104 Tertiary Strata of the Atlantic Coast. 
motion is directly opposed, lies in 48° 10’ W. azimuth ; and if we now 
take this as the mean direction of the courses, we shall find in the oc- 
tant whose middle is 484° W., or which extends from 26° to 71° W., 
9 courses; in the two next octants which extend from 71° to 116° 
W., and from 19° East to 26° West, 4 in one and 7 in the other; 
in the two middle octants which extend from 116° to 161° West, 
and from 19° to 64° East, 6 in one and 3 in the other ; in the two 
more distant octants which extend, the one from 161° West to 154° 
East, the other from 64° to 109° E. two in one and three in the 
other ; finally in the octant opposite the first direction, not one. 
It appears therefore, so far as a conclusion is authorized from so 
small a number of observations, perfectly clear that this prevalent 
direction is owing to the motion of the earth. 
The velocity of these meteors, is settled to be from 18 to 36 miles 
asecond. As the earth advances with a velocity of about 19 miles” 
per second, in accordance with the considerations now suggested, 
those meteors should move relatively the swiftest whose proper 
motion is directed toward the West, and those directed towards the 
East, should move slowest over the earth ; whether this is so, can- 
not certainly be determined from these observations. 
Art. IX. ee on the Tertiary Strata of the Atlantic 
; by T. A. Conran. 
Tue importance of organic remains in determining the relative 
ages of strata, is very obvious, when we view those concomitant beds 
of sand and clay, extending from Cumberland county, N. J., through 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, and which the 
geologist without reference to their zoological characters, would prob- 
ably consider the product of one particular epoch, elevated above 
the level of the sea, by the agency of some revolution, which has 
simultaneously exposed the whole series of deposits; but nothing 
could be more fallacious, as an attentive consideration of the distri- 
bution of recent shells, and a comparison of those with the fossils of 
each deposit, together with a comparison of those of each particular 
locality abundantly prove. If the whole line of our coast, were sud- 
denly exposed for some distance beyond low water mark, we should 
find a great uniformity in species, extending over many degrees of 
