74 
GEOLOGY 
tion would be precisely from East to West. I think traces of the Montreal system will be found in other 
regions, and particularly in Upper Canada and the States of New York and Maine. 
4. Notre Dame mountains system. — If the preceding system has but slightly raised and disturbed 
the strata, it is not so with the present one, which I call the system of the Notre Dame mountains, and 
which dates from the end of the deposition of the Middle Silurian. It will be remembered that the rocks 
forming the upper part of the Middle Silurian are numerous strata of black schist , distinguished in the 
State of New York by the name’ of Utica and Hudson river group. These strata, which form al- 
most entirely the banks of the river Richelieu, of the S' Lawrence below Montreal, and on which is si- 
tuated the city of Quebec, have been upheaved along the whole of this line, to Cape Rozihre at the 
extremity of Gaspe. The Notre Dame mountains, formed of eruptive and metamorphic rocks, some of 
whose summits attain three thousand five hundred feet, owe their origin entirely to this movement, whose 
general direction appears to be E. 20° N. , and W. 20° S. On looking at the map (See : Frontispiece .) , 
it will be seen that the group of igneous rocks forming the Notre Dame mountains is isolated, and en- 
tirely detached from the neighboring groups. A line of hills , of sedimentary rocks , of very slight ele- 
vation, extends between Madawaska and the river du Loup, and joins these mountains to those which 
are near Point Levi. Many of the orographical accidents of the chains which extend from Point Levi 
to Lake Champlain owe their origin, I think, to this system of dislocation; but the directions are uncer- 
tain, ow'ing to the intercrossing with the system of dislocation which followed this, and formed the Green 
Mountains of Vermont. Nevertheless, considering only the Notre Dame mountains, where the phenomena 
of dislocation are very decided, a well-marked and independent direction is easily recognized. 
5. Green Mountains , or the Meridional system. — For a long time Edward Hitchcock has indicated 
this system, which he distinguishes by the name of ((Oldest Meridional and Hoosac mountain system#. 
Very much developed in the western part of Massachussetts , it forms entirely the Green mountains of 
Vermont , and extends into Lower Canada as far as the river Chaudihro. Its general direction approaches 
the meridian, with a slight deviation to the east, which gives for the average N. 7° E., and S. 7° W. 
The dislocations which gave rise to this line of mountains took place much before the formation of the 
Alleghanies, yet, after the deposit of the Upper Silurian, as the metamorphic fossiliferous rocks, that 
Jackson and Logan have found in the Memphremagog and S' Francis Lakes, prove. Thus I regard them 
as having appeared at the end of the Silurian period, and before the deposit of the Devonian beds. 
The igneous rocks, which then made an irruption through the surface of the Earth’s crust, upheaved very 
strongly all the sedimentary strata previously deposited; and, more, they have often overturned, folded 
and waved them, by submitting them simultaneously to a powerful metamorphic action, which w'as felt 
at a great distance from the eruptive centres. The Green Mountains system extends, as I ha\e said, from the 
river Chaudiere , Lower Canada, into Vermont, which it forms almost entirely; it comprehends Rerkshiro, 
and the lino of hills that extends between the Connecticut river and Worcester, Massachussetts; Litchfield and 
Fairfield, Connecticut; and terminates in the environs of Bridgeport on Long Island Sound. The boun- 
dary lino between the States of New York and Connecticut presents crossings of this system with that 
of the Alleghanies, which much later has struck against the dislocations of the Meridional system, and 
even penetrated them in some places. The Geological Map of the State of New York, published by Le- 
gislative Authority, presents most clearly the points of contact of the two systems. Thus the valley of 
the Hudson, from Saratoga to West Point, is due to the Green Mountains system, and is parallel with its 
direction. The Green Mountains present, at several points of Vermont, and especially at the river Chau- 
dihre, Canada, quartzose veins traversing itacolumites , and containing native gold, in considerable quantities. 
The White Mountains probably owe a part of their elevation to this system. But the insuffiency 
of geological observations obliges me not to risk any supposition as to the age, or ages, of the chains 
of this group. 
I consider as belonging to the Green Mountains system the elevation in Nova Scotia, between Me- 
rigomish, Arisaig, and Cape S' George. 
