12 



In these wonderful transformation?!, however, there is surely 

 one thing the chemist can learn; and that is, a lesson of humiiity. 

 While he is ahle, by putting- in requisition all the rt^sources of 

 his art, to produce scarcely one of the simplest vegetable princi- 

 ples, twenty or thirty of these are annually form»^d in every phnt. 



By the science of geology we are made acquainted with the na- 

 ture of the rocks that constitute the great mass of our globe. 

 Now it is a well established fnct, that soils are nothing more ti an 

 rocks worn down or decomposed, and mixed with animal and 

 vegetable maUer. Hence, in most cases, the natuie of a soil 

 is determined by the nature of the rock beneath it. For in- 

 stance, the soil along the Connecticut is in many places, of a 

 reddish hiie ; because that i^ the' colour of the rock beneath it. 

 Not unfrequently, however, the materials that are worn away 

 from one rock, are transportod a considerable di-tance, and min- 

 gled wiih those from other rocks ; and thus a soil is formed ex- 

 tremely Compound in its characters. 



From this view of the subject it appears that we may expect to 

 find as many different soils as there are different rocks ; and even 

 more. All rocks, however, may be arranged into a few classes ; 

 and the soils resulting from the rocks of a class, will bear a gene- 

 ral resemblance. The oldest and most enduring rocks, such as 

 granite, constitute what is called the primary class ; and the soils 

 proceeding from their decomposition, may receive a similar de- 

 signation. Nearly the whole of iVew England, except the valley 

 oi the Connecticut, is made up of primary rocks; and this same 

 class of rocks extends in a southwesterly direction, gradually de- 

 creasing in width, through N. York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North 

 and South Carolina, and Georgia. All the towns in the old coun- 

 ty of H;^mpshire, not situated in the valley of the Connecticut, 

 are based on rocks of this class; accordingly we find in them all, 

 a general resemblance of soil. The second class of rocks is call- 

 ed secondary ; being newer, and generally less hard and enduring. 

 The valley in which we are situated, extending from New-Ha- 

 Ten to the south line of Vermont, is of this description. Two of 

 the most important members of this class are here abundant; 

 viz. the old red sandstone — whose very name describes it. — and 



