bedded, and the ore shows a greater tendency to cleave into thin laminæ parallel with the bedding, in proportion to its freedom from silicious matter. These deposits seem to have been of sedimentary origin, having been originally strata of silicious sand, which has since been metamorphosed. The iron ore may have been introduced either by the sublimation of metalliferous vapors from below during the deposition of the silicious particles, or by precipitation from a ferriferous solution, in which the stratified rocks were in process of formation.

The great deposits of ore which have been alluded to above, agreeing as they do in the characteristic features of their mode of occurrence, especially in the magnitude of the scale on which they are developed, are all, beyond doubt, situated in the same geological position; they all belong to the oldest known system of rocks, the azoic. This name was first applied by Murchison to the ferriferous rocks of Scandinavia, and the geological position of the great iron regions of this country is precisely similar to those of Sweden. There is ample evidence that the lowest known fossiliferous strata, characterized by the same peculiar types of organic life, both in this country and in Europe, rest uniformly upon the iron-bearing strata throughout the Northwest, from New York to Missouri and Arkansas.

We have thus seen that the earliest geological epoch was characterized by the presence of the ores of iron in quantity far exceeding that of any succeeding one; indeed, we may infer that the ruins of the iron ores of this class have furnished the material from which many of the ores of more recent geological age may have been derived. The condition of things in reference to the ores of iron which existed during the azoic period underwent a complete change, and rarely do we find in any fossiliferous rocks any signs of unmistakably eruptive ores. It is certain that we nowhere, out of the azoic system, find masses of ore of such extent and purity as those which have just been alluded to. By far the larger portion of the azoic series on the earth's surface being covered up by the fossiliferous rocks, the ore which that formation contains is equally concealed, and it is only in those regions where no deposition of newer strata upon the oldest rocks has taken place that the treasures of iron are made accessible. In this respect our country is preeminently favored, and there can be no doubt that the immense deposits of iron ore stored away in the Northwest are destined at some future time to add to our national wealth more than has been or ever will be contributed by the gold of California. It may seem absurd to speculate on the exhaustion of the stratified ores of England or of the Eastern United States; yet nothing is more certain, than that the present rate of production in the former country cannot be kept up for any very great length of time, without making the cost of pro

curing ore so great, that other regions which now seem very remote from a market will be able to compete with the most favored iron-producing districts of England.

Practically, the views which have been presented above are of importance, as leading us to expect large and valuable deposits of the ores of iron wherever the azoic rocks are found to exist over any considerable surface. Thus it may safely be predicted that important discoveries of ore will be made, in the now almost unexplored regions of British America, which are covered by rocks of the azoic period. Indeed, large beds of ore have already been found in Canada, which are, in character and position, analogous to those of Northern New York.

ART. VII.-Obituary of Professor Zadoc Thompson.*

Professor ZADOC THOMPSON, died at Burlington on the 19th day of January, 1856, of ossification of the heart. He was born in Bridgewater, Windsor County, Vermont, in the year 1796, and, at the time of his death, must have been in the sixtieth year of his age. His early life was a continual struggle with poverty, and his education was acquired while successfully combatting the evils of pecuniary embarrassment. At the advanced age of twenty-seven years he was graduated at the University of Vermont, having for his classmate in 1823, the Hon. Frederick H. Allen, an eminent lawyer now living in Boston, and Warren Hoxie, of Westford, Vermont. Within a twelve-month from his graduation he published at Montpelier his "Gazetteer of Vermont," pp. 312; and, in 1833, he published, at Burlington, his "History of Vermont from its earliest settlement to the close of the year 1832," pp. 252. In the year 1832, he was editor of, and principal contributor to, the "Green Mountain Repository,' a monthly magazine published for about a year in Burlington. After pursuing his study of theology, and occasionally teaching at the "Vermont Episcopal Institute" and elsewhere, he was prepared for orders and was ordained to the diaconate in the Protestant Episcopal Church by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins, in 1836. He subsequently preached in several parishes in Northern Vermont and New York, and supplied the pulpit at St. Paul's Church, Burlington, during the illness or absence of the rector; but his feeble health prevented his assuming the active and onerous labors of a parish.

From the time of the publication of the books above mentioned, he had contemplated a larger and more comprehensive

* Communicated to the Franklin (Vt.) County Journal, and sent to this Journal by the author, George F. Houghton, Esq.

work which should embrace the General History of Vermont, both natural and civil. From 1838 to 1842 he devoted the greater part of his time to preparing and publishing his "Natural, Civil and Statistical History of Vermont."

The prosecution of this purpose necessarily brought him into contact or correspondence with the naturalists of the country. In completing his account of the birds of Vermont, he was greatly assisted by Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, of Boston; and in determining several species of reptiles and fishes, he was aided by Dr. D. H. Storer, also of Boston. For a full description of our molluscous animals, he was indebted to Prof. Charles B. Adams, then of Middlebury College, and to Prof. George W. Benedict, then of the University of Vermont. For his catalogue of plants, he was indebted to the late William Oakes, of Ipswich, Mass., to Prof. Joseph Torrey, William F. Macrae, John Carey, and others. With these aids in his arduous labors, Prof. Thompson succeeded in embracing in his work everything of special importance relative to the Natural and Civil History of Vermont; and published it in so condensed and cheap a form as to place it within the reach of every family in the State, having but little regard to a pecuniary recompense from the sale of a book which had cost him so much travel, research, time and expense in its preparation.

Prof. Thompson found time also to prepare annual astronomical calculations for the Messrs. Waltons of Montpelier, and to publish a valuable arithmetic and elementary work on the Geology and Geography of Vermont, for the use of schools, both written in the systematic, lucid and condensed manner which imparted so much value to all of his publications.

In 1845, Governor Slade appointed Prof. Charles B. Adams State Geologist, and, with the approbation of the Governor, the latter made Prof. Thompson one of his assistants in the field labor. In connection with the Rev. S. R. Hall, the other assistant, he visited and explored, "more or less thoroughly," about 110 townships in one season. Prof. Thompson was actively engaged in this important scientific labor until the Legislature of Vermont neglected to make an appropriation for a final report on the geology of our State, and thus permitted the materials, manuscripts, books, and specimens belonging to the survey to remain at Montpelier and Burlington, locked up in about fifty boxes. The brief and expressive report of Prof. Thompson addressed to Gov. Coolidge, in October, 1849, was published in the Appendix of the House Journal for that year and is a sad commentary on the folly of which our State has been guilty in regard to the matter of a geological survey. After the suspension of the geological survey, Dr. Horace Eaton, Governor of the State in 1847, appointed Prof. Thompson to carry out the resolution of the

Legislature in relation to international literary and scientific exchanges; and in pursuance of his appointment he presented the exchange system in its clearest light, so that it commended itself to the "approbation of every benevolent mind." The preparation of the report of "Proceedings and Instructions," which, by the way, was beautifully printed in a pamphlet of 80 pages, reflected great credit upon Mr. Thompson, and upon the State, and it is greatly to be deplored that the historical interest which was then awakened throughout the State by the visit of the founder of the system of exchanges, and by the labors of such men as Prof. Thompson, Hon. Hiland Hall, of Bennington, Henry Stevens, of Barnet, Daniel P. Thompson, of Montpelier, Prof. James D. Butler, then of Norwich, Vt., and others, should so soon and so thoroughly have subsided and become almost extinct.

In June, 1850, Prof. Thompson delivered, upon invitation, an address at Boston before the Boston Society of Natural History, in which he made the announcement that "what he had accomplished in the business of Natural History, he had done without any associates engaged in like pursuits, without having any access to collections of specimens, and almost without books." In that excellent address, (which was printed by his devoted friend and neighbor, Chauncey Goodrich, Esq., in 1850, in a pamphlet of 32 pages,) he illustrated the importance and difficulties of a thorough cultivation of natural history in country places, insisting that a habit of observation and comparison of objects of natural history could be as quickly acquired in the country as in the city, and urging that the study of natural history should be more generally taught in our common schools and colleges, for the obvious reason that such a study "would refine and improve the moral sensibilities of our people, and sharpen and invigorate their intellectual powers."

In these labors, beset with the difficulties so freely confessed before his audience at Boston, on the occasion of the delivery of the last mentioned address, he passed his quiet life. At one time he was a teacher of science; at another time he was prosecuting his researches in natural history; and then he might be found preaching in his modest and reverential manner the sublime doctrines of the Christian creed which he had adopted; and, whether in or out of the pulpit, he was always seen and known as the industrious, patient, humble and exemplary disciple of Him who was born in the manger and died on the cross. Prof. Thompson thus won friends not "in single spies but in battalions," friends who knowing the anxieties he felt to see the wonders of the great exhibition at London, in 1851, gladly put into his purse that "material aid" of which teaching and preaching and authorship had not gathered a superabundance. Chiefly through the kindness of friends, which he has beautifully ac

knowledged in one of his books, he was enabled to enjoy a trip to the Old World, "beholding the wonders of the great deep, and seeing and admiring the wonderful things of Nature and Art which lie beyond it." After an absence of three months, spending a few weeks in London and Paris, and after traveling about 7500 miles, he came back refreshed in spirit and health to his humble dwelling at Burlington, and after a while yielded to the importunities of his friends, and published a neat volume of 143 pages, entitled a "Journal of a trip to London, Paris, and the Great Exhibition in 1851." Although this "Journal" is composed of notes for each day from May till August, jotted down when travelling or sight-seeing, for the private eye of family and friends, and with no expectation that they would ever be printed, yet it contains much that is new and valuable, and although published as a "thank offering to his friends," the reading public have perused it with equal pleasure and profit.

Since the publication of his History of Vermont in 1842, railroads and magnetic telegraphs have been introduced into the State and other changes have taken place; and early in 1853, Prof. Thompson published an Appendix to the history, chiefly in the department of natural history. This Appendix, although containing only 64 pages, is a valuable supplement to his large work. In the preface, he intimates his intention to re-write the whole history.

We have now come, in chronological order, to the last work, upon which the Professor was engaged. It will be remembered that the labors of Prof. Adams and his assistant had ceased in 1847 on behalf of the State. The cold shoulder of "men most noted for wisdom and virtue" was turned toward them, after it was an established fact "that as much labor was performed and as much investigation effected as were ever accomplished with the same expenditure in any other State." Prof. Adams's final report was never made, and January 19th, 1853, he died on the island of St. Thomas, W. I., cut down in the prime of life and usefulness, when all that remained of the Geological Survey of Vermont was shut up in short hand in the field-books of the State Geologist and his assistants, or locked up in the fifty boxes of unticketed and untrimmed specimens at Burlington and Montpelier. Years after the field work was done and when Prof. Adams was slumbering in his grave, the men "most noted for their wisdom and virtue," discovered that they had made a mistake in arresting the progress of the survey. Then it was that Prof. Zadoc Thompson was appointed by Statute, State Naturalist with the following duties: "to enter upon a thorough prosecution and completion of the geological survey of the State, embracing therein a full and scientific examination and description of its rocks, soils, metals and minerals; make