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Association, the use of the halls of both the Collegiate and Medical Departments of the University.

Prof. W. R. JOHNSON offered the following resolution, which was adopted :

Resolved, That the thanks of the Association be presented to the Chairman of the last Annual Meeting, for the able and eloquent address delivered before the Association at its present session; and that he be requested to furnish a copy thereof, for publication in the proceedings.

The Secretary read the following letter from Prof. TUCKER, which was ordered to be entered on the minutes:

Philadelphia, September 25, 1848. Sir,-Unable to leave my room, from an attack of bronchitis, I beg leave to propose what I had wished to submit this morning in person.

I have been long desirous of seeing a general Statistical Society in the United States, and last year invited, through Hunt's Magazine, a meeting in this city for that purpose. The plan was very favourably responded to by some; but their number was not sufficient to justify the immediate formation of such a society. It was then suggested, that all the purposes of such a society might be attained by a Section of this Association, appropriated to statistics and political economy. I accordingly hastened on to the meeting, from Virginia, where I was on a visit, for the purpose of proposing such a Section, and, in my journey, caught the cold which now disables me.

I will not waste the time of the Association in dwelling on the advantages of statistics. They are known to be auxiliary to all the sciences that are not demonstrative, and to furnish materials for those which are. They are particularly valuable in the United States, where changes are more rapid than elsewhere; and where, from the extent of our country, enumerations are more difficult. It may further recommend such a Section, that it will tend to make more of the proceedings of the Association intelligible and interesting to the public generally, and thus further the liberal and patriotic views of the Association; and though I do not belong to the class of utilitarians, but regard every species of knowledge valuable for its own sake, it cannot be a matter of indifference, that the pursuits of science, as those of statistics and political economy, have a direct bearing on the common concerns of life-lastly, in favour of such a Section, the Institution in England, which has served as our prototype, has a Section

of statistics. I accordingly beg leave to submit the following resolution:

Resolved, That a further Section of Statistics and Political Economy be added to those already established in this Institution; but that the appointment of its members be postponed to the next meeting, in August.

I cannot conclude this hasty communication without congratulating the Association on the success which has attended its first meeting. The papers that have been read to it appear to me to do great honour to their authors and the Association, and afford a sure presage that the fondest hopes of its founders will be more than realized.

I am,

sir, with great respect,

Your obedient servant,

GEORGE TUCKER.

Prof. Wm. B. ROGERS offered the following resolution, which was adopted :

Resolved, That the letter of Professor TUCKER, on the subject of forming a Statistical Section, at the future meetings of the Association, be referred to the Standing Committee for consideration, and report at the next meeting of the Association.

The Secretary also read the following report, by Mr. KELLOGG, made in obedience to a former request of the Association of Geologists and Naturalists.

A REMARKABLE GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, IN ELIZABETHTOWN,

ESSEX COUNTY, N. Y.

During the period of the Geological Survey of the State of New York, about six years since, when the writer of this article resided in Essex county, he was requested by Prof. Emmons, who was then prosecuting the survey in that county, and had not himself then time to visit the spot, to send him in time for the annual report of that year, a description of the phenomenon alluded to above, which is regarded as a pot hole of geological origin, and which is found in the valley of the Boquette, about four miles south of the Court House, in Elizabethtown, above named. Owing to other engagements, on the part of the subscriber, whose residence was about twelve miles from the spot to be examined, it was neglected till too late for the object then contemplated; and the thought has been suggested, that such description

might not be uninteresting to members of the Association for the Promotion of Science, or inappropriate for the present occasion.

The Valley of the Boquette, known in Essex county, as Pleasant Valley, lies on the west side of Lake Champlain, runs parallel to the lake, and at the distance from it of about eight miles; and its southern extremity is a little north of west from Crownpoint. In other words, the whole valley lies directly west of the town of Westport, and is from seven to eight miles in length. At the southern termination it is a mere gorge in the mountains, into which the river Boquette falls from a rocky cliff on the west. From this point it gradually opens, for the distance, perhaps, of three miles, till it becomes, where the development alluded to occurs, and which is about four and a half miles from its northern extremity, about half a mile in width; which width it preserves nearly the same for that distance, except that it widens out into a sort of basin at its base. At this north end, where the village above named is situated, the valley is about six hundred feet above the level of the lake, and, at the place just named, four and a half miles above, it is probably two hundred feet higher. On the east of the valley is a mountain range, some seven or eight hundred feet high, and, on the west, one of perhaps twice that height.

Through this valley, from south to north, runs the river Boquette; and the whole valley has been regarded as having been probably once filled with water, forming a pond, connected with Lake Champlain by a gorge in the mountains on the north-east.

At the distance before stated, from four to four and a half miles from the lower extremity of the valley, is an elevated plain, extending quite across the valley from east to west, and embracing an area of some fifty or sixty acres. It falls off, on both sides, by an almost perpendicular bank; that on the south being, perhaps, seventy-five or eighty feet in height, and that on the north somewhat higher; the river, which passes around, under the mountains, on the east, and on which Bishop's mills are situated, making quite a fall at this place. Immediately above, and south of this plain, the valley becomes narrowed to about half its breadth on the north. The banks, on both the south and north, show very evidently that they were formed by the river: that this river, at some former period, came in from the south, along the western boundary of the narrow interval, above the plain, and veered around under this southern bank, easterly and southeasterly, quite across the valley, by a sort of horse-shoe bend, to the place where the river now runs; and then, a short distance below the fall, took again a western turn, and, by a similar bend, passed quite

across the valley, under the northern bank, to its western boundary, and thence, along the foot of the western mountain range, for some distance below.

The south-eastern extremity of this plain, beneath and around which the Boquette passes, is terminated by a hard and smooth granite ledge, while the bank, from that point, on the south, across the valley, to the west, and across the whole extent, on the north, exhibits evidence that the whole plain is but one uniform deposite of drift, consisting of sand and gravel, with occasional small boulders. Just on the top of this ledge, where it begins to slope towards the south, the cavity alluded to occurs. It forms, on the top, nearly a perfect circle, and is not far from four feet across and five in depth. To the distance of about half that depth, it preserves its kettle-like shape, and, if filled from the bottom to that point, and left a little dishing, or, when worn out to that depth, it might well be said to represent the internal surface of a potash kettle; but, below this depth, it takes a slight winding turn, of the screw or snail-shell form.

To one conversant with similar phenomena, now in progress, on a less extended scale, along the bed of Roaring Brook, a small stream emptying into the Boquette, about half a mile below, and along the beds of other such streams, in all mountainous regions, the conviction can scarcely be resisted, that this immense cavity, as large as it is, and as hard as is the granite or feldsparthic rock in which it is formed, must have been wrought out by the sand and gravel, with, perhaps, some larger pebbles, set, and, for a great length of time, kept in a whirling motion by a very rapid current of water passing over the rock; and that this rock was once the bed, or bordering on the bed of the river.

What gives peculiar interest to this extraordinary development, is its great antiquity, an idea with which the mind, on reviewing all the facts connected with it, is unavoidably impressed.

1st. The agency by which this excavation was made, must have been, for a very long period of time, at least several hundreds, probably some thousands, of years in active operation. A very long period of uninterrupted action would have been necessary for accomplishing such a work. But other existing phenomena show that it must have been done, not by a continuous, active agency, but by an agency active only at high water intervals; and, to be convinced that such was, in this case, most probably the fact, we have only to reflect that a current above that of low water mark only, would supply the materials requisite for producing such an effect.

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2d. Some little time must have been occupied in excavating the valley to the depth of eighty feet, perhaps; that is, to its present level, where the river now runs.

3d. Some centuries must have elapsed since the valley, thus excavated, has remained undisturbed; as will appear from an examination of very large trees, found on the intervals, when the valley was first settled.

4th. Lastly, we find that a period of time, of greater or less duration, must have passed away after the valley became thus lowered, and prior to the commencement of the recent timber growth, from the fact that, beneath the roots of the stumps and trees, now standing, are embedded, several feet under ground, entire large trees, which must have been buried while the soil was forming, from which the more recent forest sprung.

In view of these facts, the mind is impressed with an idea of the still greater antiquity of the drift formation, which must have been, as a little reflection will show, quite anterior to the commencement of these developments.

It will be proper to state, on closing these remarks, that the writer of this article, though familiar, in his earlier days, with the spot here attempted to be described, has visited it but once for many years, and then with no view to a scientific description of it; so that the facts here stated are taken wholly from memory, as derived from the impressions they have left on his own mind, and the statements he has received from Mr. Bishop, the very intelligent owner of the farm and mills above named. Yet they are, he has reason to believe, generally and substantially correct.

New York, August, 1848.

ORSON KELLOGG.

The Secretary also read the following report by Mr. Kellogg, made in obedience to a former request of the Association of Geologists and Naturalists:

INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.

Report of the Committee appointed at a Meeting of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, held in the City of New York, September, 1846, to make examination of Phenomena in Essex County, New York, supposed to have some connexion with Indian Antiquities.

To any one conversant with the history of the American Revolution, every suggestion having reference to Indian antiquities in the

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