NOTE-Owing to unavoidable delay in printing this article, I am enabled to add the following report from the Pennsylvania Hospital, for the year, from April 26, 1828, to April 25, 1829. Of 200 patients in the Hospital, there were

ART. X. Observations on the GREAT GREYWACKE REGION of the State of New-York. By JAMES O. MORSE, of CherryValley, Corresponding Member.

Read October 28, 1829.

The comparative strength, and fertility of the different soils of our state, is a subject in which considerable interest is beginning to be felt; and as these soils can be most accurately classified, by considering the kind of rock on which they repose, it is hoped that the following paper will not be thought altogether unworthy of a place among the records of the Institute.

The greywacke region, now under consideration, commences on Lake Erie, and extends to the east as far as the western parts of the counties bordering on the Hudson.

Its northern boundary commences on the shore of the lake, a little above Buffalo, and runs east in a serpentine course to the county of Schoharie, and then stretches more north, so as to embrace portions of the counties of Montgomery, Schenectady and Albany. This northern boundary is all the way, more or less indented by tracts of country in which lime-stone is the mass of rock on which the soil reposes. These spots of lime-stone soil, penetrate the northern boundary of the greywacke region, from one to twenty miles. The southern boundary of this great region is, all the way, south of the line of our state, and has never as yet, it is believed, been accurately traced. The soil is somewhat diversified, but has many common properties. In like manner, the rock on which it reposes, varies in colour and texture, but its general properties are perceptibly the same. The surface of this region is generally uneven, and in many places its undulations rise to high hills and mountains. The water is pure, soft and wholesome. Its elevation varies from about 600 to 1650 feet above tide water. The loose stones scattered over the surface, are portions of the greywacke, and boulders and fragments of gneiss, quartz, and some of granite.

ness.

The greywacke on which the soil reposes, is generally a good distance below the surface of the ground, and of different compactNear Lake Erie it is quarried into blocks that make excellent building stone; and there are various other places where it is quarried in large square and oblong masses, that are much used. Grind stones are made of it, which have a near resemblance to those made from the quarries on Cayahoga river, in Ohio. Public

sentiment is undergoing a rapid change, favourable to the fertility of the soil of this region. Wherever this tract of country is not at too great an elevation, it produces extremely well. As you approach Lake Erie, there is a rich loam in which all kinds of grain and fruit come to great perfection. The soil of this region evidently wears better, and requires less manure than that of a limestone region.

The cattle from some parts of it are in higher repute in Philadelphia, than any other. The pure springs of water with which it abounds, make it one of the healthiest parts of our country, and the increase of its population is now very rapid. This, in 1825, amounted (the part of it in our own state is meant) to more than 350,000, and it is now greatly augmented.

Some of our mineralogists have doubted whether the rock of this region was, properly speaking, greywacke; but of this there can be but little question. Professor Jameson describes greywacke, as composed of sand connected together by a basis of clay slate. A minute inspection of the rock of this region will convince any one that our greywacke has these component parts.

In one place however, near the head waters of one of the branches of Broken Straw creek, about twenty miles from Lake Erie, and at an elevation of more than 600 feet above the surface of the lake, large masses of greywacke are found in place, in which are imbedded and intermixed sand and pebbles, exactly resembling those found on the shores of the lake.

It is known that in the greywacke regions of Europe, this kind of rock is uncommonly productive of metalliferous ores, both in beds and veins; but as yet they have not been discovered in that region in our state.

In the principality of Transylvania, in Europe, the greywacke is traversed by numerous small veins of gold. The greywacke soil of this principality, like ours, is fertile and abounds in rich pastures.

The alluvions, and second bottoms, on the streams and in the vallies of our greywacke region, possess uncommon fertility, and will ere long, it is believed, furnish immense quantities of hemp, as measures are in progress for the general introduction of this staple into the region.

OFFICERS OF THE ALBANY INSTITUTE,

FOR 1829.

President,

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER.

Vice Presidents,

SIMEON DE WITT, OLIVER KANE, ALFRED CONKLING.

Treasurer,

CHARLES R. WEBSTER.

Corresponding Secretaries,

PETER GANSEVOORT, M. HENRY WEBSTER, N. F. BECK.

Recording Secretaries,

HENRY W. SNYDER, ELISHA W. SKINNER, JULIUS R. AMES.

Librarian,

JOSEPH HENRY.

Curators,

T. ROMEYN BECK, RICHARD V. DE WITT, LEWIS C. BECK, M. HENRY WEBSTER, PHILIP TEN EYCK.

ART. XI. Topographical Sketch of the State of New-York, designed chiefly to show the general Elevations and Depressions of its Surface. By JOSEPH HENRY.

Read October 28, 1829.

The Topography of the state of New-York, viewed either in relation to that of the continent of North America in general, or only in reference to the space included within its own political boundaries, presents many interesting and peculiar features.

The two great lakes, and their outlets, forming a natural boundary on the north and west; the continued chain of water communication of the Hudson and Lake Champlain, along the whole eastern section; the connected series of smaller lakes in the inte→ rior, together with several large streams which rise in the middle of the state, and pass through its southern boundary; all give to the surface of New-York a diversity of aspect, and a facility of internal navigation, possessed by no other section of our own country, and perhaps not surpassed by any of equal extent on the surface of the globe.

The eastern portion of the United States, designated by geographers as the Atlantic slope, is separated from the central part, or the great valley of the Mississippi, by a marked natural division, consisting of a continuous swell or ridge of land extending from Alabama to the south shore of Lake Ontario. This ridge is the true water shed of the country, and determines the course of the rivers falling into the Atlantic on the one side, and those into the Mississippi on the other. It has a mean height of about 3000 feet; and cannot be crossed at any point south of the state of NewYork, by an elevation of less than two thousand feet above the ocean. Upon the acclivities of this ridge are based an indeterminate number of spurs, hills, and collateral subordinate ridges, which often rise to a much greater height than the crest of the water shed. These subordinate ranges are not continuous, but are often cut through by the Atlantic rivers: They have, however, nearly the same direction as the main ridge; and in passing through North-Carolina and Virginia, assume the form of four principal ranges, nearly parallel to each other. The three westernmost of these mingle together in the northern part of Pennsylvania, and form a mountain chain, which diverges to the east from the great water shed, and in passing through the state of NewYork, occupies the space between Seneca lake and the Hudson river. At first sight, it appears to terminate at the valley of the