GEOLOGICAL SGGIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



415 



Louisville, July Qth, 1835. 



My Dear Sir, 



I now send you, by Mr Frazer, the fossilized corn of 

 which I spoke when I last saw you. It is found in the 

 alluvial bank of the Ohio river, about 25 miles below 

 Wheeling, both above and below the mouth of Fish 

 creek, and extending up the creek some distance, and 

 four or five miles on the Ohio ; it may extend farther, 

 but it shows itself only that distance by the washing of 

 the river against the bank. The stratum is generally from 

 8 to 10 inches thick, and from 5 to 6 feet below the sur- 

 face, and contains nothing but the corn grains closely 

 impacted together with the black dust, which you per- 

 ceive among the corn, filling up the interstices. No cob 

 or stock of the corn has ever been found with the grains. 

 The same stratum has been met with in places distant 

 from this in digging below the surface. This is all that 

 I could learn relative to this interesting and unaccounta- 

 ble deposition. Why or how did the corn get from the 

 cob? It certainly must have been charred, or it would 

 not have been thus preserved. It could not have been 

 reduced to this black cinder, like the loaves of bread 

 and grains of diiferent kinds found at Pompeii ; or rather 

 it could not have resulted from a like cause. I do be- 

 lieve, that if all the corn raised on the Ohio and all its 

 tributaries above this point was collected in one mass, it 

 would not amount to one- tenth of this deposition. 



Most truly yours, 



J. C. Johnston. 



R. Harlan, M.D. 



