252 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



His views regarding- the formation of eaves in limestone were prim- 

 itive and highly interesting: 



When the waters of the ocean retired, the calcareous cement which now holds the 

 shelly together was in a state of soft paste. * * * After the waters retired the 

 parts exposed to the sun's rays hegan to harden, contract, and crack into blocks. 

 In some parts of the Heldeberg these blocks are of great extent, but I have seen 

 acres of it where the stratum is very thin, checkered up into blocks from 2 to 10 feet 

 square. Where the stratum is very thick and the fissures very long, large caverns 

 were frequently formed, for the upper surface of the stratum was soon dried and 

 indurated, while the whole remained soft a long time a few feet below the surface. 

 If a stream of water happened to flow in the vicinity of the fissure, it would prob- 

 ably make its way into it and soon wash away the loose shells beneath the surface, 

 which were merely enveloped in soft calcareous paste. 



And further: 



I have examined four of the largest caverns in the Heldeberg, and they all still 

 exhibit conclusive evidence of their having been once in the state of mere fissures, 

 and streams of water still traverse them all. 



The majority of readers of to-day need scarcety be told that these 

 limestone caves are formed wholly by a process of solution, by surface 

 waters acting upon the strata only after they had reached, essentially, 

 their present position and condition of induration. The streams of 

 water which are found traversing the caves are incidental and conse- 

 quent rather than causative. 



His views on the formation of stalactitic iron ore, as exemplified in 

 the Salisbury mine, are equally interesting. The ore, he believed to 

 have been at one time specular iron imbedded in the talco-micaceous 

 rock, and deposited in its present form from a state of fusion as recent 

 as the time when the "Alluvion'''' was formed. 



These stalactites are always suspended from masses intermixed with the soil in 

 such a manner that it is evident the iron was in a state of fusion when in contact 

 with it. The foot, which still adheres to all stalactitic specimens, proves that the 

 heat was continued after the ore was confined in its present state. If it was ever 

 fused down from any rock, it must have been the same out of which the alluvion 

 embracing it was formed. The cause producing such a high heat I shall not attempt 

 to assign; but that the ore exhibits sufficient evidence of its having been recently 

 fused, I believe no one can question who has ever inspected it in place. 



The reader of to-day need here also scarcely be told that all the 

 peculiarities thus described were due not to heat, but to deposition 

 from solution. 



His views regarding man}- phenomena were, naturally, largely a 

 reflection of those held by European authorities. In fact, one of the 

 most striking features which impresses itself upon the reader of these 

 early works is the attempt manifested by all to correlate the various 

 formations, not of America alone, but American with European, on 

 purely lithological grounds. If a specimen of sandstone, schist, or 

 whatever it might be, resembled another from a different source, no 

 matter how distant, this was considered evidence of its belonging to 



