346 ORGANIC BODIES OP THE ORIGINAL 



specimen was broke from the quarry, the stone exhibits 

 a pecten and a terebratula, and an univalve shell resem- 

 bling a turbo. 



The fountain of sulphuretted water at Clifton, about 

 eleven miles northwest of Geneva, in the county of On- 

 tario, rises from a rocky stratum filled with organic re- 

 mains. These are mostly madrepores of singular and 

 fantastic forms, differing from any at present found fresh 

 and growing in the ocean. The limestone is of the fetid 

 kind (lapis suillus), and abounds with sulphur and hy- 

 drogen. These sometimes escape together, and are some- 

 times extricated in their separate states. When they ac- 

 company each other, they make sulphuretted hydrogenous 

 gas. When there is no brimstone, the inflammable air 

 rises without it, producing burning springs ; and when 

 there is no hydrogen, the sulphur often oozes out and 

 trickles down without it. Both are probably derived 

 from the abundant animal matter with which the rock 

 abounds. 



Shells and impressions of scallops in the calcarious 

 rocks around Sacket's Harbour and in the country ad- 

 jacent to the Black river. The slab of marble broiight 

 by Major-General Brown, is one of the first-rate speci- 

 mens of pectinite, wherein both the shells and the im- 

 pressions are distinguished. The forms are plain and 

 admirably traced. They differ from the species now 

 found on our shores in a living condition, and, indeed, 

 from every thing I have seen in the cabinets and the 

 books. It is not improbable their race is extinct. 



Orthocerites of large size, so as to be reckoned by 

 some to be the back bones and ribs of sturgeons, are fre- 

 quent in the calcarious rocks around Sackett's Harbour. 



