TACONIC SYSTEM. 137 



It is expected that the progress of science will do this, especially that of one whose advance- 

 ment has been rapid and unimpeded for the last twenty-five years in this country. 



Position and Relation of the Taconic System. 



The position of this system of rocks deserves an attentive examination ; for it is only by 

 a clear understanding of their position, that we shall be able to explain some of the remarkable 

 phenomena found in connection with them. Turning our attention first to the eastern border, 

 we find the primary ranges of New-England, at elevations it is true not very remarkable, but 

 still above the adjacent country upon the west. It is to be noticed, too, that the western slope 

 is rather steep ; and it may be considered that it is against this steep slope that the Taconic 

 system reposes. There is one exception, however, to this statement, viz. Saddle mountain 

 rises more than a thousand feet higher than Hoosic mountain. Upon the west is the Taconic 

 range, pursuing its course near the western border of the system, and attaining an elevation 

 of eighteen hundred or two thousand feet. A large portion, then, of its rocks or masses are 

 interlocked between these ranges : the New-England or primary ranges upon the east, the 

 most important of which is the Hoosic mountain ; and the Taconic with the more westerly 

 abrupt hills upon the west, or the eastern border of the New-York Transition system. It is 

 this position which is to be taken into view, when we attempt to account for the numerous 

 contortions which exist in the beds lying between these mountains ; and there arc many facts 

 which favor the view that the rocks lying in this narrow space have been greatly compressed 

 by lateral pressure, and have been forced, as it were, towards the Hoosic mountain range. 



The preceding view is favored by the fact, that in the midst of the most mountainous tract, 

 the greatest contortions exist : while in the more level parts, or sections, the contortions and 

 disturbed strata are greatly diminished. In this connection, I may state another result as the 

 consequence of the geographical position of the Taconic system : it is the partial blending of 

 the rocks of the tlu'ee adjacent systems ; the Primary of the Hoosic ranges upon the east, and 

 the New-York Transition system on the west with the Taconic ; creating thereby many doubts 

 and perplexities as it regards the true limits of either system ; and inasmuch as the whole 

 belt itself of the latter rocks is narrow, doubts are thrown over the whole as it regards the 

 views we are to take of them. It will be more clearly seen in the following pages, how it is 

 that differences of opinions prevail in relation to these rocks. Where they have been crowded 

 together, and especially where the masses are lithologically similar, it is not at all remarkable 

 that the views and opinions of geologists should differ ; besides, under the most favorable 

 circumstances, the lines of demarkation between rocks of different eras are often extremely 

 obscured, and cannot be drawn with that exactitude we wish, in consequence of concealment 

 under the soil, or other circumstances equally effective to render their extent and relations 

 indistinct and uncertain. 



Geol. 2d Dist. 18 



