154 Miscellaneous Notices, ^c. 



quantities absorbed by the earth? Do they keep travelling 

 on to the center, and thus become the source of volcanic pow- 

 er, and of the disturbing forces which have effected the ge- 

 ological relations of this planet. 



When the sun goes down, animals feel an inclination to 

 sleep, when light returns they awake, and have an inclina- 

 tion to move. Is it light which operates thus upon animals, 

 by giving them an additional impulse? Is the inclination 

 to sleep caused by abstraction of the cause of motion ? An- 

 imal masses are distinguished from all others, by possessing 

 a principle with the faculty of voluntary motion. When it 

 determines to move, motion commences; when it determines 

 to stop, motion ceases. 



Do we gain any thing by asserting that planetary bodies 

 are projected in right lines? Would it not be as reasonable 

 to assert that they have an inherent motive power, directing 

 them in right lines ? 



Is it unreasonable to suppose motion to be the natural 

 state of matter ; and rest to be its opposite state, or the 

 equilibrium of motion produced by gravity? Flamand. 



Art. XVIII. — Facts relating to Ohio and Mexico. 



I. Miscellaneous Notices of Rocks and Minerals in the State 

 of Ohioj by Dr. S. P. Hildreth — in a letter to the Editor, 

 dated May 13th, 1828. 



1 . Bowlder stones of primitive rocks. 



Bowlder stones of primitive rocks scattered over the sur- 

 face, and buried in the upper soil of secondary countries are 

 always interesting. Those of the western states and espe- 

 cially of Ohio have been often mentioned in this Journal.* 

 Among the specimens transmitted by Dr. Hildreth, are some 

 portions of the bowlder stones of Ohio. They as well as the 

 other specimens are numbered.— =-Among them are, 



Gneiss, perfectly well characterised. 



Granite — one specimen having white felspar and gray 

 quartz, but without mica, others fresh and handsome with 

 reddish felspar, and gray quartz, and black hornblende in- 

 stead of the mica — Trap in the form of fine grained green- 

 stone — Hornblende slate and crystalized hornblende rock. 



* See Vol. Ill, p. 49— Vol. XIII, p. 39— Vol. XIV, p. 291. 



