Geological Reports on the State of New York. 23 



Report by E. Emmons, of the Second Geological District. 



The county of St. Lawrence is 2,717 miles square — larger by 

 1,000 miles, than any other county in the State ; shape triangu- 

 lar — the line on the St. Lawrence being 65 miles long. The 

 observations on the soils of this district, scarcely admit of abbre- 

 viation ; this is justly treated as an important topic in the various 

 reports. The account of the primitive and other rocks contains 

 many curious and interesting facts, which are illustrated by good 

 wood cuts. 



Granite occurs in three modes. 1. In large irregular beds, or 

 protruded masses. 2. In veins branching irregularly into the ad- 

 jacent rock. 3. In overlying masses, analogous to overflowing 

 lava currents or greenstone. This statement is in accordance with 

 the facts now ascertained to be so numerous in other countries, 

 containing granite, and it appears impossible to explain them 

 without admitting the igneous origin of the rock. 



Limestone has not been admitted into that family of rocks, al- 

 though it is conceded that it has often been greatly altered by fire 

 — altered in situ, even to the obliteration of organic remains and 

 the production of a crystalline structure, while the carbonic acid 

 has been retained by the pressure of superincumbent masses. 

 The famous experiments of Sir James Hall, especially on the fu- 

 sion of carbonate of lime under great pressure, without losing its 

 carbonic acid, are still very precious to the theory of the igneous 

 origin of many rocks and even of hmestone itself. We can easi- 

 ly imagine what exultation would have been produced in the 

 minds of Hutton, Hall, Playfair, and the other eminent advocates 

 of great igneous action in the interior of this planet, could they 

 have known such facts as Mr. Emmons has presented to us re- 

 specting limestone. 



He is evidently of the opinion, that this rock is not always of 

 aqueous origin and stratified, but that it has been melted and in- 

 jected in the manner of the igneous rocks. Granting this to have 

 been true, it does not of course follow, that it was not, at least in 

 various cases, of aqueous origin, for fire may melt and inject such 

 a rock as well as any other, and where there are organized re- 

 mains, water must of course have been the agent of deposition. 



Among the facts as to the position of limestone, the following 

 are remarkable. At Holesborough, the limestone, 20 feet wide 

 traverses a bed of sienitic granite east and west j it is also beneath 



