CHAP. III. 
~ Natural History—Mineralogical Geography—Ba- 
sin of the Seine—Basaltic district of Auvergne—Geo- 
logy of the Pyrenees—Strata in different parts of 
’ Fesnce—Miseillancons Mineral icalremarks—Mines 
of Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, &c.—Coal Strata and 
Mines—Jet, &c.—Salt Springs of Salins, &c.—Mine- 
ral Waters—Natural Curiosities—Botany of France— 
As our limits will not permit us to enter minutely and 
fully into the natural history of Franee, we shall content 
ourselves with noticing, in the first place, the most im- 
portant and curious features of its mineralogy and geolo- 
gy ; subjoining to this notice, an economical, account of 
the principal, mines, and a brief sketch of the mineral 
i waters and natural..curiosities-most. deserving of atten- 
& tion: in the second place, the Botany of France: and, 
= lastly, the most interesting parts of its Zoology. 
_ Mineralogy I, With respect to the and of 
_ antligeology. France. Modern French geographers, in a branch of 
= that science, to which they have properly given the epi- 
thet physical, have divided the kingdom into what they 
‘ call basins; that is to say. into several great plains, 
through which the principal rivers: flow, and which are 
formed of several ridges of mountains, either original, 
L that is of granite, or secondary, of caleareous and other 
materials. Of these basins, the chief are, 1st, The ba- 
sin of the Loire, and all the rivers that fall into it. 2d, 
of the Seine and its branches. 3d, Of the Garonne. 4th, 
Of the Rhone and Saone. There are likewise some 
smaller ones, but of much less account. 
As the basin of the Seine, or of Paris as it is fre- 
quently called, is the most interesting to the geologist, 
and has moreover been very carefully and scientifically 
‘Pillustrated. by the labours of Messrs Cuvier and Brog- 
niart, in their Memoir on the Mineralogical Geography 
of the environs of Paris; of M. Lamanon, in his Me- 
moir on the gypsums and their fossil bones ; of M. Des- 
marets in -his description of Montmartre, and by other 
authors, we shall confine our account to this basin. 
The basin of the Seine is separated for a long space 
_ from.that of the Loire, by an. extensive high plain, the 
greater part of which bears the name of Beauce. This 
plain is bounded towards the north-west by a higher and 
more broken district, from which the rivers Eure, Aure, 
Orne, Maienne, Sarte, &c. arise. On all other ‘sides, 
the plain of Beauce overlooks every surrounding dis- 
trict. The slope from it, towards the Seine, is divided 
into two inclinations, one of which, on the west, looks 
towards the Eure, and the other, on the east, looks to- 
wards the Seine. These two inclined plains, however, 
are not straight, but in all directions unequal and rug- 
ged, the slopes are generally very abrupt, and all the ra- 
vines, valleys, and wells dug in the high parts, shew that 
one prodigious mass of fine sand covers the whole surface, 
passing equally over all the other soils, or inferior plat- 
forms, which this great plain overlooks. The edge of 
this platform, towards the Seine, forms. the natural li- 
mit of the basin of Paris, on this side. From below the 
two extremities of this platform, issue two portions of a 
platform of chalk, which extends in every direction to a 
great distance, forming the whole of Higher Normandy, 
icardy, and Champagne. In some parts of the two 
FRANCE. 
685 
latter provinces, the chalk is covered with sandy plat- Statistics. 
forms, similar to that of Beauce. ; weary 
Hence it appears that the materials which compose 
the basin of Paris have been deposited in a vast gulf, 
the bottom of which is chalk. This chalk lies in hori- 
zontal beds, with flints, and is wholly, or in part, covered » 
by certain argillaceous, siliceous, calcareous, gypseous, 
and alluvial strata. The basin, measuring directly from 
Epernay to Gisars, nearly from east to west, is 87 Eng- 
lish miles in length, and from Nemours to the neighbour~ 
hood of Noyon, nearly south and north, it is 70 miles 
broad. On the south-west, from near Nemours to the’ 
mouth of the rivulet called the Maulde, a direct distance 
of about 45 miles, it is limited by a covering stratum of 
Beauce sand, and in all its remaining sides by the na- 
ked chalk stratum. The chalk is undoubtedly the most 
ancient, and the sandy platform the most recent of the 
formations in this basin. Between them there are two 
great strata ; the first, lime, either siliceous, containing’ 
no shells, or lime with coarse shells; the second, which 
is named by the French geologists gypso-marley, is 
not generally spread, but merely scattered in spots, very 
different from one another in thickness and in their com- 
ponent parts. These two intermediate soils or Strata, as 
well as the two extreme strata of chalk and sand, and 
all the vacuities which they have left, are partly filled by 
a fifth sort of soil, mixed also with marl and silex, which 
may be called fresh water soil, because it abounds in 
fresh water soils only. 
If each of these large strata, however, are subdivided, Strata in 
there will appear 10 distinct kinds of strata in the’ basin the basin of 
of the Seine. Of these we shall give a short sketch, be- P*"* 
ginning with the lowest. ; 
1. Chalk, either in distinct beds and with few flints, 
or with many layers and nodules of flint, constitutes the 
first formation. In it are found 50 species of fossil re+ 
mains. 
2. The second formation consists of plastic clay ; 
white, grey, slate-grey, and red potter’s clay, from four 
inches to 52 feet or more in thickness. This contains no 
fossils, but in some parts fragments of bituminous 
wood. 
3. The third formation consists of sand, coarse, red, 
or bluish grey, without fossils ;—of coarse limestone in 
beds, alternating with their marls and clay; the lower 
beds are sandy, containing greenish earth, and though . 
hard, decompose quickly on exposure ; they contain ex- 
traneous fossils in good preservation, amounting to more 
than 600 species ;—of soft greenish earth, exhibiting on 
its lower surface brown marks of leaves, and stalks of ve- 
getables ;—of grey and yellowish strata, of different de« 
of hardness, and of building stone rocks ; these con- 
tain shells.;—of hard earth, containing seams full of 
shells ;—of hard calcareous ruble marl, and soft calca- 
reous marl beds, without fossils ;—of calcareous sand, 
sometimes agglutinated, and containing chert, quartz 
crystals, and variegated crystals of carbonate of lime ; 
and of hard calcareous ruble marl, and soft calcareous 
marl beds without fossils. 3 
4. The fourth formation is still more various than 
the third; it consists of two distinct parts, viz. the 
fresh water formation, containing a mass of selenitous 
gypsum in thin beds, with numerous marl beds, with- 
out organised fossils; next marl strata; then a second 
mass of gypsum beds, with thin marl beds, containing 
fossil fish ; then marl strata again, and above them ano- 
ther mass composed of three parts, with mar! strata ine 
