150 Analyses of Books. 



favour of his work ; he told them candidly, that unless it was re- 

 invigorated by additional support, it could not be permanent ; and 

 that, should it be left to die of penury in the midst of abundance, he 

 would exonerate himself from blame, and lay both the injury and the 

 dishonour at the door of his country. He pointed out a simple plan 

 to his subscribers, by which each individually could assist his cause, 

 and the honour of his country, which was at stake. His suggestion 

 was, that each subscriber should kindly endeavour to obtain one 

 more. This was enough. Our Transatlantic friends did exert their 

 energies immediately, as is their constant practice in the cause of 

 improvement. They said, " A Scientific Journal shall not be allowed 

 to die, because we are sensible, that such an organ is a necessary 

 auxiliary to science, and because we are able to support it." In July, 

 the permanence of the work was almost secure. What has been the 

 consequence of this activity ? The subsequent Number, whose title 

 we have placed at the head of this article, supplies us with an ex- 

 cellent geological description of the coal deposits of the Ohio, illus- 

 trated with 36 plates of fossils, and a map. A treatise of the same 

 nature would, in this country, have been locked up in the expensive 

 volumes of one of our societies, for the perusal of a yery limited 

 number of persons. 



It may be true, that America has contributed but little to the ad- 

 vancement of science ; but it is a most striking fact, that science 

 is there much better supported, and is more promising than in this 

 country. 



But we leave this subject, and proceed to the consideration of the 

 coal bason of the Ohio. The district, described by Dr. Hildreth, 

 extends over a space of 4 or 5 degrees in latitude, by as many in 

 longitude, and includes the north-west portions of Pennsylvania and 

 Virginia, with the north-east of Ohio, and a small tract in the north- 

 east of Kentucky ; being traversed by the Ohio, from Pittsburg to 

 Burlington and Portsmouth. The appearance of the country is that 

 of an undulating plain ; long sloping ridges running parallel into the 

 river, and increasing in height in proportion to their distance from it. 

 The surface rocks are sand-stone commonly, but no primitive rocks 

 have been observed, even, although the depth of 1000 feet has been 

 attained. The strata are, in general, little disturbed, and appear to 

 have been formed slowly. The principal river from the west is the 

 Muskingum, whose limpid water is charged with carbonate of lime. 

 The aspect of the country, through which it passes, is hilly and 

 broken, but on the head branches, the surface is more level. The 

 plains are covered with fragments of gneiss, mica-slate, granite, and 

 green-stone, mixed with alcyona, madreporites, corrallines, and shells, 

 the tenants of an ocean, which at one time covered this country. 

 The trees, which adorn the immense forests, are now rapidly disap- 

 pearing before the hand of cultivation, and consist of Liriodendrun 

 tulipifera, or yellow poplar, Magnolia Acuminata, or cucumber 

 tree, Cornusjiorida, Cereis OMoensis, or Judas tree, the American 

 date tree, hickory, sugar trees, spicewood, beech, yellow pine, Kal- 

 mia latifolia, fyc. 



The north-west portions of the valley of the Muskingum belong to 

 supercretaceous formations, the south and east to the carboniferous 



