140 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



[1853, 



mine 520 feet alove the same, A short distance east of the mine the 

 Green ilountains rise rapidly. 



At this spot we find the following varieties of substances in juxta- 

 position : — 



1. Beautiful kaolin and clays coloured yellow by ochre, rose-colour 

 by manganese, ( V ) and dark by carbon. 



2. Brown liematite and yellow ochre. 



3. Ores of manganese. 



4. Brown coal. 



5. Beds of gravel connected with the clays. 



6. Drift, overlying the whole. 



7. TeUowish limestone, underlying the whole. 



The position of the clays it is difficult to determine exactly, as there 

 seems to have been a good deal of disturbauce of the strata, perhaps 

 only the result of slides. The iron is generally found beneath the 

 clay, as is also the manganese. The coal in a few places shows itself 

 at the surface. In one spot a shaft has been camea through it, only a 

 few feet below the surface, and the same has been done to the same 

 bed nearly lOH feet below the surface. In both places it is about twenty 

 feet thick. I found it to be the conviction ot the miners that this mass 

 of coal forms a square column of that thickness, descending almost 

 perpendicularly into the earth, iu the midst of the clay. My own im- 

 pression was, that it is a portion of an extensive bed, having a dip 

 very large towards the north-west ; perhaps separated from other por- 

 tions of the bed by some disturbance of the strata. But I found gi'eat 

 difficulty in tracing out its exact position. 



It ought to be mentioned that no imstratiiied or igneous rocks are 

 known to exist in the vicinity of these deposits ; nor do they exhibit 

 any marks of the metamorphic action of heat 



II. Coal, Lignite, and Fossil Fruits. 



The greater part of the carbon of this deposit is in a condition inter- 

 mediate between that of peat and biuminous coal. It is of a deep brown 

 colour, and nearly every trace of organic structure, save iu the lignite 

 and the fruits, is obliterated. Disseminated through it are numerous 

 angular veins, mostly of white quartz, rarely exceeding a pea in size. 

 It burns with great facility with a moderate draught, and emits a bright 

 yellow flame, but without bituminous odour. After the flame has sub- 

 sided, the ignited coals consume away, leaving, of course, a quantity of 

 ashes. It is employed to gi'eat advantage in driving the steam-engine 

 at the works ; and I should thiuk it might be used advantageously 

 for fuel in a region where wood is scarce, which is not the case at 

 Brandon. 



Interspersed through the carbonaceous mass above described, occur 

 numerous masses of lignite. In all cases which have fallen under my 

 observation, they are broken portions of the stems or branches of shrubs 

 and trees, varying in size from that of a few lines to a foot and a half 

 in diameter. They all appear to me to have been drift-wood. The 

 largest mass which I have seen, and to which I have already referred 

 as sent me by Mr. Howe, resembles exceedingly a battered piece of 

 flood-wood ; which led Mr. Howe humourously to inscribe upon the 

 box in which it was sent, "A piece ofjlood-woodfrom Noah's Ark." 



This lignite in all cases retains and exhibits upon a fresh fracture its 

 organic structure ; yet generally it is quite brittle, and when broken 

 across the fibres it has the aspect of very compact coal, which admits 

 of a good polish. In some specimens the original toughness of the 

 wood is not quite lost, and the aspect of the wood remains. 



The large mass of which I have already spoken as now in the cabinet 

 of Amherst College, is four feet long and si.xteen inches iu its largest 

 diameter. It is considerably flattened, but seems to have been so 

 originally. In the peaty luatter that adheres to it I noticed several 

 Bpecimens of fruit, and more than one species. 



With perhaps one or two exceptions, all the lignite of this deposit 

 belongs to the exogenous or dicotyledonous class of plants. In general 

 the texture is close, and some of the wood is very fine-gi-aiued and 

 heavy. The bark is often quite distinct I have been incliiiod to refer 

 some of the wood to the maple; yet probably a good de:d of it is 

 coniferous ; but my microscope examinations on this point have not 

 been as satisfactory as I could wish. I <ln n.it think much of the wood 

 belongs to the pine tribe now commnn tn tins hitilude. I have placed 

 Bpecimens iu the h.inds of several distiuguislicd vegctal)lc physiolo- 

 gists, and had hoped ere this to learn their opinion ; but they have not 

 yet given it 



The only other fossil fruits that I have known to be found in our 

 country arc a few from the tertiary strata at Richmond, Va. In respect 

 to these. Professor Jeffries Wyman has kindly furnished me with the 

 following description : — 



"In my examinations at Richmond I have frequently fo\nid lignite, 



occasionally fruits ; but as 1 was more anxious for boties, I gave them 

 but litjle attention. I h.ave identified a species of Carya (walnut), 

 which was so pronounced by Mr. Teschemacher, Prof Agassiz, and Dr. 

 Gray. I have also found oue species of pine cone, in company with 

 pine lignite. The latter was interesting, as having ch.auged, while lying 

 on my table, from the condition of fotten wood, soft enough to j'ield to 

 the tip of the finger, into lignite of the usual hardness, and having the 

 coal-like fracture. This, however, is no uncommon occurreuce, and is 

 said to be well known to geologists. The piece of wood just referred 

 to had been bored by the teredo. The above are the only instances 

 about which I would speak with any confidence. I have, also, from 

 the same locality, a large mass of fossil resin. The vegetable fossils 

 there found, with the teeth of Phyllodus, Cetacea, reptiles, sharks, &e, 

 show a close lesemblance of the Richmond formations to the London 

 clay. I have in preparation a short notice in which the animal fossils 

 of the two are to be compared. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Although the specific character of the Brandon fossils are thus 

 imperfectly known, the facts detailetrwiU waiTant several inferences of 

 importance iu American geology. 



I. The Brandon deposit belongs to a tertiary formation. The following 

 are the proofs : — 



1 . It lies below the drift, and for the most part is not consolidated. 

 Its position as to the drift is seen at the openings made near the car- 

 bonaceous deposit ; and the degree of induration, — or rather, in 

 general, the want of indui-ation, — corresponds to that of most tertiary 

 deposits. 



2. It contains all the important vari; tics of rock found in tertiary 

 deposits. We have here white and variegated clays, water-worn beds 

 of sand and gravel, beds of carbonaceous matter not bituminous, and 

 deposits of iron and manganese. 



II. The carbonaccons matter in this deposit is strikingly analogous io 

 that oJ\the broiim coal formation in JSttropc. 



1. The lignite has the deep brown colour and coal-like fi'acture of 

 the brown coal deposits that have not been aff'ected by the proximity 

 ef igneous rock!^, as is the case at Melsner iu Hesse. Yet the woody 

 texture usually remains distinct. 



2. While this coal is distinguished from peat by burning with a 

 bright flame, it does not give off a bituminous odour, and thus it differs 

 fi'oni bituminous coal. 



3. The degi-ee of carbonization of the fruits corresponds to that in the 

 blown coal formation, as a comparison of specimens shows. 



4. The sand and cla3'S, associated with the brown coal of the Rhine 

 valley, occur also at Brandon. 



III. The fruits an^. lignite of this deposit appear to have been iransport&i 

 by water, and probahly the aecumidation took place in an ancient canary. 



1. No example has occurred in which these fruits have been found 

 in clusters, or attached to the branches on which they grew or to their 

 euvelojis ; nor have I found more than a single imperfect example of 

 a leaf. 



2. The lignite is in broken and usually bruised mass?s, as if battered 

 by contact with one another when floating down stream. 



3. The numerous places in other parts of the United States where an 

 analogous deposit occurs, as will be shown below, render it probable 

 that this was formed iu an ocean rather than a lake. 



IV. The Brandon deposit is the type of a tertiary formation, hitherto 

 unrecognized as such, extending from Canada io Alabama. 



This formation is identified by the following characters : — 



1. The most prominent and well-known substance in this formation, 

 on account of its economical importance, is brown liematite. In the 

 geological surveys of Vermont. Massachusetts, Conueclicut, New York, 

 New Jersey, Peniisvlvania, and North and South Carolina, this ore is 

 dfecribed by Adaiiis, Slu'iiaiil. Peicival, Mather, Henry D. and William 

 R. Rogers, Olmsted, and Tiioiiicy. Thi-oughout this whole distance of 

 2000 miles, there is a striking resemblance iu the character of the ore. 

 It is compact, fibrous, and stidactitical ; and much of it is in a state of 

 o:hre. 



2. It is always more or less enveloped in clay of various colours. 



3. ft is almost invariably found lying upon or near a certain sort of 

 limestone, orifs associated and inteistratified micaslatc. This limestone 

 is usually highly crystalline, and when disintegrated it shows a large 

 pnijiuifiou of iidii in ils composition ; and the general opinion of the 

 geologist just named is, that the iron originated from it. Indeed, ProC 

 Adams, iu his first report on the Vermont survey, has described a true 

 vein of iron ochre in the limestone, which I h.ave also examined. I have 



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