102 BULLETIN OP THE 



of granite, gneiss, and mioa-slate rocks. None of the rocks 

 usually called volcanic rocks have been discovered there. 



From the 10th of February to the 19th of March, the day of 

 his visit, there had been about seventy-five shocks, some occurring 

 while he was there. The noises began with an explosion like a 

 blast, followed by a rumbling sound lasting only a few seconds : 

 the shocks were simultaneous, or almost so, with the reports, and 

 seemed to follow the dii-ection of the rumbling sound, with the 

 exception that observers near the top of the mountain assert they 

 appear to be under and all around them ; that the reports all came 

 from Stone and Bald Mountain ridge ; those living on the east 

 side pointing to the west, and those on the west pointing to the 

 east for the direction of the sounds: that the effects were felt five 

 miles on each side of the mountain ridge. In all these convul- 

 sions of the mountain the concurrent testimony is, that the sounds 

 and shocks were either simultaneous or nearly so. 



Following the preceding paper, Mr. J. W. Powell stated that 

 he desired to repeat a statement previously made by himself, viz., 

 that the generally accepted rule that volcanic action is peculiar 

 to the neighborhood of the sea, rests on very limited data, and 

 that if we consider the geological epoch immediately preceding 

 the present, we find such action well developed in regions far dis- 

 tant from the ocean, as in western America. 



Mr. C. E. Button remarked that volcanic action is especially 

 remarkable in localities that have been the scene of the shifting 

 of sedimentary deposits. 



Mr. Cleveland Abbe called attention to the observations of 

 Professor Niles, at Monson, Mass., as affording possibly a me- 

 chanical explanation of the phenomena in North Carolina. 



Mr. W. Harkness made a communication 



ON THE APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE OBSERVATIONS OF THE 

 APPROACHING TRANSIT OP VENUS. 



This paper was illustrated by transparent photographs exhib- 

 ited by means of the calcium light. 



