Miscellanies 221 
of the ancient channel of what is called Fish Creek. This excited the 
- curiosity of the neighborhood and led to an examination of the spot. 
After removing some twelve or eighteen inches of the soil, they dis- 
covered an irregular tube of very coarse glass, which had evidently 
been made from the sand of the bank. ‘The sides of the tube were 
compressed, and very irregular. Its longest diameter was about half 
an inch. Its interior was highly glazed, while its exterior was rough, 
being covered with particles of sand. When they had exposed about 
fifteen feet of the tube, they found it necessary to sink a shaft of logs 
to prevent the caving in of the bank. They continued to dig thirty 
feet deeper, when it was discovered that the tube, which had main- 
tained an almost vertical position, made a sudden inclination and passed 
deeper into the bank. The fear of inhumation now compelled them 
to relinquish all further effort in tracing its course. They, how- 
ever, dug five feet more in a vertical line and came to water; ma- 
king in all rising of fifty feet from the surface. The tube was single 
for some distance from the top, where it made two bifurcations. Some 
eighteen inches below the surface were found thin strata of indurated 
‘sand, which were easily broken by the shovel; they were highly 
inclined, and their surface was undulating. Some of them were sepa- 
rated from each other one or two inches, others three or four inches. 
These interstices were filled with sand, which by digging, had shaken 
out in some instances and left the strata like the leaves of an open 
book; they were glazed, but not so highly as was the interior of the 
tube. 
From this narration of facts, two questions naturally suggest them- 
selves. Ist. In what manner was this tube formed? and 2d. What 
was the source of the light ? 
Without attempting to offer satisfactory replies to these questions, I 
would remark in relation to the first, that sand tubes of a few feet in 
length have been frequently described, but none of them, so far as 
I know, equals in interest the one referred to. None had its great 
length. To account for their formation, several theories have been 
proposed. One, that carbonate of lime held in solution had been 
gradually deposited around vegetable stalks, which finally wasted 
away, leaving these peculiar tubes. Another, that they are the work 
of insects. The third and most popular theory is, that they are 
produced by lightning.* It has been suggested, that whenever the 
electric fluid in its passage into the earth meets with the essential 
ingredients of glass, it fuses them into these singular tubes, provided 
the current be of sufficient intensity. It appears to me that neither 
* Hence the name Fulgurites, by which they are usually known. 
