In the eastern counties, consumption and other diseases of the lungs are the prevailing maladies; in the western counties, bilious affections are more prevalent.

Cholera Infantum is a common and fatal disease with children in the cities and large towns, during the summer and autumn.

It has been ascertained, by numerous observations made in this state and New England, that an elevation of surface of 350 feet produces a diminution of heat, equal to the addition of a degree of latitude. Hence we see the influence of our mountain systems upon the climate of the state.

In order to present more clearly the peculiar characteristics of the climate to the scholar, we shall divide the state into six districts, viz. 1st, Long Island; 2d, The valley of the Hudson; 3d, The valley of the Mohawk; 4th, The district north, and north east of the Mohawk, extending from Lake Ontario to Lake Champlain; 5th, The district south and south west of the valley of the Mohawk, extending from the valley of the Hudson to the smaller Lakes; and 6th, The country west of the smaller Lakes.

The following table, prepared with great care, exhibits the mean, or average temperature; the mean annual maximum, or highest degree of heat; the mean annual minimum, or lowest degree of temperature; the average annual range of the Thermometer; and several other particulars, which show the length and forwardness of the seasons, and the progress of vegetation. It contains the results of observations made at 59 different places, for a period of 15 years. TABLE OF THE CLIMATE OF NEW YORK.

We will now proceed to consider the climate of the several districts, into which we have divided the state, in their order.

1st District. Long Island.

The climate of this district is remarkable for the uniformity of its temperature. The greatest heat of summer is on an average 110 less, and the greatest cold of winter from 100 to 18° less, than in other parts of the state.

The spring is somewhat backward, trees blooming a week later than in the interior of the state; yet strawberries ripen, and the wheat harvest commences earlier than the average of the state.

* This is the average for the southern and middle portion of the state only.

At

Frost occurs at a much later period in autumn, than in any other section. East Hampton, it is a full month, and at Jamaica and Flatbush, nearly three weeks, later than the average of the state.

This valley is remarkable for the great annual range of the thermometer; the heat of summer and the cold of winter being equally intense. The average temperature of Albany is nearly 20 higher than that of the state. The extreme cold of winter at Kinderhook, Lansingburgh, Cambridge, Salem and Granville, causes the mercury to sink 100 lower than in the southern towns of the valley. The spring opens a week or ten days later, at Albany, and above that city, than at the city of New York.

3d District. Valley of the Mohawk.

The average annual temperature of this valley is 1° less than that of the state. Northerly and easterly winds prevail in this section. The latter seems to be a diversion of the south, or south west wind, which prevails in the valley of the Hudson.

Utica, in this district, may be considered as a fair representative of the general climate of the state, as its temperature is about the average temperature of the whole state.

4th District. North and North East of the Valley of the Mohawk.

The climate of this region is characterized by a low average temperature, extreme cold in winter, great range of the thermometer, backward seasons, and early frosts.

Gouverneur, in St. Lawrence Co. reports a lower degree of temperature in winter, and with one exception, a lower annual average of temperature, than any other town in the state, from which meteorological records have been received. The average annual temperature of the whole district is more than 20 lower than that of the remainder of the state.

5th District.

The Region South of the Mohawk, extending to the smaller Lakes.

The average annual temperature of this section is about 20 lower than that of the state, and the autumnal frosts occur from 4 to 13 days earlier. Vegetation is uniformly backward, yet the robin appears earlier than in other sections.

Pompey, in Onondaga county, is the coldest place reported, its annual temperature being 31° lower than that of the state; yet the cold of winter is not so intense, nor do the autumnal frosts occur as early there, as in the state generally. 6th District. That portion of the State West of the small Lakes.

The climate of this section, like that of Long Island, is characterized by uniformity. The mean temperature does not differ materially from that of the whole state, but the average annual range of the thermometer is only 960, while that of the state is 104°.

Vegetation in the spring is somewhat in advance of the state generally, corresponding with that of Albany.

The prevalent local wind of this region is from the southwest. In the autumn it is violent throughout the whole section, and frequently attended with rain; but on Lake Erie, probably owing to its meeting with other currents of wind, it frequently manifests extraordinary fury in September and October, and occasionally produces disastrous shipwrecks.

The extreme heat of summer is very uniform throughout the state. Only 5 places, out of 55, show a difference of over 30 from the average of the state, which is 920.

The average time throughout the whole state, from the blooming of the apple tree, to the first killing frost in autumn, is 174 days. On the west end of Long Island it is 12 days more; and in St Lawrence county 22 days less. These are the extremes.

NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK.

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1. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.

GEOLOGY may be defined as that science which treats of the structure of the earth, and the substances which compose it.

An examination of the banks of rivers, the sides of precipices, &c., shows that there are two kinds, or classes of rocks; the one being de posited in layers, or strata, of variable thickness, are called stratified rocks, and bear evidence of having been, at some remote period, deposited as a sediment, from water; the other irregular in shape, con. taining numerous crystals, and most of the metals in common use, and forming the basis of the lofty mountain chains, are termed unstratified rocks, and were undoubtedly brought into their present form by the action of fire, which then existed, and probably still exists, in the interior of the earth.

Granite is the principal constituent of the unstratified rocks, and probably formed the original crust of the earth. It still exists below all the other rocks. Owing, however, to violent convulsions of nature, (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, &c.,) which have occurred since the layers above it were deposited, it has in many places been forced up through fissures in these layers, so as to appear on the surface, or has raised them up, so as to form mountains or hills. If these were still covered with water, or became again submerged by a subsequent convulsion, new layers were again deposited, frequently at considerable angles with the first deposit. The figure represents such an occurrence.

C

a, represents the unstratified rock upon which the layers b, b, had been deposited in a horizontal position; but by a convulsion of nature, the whole mass had been upheaved, and the granite had forced

its way to the surface; being however still submerged, new layers c, c, were deposited, at an angle of nearly 450 with the first.

Hypersthene and primitive limestone also occur among the unstratified rocks.

THE STRATIFIED ROCKs are divided into six orders or systems, as they are called; viz.,-beginning at the lowest strata, or those next succeeding the unstratified rocks, we have,

I. THE PRIMARY, OR PRIMITIVE SYSTEM, consisting of disinte grated granite, deposited by the waters; and probably again modified by the action of the subterranean heat.

The rocks, composing this system, are known as gneiss, mica schist, and hornblende. There is no evidence of the existence of either animal or vegetable life, during the period while this strata were de positing. Nearly all the metals, used in the arts, are found in these rocks, and in the granite on which they rest.

II. THE TRANSITION SYSTEM. This system embraces a great variety of formations, and occupies a large portion of the crust of the earth. Its lower strata consist of limestones, sandstones, and shales or slaty rocks. Above these, is a layer of sandstone, known as the old red sandstone, which is succeeded by a limestone, forming the bed of the vast coal formations, which furnish so large an amount of fuel to the world. Over these is deposited a magnesian limestone, and another layer of red sandstone, distinguished as the new red sandstone.

The period, when these deposits were made, was characterized by extraordinary luxuriance of vegetable life. The coal deposits are all of vegetable origin, and were reduced to their present form, by the influence of heat, decay and pressure. In the rocks belonging to this system are also found, in immense quantities, the lower orders of animals, shell fish, snails, and a few fishes, and amphibious reptiles. None of them, however, belong to species now known to be in existence.

III. THE SECONDARY SYSTEM, composed of oolitic limestone, greensand, and chalk. This system contains a large number of fossils, both animal and vegetable. Among the former are those gigantic amphibious animals, mostly belonging to the lizard and crocodile tribes, whose skeletons, found both on this continent and in Europe, have excited so much attention. There are also many shells, fishes, insects, and a few quadrupeds. Several hundreds of species of plants have been found in the secondary rocks. These fossils, vegetable and animal, with scarcely an exception, belong to extinct species.

IV. THE TERTIARY SYSTEM. This consists of deposits of clay, sand and gravel, in some instances hardened into rock, but generally containing evidence of the comparative recentness of its deposition. It contains an immense number of fossils, both animal and vegetable; of these about 12 per cent. have been identified as belonging to existing species, and the remainder generally bear a marked resemblance to plants and animals now in existence, which the fossils of the earlier periods do not.

V. THE DILUVIAL DEPOSITS, called also the erratic block group. In thi system are included the boulders, scattered so abundantly over many sections of the earth's surface, and many of the more extensive deposits of sand, gravel and clay, which are evidently the result of

the resistless action of an overwhelming deluge. These deposits contain numerous animal and vegetable forms, the greater part of which belong to existing species, although occasionally extinct races are found.

VI. THE ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS, including the deltas, or earthy deposits at the mouths of rivers, the beds of lakes which have become drained, the valleys of rivers subject to periodical inundations, the shores of oceans, seas, &c.

These also contain, in untold quantities, relics of animal and vegetable existence, but, with very few exceptions belonging to races now known. The gigantic mastodon has been found in these deposits.

We have been thus particular in noticing the fossils belonging to each system, because they serve as way-marks, by the aid of which, even the most unlettered may read the progress of the earth's history, from the period, when it was first set in motion, a vast mass of molten granite, devoid of vegetable or animal life, to the present time, when its green fields, and its innumerable hosts of living and moving beings, attest with myriad voices, the power and wisdom of the great Creator.

The whole of these formations do not exist in every part of the world; but wherever geological explorations have been made, it has been found that the same order is observed; and, that, although some one, or more, of these systems are absent, those which are present follow the arrangement we have described.

In the state of New York the secondary formation is wanting.* as well as the upper members of the transition system,* and in most parts of the state the tertiary system.

It will be seen, by the following table, that coal is not laid down among the formations of the state. All the formations of New York, except the alluvial and diluvial deposits, and the beds of tertiary, on the St. Lawrence, are below the coal measures; the Catskill group, which is the highest member of the transition system in New York, being the layer immediately beneath it.

It is true that there are layers of Anthracite, an inch or two in thickness, and extending over a few feet of surface, between the strata of rocks of an earlier era, in various parts of the state; but coal does not exist in the state, in sufficient quantities to be of any practical value. This deficiency, however, is abundantly made up by the vast coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, which, by means of the extended systems of internal improvement, are rendered so easily accessible. The prevalence of limestone in nearly all the formations is worthy of notice, affording, as it does, the basis rock best adapted to yield the materials for fertilizing the soil.

The table exhibits the geological formations of the state, according to the arrangement adopted by the state geologists in their late

survey.

III., IV. and V. of this arrangement are comprised under the general head of the Transition system, heretofore described.

The existence of a small bed of oolite in Saratoga county, and the somewhat doubtful era of the red sandstone of Rockland county, can scarcely be considered as exceptions to this statement.