Autumnal Scenery. 107 



In Newport, Rhode Island. 



In the southeast part of this town, (perhaps it is within the 

 limits of Middleton,) the coarse conglomerate rock contains numer- 

 ous cross seams, which are parallel to one another, and nearly per- 

 pendicular to the horizon. In one spot, in a high rocky bluff, two 

 of these fissures occur not more than 6 or 8 feet asunder ; and the 

 waves have succeeded in the course of ages, in wearing away the 

 intervening rock, so as to form a chasm about seven rods in length, 

 and 60 or 70 feet deep ; the sides being almost exactly perpendicular. 

 This chasm is called Purgatory ; and the waves still continue their 

 slow but certain work of destruction. 



On the south shore of Newport, a similar fissure occurs in granite. 

 It is, however, much less extensive, not more than 20 feet deep per- 

 haps : and the waves sometimes rush into it with such violence that 

 they are dashed not less than 30 feet into the air. Even granite 

 yields under this everlasting concussion. This spot is called the 

 Spouting Cave. 



We have only to suppose the Sutton Purgatory to have been once 

 similarly situated in respect to the ocean, and we have a cause ade- 

 quate to its production. And yet, what an immense period must the 

 whole work have demanded ! 



Autumnal Scenery. 



Perhaps no country in the world exhibits in its autumnal scenery 

 so rich a variety of colors in the foliage of trees, as our own. But 

 it is particularly beautiful in the more mountainous parts of the land. 

 The trees, whose leaves give the liveliest tints, are the maple, the 

 oak, the walnut, and the sumach ; while the pine and hemlock re- 

 tain their deep green : and if these species be fantastically mixed on 

 a mountain's side, they present a splendid drapery, which, though 

 somewhat approaching to the gaudy, is yet extremely interesting. 

 The change generally commences as early as the middle of Septem- 

 ber, and does not attain its full perfection till after several frosts of 

 considerable severity. The change proceeds undoubtedly from an 

 increased oxygenation of the coloring matter of the leaves ; analo- 

 gous changes being easily produced in the chemical laboratory by 

 the addition of oxygen to certain compounds,* as for example, the 

 Chameleon Mineral. This process in the eyes of a chemist does not 



* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Vol. 38, p. 415. 



