49 



Chase ; 8. A. Green of Boston ; Tennessee State Library ; 

 N. J. Lord ; H. F. Shepard ; Henry B. Jocelyn ; Mrs. N. 

 D. Cole ; C. Foote ; James B. Curwen. 



To the Cabinets from Charles ET. Buffum ; George Har- 

 rington ; Samuel V. Shreve ; Mrs. N. D. Cole; Henry E. 

 Jocelyn. 



Letters were read from John C. Holmes of Lansing, 

 Mich. ; M. Miles of Lansing, Mich. ; S. A. Green, Librarian 

 of State Library of Tennessee ; C. B. Richardson of New 

 York. 



The following communication from S. S. Mackenzie, of 

 Topsfield, was read by the Secretary. 



THE LOCAL GEOLOGY OF TOPSFIELD. 



In speaking of this, the numerous hills, as being the most 

 prominent objects, deserve first to be noticed. The most 

 southerly of these, called, from the present owner, Pingree's 

 Hill, begins near Nichols' Brook, so called, and rising grad- 

 ually, attains its highest elevation at what was formerly 

 known as Estey's Hill, from which it declines southeasterly 

 in the same easy slope, till it is lost in the Wenham meadows. 

 This might be called a series of hills, rather than one ; the 

 whole elevation consists of swells or ridges, like waves of the 

 ocean rolling in from the northeast ; and these ridges con- 

 tinue all the way from Ipswich River to the town of Danvers, 

 with a constant range from north-west to southeast. Pin- 

 gree's Hill, the highest ridge, is about 200 feet above the 

 river-bed, and not far from two miles long. 



Next, on the northerly side of the river, and in the wes- 

 tern portion of the town, we have Lake's Hill. It is so 

 named on the County Map; but many prefer to call it 

 Gould's Hill. Indeed, families of both names have occupied 

 it nearly two centuries. For still another name, the older 

 inhabitants recognize it as " Billingsgate Hill." This is also 

 formed of swelling ridges, still ranging N. W. & S. E., with 

 a rather abrupt termination at the northwesterly extremity. 

 Its whole length is about a mile, the noted Treadwell Farm 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. iii. 7. 



