OF .NORTH .\MERICA. 
101 
Class 2d. Transition Rocks. 
1. 
Transition Limestone, 
4. 
Transition Flinty-Slate , 
2. 
Transition Trap, 
5. 
Transition Gypsum. 
3. 
Grey Wacke, 
Class 3d. 
Flwtz 
or Secondary Rocks. 
1. 
Old Red Sandstone or 1st Sandstone 
7. 
Third Floetz-Sandstone , 
Formation , 
8. 
Rock-Salt Formation, 
2. 
First or Oldest Floetz-Limestone , 
9. 
Chalk Formation , 
3. 
First or Oldest F'loetz-Gypsum, 
10. 
Floetz-Trap Formation, 
4. 
2d or Variegated Sandstone, 
11. 
Independent Coal Formation, 
5. 
2d Flcetz-Gypsum, 
12. 
Newest Floetz-Trap Formation. 
6 . 
2d Flcetz -Limestone, 
Class 
Mh. 
Alluvial Rocks. 
1. 
Peat, 
5. 
Nagel iluh. 
2. 
Sand and Gravel, 
6. 
Calc-tuff, 
3. 
Loam, 
7. 
Calc-sinter. 
4. 
Bog iron ore , 
To the east of Hudson’s river, the primitive class prevails , both in the mountains and the low lands, 
decreasing gradually as it proceeds south; it is bounded on the side of the ocean by the vast tracts 
of alluvial formation which skirt the great granite ridge, while it serves as a foundation to that immense 
superstructure of transition and secondary rocks, forming the great chain of mountains that occupy the 
interior of the continent to the westward. 
The primitive to the eastward of Hudson’s river constitutes the highest mountains, while the little 
transition and secondary that is found; occupies the low grounds. To the south of the Delaware, the 
primitive is the first rock, after the alluvial formation of the ocean, the lowest step of the stair, that 
mounts gradually through the different formations to the top of the Alleghanys. 
To the eastward of the State of New-York, the stratification runs nearly north and south, and 
generally dips to the east, looking up to the White Hills, the most elevated ground; in New-York State, 
and to the southward and westward, the stratification runs nearly N. E. and S. W. and still dips gene- 
rally to the east. All the rivers east of the Delaware, run nearly north and south, following the strati- 
fication, while the southern rivers incline to the S. E. and N. W. direction. 
Throughout the greatest part of the eastern and northern States, the sea washes the foot of the pri- 
mitive rock ; commences the deposition of that extensive alluvial formation at Long-Island , increasing 
in breadth to the south, forming a great part of both the Carolinas and Georgia, and almost the whole 
of the two Eloridas and Lower Louisiana. The coincidence of the Gulf-stream, with all its attendant 
eddies, depositions, etc. etc. rolling along this whole extent, from the Gulf of Mexico to Nantucket, may 
create speculative ideas on the origin of this vast alluvial formation, while the constant supply of calo- 
ric ’’) , brought by that sweeping current from the tropics , may perhaps account for the sudden and 
great change in the temperature of the climate, within the reach of the Atlantic. 
The great distance occupied by the same, or similar substances, in the direction of the stratification, 
must strike the observer ; as in the primitive rocks, the beds of primitive limestone and Dolomite (con- 
taining in some places crystallized felspar and tremolite) which are found alternating with Gneiss, for ten 
miles between Dover, State of New-York, and Kent, State of Connecticut, appear forty miles north, at 
Stockbridge, Connecticut, and eigthy miles south, between Singsing and Kingsbridge, New-A’ork ; where, 
after crossing the Hudson river and dipping under the trap and sandstone formation in New-Jersey, they 
About too miles S. E. of Nantucket, in the month of September, Fahrenheit’s thermometer in the sea stood 
at 78“, while the air was only 66, and the sea in soundings 61. 
