Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-10-13
Reasons for surprising that the great Lakes
Of North America were originally COM
! poseu of Salt water.

of North America were originally COM
posed of Salt water.
(Fyom MitchiNs Tour to Niagaro.)
The remains of marine animals through
out the continents of the earth have lcEg
been cited as proofs that the ocean formerly
covered them, lithophy teas ard testaeeous
substances are SO numerous and distinguish
able, that in the present cases the mind is
easily ledto this conclusion. They abound
the greater part of the way from Caynga to
Bufaloe and Erie through the counties OF
Seneca, Ontario, tennessee and Niagara,
a distance of more,than one hundred miles.
They are found also in Montgomery, Madl-
son. St. Lawrence, Oneida AID other coun-.
ties. At the remarkable sulphprous spring
IN the town OF Phelps, eleven miles nertE.
west of Geneva, they appear Ike Corallnes
and madreporcs. On both sides OF the
Gennessee and Tonewanto rivers they re-
sembe marine shells, while on the east and
west banks OF Niagara river they assume,
in addition to the already enumerated forms,
those that have enormously been called Pc
trifed wasps nests and honey-combs. In
some cases these cslcalious petrltactlons are
blended with pyritcs; and in others, they
are impregrated with patrolcum or btu
minous matter called Seneca oil. On view
ing these appearances, the mind recurs to
the unascertaned time when oceanic water
Of the primitive globe rolled over this land,
and afterwards on the emergence OF the
latter, Withdrew TO Sa'l'es ana toweg recsp-
tacles. The saline waters were thus COL
lactcd in the places they have since occupi-
ed, while the upland became bare and CRY,
on the subsistence of the deluge.
I, may therefore be reasonably concluded
that the inferior seas, now miscalled lakes,
were originally filed with salt WAFER. Their
present freshness, on this superstition, is
the consequence Of the dilution they have
undergone, changing then. from briny seas
to fresh lakes. 10 understand the subject,
let Ontario, Erie and tie upper lakes OF
North America, be compared with the col
lectiors Of salt water in other parts OF the
world. The Caspian is naturally salt, and
retains that qualify because there is no out
let, the waters it receives by the rivers and
rains are so nearly balanced by that which
goes of bv cvapora,ion, that this reservoir
has never burst its boundary. The like OBJ
servation applies 10 the Leas Sea IN SYRIA.
The exhalaton from its surface seems 70 be
supplied from the influx Of the Jordan
And there has been no sufficient accunula-
ton to force a passage oct. i ne Ned!tef-
yo,1ea7l has communication w,h the AtIan
tic, and its saline SIS IS preserved by che great
supplies it receives through the Herouean
STRAITS near Gibraltar. The same remark
nav be made concerning the E'1xine tho
the large and numerous fresh rivers which
empty into it, CO. operating with It's more
northern and cold situation, Impel the saline
part of it through the Terraclan Bosphorus
and Straits Of the Dardanelies into the Ar.
chipeIago. Should the supply through the
Danube, the Dneiper, the Dneister, the
Don and other tributary rivers be more con-
siderable than the quantity carried OFT IN
vapour, the Black Sea must find discharge
into the Esean, and di'nlnution of its
sadness BY dilution with river water, be the
cons .quence. Ii is accordingly well under
stood that the Euxine is undergoing the
treshening process, which has long ago been
completed in the great Amerit an lakes.--
The Mexican presents case which strong
" corrobora,es this doctrine. OF the two
lakes which impart health and convenience
to the City of Mexico, the upper one is
fresh and the lower salt. The salt is not
muriate, but carbonate of soda, like that
of the Nitrian pools of Egypt: the argu.
ment loses rome of its force on that account.
Two streams which enter the upper lake
have washed out the alkali, and carried it
down to the lower bason. From this latter,
in dry seasons, more water goes oft by ex.
halation than comes in by the current. Ex-
tensive shoals are left bare and incrussed