136 Progressive Changes of Matter. [March, 



rivers were excavated in the slates beneath them, they rolled 

 down to a lower position, and resisted the waters that bore away 

 the smaller drift connected with them. As the waters were con- 

 stantly falling, in the wearing away of the rocks, these boulders 

 could, by no possibility, be covered over with drift. Hence their 

 appearance ot being dropped upon the surface. On the south 

 side of the Mohawk and where the ancient river beds and banks 

 have remained undisturbed since the deposit of drift and boulders, 

 we have seen them making their appearance in beds of gravel 

 and field stones, when a new face has been given to the bank. If 

 these groups did not extend north, and did they not once consti- 

 tute the great field for the fiow oi rivers, how shall we account 

 for such immense quantities of the primary rocks in the form of 

 sand and drift, transported south of the two great intervening 

 valleys ? and how shall we account also for an indiscriminate 

 commingling of the drift and clays of the aqueous rocks with 

 those from that remote distance. We have seen in the vicinity 

 of Schuyler's lake, piles made up of primary and secondary dritt 

 with limestones imbedded in them, as unworn as you would see 

 them fresh in the quarry. During the time when the Onandaga 

 limestones formed the surface rock, we have no doubt the groves 

 and scratches were made on the surface of the parts that now 

 remain. 



We have given our views of the changes of matter as it 

 regards place and combination. When we come to treat upon the 

 excavation of river valleys, we shall be enabled to call the atten- 

 tion to changes that become apparent from a mere inspection. 

 W^e have dill'ered in opinion from many others in the foregoing 

 remarks, we may also differ in continuation of the subject. Jn so 

 doing we may have entertained erroneous views upon the subject; 

 if so, they are not of a dangerous character, as those who com- 

 prehend our ideas, will more fully comprehend the things about 

 which we have written, should their attention be turned in that 

 direction, and then they can judge for themselves. We have, 

 however, given our opinion in candor, and after a mature delibera- 

 tion, and our chief object has been to call the attention of the 

 " tillers of the ground," to a subject that daily falls under their 

 obsei-vation. 



Our next subject will be the excavation of river valleys, the 

 formation of hills, and the deposit of the surface soil. 



According to Herschell, the rays of light of the remotest nebulae, 

 must have been about two millions of years on their way to the 

 earth. 



