NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 181 
when the pivot point of this rotation was at the shore, the sinking 
of sea bottom and rising of the land could go on without changing 
the position of the shore line; if, however, this pivot point were 
to the seaward of the shore, the movement would cause the land 
to gain on the sea; if the pivot point were to the landward of the 
shore, the sea would seem to gain. 
e spoke of the great influence which Hatteras had exerted in 
deflecting the Gulf Stream from its course. 
r. C. T. Jackson said that the syenite at Richmond, Virginia, 
must have been elevated in a cold state; there was no evidence of 
its having interpenetrated the coal measures. He agreed with Pro- 
fessor Shaler in regard to the elevation of the ‘coast, the pivot 
point being in Virginia. In Carolina a cannon placed in one of 
the streets is now under water. In the eastern parts of the State 
of Maine fishermen had noticed what they call the growth of 
rocks; those which, within their recollection, were submarine, now 
appearing above the surface. 
Mr. Shaler referred to Mr. Heinrichs, who was now working in 
the coal measures at Richmond, and hoping soon to get down to the 
the syenite. He expected valuable results from the investigations. 
Perry said, in regard to the syenite underlying the 
coal, that there was no evidence of intrusion. The syenite was in 
existence before the coal was laid down. In regard to the for- 
mation of the coast, he alluded to the observations of Elie de 
Beaumont, that the elevations of a particular period were parallel. 
The oldest uplifting, that on the west of Hudson’s Bay in N. N. 
W. and S. S. E. direction, called in Europe the elevation of Fin- 
isterre, is earlier than the Laurentian, and crosses it. Suppose 
there were such an elevation under the surface of the water, corals 
would form upon that ridge, and an easy explanation is afforded 
of the extension of Florida in this direction. Supposing parallel 
elevations, another might have had a bearing upon Hatteras. He 
was satisfied that Martha’s Vineyard was elevated at the close of 
the Pliocene period. Mount Etna was elevated at the same time. 
The earlier elevations of the Alleghanies occurred during 
Longmynd period, at the end of the Silurian period. The axis of 
Cincinnati was the beginning of this uplifting. 
He had studied the coal measures in the neighborhood of Rich- 
mond, and differed from the general conclusions in regard to them. 
Some of the fish from Virginia, New Jersey, and the Connecticut 
