IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF LIMESTONE. 
45 
“ modification of the rock has been effected, we discern a very distinct stratification, the 
“ beds dipping steeply towards the southeast^ 
Besides the discrepancy in the dip, and for which no cause has been assigned, I am at a 
loss how to reconcile the prodigious extent of igneous action, and the total modification of 
the rock, with the very distinct stratification; for, it would seem, that when there had been a 
prodigious extent of igneous action, and a total modification of the rock, the planes of strati¬ 
fication would have disappeared. 
I am disposed, after reviewing all the facts which are contained in the above extracts, to 
maintain that they do not go to support the metamorphic theory, and that it is more agreeable 
to all.the phenomena which have been observed, to place the primitive limestone of St. Law¬ 
rence, Essex and Orange counties with the igneous rocks ; but, that I may place this view in 
a light still more clear, I shall give the following additional facts and illustrations : 
5. 
The annexed diagram shows the position of a mass of coarse crystalline limestone, about one 
and half miles southwest of Clintonville. It is charged, as usual, with brown tourmalin, im¬ 
perfect crystals of scapolite, pyroxene, mica, and a few other simple minerals usually included 
in this rock. It will be observed that it is beneath the granite, which is a mass fifty or sixty 
feet thick. The limestone rises only about fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of the 
ground, along which it extends sixty or seventy rods. It is a bold bluff of rock, the upper of 
The diagram No. 6 is introduced for the 
purpose of illustrating relations of a character 
similar to those in the preceding cut. The 
limestone is composed of the coarse crystal¬ 
line particles so common to this rock. The 
rock which overlies it, is a sienitic granite, 
traversed by regular joints or divisional seams^ 
which impart to it much the appearance of 
stratification. This locality is in Fowler, St. 
Lawrence county, near the village of Halesborough. The Oswegatchie at this place cuts 
through it in many places, disclosing the relations of these two rocks. The best locality for 
which is granite, and the lower limestone. 
6 . 
