Aerolite of Maryland. 35 
Sea (a sea which is 60 or 70 miles in length, and from 10 to 
20 in breadth (Marcet); once the abode of the voluptuous and 
inhospitable inhabitants of the plain) was anciently a burning 
volcano. From the heights of Bethlehem, he observed, he 
says, “a mountain on the western shore of the lake, resem- 
bling in form the cone o f Vesuvius, and having a crater u “4 
its top, which was tly discernible,” If this be the fa 
may not the enemies of Moses and of the Bible affirm, dist 
the destruction of the cities of Sodom and iGrobpderal was not 
a miraculous event, but merely the consequence of a natural 
and necessary eruption of lava from this moun 
e above described specimens, and from the remarks 
of travellers which have been quoted, it may, I think, fairly be 
inferred, that a large proportion of Palestine is of limestone 
formation. “Dr. Clarke asserts, from personal observation, 
zareth and Genesaret, he saw hills of the same substance. He 
speaks. often of the “limestone rocks of Judea ;” mentions 
that the road from Acre to Nazareth passes over ‘sterile 
limestone ;” and, indeed, asserts that the baie eae constitu- 
ent of all the mountains in Palestine is limesto 
Jerusalem; from David’s Cave at En-gedi, on the south; and 
from the micuntaie around the Dead Sea, on the south-dast ? ; 
we should be led to the same conclusion: that the Holy Land, 
the residence of the patriarchs, the birth-place of true reli- 
gion, the land which witnessed the ministry, listened to the 
agonies, and drank in the blood of the Son of God, is com- 
posed almost entirely of limestone. 
ee - 
Art. XXI.—Notice of a Meteoric Stone, which fell at Nanjes 
Be oo eoreny 10th, 1825 ; by Dr. SAMUEL D. 
Car 
cial from two seis’ to the Editor, dated Nanjemoy, Md. March 
10th, 1825, and April 29th, 1825.] 
{ rake the liberty of forwarding you a notice of a meteoric 
stone which fell in this town on the morning of Thursday. 
