40 GEOLOGY OF TlIE SECOND DISTRICT. 



this course, tlie arguments and opinions, both for and against the interpretation, wliich I pro- 

 pose, of phenomena of this character, will be in the possession of the reader. I have ex- 

 tracted the following paragraph from Prof. Hitchcock's Geology ;* from which it will be seen 

 what liis opinion is, after an examination of the subject. He remarks, " When this rock 

 " occurs in the unstratified class, and also in some of the older stratified ones, it is often nearly 

 "or quite destitute of stratification. [Ex. gr. the limestone beds in the sienite in Newbury 

 " and Sloneham, and in the gneiss at Bolton, Massachusetts ; also in hornblende slate in 

 " Smithfield, R. I. ; and in granite in St. Lawrence and Essex counties, N. Y.) Hence it 

 " has been proposed to put primarj' limestone into the unstratified class. {Prof. Emmons' Re- 

 " port on the Geology of the Second District of Neiv-York, 1838, p. 196.) In many cases, 

 " however, it is most distinctly stratified ; as, for instance, in the bed lying between strata of 

 " gneiss on Cole's brook in the west part of Middlefield in Massachusetts. The interesting 

 " examples given by Prof. Emmons, in St. Lawrence county, in his Report! above referred 

 " to, do indeed prove that this rock may exist sometimes in the form of veins in granite. But 

 " looking at all the facts on the subject, they seem more satisfactorily explained by supposing 

 "primary limestone a metamorphic rock, like serpentine, lohich may he therefore found both 

 " stratified and unstratified, tlian by regarding it as always unstratified and of igneous 

 " origin r 



In relation to the doctrines of this extract I have only two or three remarks to make : 1st, 

 If the limestone of Long pond is metamorphic, I liave misunderstood the meaning of the 

 term, if it is not to be confined to those rocks which were originally sedimentary, and whose 

 planes of stratification, subsequent to deposition, have been obliterated by exposure to in- 

 tense heat. If this is the meaning of the word, then the doctrine or explanation is not at 

 all applicable to this particular locality ; for I can conceive of no way by which parti- 

 cles of limestone can have been deposited in the mode which here presents itself, to say 

 nothing of the minerals imbedded in the mass. On the contrary, if the word metamorphic 

 has any otiier meaning, I am unable to ascertain what it is, and need make no supposition 

 how it may possibly be employed, or how it may be understood. At Long pond, there is a 

 mass of limestone projecting up from the hypersthene rock for hundreds of feet, which may 

 be traced from below upwards in the face of a mountain whose slope is more than 45° ; so 

 much so, that it is extremely hazardous to climb the naked rock. The lines of junction be- 

 tween the two rocks are clearly defined ; and hence there is no possibility of a mistake in 

 relation to its position, or its passage upwards from the interior of the mountain. It is not an 

 overlapping or overlying mass ; one that was left, or deposited upon the rock. 



Again, the remark that serpentine is sometimes a metamorphic rock, remains, as it appears 

 to me, still open for discussion. After having seen most of the serpentine beds in New- 

 England, and those of New-York, I never have yet seen one wliich is stratified. This rock, 

 wherever it has been seen by myself, was so far removed from the ordinary stratified rock. 



See Prof. Hitchcock's Geology, p. 62. Ed. 1840. f Report, 1838, p. 196 to 202, inclusive. 



