Page:Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man.djvu/378

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358
REMARKABLE TRAINS OF ERRATIC BLOCKS.
CHAP. XVIII.
m Dupey's Mount.
n Largest block of train, No. 6. See figs. 51 and 52, p. 359.
p Point of divergence of part of the train No. 6, where a branch is sent off to No. 5.
No. 1 The most southerly train examined by Messrs. Hall and Lyell, between Stockbridge and Richmond, composed of blocks of black slate, blue limestone, and some of the green Canaan rock, with here and there a boulder of white quartz.
No. 2 Train composed chiefly of large limestone masses, some of them divided into two or more fragments, by natural joints.
No. 3 Train composed of blocks of limestone and the green Canaan rock; passes south of the Richmond Station on the Albany and Boston railway; is less defined than Nos. 1 and 2.
No. 4 Train chiefly of limestone blocks, some of them thirty feet in diameter, running to the north-west of the Richmond Station, and passing south of the Methodist Meeting-house, where it is intersected by a railway cutting.
No. 5 South train of Dr. Reid, composed entirely of large blocks of the green chloritic Canaan rock; passes north of the Old Richmond Meeting-house, and is three-quarters of a mile north of the preceding train (No. 4).
No. 6 The great or principal train (north train of Dr. Reid), composed of very large blocks of the Canaan rock, diverges at p, and unites by a branch with train No. 5.
No. 7 A well-defined train of limestone blocks, with a few of the Canaan rock, traced from the Richmond to the slope of the Lenox range.

trains 5 and 6 have evidently come from the ridge a, and a large proportion of the whole from its highest summit, d, where the crest of the ridge has been worn into those dome-shaped masses called 'roches moutonnées,' already alluded to (pp. 269 and 293), and where several fragments having this shape, some of them thirty feet long, are seen in situ, others only slightly removed from their original position, as if they had been just ready to set out on their travels. Although smooth and rounded on their tops, they are angular on their lower parts, where their outline has been derived from the natural joints of the rock. Had these blocks been conveyed from d by glaciers, they would have radiated in all directions from a centre, whereas not one even of the smaller ones is found to the westward of a, though a very slight force would have made them roll down to the base of that ridge, which is very steep on its western declivity. It is clear, therefore, that the propelling power, whatever it may have been, acted exclusively in a south-easterly direction. Professor Hall and