106 Geological Survey of the State of New York. 



rocks have no analogy whatever with those derived from organic 

 remains." 



The rocks of the saUferous group resemble those in other coun- 

 tries near the deposits of fossil salt ; the strength of the brine in- 

 creases generally with the depth of the wells ; " the soil in their 

 vicinity is subject to those peculiar slips or sinkings which have 

 also been observed in the vicinity of beds of rock salt," so com- 

 mon about the English salt deposits of Cheshire and Worcester- 

 shire, and the evidence is strongly corroborative of the theory that 

 these brine springs (vide Vol. xxxvi) have their source in deposits 

 of rock salt. 



As has been stated, no rock salt has been seen ; even those hop- 

 per-shaped cavities in no case contain the crystal, or model of 

 salt, as it is believed to have been; and if the considerations 

 above stated are sufficient to warrant the strong belief that the 

 source of the brine springs in the alluvial beneath the bottom of 

 Onondaga Lake et aliis, was the rocks above, there is still anoth- 

 er that tends much to strengthen it. There is evidence of the 

 removal of a soluble mineral from the rocks mentioned, on a very 

 grand scale, (considering the extent of the formation,) and though 

 the nature of the mineral does not appear with certainty, the on- 

 ly one that is found in solution, in relative quantity, is the salt. 

 The brine is obtained in small quantities in the rock borings, but 

 the valuable wells are found by borings made in the alluvial, in 

 places of great depth, and scooped out by violent agencies, that 

 removed the rocks and brought in the alluvial, and are now, in 

 some cases, reservoirs of salt water below, and of fresh water in 

 lakes above, with an intervening impervious stratum, preventing 

 their commingling. 



Were the vertical holes or pores of the vermicular rock, and 

 the hopper-shaped cavities, and those in the other porous rocks, 

 filled with rock salt, no hesitation would be felt in admitting the 

 possibility of a supply of salt for brine springs in the lower rocks ; 

 and if in the absence of such evidence, any thing analogous were 

 shown to exist in other saliferous formations, it would seem to ex- 

 plain and sustain the former supposed association of salt in the 

 rocks. 



In Murchison's Silurian system, p. 31, is a description of the 

 "saliferous marls" of England, from which we learn that at 

 Droitwich, though the brine springs have been in use since the 



