118 



Bituminization of Wood. 



I carefully examined the track of this tornado for nearly five 

 miles ; that is, from Middlebnsh to New Brunswick, and thence 

 onward on the opposite side of the river, and I must confess, that 

 I was greatly surprised when I saw it subsequently stated that 

 there was here no evidence of a whirling motion, but that the 

 " violence of the wind was produced by two currents making to- 

 wards each other, and having at the same time an onward mo- 

 tion." I am constrained to believe that had the facts been care- 

 fully examined without reference to a previously adopted theory, 

 such an inference would never have been drawn from them. 



Art. XV. — Account of the Bituminization of Wood iti the human 

 era, in a letter to Prof Silliman, from Prof Wm. Carpenter. 



Jackson College, Louisiana, Dec. 18, 1838. 



Dear Sir, — In my last letter to you,* I mentioned a deposit of 

 bituminized wood at Port Hudson in this parish. At that time I 

 had examined the locality only, for a few minutes, and was mis- 

 led by appearances, as regards the extent of the deposit, and its 

 position relative to the bluff formation. I did not think at that 

 time, that the beds of bituminized wood extended under the beds 

 of the bluff formation, as I have ascertained is the case ; nor did 

 I think they were the ruins of extensive forests, as they undoubt- 

 edly are. 



Figure 1. 



Figure 1, is intended to represent the bluff on which the village 

 of Port Hudson is situated. At the bottom of the bluff, and near 



* Vol. 35, jj. 344. 



