AMERICAN GEOLOGY DECADE OF 1850-1859. 448 



;iiid in a single instance lie indulged in ;i little speculation regarding 

 the origin of the ore: 



The appearances seem n<> less to indicate the origin of the mineral and the accom- 

 panying ores from beneath, probably from the primary rocks underlying the lowest 



secondary; and that they rose in such a condition that they were diffused through 

 ;i certain definite extent of the materials of the rocks, and then segregated in their 

 present form, and this along certain lines which have determined their arrangement. 



April 8, 1854, D. D. Owen was appointed State geologist of Ken- 

 tucky, a position which he continued to till until the time of his death 

 in I860. During this time there were issued four large octavo reports, 

 comprising, all told, upward of 2,000 pages, with 



Owen's Geological , „ „ 



survey of Kentucky, sections, maps, and plates of fossils. Owen was 

 assisted at first by Dr. Robert Peter, chemist, and 

 Sidney T. Lyon, topographer; later, Leo Lesquereux, paleobotanist. 

 E. T. Cox, geologist, and Joseph Lesley, topographer, were added to 

 the force. 



Owen divided the formations of the State as follows, beginning 

 with the uppermost: (1) Superficial deposits, ('2) the Coal Measures, 

 (3) sub-Carboniferous limestone, (4) Black lingula shales, (5) Gray 

 coraline falls limestone, (6) the Chain coral and Upper Cliff limestone, 

 and (7) the Blue, Shell, and Bird's-eye limestone, the last named being 

 the most ancient of any yet found within the State limits. 



As with a majority of Owen's works, these reports are given up 

 largely to economic matters, to descriptions of the coal, iron ores, 

 building stones, and other useful minerals. 



A local epidemic of milk sickness in cattle was examined into in 

 considerable detail by Owen, who concluded that the disease was 

 '•intimately connected with the geological formation, 11 and probably 

 due to the presence of soluble salts of aluminum, iron, and magnesia, 

 produced in the shales by the decomposition of iron pyrites. He 

 showed an amusing tendency to magnify the importance of minor 

 matters in suggesting that the animals at pasture may have become 

 weakened and peculiarly susceptible to disease through breathing, 

 while feeding with the nostrils close to the ground, an atmosphere 

 deficient in oxygen, the abstraction of this element being due to the 

 oxidation of the pyrite in the surface rock. 



Concerning the roe or oolitic structure of the sub-Carboniferous 

 limestone, he wrote, the structure "seems to have been formed in 

 eddies where the water circled round in spiral or funnel-shaped cur- 

 rents which kept particles of line sand revolving in such a manner 

 that they acquired concentric calcareous coatings, until, having attained 

 the size of fish roe, their gravity was sufficient to overcome the power 

 of suspension of the rotary currents, when they sunk to the bottom. 11 

 In consideration of the fact that this oolitic structure is now known 



