210 Connecticut River Valley. 
to the loose earth, the gravel, sand, clay and loam which overspread 
_ the surface. In seven eighths of the valley an excavation to the 
depth of a common well, would penetrate the solid rock. The 
thickness of superficial earth and soil, compared with the known 
height and depth of rock beneath, is as the thickness of a sheet of 
- paper on the roof, to the height of the loftiest edifice. At the top, 
and sides, and bases of. the highest mountains, the rocky strata are 
frequently exposed to view; and in ravines, the beds of rivers, and 
artificial excavations. At Montpelier,* the rocky strata by the Onion 
river have lately been perforated to a depth of eight hundred feet in 
search of salt water, and in mines and quarries of other countries, to 
a much greater depth. ‘The Alps and Andes, and all the high moun- 
tains of the earth shew their rocky frame work on their summits, and 
at numerous intermediate points from thence to their bases. 
Ingredients of earth and rocks similar.—Is the thin covering of 
soil and earth which overspreads the rocky strata, an original pro- 
duction of creating power, or only fragments and ruins, which con- 
vulsions, and time, and the elements have severed and decomposed 
from an originally rocky surface? At the top is found a slight covering 
of soil, manifestly a product of vegetable decomposition. Beneath 
the soil are sand, clay, loam, fragments of rock, in a state of confu- 
sed mixture, on hills and mountains; and in plains and meadows, 
arranged with order and exactness. Now the common sand is but 
pulverized and water worn siliceous stone, the quartz of granite and 
other rocks of the solid strata. ‘The materials of clay abound in the 
feldspar of granite rocks, and in numerous slaty ledges. The isin- 
glass, whose glittering in the sand attracts the eyes of children, is the 
mica of granite and other related rocks, on one form of which we 
daily walk over the mica slate paving stones brought from Bolton. 
The solid strata also contain every variety of materials, combination, 
and arrangement found in pebbles and fragments. 
Marks of fracture in rocks.—Not only do the rocky strata con- 
tain all the ingredients which exist in sand, clay, gravel, loam, and 
all the combinations of materials found in pebbles and fragments, 
but countless numbers of large fragments scattered over many thou- 
sands of square miles, above and beneath the surface of the ground, 
retain the plain marks and forms of forcible disruption. When the 
* There is no reason fo expect to find salt in any country whose geological char- 
acter is like that at Montpelier.—Ep. 
