146 Thi American Geologist. September, 1893 
Now these facts can be explained in two ways. First, look- 
ing at them from Prof. Broadhead' 8 standpoint, by supposing 
that at this exact point the Second sandstone dips and disap- 
pears under the Second Magnesian limestone; or, second, we 
can say that this is but an example of a large lens of sand- 
stone which disappears by thinning out, and by Limestone 
baking its place. Now which of these two explanations is the 
more plausible? 
If Prof. Broadhead's assertion is true there are some very 
difficult points to explain. His explanation given in the 
American Geologist is plausible, but the facts do not seem to 
warrant his conclusion. 
Cabool, at the head of the Big Piney river, is 1,150 feet 
above tide, the mouth of the Gasconade 550 feet. These datum 
points are from the levels of the K. C, Ft. S. & M. K. R. and 
the Mo. P. R. R. This gives a difference in level of the two 
places as 600 feet. The air line distance is ninety-two miles. 
The average fall per mile then is less than 6^ feet. Prof. 
Broadhead admits that above Mt. Sterling the Second sand- 
stone appears, and if so it must be at the summit of bluffs 
over 200 feet high. This, then, is what happens according to 
Prof. Broadhead. A sandstone which follows along the rivers 
at an altitude of from 200 to 400 feet for seventy-four miles, 
suddenly drops from the top of a bluff 200 feet high and dis- 
appears. Allowing the distance to be one mile (which is too 
much), we have instead of an average fall of 64; feet per mile, 
a sudden drop of 200 feet. Moreover, there is no gradual fall 
of this sandstone. With no previous sign of dipping down- 
wards, at the bend above mentioned the sandstone at once ap- 
pears in the bed of the river, and with the sandstone which 
has been followed so long still on the summit of the bin H'. 
Further, the sandstone which appears above Mt. Sterling con- 
tinues, sometimes in heavy beds, sometimes in brown blocks 
of huge size, and in one place above Fredericksburg in mas- 
sive beds one hundred feet thick. This cannot be the Second 
sandstone, because that has, according to Prof. Broadhead, dis- 
appeared at Mt. Sterling ; nor can it be the First sandstone, 
for that has not yet appeared. What is to be done with this 
sandstone? Prof. Broadhead not only leaves this question 
unanswered, but he fails to show by what means he recognizes 
