ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY. 343 



the specular is uniformly the primary limestone ; and though no one will (|ucstion the possi- 

 bility of the crystallization of tufa and marl, and the separation of the oxides which may have 

 been originally mixed with them, still the opinion that this limestone was a marl or a tufa is 

 a gratuitous assumption : there is no fact revealed, in connection with those masses, which 

 goes to show that such was originally the state and condition of those substances. Now, in 

 pursuing these masses, there has been always a descent into the primary rocks, showing clearly 

 that there is no platform of deposit upon them, but that it is uniformly helou- or vnthin them. 

 It is true that the potsdam sandstone is often above these masses, and is often highly charged 

 with the oxide of iron ; but how does this happen ? Any porous rock, like this sandstone, 

 would become thus charged when placed in contact with a substance of this kind, whether 

 below or above. But in addition to the above facts, the rocks, both primary and transition, 

 when connected with the specular ore, are broken and elevated ; and instead of the deposits 

 of ore and of limestone in the form of marl on a smooth unbroken platform, they are always 

 and without exception disrupted masses, and both the oxide and the calcareous rock descend 

 downward into those primary rocks which are broken and fractured : there is therefore really 

 no spreading out of the main mass of ore upon the upper surface of the primary, without also 

 a descent downwards into a fissure or vein clearly into the primary masses, and in some in- 

 stances the depth has not been ascertained. A reference to my sections of the Parish and 

 Kearney ore beds (p. 93), will illustrate the position and relations of the specular ore. 



In the above remarks, I have spoken to two c^uestions raised by Mr. Vanuxem's opinions, 

 rather than one : 1st, to the opinion that the present oxide, and the limestone associated with 

 it, were originally in the form of marl or tufa intermixed with the oxide, from which the latter 

 separated by crystallization ; and 2d, to the opinion that they were deposited upon the primary 

 platform, since the elevation of the primary system. 



As it regards the first, I have said that the opinion is gratuitous ; and I now say, that ad- 

 mitting the theory, we may just as well admit that all the beds of primary limestone, and veins 

 also, were deposits in the form of marl or tufa ; for they are all alike. There is no essential 

 difference in the limestone of the ore beds, and others not connected with them ; and no fact 

 can be better established, than that they all have one origin, and belong to one class of rocks. 

 . As to the second opinion, or hypothesis, I have show^l that the rocks, wherever these masses 

 of ore exist, are in and connected with disrupted primary rocks ; and though the ore may 

 appear to be spread over the primary platform for a little space, yet they invariably go down 

 into it ; or, in other words, the masses come up from beneath, instead of having been deposited 

 above. 



I do not, however, in this place, propose to discuss the question of the formation of mineral 

 veins ; whether they are injected moulten masses, or have been separated from the adjacent 

 rocks by an electro-magnetic agency. The only question I propose to raise is, whether the 

 masses of specular iron and limestone w'cre really mechanical deposits upon the primary, sub- 

 sequent to its elevation ; and this part of the hypothesis once admitted, I see no objection at 

 all to the remaining part of the same, that the iron subsequently separated from the calcareous 

 matter by crystallization. Such a result is not uncominon : it occurs not only among the 



