136 Southampton Level. 



Art. VI. Account of the Strata perforated hy^ and of the 

 Minerals found in, the great adit to the SovUhampton 

 Lead Mine. Communicated to the Editor by Mr. Amos 

 Eaton, Lecturer on Geology, Botany, Sfc. 



To Professor Silliman. 



XX.FTER a laborious geological excursion along M'Clure's 

 Springfield section, for about one hundred miles, I visited 

 Dr. D. Hunt, at Northampton. He observed that you had 

 expressed an opinion, that an attentive examination of all the 

 strata constituting the walls of the artificial avenue or drift at 

 the Southampton mines, would bring facts to knowledge, 

 which might, in some degree, subserve the cause of geological 

 science. I am now at the mouth of the drift, having just 

 completed the labour which you had marked out. 



I employed two miners to commence with me, at the ter- 

 mination of the drift, which is now extended 800 feet into the 

 hill. We broke ofi" large specimens, at very short intervals, 

 throughout the whole extent of the drift. We arrived at its 

 mouth with almost a boat load of specimens. I kept a memo- 

 randum of every thing which occurred, while under ground ; 

 and I have now arranged the specimens, before the mouth of 

 the drift, in the same order in which they were situated in 

 the earth. 



Fatigued as I am, I will make my remarks here, in the 

 field, lest something should hereafter escape me, which is 

 now fresh in my recollection. Beginning with the greatest 

 distance to which the miners have penetrated, I will set 

 down my remarks, in fact, in reversed order. 



800 feet. The rock is fine-grained gray granite, traversed 

 by veins, lined with quartz crystals, and mostly filled with 

 calcareous spar, often beautifully crystallized. In the same 

 veins blue and purple flTiate of lime and copper pyrites fre- 

 quently occii-r. 



