PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 457 



FRANKLINITE AND OTHER ORES. 



The Cliairman exhibited in behalf of the inventor, Mr. Selleck, 

 a piece of iron consisting of nine lamina, alternately of Franklin- 

 ite and malleable iron. In this shape it is flexible, but there is 

 no drill that can penetrate it. Safes made from it will be bur- 

 glar proof; hammers cannot break through, and drills cannot 

 penetrate it. The same principle can be applied to the plating 

 of ships, for any number of laminae can be used. 



Mr. Bull asked whether drills could not be made of Franklinite, 

 which would penetrate it. 



Mr. Godwin asked whether the blow-pipe could not be used by 

 the burglar to soften it. 



Mr. Butler stated that no portable blow-pipe could affect it, 

 when in the side of a safe, and that a drill would have to be 

 harder than the Franklinite in order to make any impression 

 upon it. The extreme hardness of the Franklinite created a dif- 

 ficulty in working it with our present appliances. In punching 

 or shearing it, there must be a layer of malleable iron next the 

 tool to protect it. But no file can touch it. Edges must be fin- 

 ished with the grindstone. 



Mr, Alanson Nash read a paper upon Franklinite, and other 

 ores of iron and zinc. 



AMERICAN GEOLOGY. 



Dr. Stevens, — Reptiles date their first appearance from the 

 close of the Carboniferous era. They begin to be found in the 

 Permian group, which immediately followed the Carboniferous 

 age, in great profusion. They increase constantly in numbers 

 until the Cretaceous period, when they cease to be the predomi- 

 nant form of life, and higher orders succeed. In the reptile 

 age, the Gulf of Mexico had three arms extending up into the 

 country, and w^as very much larger than at present ; extending, at 

 the beginning of this period, even up into the British possessions, 

 as is shown by recent surveys. New England was still separated 

 from the main continent by a channel in which Sorel river. Lake 

 Champlain, and the tide waters of the Hudson now lie. A depres- 

 sion of no more than 140 feet would be required now to make New 

 England an island as it was then. The Pacific coast then came 

 ta th.e western slope of the present Rocky mountains. At that 

 time the Rocky mountains had not been thrown up as high as 



