CHAPTER VI. 



Volcaniclc Agency. Very frequent are the instances 

 in which we hear of whole districts, in this country, 

 that are supposed to have been subjected to the opera- 

 tions of subterranean fires, if not actually produced by 

 them: and frequently we hear of masses of mineral 

 substances being found, which are said to bear the un- 

 equivocal marks of having been produced by intense 

 heat. Hence the conclusion, that they have been 

 ejected from some, now extinct, volcano. 



Among the many of this description, is that of the 

 West River Mountain, (Conn.) which is represented, 

 in the Annals of the American Academy, as well as in 

 an American Geography, as being volcanick ; and from 

 this place specimens have been preserved as the sup- 

 posed lava of this extinct volcano ; but which on ex- 

 amination, have proved to be nothing more than he- 

 rn atitic iron ore.* 



This account was, probably, recorded at a period 

 when much less was known, in this country, of mine- 

 ral substances, than at the present time ; and particu- 

 larly of volcanoes and their products. Hence, the 



* See Bruce's Mineralogical Journal, page 19. 



