New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-06-14
Nempork Daily Gribn,re
NEW PUBLICATO Ms

Among the works OF scientific interest recently
published in the United States, none, perhaps are
more important than the Final Report Of the Gecl-
ogy Of Pennsy wanna, published by Messrs. Lippin-
colt q Co. Of Philadelphia but resly printed N
Scotland and furnished TO tRe State Of Pennsyva-
ns to the limited number Of 900 copies. TIE
copyright is vested in tie author, Henry ID.
Rogers, Professor of Natural History in the I'M
yersity of Glasgow. IL lie accompanied by
| fosr sheets 3sx29 inches each, which to-
| gether make the geological map Of the STATE
upon given scale which marks 20 miles in
| 3.s4 inches. There are also two sheets OF 36x29
inches, which represent the geology and tDpog-
raphy Of the anthracite felds Of Pennsylvania upon
scale marking FIVE miles in ga inches. These
maps, prepared by the assistants employed upon
the survey, present. with great faithfnness and
skill, the range and areas occupied by the different
geological formations throughout the State; and in
the region west of the Aeghanies, where the strata
of the bituminous coal measures lie almost horizon
tally, the outcrop OF each Of the important coal
beds is desgnated that it's extent s resdiiy per-
| ceived; and by familiarity with the sections at
tacbed to the maps and found in tae Report the po
siton of any important bed at any localty-whether
far below the beds of the rivers or csppng the high
est SUBMITS may be approximately ascertsined.
These maps are beautiful specimens of finished e.
ecntion as well as of minute accuracy. unequaled
by any geological maps ever produced in the Uni
ted States Intended" as stated by the author
in bis preface, " 10 represent with close and faith
ful mnuteness Of detail country of excessive to-
geographical and geological ntricacy, it required if
geographical features tn be executed on copper, in
the very best style of map engraving, and the geo.
| logical ones 10 be done by the beautiful modern
process of color-prntiDg from stone" Beside the
maps there are extensive geological sections in
| great numbers in each volume, and small iustra-
tive cuts, as well as many pictures some of which
were printed in colors by w Il A. X. Johnston,
| Edinburgh The frontispiece of the second vol
ume is beautiful picture of the great anthracite
bed of the Baltimore Compsnys old nine at
| Wikesbarre, cropping out in vertical wall be-
meath the overhaagng strata of yellow sandstone.
In the same volume, p. 3s2, is picture, unique of
| its kind, occupying the whole page, representing
| the interior of this mine, its black walls of more
than twenty feet in hight, dimly lighted by the
candles of the miners and the light of day entering
!
bright coors, contrasting with the general black
ness of the picture, are seen the gay dresses of
party of visitors, and through the opening bit OF
| blue sky and a hill covered with verdure. The
sections illustrating the arrangement of the beds OF
bitumnous coal have been collected at a multitude
of localities, some supplying portion of the col
| umD and others other portions. Many are repeti-
| lions of the same strata, slightly modified by
change of locality and all together to present
| a complete series, representing the whole thick
ness of the formation, as well that of individual
| beds as traced from town and county to
| another. In this investigation the data were slow
ly collected in the field fragments of sections in one
place and in another the fed-wOrk rarely offering
| clue to the results which were afterward 10 be
brought out by the fitting together of these frag'
ments, as pieces of a dissected map are arranged
before the plan is understood. Beds Of limestone
frequently met with in the piles of strata between
| the different coal beds were found to be more per-
| sistent and easily recognized, even when only
foot or two thick, than the parallel beds of sand
stone, which attain thickness of ten TO fifty feet,
or more They consequently served As the best
! guides in tracing out the beds OF coal The lime
stone showing itself in rayine or the steep side OF
a hill indicating the position of coal bed found at
another locality SO many feet higher or lower IN the
pile Upon the map, the outcrop of these lime
stones. as they come out to the surface in any
direction and are succeeded in the same direction
by lower strata is indicated BY strong blue
hne and thus it is the number of coal beds aud
their relative depths are perceived by reference 10
| the vertical sections Coal has been treated IN
minute detail in this work The second volume 49,
in fact almost wholly devoted to this subject, the
first containing descriptions of the various older
| fprmations-those above the gneiss and metamor-
phic group. and constituting the paeozolc or
ancient fossiliferous strsta of Pennsylvania These
descriptions are arranged in chapters, each OF
which is devoted to prominent district, or locaii-
ties in which the formation under consideration is
prominent Seven districts are thus described be-
fore reaching the eighth, that of the anthracite
| coal basins. with which the second volume COM
mcnces. To this division, constituting the eighth
Book" are appropriated 400 pages. The ninth
book, containing 30 chapters upon the localities oil
| bitumnous coal, occupies 200 pages more. linen
| fnIow 80 pages upon the red sandstone formation,
which belongs to later epoch than the coal meas
ures deposited long subsequently, 10 the uplifting OF
the whole paeozoic series of which the cca lorna
tion constitutes the uppeunost member This group,
| living along the eastern margin OF the paieozoc
rocks and reposing upon their uPturned edse-'
Prot Rogers calls the mesozoic red sandstone series
and considers its place among the formations t. be
between the triassic and the jurassc.