324 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



monly received opinion, that all coal resulted from vegetable matter, 

 he took exception, and thought that some beds "may have been the 

 result of outpourings of bituminous matter. 1 '' The wide geographical 

 distribution of Carboniferous rocks west of the Appalachians and in the 

 Mississippi Valley was noted, and a section given comprising 1,520 

 vertical feet of these rocks and overlying snale and millstone grit, at 

 Burkesville, Kentucky. 



Passing to the specific part of the work, Featherstonhaugh discussed 

 the occurren2e of the lead ore (galena), its distribution in loose 

 pieces in the soil, and its relation to the vein material in the solid 

 rock, but the fact that this superficial layer was but the detritus from 

 the decomposition of the underlying rock does not seem to have been 

 realized more than by his predecessors. He remarked, however, that 

 the disseminated granules in the limestone, as at Isie La Motte, fur- 

 nished to the eye "sufficient proof that the stony and metallic matter 

 were deposited at the same time.' 1 an idea not altogether different from 

 that held to-da}'. Further on he noted the occurrence of the ore in 

 pockets or cavities filled with red clay as pointing "to a projection of 

 this metallic or mineral matter from below." 



He described the hematite deposit of Pilot Knob, Missouri, and 

 correctly noted the improbability of finding precious metals in Arkan- 

 sas in paying quantities. Magnet Cove he regarded as having been 

 perhaps "one of those extremely ancient craters that may ha ve pre- 

 ceded those of which basalt and lava are the products." 



Although Featherstonhaugh's standing with his fellow-geologists 

 does not seem to have been the best, some of his recorded observations 

 certainly show a more philosophical mind and greater ability to grasp 

 the broader problems of geology than do those of many of his contem- 

 poraries. Thus, discussing the muddy character of the Mississippi, 

 he suggested that experiments might be conducted to show the amount 

 of sediment annually brought down, whereby we might approximately 

 assign a chronological period for the origin of the river, the com- 

 mencement of the alluvial deposits, and the withdrawal of the ocean. 

 This, so far as the present writer is aware, is the first suggestion of 

 its kind to be made. 



Commenting on the fact announced by him in 1828 and since con- 

 firmed, that, with the exception of the Tertiary and sub Cretaceous 

 beds of the coast, no rocks more recent than the coal-bearing series 

 had been found in the United States, he suggested that the American 

 continent might in reality be older than the European. This also is 

 the first suggestion of its kind to be found in our literature. 



The report was accompanied by a colored geological section extend- 

 ing from the Atlantic at New Jersey to the Red River in Texas. On 

 fids all New Jersey and Delaware as far as Chesapeake Bay were col- 

 ored as occupied by superficial sand and sub-Cretaceous beds; Mary- 



