24 CLINTON'S 



particularly in the western parts of the state, embedded in sand stone 01 

 in siliceous or ealcarious stone ; and, besides evidently recognising in them 

 aquatic animals which are well known to us ; we perceive a great number 

 of liuktiown ones that must be pelasgian or oceanic, and which must have 

 derived their location i'rora the general submersion of the earth. The 

 cornu ammonis has been found near Albany, about which there is a diver- 

 sity of opinion ; same supposing that it is the horn or bone of some ani- 

 mal ; while others consider it a native fossil. (8). Ail these indications 

 support the neptunian theory ; but there are several circumstances which 

 denote the agency of an igneous principle. Volney, indeed, supposes 

 that lake Ontario occupies the crater of a volcano ; and it is believed 

 that the drowned lands in Orange county exhibit, in many places, strong 

 evidences of voicatiic eruptions. 



Our principal metals are iron and lead ; of inflammable fossils we have 

 made no discoveries of any consequence; although there is, no doubt, 

 plenty of coal. Lime, marble, marl, flint, gypsum, slate for building, 

 clays for manufacturing, and ochres of various kinds have been discovered 

 in jr/fiat quantities. Salt springs exist in Ououdaga, Cayuga, Seneca, 

 Ontario, and Gi-'nesee counties ; and there is reason to believe that vast 

 strati of fossil salt, commencing at Onondaga as the most easterly point, 

 ni;: west through this state, the back pait of Pennsylvania and Virginia ; 

 and the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee ; pass under the bed of 

 .a, Mississippi river, and finally may be traced in the remotest wilds of 

 Louisiana. A bed of gypsum begins in the town of'Sullivan, in Madison 

 county, and branches in a western direction ; it is very wide, and its 

 depth has not been ascertained : it appears in several places in the towns 

 of SemprOiiius, Minlius, and Camillas ; but its main body seems to pass 

 through Aurelius, and near the outlets of the Cayugi and Sen :ca lakes 

 and Phelps town, in Ontario county ; and, finally, it is visible at Grand 

 lli'-er in Upper Canada. (9) The value of these saline and earthly sub- 

 stances is incalculable : several millions of bushels of salt can be easily 

 made in this .state ; and three millions are imported in ordinary times. 

 Gypsum formerly came to us in small quantities from France, and our 

 supplies have been derived, for a long time from Nova Scotia. It has 

 created a new era in agriculture : under its influence the wilderness and 

 the solitary place become glad, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as 

 the rose. We have not only a sufficient quantity for our own use, but 

 we now accommodate Pennsylvania with from ten thousand to fifteen 

 thousand tons of this invaluable manure. The state would have been in 

 a truly enviable situation, if correspondent discoveries of coal mines had 1 

 been made ; and the recent refusal of the legislature to promote this im- 

 portant object is seriously to be regretted. 



The medicinal and mineral springs with which this state abounds are 

 deserving of further investigation. The springs in Saratoga county arc 



