244 The American Geologist. April, 1895 
waters carrying so high a proportion of mineral matter, ani- 
mal and vegetable life could not have existed, this theory 
does not explain why such deposits are not found over a more 
widely extended area, especiall}^ when there appears to be but 
little difi'erence in the rocks of adjoining areas. Moreover, it 
would be necessary to extend these metalliferous ocean waters 
to cover both the Lower Silurian and the Lower C'arboniferous 
epochs. Further, while disseminated deposits might possibly 
be explained by such an hypothesis, the large deposits of the 
southwest are not. 
The second theory is that the minerals came in solution 
from great depths. That this is true of many deposits of 
known true fissures is undoubtedl}" a fact, but in the present 
instance there are many obstacles in the way of this hypoth- 
esis. First, the crevices which have been found decrease in 
size as they descend. Some of tliem in immediate contact 
with ore bodies are entirely barren or carry but little ore. 
Again, underlj'ing considerable portions of the ore-bearing 
rock is a large bed of sandstone, open, porous and water-bear- 
ing. No ore has been found in this rock, and it seems very 
strange that concentrated solutions could have passed through 
it and left lU) trace. In all well authenticated vein deposits 
where solutions have presumal)ly come from great depths, lead 
ores carry a recognizable amount of silver, and accessoi-y min- 
erals, such as rhodochrosite, rhodonite, arsenical, antimonial 
and bisniutiferous minerals are found. In Missouri, however, 
the lead carries from a trace to three or four ounces of silver 
per ton, with the exception of that from one acknowledged 
true fissure deposit in the granite at Einstein mine, where 
the ore carried considerable silver and where some of these 
accessory minerals were found. 
The third hypothesis, that of the wide diffusion of the met- 
als, supplemented by lateral secretion, has in it more local 
elements of evidence to support it than either of the others 
The widespread existence of the metals in rocks has been 
demonstrated by P^mmons. Sandberger, Forscharamer, Bischof, 
and others. The action of lateral secretion has, however, been 
condemned by many writers who narrowed its application to 
the leacliing of the immediately adjacent rocks. The question 
has thus been raised as to the sutHciency of the metalliferous 
