veyors; and furnished him with advisers in the departments of chemistry, mineralogy, and zoology, who need not have stirred from their cabinets.

That we may in one breath give vent to all our objections, we may next remark, that the lithographic plates with which the work is intended to be illustrated, are disgraceful to the state of art in our country. It is possible that the drawings of the scenery from which the engravings were taken may have been faithful and accurate, or may have possessed merit as pictures; but so far as the public can judge from their engraved similitudes, it would be inferred that they must have been detestable. Nor can we exempt from our censure even the representations of geological structure, in the engraving of which no difficulty need have occurred. One draught of this description alone can be cited with praise, and this is the delineation of the valley of the Genesee river, in which the principle of isometric perspective is, for the first time, applied to geological purposes. We wish that we could say with confidence that it is as true and faithful as it is neat and precise in execution; but it is admitted in the reports that some important points have been settled by inferences, of which, for our own part, we see no satisfactory evidence, and which, if true, are contrary to all other known phenomena. This map may therefore be considered as a part of the romance of geology, instead of its true history. The bounty of the state has not confined itself to geology alone, but has added a zoologist and botanist in the persons of Drs. Dekay and Torrey. These gentlemen have not been called upon to join in the two reports which have been published; their labors are of a nature not to admit of partial development, but we know that they are actively and assiduously engaged in the fulfilment of their duties. From their known abilities and acquirements, the most important results may be anticipated.

It is to be regretted that the public mind in our state could hardly be considered as prepared, at the time the act organizing the geological survey was passed, for beginning the business at the proper place. Physical geography is the basis, as well as the most important result of geology. On this department of knowledge, as regards our state, we are deplorably ignorant, and shall not be enlightened until a trigonometric survey shall have been accomplished. Yet had such a proposition been presented to our legislature, there is little doubt that it would have been rejected or left undiscussed for want of support. We have however now before us the example of the state of Mary

land, in which the examination of the geographical features has kept pace with the geological survey, and whose geologist, Dr. Ducatel, has thus been enabled to present to the world the most satisfactory report of his transactions of any which has yet appeared in this country.

In the two reports to which we have referred, the geologists by whom they have been drawn up have not only given the results of their own observations, but have added all that was before known from the researches of others. We have thus before us in one connected view the mineral resources of the state as far as they have yet been developed. It would occupy far more space than would comport with the object of our journal, to enter into the detail of the valuable facts which are collected in the two reports. We shall therefore content ourselves with a brief synopsis.

Iron in its several forms of ore abounds in the state of New York. These ores belong to different geological eras, and are found associated with rocks corresponding to them. The magnetic specular and limonite ores, are associated in their order with the older, middle, and newer primary rocks; argillaceous iron forms a vast bed in the transition rocks of middle and western New York, while the bog ore seems to have been deposited among the earths, clays, or soils, which have been the source of this oxyd of iron. In the northern and eastern part of the state, the magnetic and specular ore occurs in layers or beds, apparently formed with the stratified rocks there, and having the same inclination and dip which they exhibit. The beds of magnetic ore, belonging to the oldest stratified rock, have a much greater inclination than the beds of the latter.

Magnetic Oryd of Iron.-The counties of Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Essex, Warren, and Hamilton, contain numerous beds of this ore. It is only by exhibiting the details that we can appreciate the quantity. Being a country of primary rocks not well adapted to agricultural purposes-covered with interminable forests, which may be made to yield an adequate supply of fuel for all the mineral operations in all future time-lying on a lofty range of wide spread mountains- this part of the state is supplied with an inexhaustible source of wealth in the beds of iron ore.

In the south part of the state, especially in the counties of Orange and Putnam, magnetic ore is abundant, situated in the

primary rocks, in beds which follow the inclination of the rocks, like those already considered.

The length and breadth of this range of magnetic iron ore from north to south, across the state, excepting a portion in the middle of this great distance, lying in the same rocks, inclined in beds like the strata, impresses the conclusion upon the geologist, that the beds "are cotemporaneous with the rocks in which they exist." This may have resulted from deposition, like the rocks in which the beds are found, or from chemical attraction, or galvanic agency, while the "process of consolidation" was taking place. The whole formation seems to have been upheaved at the same period, leaving the tract along the middle of the range below the surface, and covered by the superincumbent rocks and earths. The rocks themselves, the associated minerals, and the contiguity of similar geological series of other formations, all point, in this case, to the same cause and age for the elevation of these two tracts of the state, containing the ore, from beneath that ocean where the deposition of the materials had been made, and the consolidation of the rock strata had taken place. It may be a wise arrangement which left the middle part below the surface.

Specular Iron Ore. This ore, in its several varieties, is abundant in the state of New York. The counties of Essex, St. Lawrence, and Jefferson, are rich in this source of wealth. When pure, this ore yields about seventy per cent. of iron. It is, however, generally mixed with some of the earths, so as to contain from forty to near one hundred per cent. of peroxyd of iron.

The specular ore occurs in beds, conformed to the stratified rocks where it lies, and more nearly horizontal than the magnetic, associated with primitive limestone, or a stratum of gneiss in the limestone. It appears to have been formed cotemporaneously with the rocks in which it occurs.

In respect to both these kinds of ore, it is observed in the report, that it is "so abundant in the highland range of mountains from New Jersey to Canada, that it may be estimated as sufficient to supply the wants of our country for ages." — Mather.

Limonite, hydrous peroxyd of Iron, brown Hematite." This is one of the most important of ores, and furnishes a considerable proportion of the iron now produced in the state." It contains, when pure, about eighty-five per cent. of peroxyd of iron, or near sixty of pure iron. It yields a tough and strong iron, pe

culiarly fitted for the manufacture of gun-barrels, anchors, chains, etc. Passing the beds of this ore in the counties of Orange, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, we find it abounding in Dutchess and Columbia counties, and the iron works which are supplied with it are numerous and flourishing.

"The beds are undoubtedly continuous for great distances, and are a part of that great chain of iron deposites which extend from Canada to the Carolinas." - Mather.

The geological position of this ore is highly interesting. The beds appear often to be "at the junction of mica or talcose slate with gray and white limestones," the slate generally occurring on the east side. "The limestone is convenient for use as a flux, and the talc and mica slate for firestone to line the furnaces."- Mather.

Is it not found that this ore lies in beds separated by clay from the rocks, and in the depressions between two contiguous layers of the slate and limestone, and resting upon these rocks, not forming a layer between them?

Argillaceous Iron Ore.-This is sometimes called, from its form in some parts of the bed, lenticular ore, and sometimes, compost, or red ochrey ore. This ore, too, is a bed cotemporaneous with the transition rocks in which it lies, and whose inclination it every where follows. It extends from the neighborhood of Utica, on the east, to some miles west of the Genesee river. "This stratum, like the shale below, thins out west of the Genesee, and like that, may, perhaps, be found west of the Niagara river."-Hall. It evidently disappears for many miles between these two rivers. Its extent, however, is more than one hundred and fifty miles from east to west, and, with its windings, its length is more than two hundred miles. As the bed is the mere outertopping of a stratum which extends southwards under the calciferous slate of Eaton, its width is merely nominal, for it is soon covered by earth or rocks, often many feet in depth. On the banks of the Genesee, the bed is to be seen for a mile along the river, associated with the marly slate, the ferriferous slate of Eaton; at this width, where it passes under the rocks at the lower falls, it is more than one hundred feet under the surface. At Rochester the bed is one foot in thickness; in Wayne county, where it supplies the iron works, it is three feet thick; farther east it has a greater thickness still, and is sometimes in two or more layers.

This ore seems to be a true argillaceous oxyd of iron, containing carbonate of lime and clay, in the proportion best suited

for its easy smelting, but requiring the addition of some loam for the separation of the iron. Dr. Beck "found no reason to think,” from his analysis, that “any portion of the carbonic acid is combined with the oxyd of iron." It is consequently a distinct species from the carbonate of iron. The quantity of oxyd of iron in this ore, from Wolcott, Wayne county, is equivalent to near thirty-seven per cent. of iron, and, in smelting, the ore yields from thirty-two to thirty-four per cent. of hard, brittle iron.

When this ore is finely pulverized, it forms an excellent paint, like the common Spanish brown, and is in many other respects valuable. There can scarcely be a doubt that it affords no indication of the proximity of coal; for although it bears a resemblance to the ore situated near the beds of coal in Pennsylvania and Chio, its geological relations carry it far below the coal formation.

This ore contains fossils of marine origin, such as producta, corallines, catenipora, encrinites, pentacrinites, and the like.

Bog Iron Ore.- The formation of this ore is well understood. It is not a deposit in rocks, as layers or beds; but it is produced like calcareous tufa. It is oxyd of iron dissolved out of rocks by carbonic acid and water, and, being forsaken by the acid, is deposited in the cavities or valleys to which the water has borne it. It is thus continually produced. In the town of Chili, seven miles west of Rochester, it is to be seen in the process of depositing. As the carbonic acid leaves it in small bubbles, it sustains the oxyd of iron in a thick, yellowish mass, on the surface of the water. The quantity deposited in some places indicates the long period during which the operation has been going on. It is scattered widely over the state, but generally in sufficient quantity to be profitably employed. In some places, however, it occurs in great abundance. In Ridgway, a swamp of four hundred to five hundred acres affords a "large supply of bog ore, which has been manufactured into iron by Mr. Bennett." Hall.

But the most extensive localities are in the vicinity of the enormous beds of other ore in the counties of Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence. The ore is of excellent quality, sometimes containing seventy-one per cent. of peroxyd, and fortynine per cent. of pure iron. An extensive bed is to be seen in the "town of Brasher, on the Deer river. Omitting all others, the beds in the town of Hermon are said to contain an inexhaustible quantity."-Emmons.