Chapter XIV: Front Matter (14)

Prairies are found in those countries only that are congenial to the growth of grass, and only where the soil is sufficiently rich to produce it luxuriantly--they are found commonly on high plains, sufficiently drained to prevent water from remaining on them the whole year; for it is by no means necessary that they should be always dry; on the contrary, if they are sufficiently level to prevent the rains from running off immediately, the grass will grow thicker and higher--but they must be sufficiently dry to burn, at least once in two or three years, during the long, dry season, called _Indian summer_. It has been universally remarked, that these seasons are much longer as we proceed westerly--commencing usually in October, and continuing a month and a half or two months, during which the vegetation is killed by the frosts, and dried by the sun; the wet prairies are also dried, and before the season has expired, the grass is perfectly combustible.

The Indians, it is presumed, (and the writer, from a residence in their country and with them, is well acquainted with their customs) burn the woods, not _ordinarily_ for the purpose of taking or catching game, as suggested by Mr. A. but for many other advantages attending that practice. If the woods be not burned as usual, the hunter finds it impossible to kill the game, which, alarmed at the great noise made in walking through the dry grass and leaves, flee in all directions at his approach. Also the Indians travel much during the winter, from one village to another, and to and from the various hunting grounds, which becomes extremely painful and laborious, from the quantity of briers, vines, grass, &c. To remedy these and many other inconveniences, even the woods were originally burned so as to cause prairies, and for the same and like reasons they continue to be burned towards the close of the Indian summer.

Woodland is not commonly changed to prairie by one burning, but by several successive conflagrations; the first will kill the undergrowth, which causing a greater opening, and admitting the sun and air more freely, increases the quantity of grass the ensuing season: the conflagration consequently increases, and is now sufficiently powerful to destroy the smaller timber; and on the third year you behold an open prairie.

Ordinarily, all the country, of a nature to become prairie, is already in that state; yet the writer of this has seen, in the country between the Missouri and Mississippi, after unusual dry seasons, more than one hundred acres of woodland together converted into prairie. And again, where the grass has been prevented from burning by accidental causes, or the prairie has been depastured by large herds of domestic cattle, it will assume, in a few years, the appearance of a young forest. Numerous proofs of this fact can be adduced, but a few shall suffice. The vicinity of St. Louis and St. Charles affords instances. Both these beautiful places are situated on what are termed first and second bottoms, or flats--the former on the Missisippi, the latter on the Missouri; the second or upper bottoms, in both, are high plains, that commence within a few hundred yards of the rivers, and extend back many miles; all the old French inhabitants will tell you, that the prairies formerly came immediately up to those places. Now the surrounding country for several miles is covered with a growth of trees of four or five inches diameter, near the towns where the burning first ceased, and gradually diminishing in size as you recede, until you at length gain the open prairies. So the barrens in Kentucky; many of the first settlers of that state distinctly recollect when many of those barrens were clear prairies, now partially covered with small trees. It is deemed unnecessary to offer more proofs, or additional arguments, in support of the opinion that the prairies were occasioned by _fire_, and not by _water_. Indeed one glance at the maps of those extensive prairie countries, surveyed by order of government, where the prairies and woodland are distinguished and correctly delineated, should carry conviction. The timber will be there observed to skirt the rivers; in the country near their sources a few solitary trees are seen, close on the banks, secure from the fires, and increasing in numbers as the rivers increase in size, and the low grounds become more extensive.

The view given of the prairies by Mr. A. is correct; but was certainly painted in the _winter_ season--they are, at that season, bleak and uncomfortable both to the feelings and sight; but a full return is made to both when the spring opens. The prairies (particularly to the west) are then covered with the richest verdure, interspersed with an immense variety of wild flowers, that send forth the most grateful odours. Ascend one of the small hills, and you have a prospect as delightful as it is possible for the imagination to conceive. Far as the eye can carry you, a delightful country extends, through which numerous streams wind their serpentine courses, with groves and clumps of trees at intervals upon their banks. On one hand, at an immense distance, the small hills and groves are seen rising above the blue horizon; on the other, the view is pleasantly terminated by the wood on the low grounds skirting the river to which the smaller streams are tributary--while herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and other animals, are frequently seen slowly travelling to and from the watering-places, or grazing on the plains. The inhabited parts of the country present a prospect still more pleasing; around the margin of those extensive rich prairies, numerous habitations are seen, withdrawn a short distance in the wood, from the winter's cold and summer's heat--their finely cultivated fields lie in the prairies, which yield at once to the plough, without the previous Herculean labour of demolishing the forest. The area between the farms is a common of pasture to the numerous herds during the spring, summer, and autumn, and a small part mowed affords hay for the winter. The farmer who takes up his habitation in the neighbourhood of the prairies, has _many_ of the advantages of an _old_ inhabited country, and _all_ the advantages of the _new_.

ART. III. _Sketch of the Mineralogy and Geology of the Vicinity of Williams' College, Williamstown, Mass. By_ PROFESSOR DEWEY, _of Williams' College, in a letter to the Editor_.

The following sketch includes a space extending from Hoosack mountain on the east, to the State of New-York on the west, and a small distance into Vermont on the north. The accompanying map shows the relative situation of the streams, and the principal hills and mountains. The map is an enlarged copy of Carleton's map of this part of the state, with one or two corrections, which truth required. The latitude and longitude are probably not perfectly accurate.

Williams' College is situated in a valley, having on the west the hills of the _Taconick_[48] range; on the east, _Saddle Mountain_, which separates it for the most part from Adams; and on the north, and northeast, two hills which belong to the southwestern part of the range of the _Green Mountains_. _Hoosack River_, rising several miles at the southeast, and passing through the northeastern part of Williamstown, winds its course northwest, to the Hudson. It is an inconsiderable stream, about six rods in width, and its current is rapid. From the south, runs _Green River_, a smaller stream, and enters the Hoosack one mile northeast of the college. The _green_ colour of this stream, appears to be caused by a _magnesian_ clay, which is washed from its banks at the south part of the town. At the west is _Westbrook_, rising in Williamstown, and entering the Hoosack one mile and a half northwest of the college. The _soil_ in this whole tract is generally _clayey_, rather light for such a soil, and very rich. A gravelly soil appears in a few places, especially at the northern part. The _interval_ on the Hoosack extends only a small distance from its banks, rarely exceeding, and often much less, than half a mile, and presents the common appearances of _alluvial_ land. Rising from ten to twenty feet above this interval, the soil is in various places filled with rolled stones of quartz and limestone, as if the Hoosack had once been much above the banks which confine it at present. It is not improbable that its waters were formerly intercepted by the hills in Pownal, five miles at the northwest, forming a small lake in this valley.

The hills of the _Taconick_ range, (A[49]) on which passes the line between Massachusetts and New-York, have generally an elevation from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred feet; _Pownal Mountain_ (B) on the north, about fourteen hundred; and _Oak hill_ (D) on the northeast, twelve hundred feet above the east college (C.) _Saddle Mountain_ (EF) is an insulated mass, separated from the Taconick range by the valley of Williamstown, and from Hoosack Mountain, by the valley in Adams. It lies about south southwest, and is nearly eight miles in length, and two in breadth. It is composed of two ranges, the eastern and highest (FG) being in Adams. The mountain has its name from two of its peaks, which present at a distance the appearance of the two elevations of a _saddle_. The west range (E) is divided into _two parts_ quite to its base, which with the slope of the east range encloses, on three sides, an irregular hollow, called the _Hopper_.(H) The northern part (E) of the west range is nearly two miles in length, and rises to the height of eighteen hundred feet; the southern (I) rises abruptly into a peak of the elevation of seventeen hundred feet. The height of the valley between the two ranges is about fourteen hundred feet. You enter the _Hopper_ from the west, passing along a branch of Green River, and a romantic, wild, and sublime prospect opens before you. Nearly east of the entrance into the Hopper, lies the highest point of the Saddle, familiarly called _Gray Lock_, (F) being about twenty-eight hundred feet above the college, and probably four thousand feet above the _tide-water_ of the Hudson at Troy. This is the highest land in Massachusetts. About two miles north northeast, is the northern peak (G) elevated twenty-three hundred feet. The valley in Adams is bounded on the east by Hoosack mountain, (K) elevated from fourteen hundred to eighteen hundred feet, and extending several miles west of south: it forms a part of the range which commences at _West Rock_ in Connecticut.

The country included in this sketch is principally _primitive_; lying on the west of the summit of the primitive range, which passes southerly into Connecticut. The rocks and minerals will be mentioned in the following order.

1. _Granite._ A few pieces have been found at the foot of Oak hill, one mile northeast of the college. It consists principally of feldspar. Four miles east, are large masses of granite on both sides of the Hoosack, and on ascending Hoosack mountain they become more numerous. The principal part of this is quartz, often of a purple colour; the mica black, and the rocks exceedingly hard. I have never noticed any minerals imbedded in it. The vortex of Pownal mountain is also granitic.

2. _Gneiss_ and _Mica Slate_. I connect these two, because they are not often distinct, and appear to pass into each other. They are found in large strata on Hoosack Mountain, on a hill (L) connected with Saddle Mountain, and on the east side of Saddle Mountain. The highest and the west ridge of Saddle Mountain are mica slate. The _Hopper_ shows the inclination of the strata quite to the base of the mountain. The inclination is to the east and northeast, from ten to forty degrees. On the southwest mountain of _Saddle_, the strata are bare to the summit for a considerable distance, and are very fine grained mica slate, having somewhat the appearance of a _soapstone slate_. By this name they are called in Mr. Eaton's Index to Geology. Some of the rocks appear to be _talcose_. I have been able, however, to detect but a very minute quantity of magnesia in any specimens I have tried, though I obtained a considerable proportion of alumine. The higher hills of the Taconick range are composed principally of a similar slate, lying in the same direction, and with similar inclination; but it appears to have passed still farther from mica slate. At the northwest corner of the state, which is near the foot of the ridge in this place, the rock is very similar to some of that on the southwest mountain mentioned above. About a mile northwest of this _corner_, the rocks are cleft in several places, and in one, to such a depth, that the snow and ice remain here through the year. The _Snow Hole_ (M) is about thirty feet long, and nearly as deep at the east end, ascends to the west, or towards the summit of the ridge, and is from ten to twenty feet wide. When I visited it in June, the snow was six feet deep on ice of unknown depth. The rock is here passing into _argillaceous slate_; and in many places it becomes _argillaceous_ and _chlorite slate_. For the other rock, you have, I believe, proposed the name _talcose slate_.

3. _Quartz._ Though quartz is scattered through all the preceding rock in masses of different sizes, it is found in great quantity on the northeast part of Saddle Mountain, 300 or 400 feet above the college, and thence to the Hoosack along the side of the hill (L.) It is granular, often white and translucent, and often coloured with oxyd of iron. It forms _Stone Hill_, (N) a mile southwest of the college, on the vertex of which is argillaceous slate. This hill slopes to West Brook, where quartz often forms perpendicular banks from 50 to 100 feet high. Here also argillaceous slate rests on the quartz, as well as on the vertex, and on the east side of Stone Hill. Quartz appears again on the opposite side of West Brook, but further north, on a hill connected with the Taconick range. On these two hills, it lies in large strata, inclining, like the mica slate, to the east and northeast, often divided by veins into rhomboidal masses. On the east side of Stone Hill, it is more granular, and may perhaps be called _arenaceous quartz_, containing a larger proportion of iron. Near the base of Hoosack Mountain, similar quartz is found, which extends round the north side of the Hoosack to Oak Hill, (D) which is wholly composed of it. It lies in rounded fragments, called _hardheads_, through the northern part of the valley, and on the sides of Oak Hill in huge rocks, presenting nearly perpendicular fronts from 20 to 50 feet in height, and many rods in length. The strata are in some places horizontal, and in others nearly perpendicular. In one place it forms plates, from 2 to 5 feet on a side, and from half an inch to several inches in thickness, which are nearly perfect rhomboids, the edges never being perpendicular to the sides. Most of the quartz, except the white, yields a small portion of lime, and has been called _calcareous quartz_. _Greasy quartz_, _rose quartz_, hornstone, and _rock crystal_, are occasionally found; the last in considerable quantity south of Stone Hill. On the stream which issues from the _Hopper_, is arenaceous quartz of a slaty structure, which is an excellent stone for sharpening the _chisels_ used by _stonecutters_.

4. _Granular Limestone_ is abundant at the _Cave_ or _Falls_, in Adams, and on both sides of the Hoosack. The _Cave_ or _Falls_, (O) is a singular chasm between limestone rocks. A small stream, which appears once to have run on the surface of the hollow between two small elevations, has now worn a passage many feet in depth through the limestone. The chasm is narrow, winding in its course several rods long, and its opposite sides were connected, till four years ago, by a natural bridge of limestone. From the bridge to the water is 70 feet. There is a dark cavern of several feet diameter, and some passages into the rocks. The white marble walls, the foaming of the water below, the piles and irregularity of the rocks, and the thick overhanging trees, make the scene very wild and interesting. The limestone rests on mica slate. On the west bank of the Hoosack, and east base of the hill, (L) the same coarse-grained and white limestone is found, resting on the mica slate at the west of it.

At the north and west base of Saddle Mountain, (E) and at a less elevation than the quartz, are extensive strata of limestone, inclining the same way as the mica slate of the mountain. It is less distinctly granular, and less white than the other, but belongs to the same rock. It forms tolerably good marble. Between the strata are crystals of carbonate of lime, rhomboidal, and tending to the _lenticular_ form. Some of these strata appear to be composed of blended crystals of this kind. In one place are strata of several rods in length and breadth, which are inclined to the southwest, and thus lie against the mica slate of the mountain. The inclination is about forty-five degrees. Unless this limestone be connected with that on the east of Saddle Mountain, (and no connexion has yet been traced,) it must be considered as lying on both sides of the mica slate, or alternating with it.

5. _Argillaceous Slate_ rests on quartz on Stone Hill, and is also found low down in the valley connected with limestone. It constitutes the hill (P) connected with the Taconick range, and also Northwest hill, (Q) whose base is compact limestone. A few miles north, this slate is distinctly marked, and in about 12 miles, forms hills of _roof slate_ in Hosack, New-York. It is annually carried in large quantities to Albany. On the first-mentioned hill, it contains some _talc_.

6. _Aluminous slate._ This is found in argillaceous slate, in Pownal, 5 miles north, at the base of a hill east of the Hoosack. It is used to _set_ colours.

7. _Chlorite._ In rounded masses, generally with quartz, scattered through the valley in Williamstown, and found at an elevation of some hundred feet on the hills of the Taconick range. Chlorite slate has already been mentioned as occurring on the same range.

8. _Rubble Stone._ In rounded masses through the valley.

9. _Compact Limestone._ In several places low in the valley. Near the college it is white and deep gray. In the veins of the latter, _talc_ is diffused in all directions. It contains silex, often from 3 to 15 per cent., and sometimes gives fire with steel. In some cases it is earthy. On Green River, one and a half mile south of the college, it lies in thin strata, which are divided by seams into very regular rhomboidal plates of various sizes. On some scattered fragments on this river, are found carbonate of lime in crystals, with pieces of white feldspar. On West Brook, this gray limestone is traversed by a vein of quartz, containing sulphuret of iron. The strata of this rock are almost invariably inclined to the east. A coarse _soapstone_ is found in the limestone near the college, and a vein made up of brown argillaceous slate, soapstone, quartz, and sulphuret of iron, passes through it. This limestone appears to be very different from that at the base of Saddle Mountain, and from that which yields the marble of Berkshire county. It may still be _primitive_, but _primitive compact limestone_.

10. _Granitell_ of Kirwan, _Quartz_, and _Feldspar_. This aggregate forms extensive strata at the east base of Stone Hill. The feldspar is diffused in grains through the quartz, and sometimes crystalline, forming _porphyritic quartz_. This aggregate is often compact and very hard, but frequently it is porous and hard, forming good millstones. Sometimes the quartz appears in such fragments, that the stone resembles _breccia_.

11. _Black Tourmaline._ In beautiful small six-sided prisms, in scattered pieces of mica slate at the base of Stone Hill.

12. _Amianthus._ Only a small specimen, attached to _argillaceous slate_.

13. _Bitter Spar._ On compact limestone at West Brook. Some of the crystals are rhomboids, and some appear to be the half of rhomboids split through their longer diagonal.

14. _Jasper._ The common brown or red, and black, in small rounded masses, and also a piece of variegated or striped jasper.

15. _Galena._ Only a specimen in the limestone on West Brook.

16. _Iron Ore._ _Bog ore_ on the Hoosack, a mile northeast of the college. _Yellow earth_, from which _yellow ochre_ is obtained in great quantity, in a hill (R) on the bank of Green River, 2 miles south of the college.

At the north end of Saddle Mountain, but low down, yellow earth is connected with _reddle_, or a substance much resembling it. It is less hard than the common reddle, but is composed of the same ingredients.

_Magnetic Oxyd of Iron_, regular octahedrons, in mica slate at the base of Stone Hill.

_Supersulphuret of Iron_, massive and crystallized, in argillaceous slate, mica slate, compact limestone, and quartz.

17. _Prase._ Beautiful, and containing sulphuret of iron; lately found by Mr. Eaton, a little east of the summit of Hoosack Mountain, in Florida.

18. _Puddingstone._ Where Pownal Mountain reaches the Hoosack, (T) 3 miles north of the college, are some hills of this aggregate. It is composed of rounded masses of quartz, chlorite, and limestone, of various sizes, connected by an argillaceous cement.

19. _Potters' Clay._ Excellent for vessels of common pottery.

The minerals of this section, it is obvious, are not very important; but as connected with a transverse section of the country, they possess considerable interest. For this reason they have been particularly mentioned.

In the north part of Williamstown is a _mineral spring_, familiarly called the _Sand Spring_ (S.) The water rises from several places in a reservoir of about a rod in diameter, and from one to three feet deep. It is very soft and warm, but contains very little saline or earthy matter. Gas continually rises in it. It appears much to resemble the spring at New Lebanon, New-York, and has proved useful in the cure particularly of some _cutaneous_ diseases.

The _transverse section_, connected with the map, passes over Stone Hill, and the north part of Saddle Mountain. The different rocks are shown in the section, directly below their places on the map, by drawing lines from the several strata parallel to the sides of the map. This section is connected with that given by Mr. Hitchcock, in the 2d number of this Journal. It ought perhaps to be mentioned, that according to Mr. Eaton's account, the granite of this section sinks under gneiss to the east, and rises again in Hampshire County, "supporting the same rock of gneiss;" but where it reappears, the granite contains "many imbedded minerals." This section corresponds generally to the place and character of the minerals in any section across Berkshire county. There are, however, some peculiarities which may be mentioned at a future day. The colouring corresponds to that on the geological map in Cleaveland's Mineralogy.

C. DEWEY.

_Williams' College, Jan. 27, 1819._

P.S. I have a part of a _rock crystal_, which contains, in a hollow, a _liquid_ and a _little air_, and some _black_ or _brown particles_, which just sink in the liquid. It was found several years since at Diamond Hill in Catskill. This hill is only a small eminence on the bank of the creek at that place, composed of limestone, (if I have been correctly informed,) between the strata of which, and on the side next the creek, this and other rock crystals were found. I believe, Sir, you have one like the above, obtained from the same place. The crystal, which was generously given me by Mr. Van Loon, who found it, is only a part of two crystals connected at their bases. Partly under one of the solid angles formed by the united pyramids, is the hollow, about ⅝ inch long, about ⅜ filled with the air, and about ¼ inch wide. The principal curiosity about it is the liquid. It has never been known to _freeze_. It was exposed yesterday morning an hour to an atmosphere 4 and 5 degrees below zero. It became less fluid, for the bubble of air moved with less ease and rapidity. Still the liquid was fluid. Its colour, which is naturally white, had a slight tinge of yellow. The Rev. Mr. Schaeffer of New-York supposes the black particles are bitumen. Is it possible the liquid is _naptha_? This oil is sometimes colourless, and does not congeal at zero, and that which I distilled from the Seneca oil, does congeal at some degrees below zero. It can hardly be _salt water_, unless it be _very salt_, and even then, it would have congealed at the temperature of the air yesterday. What way can be devised to ascertain what it is?

_Jan. 30, 1819._

After seeing the notice of the crystals found at Hudson by Mr. Schaeffer, I wrote to a member of the Lyceum of Natural History, New-York, rather more full an account than the above, of my crystal, &c. I hope to ascertain, whether the liquid will congeal at 10 or 20° below 0, but have some fear lest the crystal should be injured.

C. D.

ART. IV. _On the Tourmalines and other Minerals found at Chesterfield and Goshen, Massachusetts, by Col._ GEORGE GIBBS.

(For the American Journal of Science.)

The schorl of the mineralogists of the last century united a variety of substances which subsequent observations have separated into several species. The green schorl is now the epidote, or the Vesuvian, or the actynolite. The violet schorl, and the lenticular schorl, are the axinite. The black volcanic schorl is the augite. The white Vesuvian schorl is the sommite. The white grenatiform is the leucite. The white prismatic is the pycnite, a species of the topaz, and another is a variety of feldspar. Of the blue schorl, one variety is the oxyd of titanium, another the sappare, and another the phosphate of iron. The schorl cruciform is the granatite. The octahedral schorl is the octahedrite, or anatase. The red schorl of Hungary, and the purple of Madagascar, are varieties of the oxyd of titanium. The spathique schorl is the spodumen.

The black schorl, and the electric schorl, only remained, and to avoid the confusion created by the use of the term schorl, the name of tourmaline was given to this species by that celebrated mineralogist, the Abbé Haüy.[50]

The tourmaline is found of almost every colour, and this variety of colour caused at first a number to be formed into new species; which are now considered only as varieties of the tourmaline: such as the rubellite, the tourmaline apyre, and indicolite.

The different analyses of the tourmaline, however, affords a greater variety of results than is known in almost any other mineral.

The specific gravity of the black varies from 3.08 to 3.36
Green from 3.15 to 3.36
Red from 2.87 to 3.10

Analysis gives Silex from 35 to 58
Alumine 20 to 48
Magnesia 0 to 10
Iron 0 to 23
Manganese 0 to 13
Alkali 0 to 10
Water 0 to 4

These differences must be in some measure ascribed to a defect in the accuracy of some of the analyses. But it appears that iron has not been discovered in the red tourmaline. It is not unworthy of notice, that the red tourmaline is considered as infusible, but the others fusible.

The red tourmaline has been the most valued, from its scarcity, its employment in jewelry, and the beauty of its crystals. It has been discovered in Siberia, in Moravia, in the East-Indies, and in Massachusetts. In Siberia it is found in a vein of decomposed feldspar in a fine-grained granite, with black tourmaline. In Moravia with quartz and lepidolite (or rose-coloured mica) in gneiss. In the East-Indies, at Ava and Ceylon, but its geological situation is not known, though it is probably in gneiss or granite.

The red or rose tourmaline of Massachusetts, is found chiefly at Chesterfield, in a subordinate bed of granite, contained in mica slate. The mica slate is the predominant rock of the country. It is fine grained, and contains an abundance of small garnets. Direction of the strata north and south, varying a little easterly; inclination perpendicular. The bed of granite is about three hundred feet long, and from five to twenty feet broad. It is contained in a narrow ridge of mica slate, which descends into, and is lost in, a valley. The sides are precipitous; the highest part is about forty feet high. On the east side a considerable part of the granite has been destroyed by natural causes, leaving the granite bare. The granite consists chiefly of granular feldspar, with grains of white quartz, and a little light coloured mica, is moderately fine grained, and of a grayish white colour. In addition to tourmaline, it contains also emerald, some of the crystals of which are from three to five inches in diameter. I succeeded in getting one out of its matrix, which is three and a half inches in diameter, and its summit (which is a plane without any additional facettes) is perfect.

The tourmalines are contained chiefly in a false vein of silicious feldspar and quartz, which begins in the centre of the upper edge of the bed of granite, and passes obliquely, descending to the northeast, about twenty feet, where it is intercepted from sight by the mica slate. The vein is about one and a half foot thick in the upper part, and not more than six or eight inches where it is lost. This vein of silicious feldspar contains also a vein of bluish white transparent quartz, which is from three to eight inches thick, and passes through the centre of the vein of feldspar.

When I first examined this rock, soon after its discovery by Dr. Hunt, of Northampton, I determined the feldspar to be a new variety, which has been since confirmed by Professor Hauffman, and now ranks as a new sub-species, under the name of silicious feldspar. (P. 41, of the Mineralogical Table.)

The analysis of Professor Stromeyer, of Gottingen, gives,

Silex 70.68
Alumine 19.80
Soda 9.05
Iron, Mag. and Lime .38
-----
99.91

The chief difference between this and the adularia is, that one contains fourteen potash and the other nine soda. Between this and the saussurite, or tenacious feldspar, the one contains eleven of lime, and the other only a trace.

The silicious feldspar, which I suspect to be the basis of the granite, crystallizes in thin rhomboidal tables. They are very frangible, and have one clivage perpendicular to the faces of the tables. Sometimes the tables have one lateral edge or more truncated. In one fragment of a crystal I observed a very obtuse acumination on the table, which appeared to be diedral, the sides being placed on the obtuse lateral edges of the tables. On account of the extreme frangibility of the crystals, it is certainly extremely difficult to seize their characters. Specific gravity only 2.333, probably owing to interstices between the tables. The colour is white, translucid, passing to semi-transparent; lustre sometimes dull, at others shining. The tables are sometimes so aggregated that their edges being exposed, offer wedge-shaped and stelliform figures. The tourmalines are chiefly contained in this vein. They are red, or green, rarely blue or black.

The green tourmalines vary from one-eighth of an inch to one inch in diameter; they are sometimes four inches in length, and are entirely confined to the inner vein of quartz. They are triedral prisms, with convex faces, striated longitudinally, and generally traversed perpendicularly to the axis, with very small fissures filled by some silicious substance, probably feldspar. These green crystals are opaque. The red tourmaline is frequently enclosed in the green. In certain parts of the vein almost every green crystal encloses a red one, which always corresponds by its sides and angles with the exterior crystal. Sometimes a thin layer of talc intervenes between the outer and inner crystal. In one specimen I found three crystals of the red aggregated together, and enclosed in one of the green. In another crystal I found pyrites in the place of the red tourmaline. The largest crystal of the red was one quarter of an inch in diameter, and four inches long. The red tourmalines vary in intensity of colour, and frequently (particularly in the interior) pass into violet. They pass from translucid to semi-transparent. I have found some that were terminated by triedral pyramids. The crystals are generally perpendicular to the sides of the vein. Small crystals of the red often run from the vein of quartz into the adjoining feldspar. The granite also contains minute crystals of dark and light blue tourmaline, and pale green emerald, with a very few garnets and pyrites. In the lower part of the vein, five to six feet from its interruption by the mica slate, the red tourmaline scarcely appears, and the vein contains chiefly bluish amorphous quartz and green tourmaline. It is therefore probable that this vein will not afford henceforward a great supply of this beautiful mineral.

About six miles from Chesterfield, in Goshen, is found the rose mica, with tourmalines and emeralds interspersed in the granite. Unfortunately the bed of granite has not been discovered, and the specimens we possess are taken from loose rocks, scattered over a small extent of ground in a valley, in the neighbourhood of mica slate. The rose mica is found in a large grained granite with amorphous quartz and silicious feldspar, crystallized and amorphous. The mica is generally of a rose red, sometimes yellowish green. It crystallizes in rhomboidal tables, rarely truncated on the acute angles, passing into the hexaedral table. The tourmalines are light and dark green and blue, of various shades of intensity, frequently acicular and stellated. The black, the red, and the violet tourmalines also occur, but more rarely. Sometimes the green prisms enclose others of blue and black. Specific gravity of these varieties from 3. to 3.1. The green and blue crystals in this locality are translucid or semi-transparent. The feldspar is generally white, rarely light blue. There are some emeralds in the granite. Among some specimens which Mr. Weeks of New-York, who discovered this locality, was so good as to give me, I found a beautiful rose emerald in its matrix. It is a hexaedral prism, about one and a quarter inch in diameter, the summit a plane, one of the lateral edges has a truncature. About half of the diameter of the prism is free from the matrix, and half an inch of the prism. The colour is a pale rose, rather more transparent than the emerald.

The colour of the mica of the Goshen granite calls to mind the lepidolite or lilalite, which (formerly considered as a distinct species) has now been united to mica. The lepidolite of Rosena is also accompanied by the tourmaline apyre, now the red tourmaline.

ART. V. _Observations on the Minerals connected with the Gneiss range of Litchfield county, by Mr._ JOHN P. BRACE, _of Litchfield, Conn._

The gneiss formation is the most extensive of any in Litchfield county, and embraces a number of very interesting minerals. It extends east into Hartford county. On the north it runs into Massachusetts, though frequently interrupted by the limestone formation, which rests upon it. It forms the principal, and in many cases the only rock of the eastern and northeastern sections of the county, and of the towns of Litchfield, Goshen, Warren, Cornwall, and Norfolk. In Washington and Canaan, it constitutes the rock of the high mountains, and is a part of the same range in the other towns, while the valleys and the more moderate elevations are covered with limestone.

The river Housatonic appears to have made its way through this range, for the same rock continues on the western side of the river parallel to it in the mountains of Kent, Sharon, and Salisbury. In Litchfield commences a range of porphyritic granite, or _porphyritic gneiss_, which alternates with the common gneiss, and in some instances rests upon it. This rock begins at Mount Prospect, between Litchfield and Warren, and runs through South Farms, Bethlem, and Watertown. The crystals of feldspar in it, are often very perfect.

The primitive granite, as a rock, is not found, though it lies scattered on the surface in great quantities, and large masses. The graphic granite in this region is often remarkably fine. Mica slate constitutes a considerable part of those rocks that rest on the gneiss, though never found in such elevated situations. The mica slate rocks are always inclined at a great angle with the horizon, and follow the direction of the other range. Litchfield village, Chesnut hill, and great part of Harwington, are entirely composed of this rock. The Bantum and the Waterbury rivers have their bottoms of it. Some of the brooks entering the Waterbury, have cut their passage through the mica slate, leaving walls of 40 or 50 feet on each side, traversed by veins of a very coarse-grained granite, and often much mixed with sulphuret of iron. The slate near Harwington meeting-house contains a great quantity of sulphuret of iron. Mica slate likewise lies on the sides of the gneiss range in Canaan and Salisbury, where it dips under the limestone. _Sienite_ is scattered on the surface in large masses, especially where the porphyritic gneiss is found. Sometimes, however, the masses are so large as to form mountains. Mount Tom, between Litchfield and Washington, is of this nature, being entirely composed of sienite, resting on gneiss. Slaty sienite is frequently found, having a very large proportion of hornblende.

The minerals that are found in this region, are much more interesting than its geology. In describing them, I shall confine myself to the district east of the limestone range, intending at some future time to investigate and describe the limestone country.

Carbonate of lime, the granular limestone, is scattered over the whole of this region. It often is found in the cavities of decayed quartz rocks, and contains tremolite and augite.

_Cyanite_ or _Sappar_, is found in great quantities, especially in Harwington and Litchfield. A crystalline mass of this was found a few years ago, weighing probably 15 cwt.; it lay on a mica slate ridge, and undoubtedly had been formerly imbedded in the slate. Beautiful white talc, and small crystals of sulphuret of iron, are disseminated in the mass. Specimens of this mass are in almost all the cabinets in America. Smaller masses have been found associated with feldspar. Small crystals of this mineral are very common in mica slate, with staurotide and garnet. Two of these crystals are often arranged at right angles with each other. In Cornwall it is found in small crystals in the gneiss containing graphite.

_Staurotide_ is very common and very beautiful. It is found principally in mica slate, and exhibits often the cross. It most generally is crystallized in four-sided prisms.

_Quartz_, of course, is common. Cornwall particularly is distinguished for the _smoky_ variety. Ferruginous quartz is found in rolled masses in the whole of this range.

_Petro silex_, in rolled masses with ferruginous quartz, containing veins of _chalcedony_ and _hornstone_, and geodes of quartz crystals, are common in Litchfield and Goshen. Sometimes these masses in the interior assume the appearance of Burrstone.

_Common opal_ has been found in Litchfield, though rarely. It was part of a mass of ferruginous quartz, with indelible dendritic impression. It is very hard, and its fracture is conchoidal.

_Mica_ is very common. It is found green, white, and perfectly black. It generally occurs in blocks of granite.

_Schorl_, in rounded crystals, is found in all the granite in this range; in radiating crystals on quartz; and in acicular crystals on mica slate. The large crystals are so brittle, that few of them can be obtained perfect. I once found it in Litchfield, near Plymouth, in prismatic crystals on earthy graphite.

Feldspar is very common and beautiful in all the towns. It is usually found in rhomboidal fragments, and has a fine lustre. It is blue, white, and red. Some of the granite of Torringford is very beautiful, being composed of white and smoky quartz, red feldspar, and green mica. In the porphyritic gneiss, feldspar is in six-sided prisms. One small crystal of adularia, well defined, has been found by E. Wilkins, Esq.

_Beryl_, both crystallized and massive, is often found in Litchfield in granite. Its colours are green, greenish yellow, pale yellow, and brown. Its crystals are often very perfect.

_Garnets_ are common in all the towns of this range.

_Epidote._ Very beautiful crystals of this mineral have been found in Washington, associated with feldspar. They are so rounded as to render it very difficult to discover their form. They have a very fine lustre, and are of an olive green; in Litchfield, in crystals with hornblende, and graphic granite, and in veins in sienite.

Perhaps no region can be found containing more beautiful _tremolite_. All its varieties occur; the fibrous of Litchfield and Bethlem is very distinguished. In Canaan, it is found containing crystals of sulphuret of iron. I do not speak here of the tremolite found in the limestone range.

_Common asbestus_ exists in Washington and New Milford.

The white _augite_ is a mineral found in this range; in Litchfield, in six-sided prisms very much flattened, on quartz, and carbonate of lime with tremolite. They sometimes occur several inches long.

The _lamellar_ and _slaty_ varieties of common _hornblende_ are very common.

Radiated _actynolite_ of a beautiful bluish green in Litchfield; in Canton of a brownish green.

_Steatite_ is common, and is quarried in Litchfield. The varieties of _talc_ are very common, connected with steatite, cyanite, and chlorite.

_Chlorite_ in Litchfield, is found on quartz, with talc.

Porcelain clay in Litchfield in small quantities, and in Washington.

_Graphite_ is found in Cornwall in great quantities. Its gangue is gneiss and sienite. It is lamellar, and has a metallic lustre; is easily obtained, and might be made useful. Epidote and cyanite are found with it.

_Ores_ are not common. Oxides of iron, and sulphuret of iron are scattered over the whole range. Near Mount Prospect in Litchfield, sulphuret of iron in mass is in great quantities; and sulphate of iron on the surface of the ground near it. A stone containing a few grains of _native copper_ was found in Litchfield.

The red oxyde of _titanium_ occurs in Litchfield sparingly. A very handsome specimen of the _reticulated oxyde of titanium_, was picked up. It was on mica, and the mica had an evident tendency towards the same form.

BOTANY.

ART. VI. _An Account of two North American Species of Rottböllia, discovered on the Sea-coast in the State of Georgia, by Dr._ WILLIAM BALDWIN, _of Philadelphia_.

_Flowers in pairs, or two from each joint of the rachis, one neutral. The neutral, or imperfect flowers, pedicillate._

_Rottböllia corrugata._

Culmo erecto, compresso, sulcato, glabro, ramoso: foliis longis angustisque: spicis sub-compressis, nudis super uno latere, solitariis et terminalibus, supremis approximatis: calycis bivalvis, valva exteriori transversè _corrugata_ et longitudinaliter rugosa: corolla trivalvis.

Culm erect, compressed, sulcate, smooth, ramose: leaves long and narrow: spikes slightly compressed, naked on one side, solitary and terminal, approximating towards the summit: calyx 2-valved, the exterior valve transversely _corrugate_, and longitudinally wrinkled: corolla 3-valved. _Vid._ _Nuttall's North American Genera_, v. I. p. 84.[51]

_Culm_ two to three feet high, with a very solid exterior, but _spongy_ within, compressed, and deeply grooved on its inner angle the whole length between the joints. _Leaves_ long, narrow, and acute, scabrous on the margin and midrib. _Sheaths_ compressed, corresponding with the culm, shorter than the internodes, open, with membraneous margins. _Peduncles_ short, clothed with a thin membraneous acute pointed sheath, which generally encloses also the base of the spike. _Spikes_ two to three inches long. The flowers are arranged in alternate order, but occupy only one side of the rachis, as in the _R. dimidiata_. The neutral florets, or _clavate_ pedicels, are joined _laterally_ to the perfect flowers. Articulations of the rachis remarkably tumid, attenuated beneath, flat on the interior side, exteriorly convex, scabrous, and longitudinally striate. The exterior valve of the calyx, in the perfect flowers, is ovate, obtuse, very thick, cartilaginous, the inner margin inflected, and deeply marked on its outer surface with from three to five _corrugations_, with longitudinal ridges between them; the interior valve is smaller, of equal length, acute, ruled, coriaceous, smooth, and with the inner margin also inflected. The valves of the corolla are membraneous, ovate, acute, white, shorter than the calyx, the exterior one the longest. The neutral florets are sometimes male, but most commonly consist of nothing more than a 2-valved calyx, the valves equal, gaping, scabrous, and much smaller than those of the perfect flower. _Stamens_ 3, very short. _Anthers_ twin, yellow. _Styles_ 2, rather longer than the stamens. _Stigmas_ small, plumose, dark purple.

_Discovered_ between St. Mary's and Jefferson, in Camden county, Georgia, on the 13th of July, 1813. _Inhabits_ flat, moist pine barren. I have not seen it "on the sea-coast of Florida."

OBSERVATIONS.

It will be perceived that my description of this plant differs _materially_ from that of _Mr. Nuttall_. This has unavoidably arisen from _my_ having attended to it in its living state, and from _his_ not availing himself of the information which it would have afforded me pleasure to have communicated, had he done me the favour to have requested it, or informed me of his wish to publish an account of plants thus obtained. He has called the culm _solid_, leaves _rather short_, spikes _cylindric_, _axillary_, the flowers and rachis _entirely smooth_, pedicel of the neutral flower _emarginate_, outer valve of the hermaphrodite calyx _acute_, the valves of the corolla _obtuse_, and the styles _very short_. I have not been able to confirm the above _characters_, nor do I find them even in the dried specimens. Besides, he has omitted to inform us that the rachis is _naked on one side_. This is a most important and prominent _specific character_, the omission of which would necessarily lead to much doubt in identifying the species. What he means by stating that the "outer valve of the hermaphrodite flower is 3-valved," I cannot imagine, nor do I comprehend what is intended by an "exterior auxiliary valve, or neutral rudiment; nearly the length of the calyx." I have noticed in a single instance, connected _laterally_ with the corolla of the perfect flower, two very delicate, narrow, acute pointed bodies, the length of the outer valve, and of the same quality and appearance; but these I have considered as accidental, and cannot perceive any thing about them like _neutral rudiments_. Nor can I consider the articulations of the rachis as "deeply excavated." They are, as already stated, flat on the inner side, and constitute from their _flexuous_ form, position, and connexion with the pedicels of the neutral florets, an arch, in which the perfect flowers are situated.

_Rottböllia ciliata._[52]

Culmo erecto, tereti, glabro, ramoso: foliis angustissimis, brevibus: spicis cylindricis super pedunculis teretibus longis, solitariis terminalibusquæ: calycis bivalvis, margine valva exteriori _ciliata_: corolla bivalvis.

Culm erect, terete, smooth, ramose: leaves very narrow, short: spikes cylindrical upon long terete peduncles, solitary and terminal, calyx 2-valved, the margin of the exterior valve _ciliate_: corolla 2-valved.

_Root_ perennial. _Culm_ two to four feet high, _generally_ ramose, solid, and terete, except that between the joints where the branches originate, it is grooved on the inner side, and often ciliate on its angles near the joints. The branches originate towards the extremity, commonly from two to three in number, each supporting a single terminal spike. _Leaves_ very narrow, acute, comparatively short, those beneath much the longest, rigid, somewhat involute, and sharply serrulate towards the apex. _Sheaths_ rather shorter than the _internodes_, open to the base, but closely embracing the culm. _Spikes_ 3 to 5 inches long, the peduncles clothed with a very delicate acute pointed sheath, which embraces it so closely as almost to elude observation, varying much in length, but seldom extending to the base of the spike. Peduncles scabrous near the spike. _Flowers_ alternate, the _male_ or neutral florets situated on one side of the rachis. _Rachis_ compressed, slender, flexuous, hairy on its exterior surface. Pedicel of the neutral florets also compressed, and hairy on its exterior surface. _Valves_ of the calyx _nearly_ equal, lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, polished, the inner margin of each inflected. The exterior margin of the outer valve finely _ciliate_ towards the apex. _Valves_ of the corolla lanceolate, acute, membraneous, nearly the length of the calyx. The male or neutral, are rather smaller than the hermaphrodite flowers. _Stamens_ 3, very short. _Anthers_ twin, purple. Styles 2, excerted, plumose, dark brown.

Discovered in flat pine barren on the north side of Satilla river, in Georgia, on the 21st of October, 1815.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

These plants are unquestionably allied to _andropogon_ in their mode of flowering, but have nevertheless sufficient _essential characters_ to distinguish them. In _habit_, they appear but slightly similar. They differ _principally_ from their congeners in the pedicellate character of their neutral florets. _The spikes are not axillary in either of them._ The branches are _axillary_, of which several sometimes originate from the same axil in the _R. corrugata_. Each spike, when fully evolved, is not only _pedicellate_, but the _pedicel_, or peduncle, is connected with a _culm_ containing one, two, or more joints.[53] The culm is not compressed, nor the leaves long in the _R. ciliata_, as stated by _Mr. Nuttall_, who appears to have confounded the two species in these, and some other instances. The joints of the rachis in both are _fragile_, the joints of the culm in neither.

Another species noticed by Michaux, and included in all our books as the _R. dimidiata, L._ has long been familiar to the southern botanists. Whether this be the _dimidiata_ found also on the sandy shores of India, or the _compressa_ of the same country, as suggested by _Mr. Elliott_, or a species distinct from either, I am not prepared to determine. But I have collected this plant in the Bermudian Isles, at Rio de Janeiro, and Bahia, on the Brazilian coast, and lastly on the island of Flores, near one hundred miles from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, as well as on the main in the Banda Oriental.

ART. VII. _Floral Calendar kept at Deerfield, Massachusetts, with Miscellaneous Remarks, by Dr._ STEPHEN W. WILLIAMS, _of Deerfield._

_To Professor Silliman._

SIR,

Any thing which has a tendency to elicit facts with regard to the climate of a country must be interesting. I believe that observations upon the time of the germination, foliation, florification, and fructification of plants, afford a much more correct criterion respecting climate than thermometrical, or other meteorological journals. They should be made at the same time in various parts of the country, and for several years in succession. I send you a Calendarium Floræ, with miscellaneous remarks, made in Deerfield, Massachusetts, during a part of the years 1811, 1812, and 1818, which, if you please, you may insert in your valuable Journal. Latitude of Deerfield, 42° 32′ 32″, longitude 72° 41′.

1811.

_March_ 1. Blackbirds arrived.

15. Black ducks arrived. Bees out of the hive.

20. Early garden peas, lettuce, and peppergrass sown.

28. The woods were swarming with pigeons. Wild geese passed over.

The greater part of the month of March was warm and pleasant. The sugar-maple yielded its sap profusely for a few days, but the nights were so warm that much less than the usual quantity of sugar was made this year.

_April_ 1. Frogs begin to sing. Peas and oats sown.

8. Buds of the lilac, (_Syringa vulgaris_) the small red rose,
the elm, (_Ulmus Americana_) the apple, and the peas considerably
swoln.

14. Dandelion (_Leontodon taraxicum_) in full flower.

20. Indian corn planted; a few garden seeds sown. Martins and
bank swallows arrived. Leaves of the currant and gooseberry
expanded. Weather for a few days past sultry and smoky.

21. Blue violet (_Viola cucullata_) in full flower. Shad-bush
(_Aronia Botryapium_) in blossom. Flower-buds of the lilac swoln;
likewise the flower-buds of the cherry, pear, and apple.

23. Blood-root (_Sanguinaria Canadensis_) in full flower.

25. Asparagus fit for the table.

26. Chili strawberries in flower; this plant begins to blossom
early, and continues to flower late in the season. English
cherry, black heart (_Prunus cerasus_) in full flower.

27. Garden violet (_V. tricolor_) in full flower.

_April_ 29. Flower-buds of the peach expanded. Large white
plum (_Prunus domestica_) in full flower. Winter pear (_Pyrus
communis_) in flower.

_May_ 1. Red and white currants in flower.

2. Leaves of the Lombardy poplar (_Populus dilatata_) expanded.

3. English and field strawberries in blossom.

4. Butternut (_Juglans cinerea_) in blossom.

6. House flies arrived.

7. Apple-trees in full flower.

8. Lilac in full flower. Red-headed woodpecker arrived.

15. Rye (_Secale cereale_) beginning to head. Pleasant days and
cold nights. Hard frosts for a few nights past.

18. Honeysuckle (_Azalea nudiflora_) in full flower.

19. Small red rose in flower. Choke cherry (_Prunus Serotina_) in
full flower.

25. Common red clover (_Trifolium pratense_) in full flower.

26. Garden peas in full flower. Hummingbird arrived.

27. Night-hawks arrived.

30. Sugar-maple in flower.

_June_ 2. Locust-tree (_Robinia pseudacacia_) in flower.