58 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
of secondary. In Virginia tlie primitive increases in breadth, 
and proportionally in lieiglit_, occupying the greatest mass, as 
well as the most elevated points of the range of mountains in the 
States of North Carolina and Georgia, where it takes a more 
westerly direction. 
Though this primitive formation contains all the variety of 
primitive rocks found in the mountains of Europe, yet neither 
their relative situation in the order of succession, or their rela- 
tive heights in the range of mountains, corresponds with what 
has been observed in Europe. The order of succession from the 
clay slate to the granite, as well as the gradual diminishing 
height of the strata, from the granite through the gneiss, mica 
slate, hornblende rocks, down to the clay-slate, is so often in- 
verted and mixed, as to render the arrangement of any regular 
series impracticable. 
No secondary limestone has been found on the south-east side 
of the primitive, nor any series of other secondary rocks, except 
some partial beds of the old red sandstone formation, which 
partly cover its lower edge ; in this it seems to resemble some of 
the European chains, such as the Carpathian, Bohemian, Saxon, 
Tyrolean and Swiss mountains ; all of which, though covered 
with very extensive secondary limestone formations on their 
north and west flanks, have little secondary on their southern 
and eastern sides. The old red sandstone above mentioned, 
covers partially the lower levels of the primitive, from twelve 
miles south of Connecticut river to near the Rappahannock, a 
range of nearly four hundred miles; and though often inter- 
rupted, yet retains through the whole distance, the uniform 
feature of resemblance so remarkable in the other formations of 
this continent. The same nature of sandstone strata is obser- 
vable, running nearly in the same direction, partially co^'cred 
with wacke and greenstone trap, and containing the same me- 
tallic substances. The uniformity is equally observable in the 
great alluvial formation, which covers the south-east edge of the 
