196 Miscellanies. 



ingly find, that he acknowledges his indebtedness to naturalists here, and 

 more particularly to the reports which have been made upon the geology 

 of the states, for many of the facts presented. 



After some preliminary remarks in relation to the space occupied by 

 the country, the advantages to be derived from the geological surveys now 

 making of the several states, &c. the subject of diluvial action or rather 

 of the indication of the action of water upon the continent is taken up, 

 and the phenomena ascribable to this cause, brought to light by the ob- 

 servations of Prof. Hitchcock, Dr. Jackson, and others, are dwelt upon at 

 some length. Reference is also made to an article in the first volume of 

 the Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, by 

 Major Bonnycastle, and extracts are given, from which we learn that the 

 same evidence is presented by an examination of the country north of the 

 United States, as has been furnished from within our borders and else- 

 where, of the violent action of running water or moving ice, or of that 

 agent, whatever it was, by which the large masses of rock were moved, 

 and by which the dry land has been generally strewn over with bowlders 

 and debris. 



The view presented by Mr. Hayes, a few years since, in an article 

 upon the geology of western New York, that the action of the tides and 

 waves alone upon the rocks subsequent to their elevation above the ocean, 

 would account for all the effects usually attributed to the action of run- 

 ning water, does not meet the favor of our author. He thinks that Mr. 

 H. in adopting it, "overlooked the fact, that the force of submarine cur- 

 rents extends but a little way beneath the surface of the ocean, and that 

 even the Gulf Stream could have no power to move a block of stone along 

 the bed of the sea underneath it so soon as it was once safely deposited 

 upon its bottom." 



From the consideration of the changes caused upon the surface of the 

 country by the effects of water, the memoir next refers to those that have 

 resulted from fire, and which by subterraneous action uplifted from be- 

 neath the waves, the great chains of the Alleghany and Rocky mountains, 

 and gave rise to the thermal springs associated with them. In this con- 

 nection is presented an account of the unstratified primary rocks. Com- 

 mencing with those of the Blue Ridge of the south, they are described as 

 extending north and east to New York, and into New England, where 

 they are the predominating rocks. The two groups of mountains com- 

 posed of these rocks, east and west of Lake Champlain, are mentioned as 

 uniting in Canada, and there blending in a low chain which crosses the 

 continent northwesterly, the primary strata being visible until approaching 

 Lake Winnipeg, where they are lost sight of beneath the cretaceous group. 

 This class of formations is also referred to as prevailing in the Rocky 

 mountains, travellers there, wherever observations have been made, hav- 

 ing noticed granite, gneiss, quartz rock, &c. 



