OF THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY ROCKS AND STRATA. 37 
same name might be applied amongst the formations of their own 
country. For his rothe-todte-liegende, an equivalent was sup¬ 
posed to be found in an English stratum underlying the coal for¬ 
mation, and calletl the old-red-sandstone—for his wciss-liegende 
in the new-red-sandstone, and for the otiiers in the higlier beds. 
Tlie Ameiicans, deriving tlieir knowledge of Geology from 
English rather than continental publications, have pursued a si¬ 
milar course, and endeavoured to refer their sandstones to some 
of the rocUs bearing; the same g;eneral name on the island of 
Great Britain. Thus, the sandstone formation mentioned as com¬ 
mencing in ]\Iassachusetts, and extending through the interven¬ 
ing states into South Carolina, has been called the old-red-sand¬ 
stone. 
But recently, Bi'itish Geologists have plaeed the old-red-sand- 
stone amongst tlic gray-wackes, and find in the upper and lower 
members of the ncic-red-sandstone, the equivalents of the 
weiss-liegende and rolhe-todte-liegende of Werner. Wliat is now 
to be done with tlie sandstone of North Carolina and the other 
Atlantic states.^ Is it to go along with the old-red-sandstone of 
England amongst the gray-wackes, or to be regarded as the equi¬ 
valent of the rothe-todte-liegende, or does it correspond to nei¬ 
ther ? We cannot tell. If doubt and uncertainty hang for years 
over the relations of the strata of England and Germany, separa¬ 
ted by an interval of only four or five hundred miles, it may well 
be expected that it will not he less in the case of rocks l 3 dng on 
the op[)Osite sides of the wide Atlantic. The sandstone is in con¬ 
tact with the conglomerate rocks of the transition formation in 
our neighbourhood, but bears no more resemblance to them than 
granite does to mica slate. It probably is not more ancient than 
the old, nor more recent than the new-red-sandstone of the 
English strata, but no satisfactory evidence has been furnished 
that it is the same with cither. 
OF THE SECONDARY AND TERTIAIW ROCKS AND 
STRATA. 
22. These being, with few exceptions, of mechanical origin, 
require no particular description. They are ; First— Limesiuiies, 
which are generally constituted either in part or altogether of the 
exuvix oj shell-fish. Secondly— Sand; and thirdly— Clay. 
They' are of very dilTercnt degrees of induration, being some¬ 
times consolidated into very' hard and compact rocks, whilst in 
other cases they are loose earthy aggregates. In these forma¬ 
tions it is not the mineral character so much as the position they 
occupy in the crust of the earth, and the organic remains they 
embrace, that is the object of attention. If the red-sandstone of 
our vicinity' be referred to the transition class, the secondaiy and 
tertiary strata of North Carolina (the alluvions of our rivers ex¬ 
cepted) are coniined to the low country'. 
4 ^ 
