64 
GLOSSARY. 
Bluffs. High banks presenting a precipitous front to the sea or a 
river. A term used in the United States of North America. 
Botryoidal. Resembling a bunch of grapes. Etym., fiorpvg, botrys, 
a bunch of grapes, and eidog, eidos, form. 
Bowlders. A provincial term for large rounded blocks of stone lying 
on the surface of the ground, or sometimes imbedded in loose 
soil, different in composition from the rocks in their vicinity, 
and which have been therefore transported from a distance. 
Breccia. A rock composed of angular fragments connected toge- 
ther by lime or other mineral substance. An Italian term. 
Calc Sinter. A German name for the deposits from springs hold- 
ing carbonate of lime in solution — petrifying springs. Etym., 
Kalk, lime, sintern, to drop. 
Calcaire Guossier. An extensive stratum, or rather series of 
strata, belonging to the Eocene tertiary period, originally found 
in, and specially belonging to, the Paris Basin. See Table II. 
E,p. 390. Etym., Calcaire, limestone, and grossier, coarse. 
Calcareous Rock. Limestone. Etym., Calx, lime. 
Calcedony. A siliceous simple mineral, uncrystallized. Agates 
are partly composed of calcedony. 
Carbon. An undecomposed inflammable substance, one of the sim- 
ple elementary bodies. Charcoal is almost entirely composed 
of it. Etym., Carbo, coal. 
Carbonate of Lime. Lime combines with great avidity with car- 
bonic acid, a gaseous acid only obtained fluid when united with 
water, — and all combinations of it with other substances are 
called Carbonates. All limestones are carbonates of lime, and 
quick lime is obtained by driving off the carbonic acid by heat. 
Carbonated Springs. Springs of water, containing carbonic acid 
gas. They are very common, especially in volcanic countries, and 
sometimes contain so much gas, that if a little sugar be thrown 
into the water it effervesces like soda-water. 
Carbonic Acid Gas. A natural gas which often issues from the 
ground, especially in volcanic countries. Etym., Carbo, coal, 
because the gas is obtained by the slow burning of charcoal. 
Carboniferous. A term usually applied, in a technical sense, to 
the lowest group of strata of the secondary rocks, see Table II. 
L, p. 393 ; but any bed containing coal may be. said to be car- 
boniferous. Etym., Carbo, coal, and fero, to bear. 
Cataclysm. A deluge. Etym., KaraicXv^co, catacluso, to deluge. 
Cephalopoda. A class of molluscous animals, having their organs 
of motion arranged round their head. Etym., tcecpaXn, cephale, 
head, and 7roc>a, poda, feet. 
