SYNCLINALS. 255 



The above synclinal seems, for the most part, to follow the somewhat crooked course of 

 the talcose and associated schists, along the east side of the Green Mountains. Passing 

 westerly across the principal crest of the mountain, we find in the same rocks a similar 

 syniclinal, which follows the west base of the mountains, probably through the whole of 

 New England. It seems as if the schists were not only crumpled together, but pressed 

 down by the lateral thrust of the mountains towards the west. The synclinal is most 

 distinct on the northern sections, as in Berkshire on Section XIII ; in Montgomery on 

 Section XII ; in Cambridge on Section XI ; in Jericho and Underlain on Section X a ; in 

 Huntington with inverted dips, on Section X ; in Richmond on Section IX ; in Ripton 

 and Middlebury with inverted and irregular dip, on Section VIII ; the same on Section 

 VII, between Brandon and Goshen ; and on Section VI, between Rutland and Mendon ; 

 between Tinmouth and Wallingford on Section V, it is more distinct ; so also in East 

 Dorset, on Section IV, and in Sunderland, on Section III. On the other two sections it is 

 obscure, or rather it is with difficulty traced out on account of the great amount of detritus. 

 But on the Massachusetts Section there seems to be a quite distinct synclinal on Saddle 

 Mountain. We doubt, however, whether it belongs to the synclinal we have been tracing 

 southerly. Still we believe in the continuance of this synclinal all along the west base of 

 the Green Mountains, across Massachusetts. It has always seemed to us as if the rocks 

 had been crowded harder against one another in the vicinity of Saddle Mountain than 

 almost anywhere else ; so that the synclinal we have described is crowded into very 

 narrow limits between Saddle and Hoosac Mountains. 



Saddle Mountain and its vicinity are a region of perhaps more difficulty to unravel 

 than any other place west of the Green Mountains. We have been there often, and 

 Prof. Emmons has lived there, and no doubt studied the position of the rocks with great 

 care. Our Massachusetts Section conforms essentially to his views. This represents an 

 enormous thickness of talcoid schists, forming a synclinal trough, above white crystalline 

 limestone. If we go north as far as Bennington, we find a similar arrangement ; that is, 

 talcoid schist overlying Eolian limestone, with a westerly dip, on the east side of Mount 

 Anthony, and a slightly eastern dip on the other side as shown on Section II. The same 

 thing is seen in Arlington on Section III ; though the limestone lies much lower, as we 

 see in passing down the Battenkill through the Taconic range. Further north, in Man- 

 chester, Equinox Mountain presents the same phenomena, and here the limestone rises 

 much higher. But the most complete development of the limestone occurs in Mt. Eolus, 

 in Dorset, as seen on Section IV, where the cap of talcoid schist is comparatively thin ; 

 but it forms an open synclinal, as it does on Dauby Mountain, a few miles north. On 

 Section V, between Wallingford and Tinmouth, a synclinal is seen, but its exact character 

 has not been traced out. In Rutland on Section VI, we have the same rocks, but the dips 

 are all easterly, and the great body of talcoid schist lies beneath the limestone. May not 

 this be an inverted anticlinal formed out of the synclinal? For if the sides of a synclinal 

 be closely pressed together, so as to make the strata parallel, and then the whole be 

 thrown over, and the curves all denuded, we could not easily distinguish a synclinal from 

 an inverted anticlinal. We fancy that something of this sort may have thus changed the 

 synclinal we have been describing, as we go north of Mt. Eolus, so that on Section VI. in 

 Rutland, on Section VII. in Sudbury, and Section IX. in Essex, we might describe these 



