New-York tribune., 1842-01-17

which are some 1000 feet thick, while the Si!u-
Ran !. 800. I can say but 2 few words II Is
composed OF slate, sandstone and limestone. ne
fine date used on houses IS procured from tHese
,oca1i,;es though an equally good quality IS begin
Ia o..rried in Maine. ! viii proceed 10
80 of interest. as indicating the first impress OF
.,,s c-ea,ors hand in bringing things into HE, and
,la r,cks of our earth, upon this point always tell
80 .tory. Our histories may lie-or their au-
.sors NAV err and between their falschoed snd err
,or we have but little depend upon them.
But the rocks cannot lie: they reman'as the Gre
ator placed hern-or ct least under the same laws
which he frs. ordained and all we havs to dol.
10 open this book OF and read il attentivev
and with diligence. Nor need The religious fear
any subyersion of their faith, nor nidels hope Cor
any airport from the Investigations Of geologic
the sanderers Ct the scance falsely declare. al
the objects of geology aim at truth; and among
the many distinguished biologists have known, !
have found but one or t,vo iniieIs Truth is al
xays truth. and no one truth has been remark
ed, can ever be in conflict with any other. It! Is
certain ,hct long succession Of ages passed awa5
utter the creation Of this earth before man was
formed Nor does this al all centradictlhe Scriptu-
raj account; for VIC are told tina, an the beginning
God created the heavens and the earlh-and who
but God kpows when the beginning wa. But
1cbv particular animals were created before man
we can no more guess than why they exist now
They still escape cur denlinion-aimost
pletev as II man were not in existence. The FISH
in the ocean laugh al our hooks-unless they come
TOO near them the birds Of The air laugh al ~ur
aim unless they come TOO near our guns. Ard the
insccts-what can we d o with them? We candle
s,roy fcw-lergc quadrupeds, bps only TO replace
| them by others.
We will look al the remains found in The
Si!urian rocks. Among them are what called
triloJitcs-having three lobcs divisions. Trey
were cIustaceaus animals, capable o.; contracting
or doubling themselves up asis seen by finding their
tails in their mouths They are often found with
their eyes perfect-great gog.ling eyes-loeking
out a, you from their rocky bcd and there is this
peculiar structure in their eyes: they have each
about 400 lenses, piled one on another Like cannon
balls in Navy Yard and presenting similar az
pearaice. This prove. that these early waters
were not chaotic, is maintained b. Werner, be-
cause these eyes were made to see with, and the
water must have been clear, for had it been muddy
they could not have seen through it, even If their
eyes had not been put out. When the eyes were
placed opposite to each other, moreover, these
lenses are omitted-tor they would not care to
look q, eneh other. will no, say that these
the earliest animals ever in existence, for Others
may have existed which have not yet been discov
cred.
We will now pass 10 another class. Those who
are familiar with the borders of Lake Ontario may
have seen rocks of conical form some ten feet in
length crsssned by partitions. Through the mid
die was channel in which the imallvcd. You
have all the shell! Of pearly nautus--iae
aautiuluS pompilius as it is ceiled-which are ;.
often found upon the mantels of the tasteful and
elegant. They were called poluthalamons, having
many chambers or dvisiens-compctely .epara-
ted from cack other and air-tght; SO that it was
evident the animal could not nhabit thern.=Nor
was it ever Known how they did live until Mr..
Bennett, an English Geologst, was SO fortunate as
TO find one alive and he found that the creature
dwelt in the outer porch of these chambcrs-rep
resented in figure here cxhibited.. a syphun
cutus slender tube, runs throns IA all the cham
bcrs Just like the channel in the other species
except that it is not straight. The nautilus is of
the same general character with the common cut
tie fish, which, you know, is furnished with long
arms sufficient embrace the body Of
Animals are also found called cephalopodcs having
their feet upon their heads, and thus walking with
their heads down. Fishes alone are found in the
Siluran rocks THERE'S most beautiful collection
of these fossils at Durham, CT. THERE'S also found
vast number Of moluscous animals, upon which
cannot stop to advert
1t may be interesting to be informed that You
have in this State most extensive siluran
ton. After you get few miles beyond Albany, it
9 found ali through to the Lakes and Mr.. Lycl
has told me that there are there rocks older than
any in Wales or Eng land. The old red sandstone
TO which | will next advert is tound just below the
coal; it is called old to distinguish it from the
new, which is above the coal and it receives its
red color from the oxide of iron it contains The
red sandstone at Rochester is old, and lies far be-
low the coal region; and this is the reason why
biologists tell you that you need not look for coal
in this State--because rocks lower than coal have
been reached and still none has been discovered
We come TO the coal formation which fig
urcs so largely in the economy Of society as well
in the structure oi the earth. 1t. roof i: the up
per sandstone, then the COAL then the carbon
ferrous, ceal-boarng, limestone and still lower
are the transition rocks of Werner In England
the coal beds are 10 900 feet thick In this for
nation are found what are called chri0de0l or
Ely-shaped animals ofn most beautiful formation!
they attached to the bottom of the and
covered it forest does the land. Tie coal
lies in beds OF uniform structure, found lying like
pile of books-composed of gray limestone
sandstone, black coal and shale or slate. The
beds vary in hight from the thickness. of knife
blade to that Vf fifty feet: the th!ckest found
in PennSy vania. The aathracitc coal i. the pro-
duct OF a vegetable daposi,c; and leaves
flowers could be laid away in lady's herbcrinn.
with more regularity than these strata. As
the leaves fell from the trees they We're covered
with mud, were also trees themselves. The vegc-
taton OF that day resembed the brake or fern of Lie
present day; but it then reached hight OF some
twenty feet, whereas they now more than
two feet high. The bark Las leai.likc appear
anCe as If stalup had beer mnre SD on i. AT
Wi!kcsbarre;thc leaves may be seen more than
four fee, across. 1t is remarkable that coal beds
are found only in cold climates--just where they
are want Rut from, The cIaa n e Ter nd s,srinr