there no longer, are compelled to live under ground, in the winter months, and be obliged to burn whole trees at once to keep the people from freezing.

Europe, has certainly been growing warmer, not colder, during the last eighteen hundred years, and we have no proof that our climate, in Ohio, has been growing colder, during that period. If these plants have not changed their nature, nor our climate become colder, within the last eighteen centuries, at least; were not these plants floated here, by the ocean from tropical countries, in some remote period of time? The very appearance of these plants, on a first view, answers such a question. Had they been floated here from any great distance, would their leaves, and especially their delicate blossoms, been uninjured, fresh, expanded fully and entire, as they were when in full bloom? Certainly not. Between the time of their being in full bloom, in life, vigor and beauty, and that awful moment, in which they were overwhelmed, buried and imbedded, fixed fast and turned to stone, iron and shale, where they now repose, and for unknown ages past have reposed; scarcely one day could have intervened; perhaps only a few hours elapsed.

We state facts. And, besides, whole trees, turned into stone with every root, limb, and the trunk; with the earth, where it grew turned up, showing that the tree had been only prostrated, not removed, otherwise than thrown down by violence; such a tree, a hemlock, still remains, at Chitteningo, New York, unless travelers have carried it away for specimens. That tree grew in exactly such a formation as ours in Ohio, and must be referred to the same period of time with ours, and must have been overwhelmed by the same catastrophe, which overwhelmed, our palms, dates, bamboos, and other tropical plants. Imagination can hardly grasp, the horrors of that dreadful catastrophe, which scooped out those vast beds of seas, bays and lakes, all around the northern end of our globe, filling the vast space, between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains, with the ruins of the northern portion of our planet;-covering our once tropical region, with the ru

ins of the old world. Well might he, who wrote our only short history of the deluge, declare, that "the foundations of the great deep were broken up." We throw out a suggestion, for the consideration and reflection of our readers.

If we suppose quite the largest portion of our globe to be water, and we have no reasons to come to any other conclusion (if we except to opinions, without proof, and even contrary to all evidence) and, that the eastern and western continents and their islandic appendages, lie in the waters of the ocean, like two icebergs in the sea, it is easy enough to understand, that whenever, and by whatever means, the centre of gravity is lost which now keeps these continents exactly where they are, a revolution of these continents will take place almost instantly. By this catastrophe, the earth would be swept of all its land animals, who would all perish, except such as happened to be on the earth where the two new poles would be formed, at the moment when the event happened.

If all the rivers and all the currents in the ocean also, run in the same direction, not only every sea, and every ocean, but every river, every brook, and every rill, and even every shower of either rain, snow or hail-nay every dew would hasten on another grand catastrophe of this globe. But the rivers do not all run in the same, but opposite directions. The Red River of Hudson's Bay runs northwardly, the Mississippi and its branches southwardly. The waters of the northern lakes move northeastwardly-and the current in the ocean along our Atlantic coast runs in the same direction. The streams issuing from the bases of the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, run in opposite directions. Wherever mountain streams are shorter in their courses on one side of a mountain, than on the other side, their descent is greater than the rivers on the opposite side of their common sources; and the shorter rivers bear along in their currents an equal weight of matter with the longer and larger rivers. This is true, probably, of all the rivers in the world, but where it is not so, a current in an adjacent ocean makes up the deficiency. We have been long since

surprised that no author had noticed this exhibition of wisdom, in the formation of mountains and rivers.

We will not say, that formerly, catastrophes of the globe have been effected, by the running of rivers, which carried along in their currents such a weight of matter, as, by that means to change the centre of gravity in the earth, and produce any one of the awful catastrophes, which have several times overwhelmed our world, with temporary ruin and desolation. All we say, is, that by exactly such means, it might have been effected, almost in a moment, and that all the effects of such a revolution, are visible, all over the world. Every portion of the earth, by such means, might have been, at some day, a tropical region, and productive of tropical plants.

Man and his works, have been found in many places, in the Valley of the Mississippi, in a fossil state. According to information received eighteen or twenty years since, from the Honorable Thomas Tod, then a Judge of the United States Court, a human skeleton, buried in an ancient stone mound, two hundred feet below the surface of a hill, was discovered in Kentucky. The owner of the land, dug through the hill at its base, for the purpose of uniting two small creeks, whose united waters were sufficient to turn the machinery of a mill. In perforating the earth, between the two creeks, an ancient stone mound, consisting of many cart loads, was met with, and on removing the stones, an entire human skeleton was found at the mound's base. Judge Tod saw the place, the stones and the human bones, but my memorandum of the conversation with my learned and revered friend, does not state the place, where the discovery was made. The death of the Judge, prevented my visiting the spot in question. We respectfully request his family, if they know where it is, to inform us. To his worthy sons, Robert S. Tod and Charles S. Tod, Esquires-we apply for an answer to this request.

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In a natural mound of earth, near the high road, some fourth of a mile, north of Circleville, seven human skeletons, were found, about eighteen years since. These skeletons, lay among earth and pebbles, evidently brought there and left

by water-the sea. They lay in every inclination with the horizon, and were deposited by the deluge, where they were found.

At Louisville, Kentucky, when digging the canal there, on the surface of a flat rock, many feet below the surface of the earth, above the rock, the works of man, were found. Fires had been made on the rocks and men had dwelt there. Since these fires had ceased to burn there, several feet of earth had accumulated on the surface of the rocks, and trees, of the largest size, had been growing on that earth, during several centuries.

SLATE AND LIMESTONE REGIONS.

West of the geological line, before mentioned, the minerals are very different from those of the hilly region, which we have been considering. Several of the counties, lying along this line, west of it, are underlaid, with clay slate, such as we have noticed near lake Erie. Such a slate underlays the western parts of Pickaway and Franklin counties. It predominates all over Madison county; mostly so in Fayette county, and in Union county also;-as well as in the eastern parts of Clark, and Clinton counties.

Where that blue slate underlays the surface, and comes to, or near it, the slate dissolves into a blue clay, and produces swampy lands. We refer our reader to the Licking summit; and, indeed, to nearly all our summits, north of our hilly region, or west of it, where he will find such clay, and such swamps. Hence, the origin of most of our ponds, swamps and wet lands, all over this state. They exist nearly all the way across this state, from the Pennsylvania line, to that of Indiana, on the summit level, between the Saint Lawrence and Mississippi valleys..

LIMESTONE.

Ours is a subspecies-the compact limestone, and is a very valuable mineral. It usually occurs, in extensive, solid, com

pact masses, whose fracture is dull, splintery and sometimes though, rarely conchoidal. It is opaque, at the edges; its more common color is bluish or grey; it is seldom a pure car.bonate, but contains from two, to ten per cent. of silex. Some of these limestones, are so impure, that they melt, rather than burn into lime. Our limestone is of a recent formation, generally, and may be called, shell limestone. It is either found in hills, with rounded summits, or under a level country. Its strata are often thin, lying between strata of clay slate and is composed almost wholly of sea shells. This limestone often presents fissures and rents, holes and caves.

In Kentucky, are caves of vast extent, and one of them, has been explored twenty-one miles, under ground, called the. mammoth cave, in the vicinity of Green river. We have but a few caverns, in our limestone region, and they are of no great extent.

In Highland county, are some caverns, near the Sinking spring, and a few sharks' teeth were found in it, several years since. The most valuable bed of limestone, now known to exist, in this state, is situated five miles above Columbus, on the main branch of the Scioto river, the property of Mr. John McCoy. Large blocks are constantly taken from it, of any desirable size, for pillars, and for fronts of houses. It is a durable and beautiful building stone, and bears a tolerable good polish. In McCoy's marble quarry is stone sufficient, to last many centuries, for the Scioto country.

Our limestone, furnishe an excellent lime, for building. Its calicination is now effected by wood, but the heat should not be great.

Count Rumford, has invented an oven for burning lime. It is a high cylinder, with the hearth at the side, and at some distance above the base. The fire burns, with a reflected, or inverted flame. The lime is taken out at the bottom, while fresh additions of limestone are made at the top, so as to keep the oven constantly heated. Limestone, either moistened or just dug, calcines easiest. If dry, it should be moistened when put into the kiln.