THE 



AMERICAN 

 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &c. 



Art. I. — Observations on the Bituminous Coal deposits of the 

 valley of the Ohio, and the accompanying rocJc strata ; with no- 

 tices of the fossil Organic remains and the relics of Vegeta- 

 ble and Animal bodies, illustrated by a Geological map, by nu- 

 merous drawings of plants and shells, and by views of interest- 

 ing scenery ; by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of Marietta, Ohio. 



The region embraced in the following observations, extends over 

 a space of four or five degrees in latitude, by as many in longitude, hav- 

 ing the Appalachian range of mountains for its base on the south and 

 east, and the termination of the sandstone rocks and coal, as its limit 

 on the north and west ; including the north w^est portions of Penn- 

 sylvania and Virginia, with the north east part of Ohio, and a small 

 tract in the north east corner of Kentucky. It may be called the 

 south east termination of that immense valley which lies between 

 the Rocky Mountains on the west, and the Alleghany range on the 

 east ; and which, as appears from the vast profusion of marine fos- 

 sils found imbedded in the rock strata, was at some remote period the 

 bed of an ocean. 



That the change was gradual, from the dominion of the waters to 

 that of dry land, is inferred from the horizontal, and tranquil state of 

 the rock strata, bearing few or no marks of violence, or sudden 

 force having ever been applied, so as to break, or disturb the con- 

 tinuity of the beds, as is so often and almost universally seen, in 

 transition and primitive regions, where the rocks are found lying 

 in all degrees of inclination, from a vertical to a horizontal position. 

 That this ocean rolled its waves and its tides over this valley for an 

 immense period of time, is inferred from the great thickness of the 

 rocky strata, which have been penetrated to the depth of more than 



Vol. XXIX.— No. 1. 1 



