UPPER SECONDARY ROCKS. 99 



convinced by observing the immense quantity of 

 debris and fragments at the base of the Palisades, 

 which have been precipitated from the mural pre- 

 cipices above ; and these fragments are finer in 

 proportion as they are more distant from the main 

 body of the rock. 



Professor Hitchcock infers from a variety of facts, 

 that the greenstone or trap rocks in the Valley of 

 the Connecticut began to be thrown up not far 

 from the middle of the epoch of the deposition of 

 the sandstone, and also at intervals during the re- 

 mainder of the period in which the sandstone for- 

 mation was advancing to its completion. 



The red marl produces, in general, a very fertile 

 soil, owing, doubtless, to a due admixture of silex, 

 aiumine, and lime ; and it is stated by writers on 

 agriculture, that sheep living in marly* districts 

 have their wool tinged with red. 



It has been disputed whether the new red sand- 

 stone has ever been found in the United States, and 

 especially whether that in the Valley of the Con- 

 necticut River belongs to this group of rocks. But 

 some believe there is no good reason to question the 

 existence of this rock not only on the Connecticut, 

 but in the states of New-York, New-Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Alabama, &c.,*&c. 



Professor Hitchcock, in his admirable Report on 

 the Geology of Massachusetts, has shown very 

 conclusively, we think, that the sandstone of the 

 Connecticut Valley corresponds to the new red 

 sandstone of Europe ; for which opinion he offers 

 the following satisfactory reasons : 1. The disco v- 



* Quere : May not the nankeen cotton of China owe its col- 

 our to the same cause ? 



We are aware that this species of cotton has been intro- 

 duced into our own country (South Carolina), and still retains 

 its characteristic colour when grown here. But it is well 

 known that when a plant has, by the influence of cultivation or 

 local causes, acquired certain habits, so to call them, it will re- 

 tain those marks when transplanted to other localities 



