the Lead Mines of Missouri, &. 67° 
. its characters should be indubitably fixed. We have not 
een so fortunate as to see Mr. Schooleraft’s specimens : 
possibly a view of them would have rendered the prece- 
ding remarks, in part at least, unnecessary. 
The difficulty of conceiving that this lime stone is really 
primitive, is increased by the very remarkable position of 
most of the lead ore hitherto obtained in the Missouri mines, 
and which, it appears, is still obtained in the same situa- 
tions, although some of the mines have been wrought for a 
century. ; ‘ 
_ We allude to the vast deposit of alluvion with which this 
lime stone is covered, and in which, to the depth of many 
feet, the lead ore lies, often in loose pieces of several pounds 
weight; 9» =~ PREY OP Sites as st es os 
_ Leaving the Geological features of the lead miue district, 
we proceed to cite some interesting and import: at facts 
from Mr. Schoolerafi’s work:—* The soil, he remarks, is a 
reddish coloured clay, stiff and hard, and full of fragments 
of flinty stone, quartz and gravel; this extends to the depth 
of from ten to twenty feet, and is bottomed on lime stone 
rock. It is so compact in some places, as almost to resist 
the pick-axe ; in others it seems to partake of marl, is less 
gravelly, and readily penetrated. ‘The country is particu- 
larly characterized by quartz, which is strewed in detached 
pieces over the surface of the ground, and is also found im- 
bédded in the soil at all depths. This is here called blos- 
som of lead. Iron ores and pyrites are also scattered over 
the surface of the ground, and occasionally lead ore.” The 
mineral productions of the country, in addition to lead, are, 
pi tong ochre, red chalk, salt-petre, sulphur, alum and 
sa i ; “2 : : 
The number of | ead min 
ore is found in detached 
rytes, calcareous spar, blende, iron 
or sul 
high degree of metallic lustre ; they break in 
cubical fragments, and the minutest portions still retain this 
