ONONDAGA SALT GROUP. M8 



inches in diameter. Frequently six of the hoppers are joined by their apex, so as to pre- 

 sent the skeleton of a cube, as may be seen by reference to No. 2 ; showing that all of 

 them were not formed at the top of a liquid surface or water, but that they were the result 

 of the desiccation of the mass in which they occur, the point of union being the point from 

 whence the crystaUization of their particles commenced. Should such have been the case, it 

 is a fact of some consequence, being highly favorable to the existence of rock salt in this 

 deposit. To these hopper cavities we shall again advert in another part of the report, merely 

 stating that they are found in the gypseous shale or marl ; in its more solid and slaty parts, 

 and in the vermicular rock, between what we have considered to be the two ranges or series 

 of plaster masses in the three counties. 



Fossils are extremely rare in the whole of the group, having been found but in three or four 

 localities, and at each one they were few in number. From the experiments of M. Beudant 

 of Paris, that testaceous bodies cannot live in water saturated with gypsum, the inference 

 might be, that such, with a few exceptions, was the condition of the water which deposited 

 the materials of this group. 



The whole of the gypsum in Madison county is confined to the towns of Lenox and Sullivan, 

 with the exception of a small portion of the northeast of Smithficld, and a like small portion 

 of the northwest of New-Stockbridge. In Lenox and Sullivan, the northern line of the plaster 

 is near the turnpike road. Every quarry that was heard of, was noted in the report of 1839. 

 A few only will be mentioned, so as to give an idea of their contents and the maimer of 

 arrangement to those unacquainted with that report. 



Bull's quarry, to the right of the road from Sullivan to Clockville, is one of the most 

 interest, though not of pecuniary value, from the thickness of the masses, which rest upon 

 the plaster, all which must be removed before the gypsum can be taken out. Such quarries, 

 therefore, are not so valuable as those where the gypsum is nearer to the surface. Were the 

 overlying masses of the gypsum more solid, this mineral could be extracted in the ordinary 

 mode of mining, but they appear to be generally too friable to admit of it. The annexed 

 wood-cut. No. 19, represents a vertical section of this quarry . 



19. 



No. 1 consists of thin layers of a dark brovraish color, somewhat hard ; the letter G, two 

 masses of gypsum. Here the part which encloses the gypsum shows that disposition so 



