Evening star., 1924-09-21

material was deposited where the
Rambler found it at the junction of
7he Naylor and Bowen roads, are
questions we will leave to biologists,
and the geoloGist who can give a
positive answer has not been born.
If the geologist to whom You put the
questions is an earnest man. he will
probably answer that it is the work
Ct God and that God moves in d
mysterious way His wonders TO per-
form"
THE Rambler believes that these
fragments of the District he shows
you are part of that formation which
biologists have named the Lafayette
formation. 1t was named many years
ago for Lafayette County, Miss,
where the formation is typically ex-
posed. Before being given the name
Lafayette il WAS called throughout
7hc lower Mississippi Valley orange
sands" and along the middle Atlantic
coast it was called the Appomattox
Formation.
have no doubt that it takes its
name indirectly from Marquis de La
~aycttc. who was born in 1851 and
died in Paris in 1894. He came to the
colonies in April, 1777, landing at
Georgetown. s. c., and in July, that
acar, was commissioned by Congress
:I major general in the Continental
Army.
There is no dearth OF matter relating
10 Lafayette, but some very interest
5ng light on his appointment to that
high post may be read in Thack-
sray's "Virginians." Thackeray writes
~ the i'll grace with which American
officers viewed the appointment of
Lafayette. and the probable reasons
IL, l. Il Co.
rhc appointment. 1t may not be his
1ory which Tha ckeray wrote. but that
great writer probably had warrant
dur the chapter l have in mind, and
40 which the Rambler calls your at
sention.
Lafayette remained with us till
fI79. returned to France. used his in
s7uence to have France give substan-
sial aid to the United States came
back to US in 1850. remained till after
CORVALLIS surrender in 1881, went
home to France, returned to the
United States in 1884 and was re-
Ceived by US with every mark of af-
dection. He came again, landing at
New York in August, 1924, and was in
Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria
Bladensburg and Fredericksburg in
the Autumn of that year.
The houses in which receptions TO
Lafayette were given are numerous
in Maryland, Virginia and the Dis
trict and in some of them Lafayette
receptions really were held. l have
no doubt that Lafayette County.
mississippi, in the northern part of
that State, halfway between the
mississippi River and the Alabama
Zine, was named in honor of Lafay-
cite the soldier and statesman. Thus
you see how geologic formation OF
The District of Columbia links up with
Aarquis de Lafayette.
So far as L have read, the Lafay-
cite formation contains no fossils and
IN q very old geology on my desk it
i assigned as the youngest member
Of the Neocene age, which means the
later part of the Tertiary. including
both the Miocene and Pliocene.
Though it is new, as geology reckons
time, yet the little rock fragments
grit and dust you would call EN-
which the Rambler has under his
strong glass are perhaps a million
>ears older than the oldest house or
fhe oldest family ever told of in
shese annals.
The Geological Survey published
r. cologic atlas of the site of Wash
t3ngton and adjacent country in 1901.
y is a most valuable and interesting
b on tribution to scientific literature
,s nd human knowledge and the