COPPER IN THE DRIFT OF IOWA. 151 



depth of 158 feet below the surface, on the eastern coast of Florida. The stratum 

 of limestone is twenty or more feet in thickness, and is termed " coralline lime- 

 stone," because it is chiefly composed of disintegrated coral. 



4. A specimen of marl taken from "mammocks" sub-soil on the east coast 

 of Florida. 



5. A specimen of coral from the outer reef off the coast, near Daytona, 

 Florida, and brought in by the breakers. 



6. A specimen of what is called coquina or soft stone, composed of the 

 fragments of very small shells. 



Accompanying these specimens was an interesting letter from Mr. Mann de- 

 scribing the coral reefs, which was read by the president. The Academy tender- 

 ed Mr. Mann a vote of thanks for his contributions. 



President Fulton then exhibited a specimen of copper ore found in lovv'a, and 

 read the following paper in connection : 



"COPPER IN THE DRIFT OF IOWA." 



I wish to exhibit to the Academy a very pure specimen of native copper ore 

 found by Dr. John D. Parker, who resides ten miles southeast of Winterset, and 

 near Peru post-office, in Madison County, Iowa. He found it while digging out 

 a spring on his farm in that vicinity, at a depth of nearly six feet from the surface 

 of the ground, and under circumstances which preclude any supposition that it 

 may have been placed there recently, or since the settlement of the country by 

 white people. The weight of this specimen is just ten ounces. On one side of it 

 you will observe an irregular cavity, in which some small particles of quartz still 

 adhere. Its general shape and appearance indicate that since it became detached 

 from its original and native bed, it has been worn by the action of water, ice, and 

 the various other forces which grind up the rocks into gravel and pebbles. 

 Doubtless its original home was the Lake Superior copper region, but during that 

 ancient time which geologists term the glacial epoch, or the age of ice, it was 

 transported to the place where Dr. Parker found it by the same action which 

 scattered the boulders over the prairies of Iowa, hundreds of miles from where 

 they originally reposed "in place," in the far north. There have been numerous 

 instances of the finding of native copper in connection with the drift of Iowa, in 

 pieces varying from a itw ovnces to thirty pounds or more. A lump found by 

 Col. W. S. Dungan, in Lucas County, Iowa, some years ago, weighed over thir- 

 ty pounds. Wesley Redhead, Esq., Des Moines, is the owner of a fine speci- 

 men, weighing several pounds, which was found some years ago in the vicinity of 

 Des Moines, and through his courtesy I also have the pleasure of exhibiting that 

 specimen to the Academy. These specimens are in all respects similar to the 

 native copper of the Lake Superior mines, as you may see by comparing them 

 with the other specimens from my private cabinet, and which were taken directly 

 from the mines a few years ago. Those mines were originally the home of all of 

 them. We infer, from the finding of these fragments of copper in the drift of 

 Iowa, that sometime during the glacial epoch the glacial current passed in a 



