- 

 ential ; and the inferior strength and the brittleness of om- iron must in 

 great part be ascribed to the facility given by the hot blast for reducing 

 inferior ores, and so producing large quantities at a low first cost. Hav- 

 ing obtained, through the Icindness of Mr. James R. Napier, specimens 

 of the ores of Nova Scotia, recently brought over by Mr. Carswell, 

 Vol. IV.— No. 1. o 



