146 Remains of Fossil Mammalia, &fc. ' 



cious or calcareous incrustation, which would protect their remains 

 from further destruction." " Ages of comparative tranquiUty might 

 elapse in the interval between these eruptions, and beds of gravel 

 and breccia be formed by the disintegration of the higher parts of 

 the earth ; and may we not in this manner explain the alternations, 

 or intermixture of crystalline rocks with those of mechanical forma- 

 tion ?" In this manner, may we not suppose were formed several 

 of the strata described in these observations, especially the sili- 

 cious beds, and some of the very hard and almost crystalline rocks, 

 both of sandstone and limestone ? According to some recent exper- 

 iments of Sir James Hall, the vapor from salt water, intensely heat- 

 ed under pressure, will, by passing tlirough loose sand, agglutinate 

 the particles, and form solid sandstone. Thus, the heated and com- 

 pressed water of the ocean may have consolidated the loose sand 

 on its bottom, and formed the strata of sandstone in the coal meas- 

 ures of the valley of the Ohio. 



Remains of Fossil Mammalia, Fish, &fc. 



Throughout the secondary deposits, which accompany the coal 

 measures, few fossil remains are found, excepting those of vegeta- 

 bles, and crustaceous animals. It is possible, but not very prob- 

 able, that as more extensive openings are made in our strata, 

 these remains may come to light, although it is more in accordance 

 with geological facts, to say that during the period of the formation 

 of the coal niieasures, animals of the class Mammalia, were not in 

 existence. Shells, the production of the water, we find in abun- 

 dance, and it is said, some remains of fish, but I have seen nothing 

 that could be properly called an Ichthyolite. In the alluvial and 

 tertiary deposits, bordering on the coal region, and sometimes, with- 

 in the coal measures, the remains of the mastodon, elephant, horse, 

 and extinct species of sheep are frequently found, but always in al- 

 luvium, diluvium, or recent tertiary deposits. A number of these 

 ancient fossils have been exhumed in excavating the Ohio canal, 

 which lies all along on the borders of the tertiary formation. I have 

 seen a fossil tooth of som.e animal of the seal family, known by its 

 grooved, lateral surfaces, which was found in the slate, on Duck 

 creek, a few miles north of Marietta, and in the (^ark carbonaceous 

 limestone rock, which forms the bed of that creek, a few miles from its 

 mouth, I have seen the claws of some animal, perhaps a turtle, retain- 

 ing their perfect form and lustre. They were about three fourths of an 



