56 



UNITED STATES. 



by sulphuric acid formed from the decaying pyrites, 

 and the sulphur, as far as it is already saturated with 

 oxygen, being no longer infAammable, this mineral,- 

 ized wood burns very slowly, and is wholly unfit for 

 fuel. 



Thus, among the curiosities of the high and com- 

 manding scite of the Capitol, may be reckoned the 

 existence and discovery of fossil and mineralized 

 wood almost iifty feet below its present surface. 



Near the tv/enty buildings, and within the square 

 on which the new church is erecting, a piece of 

 wood was brought up from the bottom of a well forty^ 

 five feet deep. This spot is half a mile distant from 

 the former. The wood is in its entire state, and 

 neither petrified nor mineralized. It is perfectly 

 sound and well seasoned ; and on cutting it there 

 appears to be no doubt that it is black w^ainut.* 



In digging theSantee canal in South Carolina, two 

 sharks teeth were found, one of which is four inches 

 long, by three and 3-4 broad, measured at its base ; 

 the other is two inches and 1-8 broad, and the same 

 dimensions in length. They are now in the cabinet 

 of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and 

 while they serve clearly to prove the fact now con- 

 tended for, they at the same time enable ivs to shevr 

 with what little foundation the SQavans of Europe 

 assert that nature has acted upon a contracted scale 

 in this quarter of the world. I have seen smaller 

 teeth of the shark which were dug up near the creek 

 of MounthoUy in New Jersey many feet below the 

 surface* , ^ ■ . 



* ^Ted. Repo&. 



