2 Journal of the Mitchell Society [May 
southwesterly across central North Carolina into South Carolina, 
and known as the Carolina Slate Belt. Ebenezer Emmons 1 placed 
all these rocks in his Taconic system, and W. C. Kerr 2 con- 
sidered that they belonged to the Huronian. Without consider- 
ing the vexed question of age, we turn to the views expressed by 
former writers as to the origin of the flint-like, slaty members of 
the series. 
As early as 1822 the existence of novaculite in Orange County, 
North Carolina, was noted by Denison Olmstead 3 . In 1828 the 
same writer 4 again mentioned the novaculite of the slate forma- 
tion, and stated that the most valuable bed was found at McCau- 
ley’s quarry, seven miles west of Chapel Hill. The rock here is 
olive green in color, has a horny look, and is transparent on thin 
edges. 
Emmons 5 described this rock under the head of quartzite as 
follows: “Color, bluish black passing into purple, grayish, white 
and green of several shades, and sometimes banded; texture, fine 
when compared with the finest sandstones ; translucent on edges; 
fracture, flat-conchoidal and frequently brittle, or it may be tough 
in the mass, but small pieces easily chip off with a light blow. It 
passes on the one hand into a fine grit, and on the other, into the 
compact slate and a condition like flint. When struck with the 
hammer, it is sonorous like cast iron. It is rarely if ever a sim- 
ple substance like limpid quartz as it usually weathers and loses 
thereby its homogeneity; besides it is often porphyritic or por- 
phyrized, and frequently the fresh fracture is dotted with small 
limpid crystals of quartz, which crystalized out from the mass 
when it was in a semi-fluid state.” 
1 Geological Report of the Midland Counties of North Carolina/ New 
York, 1856, pp. 38-73. 
2 Report of the Geological Survey of North Carolina, vol. 1 Raleigh, 1875, 
pp. 131-139. 
3 American Journal of Science, Series 1, vol. 5, 1822, p. 2 62. 
4 American Journal of Science, Series 1, vol. 14, 1828, p. 238. 
5 Ibid. pp. 69-70. 
