370 C. A. Young on a new method 
Twenty-five miles east of this point, upon the coast, an equally 
interesting and unusual deposit of asphaltic sand occurs, In 
this instance, the sand is spread out horizontally over a very 
wide area (many hundreds of acres), and uniformly, about 
twenty feet in thicknes, so far as is known, This stratum of 
asphaltic sand lies uncomformably upon the upturned edges of 
the oil shales, from which the tarry maltha exudes and gradu- 
ally saturates the sand. Judging froma section of both shales 
and sand, which appears for nearly a mile along the coast, the 
saturating process is still in progress. 
We have only to suppose this process to take place beneath 
sixty feet of semi-indurated sandstone, instead of ten feet of 
sand and soil, and we have the action which preceded the injec- 
tion of the vein just described. Again, we have only to ima- 
gine a metamorphosis of deep-seated bituminous strata, pro- 
ducing a distillate a thousand or more feet beneath Silurian or 
Devonian rocks, which gathered in their crevices, and we can 
readily account for the gathering of the mass of Grahamite or 
Albertite previous to injection. An earthquake, shrinkage, or 
the expansive force of pent up gasses, may have caused an up- 
heaval and fracture of the superincumbent mass. It makes no 
difference whether the fractured mass were a thousand, five 
hundred, sixty or ten feet in thickness, in either case when it 
fell, it would force a part of the plastic mass into the fissures 
and hold it there. 
‘Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa., July 6th, 1869. 
ArT. XXXVI—On a new method of observing contacts at the 
Sun’s limb, and other spectroscopic observations during the 
‘persia Eclipse; by Prof. C. A. Youna, of Dartmouth Col- 
ege. : 
Our party was one of those organized, and subsidized by 
Prof. J. H. C. Coffin, Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac ; 
and the one which was so fortunate as to enjoy his personal 
presence and supervision, _ 
