ONONDAGA SALT GROUP. 
103 
inches in diameter. Frequently six of the hoppers arc joined by their apex, so as to pre¬ 
sent the skeleton of a cube, as may be seen by reference to No. 2 ; showing that all of 
them were not formed at the top of a liquid surface or water, but that they were the result 
of the desiccation of the mass in which they occur, the point of union being the point from 
whence the crystallization of their particles commenced. Should such have been the case, it 
is a fact of some consequence, being highly favorable to the existence of rock salt in this 
deposit. To these hopper cavities we shall again advert in another part of the report, merely 
stating that they are found in the gypseous shale or marl; in its more solid and slaty parts, 
and in the vermicular rock, between what we have considered to be the two ranges or series 
of plaster masses in the three counties. 
Fossils are extremely rare in the whole of the group, having been found but in three or four 
localities, and at each one they were few in number. From the experiments of M. Beudant 
of Paris, that testaceous bodies cannot live in water saturated with gypsum, the inference 
might be, that such, with a few exceptions, was the condition of the water which deposited 
the materials of this group. 
The whole of the gypsum in Madison county is confined to the towns of Lenox and Sullivan, 
with the exception of a small portion of the northeast of Smithfield, and a like small portion 
of the northwest of New-Stockbridge. In Lenox and Sullivan, the northern line of the plaster 
is near the turnpike road. Every quarry that was heard of, was noted in the report of 1839. 
A few only will be mentioned, so as to give an idea of their contents and the manner of 
arrangement to those unacquainted with that report. 
Bull’s quarry, to the right of the road from Sullivan to Clockville, is one of the most 
interest, though not of pecuniary value, from the thickness of the masses, which rest upon 
the plaster, all which must be removed before the gypsum can be taken out. Such quarries, 
therefore, are not so valuable as those where the gypsum is nearer to the surface. Were the 
overlying masses of the gypsum more solid, this mineral could be extracted in the ordinary 
mode of mining, but they appear to be generally too friable to admit of it. The annexed 
wood-cut, No. 19, represents a vertical section of this quarry. 
19. 
No. 1 consists of thin layers of a dark brownish color, somewhat hard; the letter G, two 
masses of gypsum. Here the part which encloses the gypsum shows that disposition so 
