Iron Ores. 137 



durated clay, or slaty clay, were found Pectens, portions of a testa- 

 ceous animal, and abed of egg shaped fossils, of the family Echinus or 

 Spatangus. There were nearly half a bushel of them, and the work- 

 men called them a nest of turkey's eggs. These are represented in 

 Figures, Nos. 41, 42 and 43, (page 26 of the wood cuts,) Nos. 44, 

 45, 46 and 47, (page 28.) The animal is replaced by slate in all 

 these specimens. A few feet below, the slate became still more 

 soft, like indurated marsh mud, and was filled with the most perfect 

 and beautiful fossil shells of the ammonite, several species. Turri- 

 ted univalves and bivalves ; all replaced by rich brass or bronze col- 

 ored sulphuret of iron. Figures, Nos. 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 

 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62, (page 28 of the wood cuts,) are 

 from this deposit, some of the specimens have all the lustre of a gild- 

 ed button, — Shaft, 150 feet — boring, 150 feet — rock above in hill 

 side, 200 feet.— 500 feet. 



16. Black, bituminous shale, impregnated with petroleum and 

 burns with a blue flame and sulphurous smell. The shale reposes 

 on a thin stratum of iron stone, of only one or two inches ; but as 

 hard and as difficult to penetrate, as the hardest iron. Beneath 

 this, salt water is found, so completely saturated, as to retain, for 

 many hours, a small quantity of pure salt, undissolved, which was 

 added for the experiment. The boring was continued for nearly 

 fifty feet further, in fine grained, hard, brown, sandstone rock, con- 

 taining iron pyrites, and small veins of salt water and petroleum. 

 At this point the boring was discontinued in 1833, and has not since 

 been resumed. — 18 feet. 



Iron Ores. 



About twelve miles north of Portsmouth, on the heads of a small 

 stream, which falls into the Scioto, is a deposit of iron ore, at an el- 

 evation of about two hundred and fifty feet in the hills. The bed 

 is about three feet in thickness, and is almost a complete mass of fos- 

 sil shells. It embraces many species of univalves and bivalves; 

 perhaps all of them are oceanic, although a few strongly resemble 

 those of fresh water genera. From its elevation it is probably a 

 continuation of the deposit described as No. 5 in the foregoing sec- 

 tion. The ore is not rich, and will probably yield not more than 

 fifteen or twenty per cent, of iron ; its specific gravity is about 2.43, 

 which is nearly that of the "block ore." Some of our richest nod-^ 

 ular iron ores, have a specific gravity of 4.16. 



Vol. XXIX.— No. 1. 18 



