222 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1004. 



In this same year S. Godon published in the Memoirs of the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and Sciences a paper of twenty-seven pages on 

 Mineralogical Observations made in the environs of Boston in 1807 



and 1808. 



(melon's . 



Mineraiogicai As customary at that time, rocks and minerals were 



bunched together quite indiscriminately. He divided 

 his minerals into two general groups, (1) Simple minerals and (2) 

 Aggregate minerals. The simple minerals were then divided into 

 Acidiferous substances (under which was placed carbonate of lime!), 

 Earthy substances, Combustible substances, and Metallic substances. 

 The aggregate minerals were classed under Primordial soil and Alluvial 

 deposits. Under the first mentioned (Primordial soil) were placed all 

 the primary and consolidated sedimentary rocks of the region. The 

 nomenclature adopted, though somewhat cumbersome and awkward, 

 was not more so than others since devised, the name of any rock being 

 formed by adding the termination oid to that of the most characteris- 

 tic mineral. Thus am/phiboloid, feldsparoid, a/rgilloid were the names 

 of rocks in which amphibole, feldspar, or clay formed the chief con- 

 stituent. The rhyolites (quartz porphyries and felsites) of the region 

 were classed as simple petrosilex and compound petrosilex and the 

 Dorchester conglomerate as wacke. 



The paper offers a striking evidence of the lack of knowledge of the 

 composition of rocks and of chemical methods at that date. Thus an 

 attempt was made at analyzing the " argilloid' 1 by reducing 100 parts 

 to a " subtile" powder and mixing it with an equal part of concentrated 

 sulphuric acid. After standing fifteen days the solid portion remain- 

 ing was removed from the solution (method not stated), washed, and 

 weighed, whereby it w T as found that 85 per cent remained. The solu- 

 tion was allowed to evaporate to dryness, and from the precipitated 

 sulphate of lime thus obtained it was calculated that 5.5 parts out of 

 the 15 parts soluble were of lime. Alumina and iron were determined 

 by precipitation by ammonia — 6.75 parts obtained. The liquid remain- 

 ing from the alumina-iron filtrate was then dried and heated till the 

 ammonia was driven off, the substance left dissolved in water and 

 allowed to crystallize, producing an admixture of kW well characterized 

 sulphate of potash and sulphate of soda." " This analysis, 11 while con- 

 fessedly not of great accuracy, he wrote, " is sufficient to establish the 

 important fact of the existence of potash and soda as elements in some 

 rocks in this part of the world." Truly an important discovery! 



In the same memoirs and this same year Prof. Parker Cleaveland, of 

 Bowdoin College, perhaps all unintentionally, started the controversy 

 relative to Glacial and post-Glacial uplift and depression by announ- 

 cing the finding of fossil shells belonging to genera still living in 

 deposits of sand and clay well above sea level at Brunswick, Maine. 



