AMERICAN GEOLOGY MACLUREAN ERA, 1785-1819. 209 



There are several brief papers of a mineralogical nature of an earlier 

 date than SchSpf's. which may be mentioned. Thus, in the Memoirs 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 1785 are to be 

 found the following titles: 



Papers in Memoirs of ,. i ^-i . -, -. <■• 



American Academy, All AcCOUllt of the Oilstone found at SallsblllW, DV 



1 785 



Samuel Webster; Yellow and Red Pigment, An account 

 of, Found at Norton, by Samuel Deane; An Account of Several Strata 

 of Earth and Shells on the Banks of the York River, Virginia, by 

 Benjamin Lincoln; and Fossil Substance containing Vitriol and Sul- 

 phur. An Account of large quantities of, found at Lebanon, New 

 Hampshire, by Jeremy Belknap. 



Of more importance are two papers by David Jones and Caleb Alex- 

 ander regarding the sifpposed volcanic nature of West River Mountain 

 in Connecticut. Jones described in some detail the appearance of the 

 mountain and the efforts of the natives, or peasants, 

 conSectfcut 0,can ° ,n »* he called them, to discover thereon the gold which 

 they imagined had been melted down to a solid body 

 by the extreme heat of the eruption. The rock comprising the moun- 

 tain was described as in many places much burned, softened, and 

 dissolved by heat, with cinders and melted drops adhering and hanging 

 down like small icicles, somewhat resembling in color the cinders of a 

 furnace or black glass. While convinced that there had been volcanic 

 explosions in the mountain, he regarded such as having taken place at 

 least fifty years earlier, while the volcano itself, he thought, could 

 not have been active perhaps "within the present nor past century." 



Alexander wrote much more confidently: 



Once in winter there was an eruption. The years when the preceding eruptions 

 happened I can not inform; the last was twenty-seven years since, winch was the 

 most violent eruption ever known in that place. It was toward the close of a dark 

 evening when it was first perceived, being preceded by a louder noise than common; 

 then directly was seen the fire, which was seen to burn for several hours. 



After describing in some detail the appearance of the rock in the 

 immediate vicinity of the spot from which the fire was supposed to 

 have issued, Alexander went on to say: 



I am not able to determine whether there be anything of a sulphurous nature on 

 this mountain, but this I dare affirm, that there have been several eruptions, but 

 whether it may with propriety be called a volcano I know not. This determination 

 is submitted to the judgment of gentlemen more acquainted with the nature of vol- 

 canoes than I can pretend to be. 



In view of the definite nature of these statements, it may be well to 

 anticipate, and to state here that iii 1810 Col. George Gibbs visited 

 the mountain, attracted by the published reports, and made known 

 the results of his observations in Bruce's Mineralogical Journal. He 

 found no trace whatever of any eruption nor other signs of volcanic 

 activity, the " lava " reported proving to be hematite, an oxide of iron. 



NAT mus 1904 14 



