Ills MINERAL PRODUCTS OF THE TACONIC SYSTEM. 



Another position will also appeal from this discussion; <>r if it docs not appear, it is not 

 the less true; namely, that the system in question has been studied by piecemeal, and the 

 whole plan of it worked out of a continually increasing stock of farts from year to year; 



so that it has been built up from cue >t;> ltiiilt to another, as materials were found to fit 



th< r. Now in this mode of building, we are \ ery liable to place some of our matei 

 witli the wrong side uppermost, even if we do not arrange them wrong altogether. Hence 

 one part of our business ha- been occasionallj to pull down some of the superstructure, in 

 order to readjust the p which it was composed, and to discard or appropriate 



found conducive to its symmetry, and very likely further emendations will still be required. 

 • suitable for flagging' occur in the Taconic -late, and in the thin beds associated with 

 granular quartz. The former are highly calcareous: they are quarried in rhombic -labs, 

 formed by the natural joints of the rock ; they are very strong, exceeding the sandstones 

 in firmness; and they are far superior to the limestones, as they usually come out without 

 trimming. The c|uartz rock is also useful for flags, Inn its surfaces are harsher and rougher. 



The attention of the public has not been sufficiently directed to the importance of the 

 construction of good walks through the streets of our villages; and thus the Btone tiot 

 being called for, the quarries have rarely been opened. 



A variety of the slate flagging has been discovered in Wa-hiiiLrton count). It is in a 

 compact mass in ihoul joints, and is almost as difficult to break in one direction as 



another. When raised and sawed, it has the appearance of soapstonc. 



CONCLUSION. 

 The independence of the Taconic system is sustained or proved by the following facts : 



1. Position. It rests unconformably upon primary schists, and passes beneath the New- 

 York -ystem. the oldest and inferior members of the latter being superimposed 

 unconformably upon the Taconic slate. 



imilarity of organic remains. The Nereites and other fossils of the Taconic slate 

 are unknown in any of the members of the Champlain group. In addition to 

 which, it is important to hear in mind the fact, that in this group the mollusca of 

 the New-York system are also wanting. 



3. Tht of the Taconic system have a different arrangement. The sandstones, lime- 



uly different in their relative position, but they are much 

 thicker than those with which they have been supposed to be identical in the New- 

 York system. 



I leave it for future observers to determine whether the preceding po-nion- have been 

 'ained in this treatise or not ; ami inn-much as it is now important that our palaozoic 

 base should be determined by observation, it is to be hoped that the subject, with this 

 special view, may receive the attention it il 



