1895.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 343 



Microscopical Examination of tlie Sand Stone in the 

 State Prison at Carson City, Nevada. 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D. 



NEWARK, N. J. • 



Of course, having put forth the theory that au inhxnd 

 sea of vast extent, containing fresh water, existed some 

 time previous to the Oligocene Tertiary, that is to say 

 when the celebrated Monterey, California, and Richmond, 

 Virginia, Bacillarian (Diatomaceous) deposit existed, I 

 was bound to prove it in every way. I therefore gath- 

 ered specimens from everywhere. I corresponded with 

 numerous persons wlio could know anything about tlie 

 supposed Occidental Sea. In this way I got earths from 

 difterent parts and learnt something about the country. 

 It is true that I had specimens gathered by the North- 

 west Boundary Survey and California State Geological 

 Survey and also by the gentlemen connected with the 

 United States Geological Survey. But this was not 

 enough. I had crossed the so-called great plains in the 

 cars twice, but I did not stop to get specimens. I only 

 viewed the land from the car windows. It was flat, in 

 fact truly a plain, watered very feebly and without trees. 

 Growing upon it was sage bush but no grass. It cannot be 

 wondered that it was called, by the first who crossed, the 

 gi'eat American desert. Among the rest I got informa- 

 tion of the occurrence of ichnolites at Carson City, 

 Nevada. There were impressions in the sandstone look- 

 ing like foot prints of men whose feet were covered by 

 moccasins. Of course this caused a stir in the scientific 

 world and elsewhere. For the sandstone was stone and 

 placed by geologists in the Tertiary. I got the publica- 

 tions by Prof. Brewer and Dr. Harkness on the subject 

 and I learnt all I could about it. 



The fossil footprints are upon the layers of sandstone, 

 not very firmly strong, in fact some of it is clayey. They 

 are in a quarry within the state prison at Carson City, 



