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19
GEOLOGY.
of sharp quartzose sand and coarse granitic gravel, intermingled with limestone pebbles. Imbedded in this gravel have been found several bones and teeth of elephants. Wells and deep pits, either in the upper or lower level, are often filled with " choke damp" or car- bonic acid, so as to prove fatal to the incautious laborer who attempts to descend ; this is especially apt to be the case, after such places have remained covered during the night.
The layers of blue limestone are from the thinnest possible to twenty-two inches or possibly two feet in thickness, compact or somewhat granular, semicrystalline, strong and durable and well calculated for many economical purposes, such as affording lime for mortar, "metal" for roads, stones for pavements, and for founda- tions, and even a handsome dark marble for interior architecture. They are often literally filled with marine fossils, such as corallines, trilobites, encrinites, orthocerites and various univalve and bivalve shells. People ordinarily mistake these for petrifactions of objects now found in the country, but they are all the products of a primi- tive ocean. The blue limestone of Cincinnati is the lowest rock which occurs within several hundred miles, and occupies a space at least a thousand feet in thickness. Although its layers lie apparently in an exact level, yet they decline both to the east and to the west so as ultimately to disappear under other strata, and finally with those strata, under the two great coal-fields which commence between one and two hundred miles on both sides of the city. The strata intervening between the blue limestone and the coal formation, begin to be found at the surface between forty and one hundred miles from our city, concealing that limestone from view. Proceeding upward, they are, in thickness, as follows :-
1st. Blue fossiliferous limestone of Cincinnati, . 1000 ft.
2d. Cliff-limestone, . 200
3d. Bituminous shale,. 250
4th. Fine-grained sandstone used for building in Cin- cinnati, . 350
5th. A coarse pebbly or conglomerate sandstone which
includes shale, limestone, iron, salt, and coal, . 2000
As the limits of this article do not permit a separate description of these formations, the reader is referred to Professor Locke's report to the legislature of Ohio on the geology of the south-western part of the state, and to Dr. Owen's report, including Dr Locke's
20
GEOLOGY,
also, to the Congress of the United States, on the geology of the mineral lands of Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. It was stated in the survey of the last named region, that its rocks, including the im- mense treasures of iron, zinc, lead, and copper, were identical with the cliff-limestone of Ohio, showing itself at the Yellow Springs, at Dayton, Columbus, and West Union in Ohio, and at Madison in Indiana, at all of which places it is more or less metalliferous.
The blue fossiliferous limestone of Cincinnati, after plunging under the great coal-field of Illinois in company with the cliff-limestone, reappears at Dubuque, where it is diminished to a few feet in thick- ness, while the superincumbent cliff-stone, filled with veins of lead ore, is developed into a stratum of six hundred feet in height. The blue limestone extends to Prairie du Chien, to the falls of St. Anthony and some distance up the river St. Peter's, but in a layer of only twenty feet or less. At Prairie du Chien it is raised some hundreds of feet above the water of the Mississippi, and exhibits underneath it a renewal of the cliff rock, but with fewer fossils. From this brief sketch every geologist would anticipate our local advantages. Situated in the centre of the inexhaustibly fertile region of the blue limestone with its alternations of enriching marl, midway between the two largest and most easily wrought coal-fields in the world, and also between inexhaustible beds of excellent iron ore, with every facility of natural water communication, so that even the treasures of the Mississippi mines come to our doors almost spontaneously ; with a fine climate and with every material for the foundation and the superstructure of a city, it must be from a wan- ton abuse of the benevolent munificence of our Creator if we fail to continue to be prosperous and happy.
The natural waters of the vicinity of Cincinnati, are such as might be anticipated from the geology. The wells and springs afford clear, cool, " limestone water," viz .: water holding carbonate of lime in solution. The waters of the Miamis, especially when low, contain lime to such an extent as to be too hard for washing. This might be expected, as they have their origin and course through limestone rocks. The proper cliff-limestone is often magnesian, and sulphate of magnesia is not an uncommon ingredient in waters from particular localities, as at Pace's wells. The waters of the Ohio, flowing chiefly over the sandstone and shales of the coal-measures, until within seventy or eighty miles of our city, are but slightly impregnated with mineral matter, and are so soft as scarcely to
3 1833 02279 6160
21
MAGNETISM.
coagulate a solution of soap. Although rather bland in taste, the " hydrant water" of our city, raised from the Ohio, is reputed to be healthy, and less liable to disagree with strangers accustomed only to soft water, than that of springs or wells.
MAGNETISM.
POPULAR ELEMENTARY DEFINITIONS.
THE elements of terrestrial magnetism consist simply of the force, power, or intensity with which the earth attracts the magnetized needle, and of the direction in which that force acts; but from the vast importance of the horizontal or compass-needle, both in naviga- tion and surveying, and from the facility of suspending and experi- menting with the same, it is customary to estimate certain elements of the needle in that position, although it is seldom the direction- never in our latitude-in which, if allowed to move freely in all directions, it would place itself. The quantities sought to be mea- sured are usually four :
First. The declination " variation," or direction of the horizontal needle, as it respects the true astronomical north or south points.
Second. The force or intensity with which the horizontal needle is attracted by the earth, and held in its direction : this is called the horizontal intensity.
Third. The dip, or true course in which a needle, perfectly free to move in all directions, would finally rest and be held by the earth's attraction.
Fourth. The force or intensity with which the needle, in the direction of the dip, is attracted by the earth : this is called the total intensity."
MAGNETICAL DECLINATION OR VARIATION.
Most persons are aware that the compass-needle does not every- where point to the true north, but varies in its direction in different places on the earth's surface, in such a manner that it either points east of it, directly toward it, or west of it. The force with which the earth attracts or pulls such a needle, so as to hold it in its direc- tion, and cause it to vibrate if it be moved out of that direction and be suffered freely to return, is called the horizontal intensity, and is
* To avoid a circumlocution of language, the earth's attraction is named without expressing particularly the mutual attraction between the earth and needle.
2
22
MAGNETISM.
measured by the quickness of the vibrations. Thus, when there are a greater number of vibrations of the same needle, in the same time, the horizontal intensity is greater, being as the squares of the num- bers of such vibrations. A vibrating needle used for determining the intensity, is a " magnetical pendulum," acted upon by magnet- ism as a clock pendulum is by gravitation.
MAGNETICAL DIP.
Make a needle of tempered steel, with pivots at the sides, so that it can turn like a cannon, and point up or down ; balance it so nicely that it will stay in any position in which you place it: this must be done while the steel has no magnetism. Next, magnetize that needle by " touching" it with magnets, as directed in the books on magnetism. Lastly, place the pivots in proper supports, exactly crosswise of the line in which the compass-needle points : it will no longer remain balanced, especially in the horizontal position, but, in the latitude of the United States, the north end will turn down, nearer to a perpendicular than to a level. This turning down, or out of the level, is called the dip; it is measured by the number of de- grees which the north end descends from a level line. The dip increases as we travel northward, until at a point north of the west- ern part of Hudson's Bay, it points directly downward. At or near the equator there is no dip, or the dipping-needle lies level; and south of that point, the south end of the needle descends, as does the north end in the northern hemisphere.
Now, whatever direction the dipping-needle takes, it is held there by a magnetical force of the earth, which when it is moved out of that direction, draws it back again, and causes it to vibrate like a pendulum, and finally, to settle at the proper dip. If the force be greater, the vibrations will be quicker : this force is called the total intensity, and is not usually ascertained by the vibrations of the dipping-needle, but is deduced by calculations from the horizontal intensity, and the dip at any locality. This force, on the whole, in- creases as we proceed northwardly ; but the horizontal intensity, in consequence of the increase of the dip, diminishes in the same direction. At the magnetic pole, where the dip would be 90 degrees (viz. : the dipping-needle perpendicular) the horizontal intensity would be nothing, and the common compass-needle would point in one direction as soon as in another-the magnetical force of the earth pulling it, at all points, directly downward upon the supporting pivot.
23
MAGNETISM.
Now, to measure these four quantities, in different localities, as accurately as possible, has been a part of my labors in the late brief survey of a part of our territories.
Some sorts of iron ores have an influence on the magnetic needle, and change either its direction or its intensity. The effect of such ore increases directly as the quantity or mass, and diminishes as the squares of the distance increase; and although the mass may be large, yet, from the effect of depth or distance, the indication may be too slight to be observed, unless by the most delicate instruments, skillfully used. By means of these, we may be guided to vast miner- alogical treasures ; for, however desirous we may be to discover gold and silver mines, iron is the more useful metal. In Iowa, one mag- netical node has been discovered, which may be produced by a " sub- terraneous iron mountain." Independently, however, of any econo- mical views, it will be a matter of gratification to the scientific world to receive a small contribution to their fund of magnetical knowledge ; for an effort is now making to collect and embody as many accurate magnetical observations as possible, in order the more fully to deter- mine the changes, distributions, and general laws of this wonderful force, and to make it still more subservient to the purposes of general utility.
TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM AT CINCINNATI.
MAGNETICAL DECLINATION OR VARIATION.
In 1825, Mr. Gest, the city surveyor, and Dr. Locke, found the compass-needle to point 5° 15' east of due north. In 1840, the above quantity had diminished to 4º 46' east of due north. In 1846, the variation had been reduced to 4° 01', and at the present time it is probably somewhat less.
MAGNETICAL DIP.
Since March, 1840, Dr. Locke has made monthly observations on the dip and horizontal intensity. The following table exhibits his results, as regards the dip, up to January, 1841.
Each of the twelve observations on the following page, is the mean of sixteen single observations, including all of the possible reversals of the dipping apparatus with two needles
LINE OF EQUAL DIP OF LONDON.
This line, which, in 1837, was by observation 69º 23', passes more than a degree south of Cincinnati, and advancing westward, passes
MAGNETISM.
through Princeton, in Indiana, lat. 38º 23' north, long. 87º 30' west, and crosses the Mississippi river about fifteen miles south of St. Louis, in Missouri.
This line of equal dip had an adventitious interest, from the fact, that the lines of equal magnetic dip, are also lines of equal mean temperature. Thus the mean temperature of Princeton, Indiana, would be presumed to be nearly equal to that of London.
TABLE OF MAGNETICAL DIP OBSERVED MONTHLY AT CINCINNATI.
Day.
Hour.
Dip by needle ] Dip by needle No. 1. No. 2.
Mean.
1840.
h. m. h. m.
1
March 6,
2 30 to 3 30 P. M.
70 27.250
70 27.562
70 27.812
April 21,
9 46 to 10 40 A. M.
70 29.687
70 28.000
70 28.844
May 21,
10 35 to 11 35 A. M.
70 24.450
70 24.937
70 24.694
June 22,
11 34 to 12 30
M.
70 28.062
70 27.437
70 27.750
July 18,
5 30 to 6 30 P. M.
70 29.062
70 27.937
70 28.500
July 19,
11 30 to 12 30
M.
70 25.625
70 25.812
70 25.718
August 18,
10 00 to 11 00 A. M.
70 27.375
70 27.500
70 27.437
Septr. 24,
9 00 to 10 45 A. M.
70 29.200
70 29.200
70 29.200
October 22,
9 30 to 10 30 A. M.
70 29.000
70 28.375
70 28.687
Novem. 20,
10 15 to 11 15 A. M.
70 25 187
70 25.437
70 25.313
Decem. 23,
11 00 to 12 00
M.
70 27.250
70 26.812
70 27.031
Jan. 23, 1841,
11 00 to 12 00
M.
70 24.937
70 24.750
70 24.844
Mean of 192 observations
.70° 27'.152.
MAGNETIC INTENSITY.
CINCINNATI AS THE BASE OF REFERENCE OF A MAGNETICAL SURVEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
BESIDE the determinations of magnetical dip made at Cincinnati, and quoted above, Dr. Locke has made a survey of the magnetism of a large portion of the United States. His labors were continued for about ten years, viz .: from 1838 to 1848 ; and were extended from the south part of Kentucky to the north side of Lake Superior ; and from the State of Maine to some distance beyond the Mississippi. During the progress of the work, he made the garden of Nicholas Longworth, Esq., of Cincinnati, the base or standard of comparison of the magnetic forces. The magnetic force of the earth at Cinein- nati, he called 1000; and proceeded to compare the force at all other places with that assumed quantity.
Finally, Dr. Locke, at the request of Col. Sabine, R. A., Secretary of the Royal Society, extended his researches to the magnetical observatory of the British Government at Toronto in Canada. By
25
MAGNETISM.
these, and by observations made by Capt. Lefroy, R. A., at several places in the U. S., where Dr. Locke had observed, the force at Cin- cinnati and throughout Dr. Locke's whole survey has been compared with that of all the similar surveys throughout the world. The following table exhibits a comparison of the horizontal force, or the magnetical force with which a compass-needle is held and also the total magnetical force with which the needle of the dipping compass is held at the several places named.
This epitome of Dr. Locke's survey is abstracted from Col. Sabine's work in the Philosophical Transactions, Part III, for 1846. London. The results are arranged in three parts :-
1st. A general line of observations from Lexington, Ky., through Cincinnati to Isle Royale, on the north side of Lake Superior.
2d. A line along the Atlantic coast, from Washington city to the State of Maine.
3d. A line along the Mississippi from St. Louis in Missouri, to Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin.
The first of the numerical columns refers to the horizontal mag- netic force at Cincinnati, assumed as 1000; the second, to the total force at Cincinnati, also assumed as 1000.
FIRST LINE .- LEXINGTON TO ISLE ROYALE.
LOCALITY.
HOR. FORCE.
TOTAL FORCE
CINCINNATI
1000 1000
Lexington, Ky.
1012 985
Columbus, O.
966
996
Cleveland, O ..
880
1016
Detroit .
816
1011
Mackinaw.
716
1039
Sault St. Mary
669
1037
Ontonagon R.
686
1039
Lapointe
705 1044
Isle Royale.
646 1052
SECOND OR ATLANTIC LINE.
Washington. .
948 988
Baltimore .
932
991
Philadelphia
917 995
New York
883
994
New Haven.
839
988
26
MAGNETISM.
LOCALITY. HOR. FORCE. TOTAL FORCE.
Portland .
753
989
Mt. Washington
729 991
Bethel, Me ..
727 996
THIRD OR MISSISSIPPI LINE.
St. Louis.
1042
997
Davenport
939
1012
Dubuque.
881 1013
Prairie du Chien
876
1019
In the preceding table, the horizontal and total forces at Cincin- nati are arbitrarily assumed as 1000. The absolute ratio of the horizontal force at Cincinnati to the total force, is near 1 to 3, being on August 21, 1843, 1000 to 2986.
It will be seen by inspecting this table, that in general, as we are proceeding northwardly, the horizontal magnetic force by which a compass-needle is held in its direction, is diminishing, while the total force by which the dipping-needle is held in its direction, is increasing. Thus the compass force at Isle Royale, would be less than two-thirds ; 646 to 1000, of what it is at Cincinnati ; while the whole force in the dip or true magnetic direction, would be greater than at Cincinnati : as 1052 to 1000.
This diminution of the horizontal or compass force, is caused by the distance to which the horizontal-needle is forced out of the na- tural magnetic direction-the dip-until, when the dip should be perpendicular the horizontal force would be nothing, and the sur- veyor's and the mariner's compass would be useless ; the needle pointing in one direction as readily as in another.
Though there have been other laborers in the field of terrestrial magnetism in the U. S., yet none have approached so near to a general survey of the country, in this particular, as Dr. Locke of our own city. The scientific magnetic chart of the U. S., as filled up by Col. Sabine in the work to which reference has been made, is almost entirely based on his observations.
The last series of the labors of Professor Locke in this depart- ment, has been lately published as a part of Dr. Jackson's survey of the geology of Lake Superior, by the Department of the Interior, under Hon. Secretary Ewing.
Baron Humboldt made observations near the equator in South
27
MAGNETISM.
America, and assumed the magnetic force at his station to be one (1.) Other observations have since been compared very extensively with his, until we have reached a station where the total magnetism of the earth is near twice as much as that assumed unit. The inten- sity of the total magnetic force at Cincinnati, according to Humboldt's unit, is 1.796 ; and the greatest intensity known on the earth is by the same scale 1.878. Dr. Locke found the total intensity at Isle Royale in Lake Superior, to be 1.876, scarcely differing at all from the highest magnetic force yet found, being little over 1 in 1000 less.
It is interesting to observe the coincidence of the results obtained by Captain Lefroy and Dr. Locke, where they happened to observe at the same places. These gentlemen have never seen each other ; they used different instruments, and observed at different times, noting, each, the various equations required for temperature, &c. ; nor was it known by anybody what the results would be, until the observations were finally reduced by Col. Sabine in England. The following are some of them :-
PLACES
TOTAL INTENSITY OF
OBSERVER.
MAGNETIC FORCE.
1814
Lefroy
Detroit.
.1815
Locke
1828
Lefroy
Cleveland
1824
Locke
Toronto
(1836
Locke
1783
Lefroy
Princeton, N. J.
1783
Locke
1797.
Lefroy
Albany .
{1792
Locke
(1773.
Lefroy
New Haven
.1774
Locke
1774 .
Lefroy
Cambridge .
1777
Locke
(1836.
Lefroy
It is worthy of notice that the stronger magnetic pole is north of the U. S., and about 20° this side of the true astronomical pole. This spot has been examined by Capt. Henry Ross, nephew of Sir James, who there found the direction of the dipping needle to be perpendicular. This point is also the convergent point of compass- needles, and causes the variation to be toward the west in eastern
28
MAGNETISM.
situations ; and toward the east in situations in general westward of the meridian of this pole of convergence. The pole of greatest force is still further southward, lying in general between Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay, varying very little from one of these points to the other.
Thus, in general, on the meridian of 90° west, and, of course, lying N. of the U. S., there are three great poles : 1st. The pole of mag- netic intensity of forces, about 50° N. lat. 2d. The pole of magnetic dip and convergence, or the pole of declination, about 70° N. lat. 3d. The astronomical pole, at 90º N. lat. The singular fact, that the point of greatest magnetic attraction of the earth is not near the pole of magnetic dip and convergence, was first ascertained by Col. Sabine, who ventured to predict its situation. In 1844, Dr. Locke made experiments within the limits of this region of high magnetism, and communicated them to the American Philosophical Society.
Some idea of the range of magnetic intensity from Lake Superior to Hudson's Bay, may be formed, from the observations of Capt. Lefroy, from the one point to the other. These observations com- mence within 16 miles of those of Dr. Locke on Lake Superior, and are here thrown into four groups. The mean of the four, com- pared with Dr. Locke's, at Isle Royale, may be thus stated :-
PLACE.
TOTAL INTENSITY. OBSERV. . Locke. .
REMARKS.
Isle Royale .
. 1889.
Lapointe, Lake Supr. . 1875.
. Lefroy . 2d
1870. . . Lefroy . . . Mean of 10 obs. 3d 66 1867. . Lefroy . . . Mean of 13 obs.
1865. . Lefroy . . Mean of 5 obs.
Cincinnati .
Toronto. 1836. . . . Locke. )
. Locke. . Mean of 11 obs. 1st Group, N. L. Supr. . . 1860 ..
4th Group, reaching to) Hudson's Bay. . 1796. . Locke. ) . . Added for com- parison.
It seems from the above that there is a special magnetic intensity about Lake Superior, even exceeding that between the lake and Hudson's Bay ; still, the increase of the intensity generally, at dis- tant places, may point to a locality north of the lake, say lat. 52º, as the centre of greatest magnetic force.
Oreken's I ifknaraphs
214, Walnut Str. Cin . ('
ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL.
29
MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY.
MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY.
ON the 26th of December, 1788, when the third landing for the permanent settlement of Ohio was made, where Cincinnati now stands, there were already in the Interior Valley of North America- between New Orleans and Quebec-more than thirty towns. In sixty years, the encampment of twenty-six men, by the side of a beaver pond, beneath a dense forest of beech trees, has grown into a city, which has a more numerous stationary white population than any other within the Great Valley ; and, in permanent inhabitants, ranks as the fifth city of the United States. Such an unrivaled growth would, perhaps, justify an ample notice of its condition, even if the medical historian were not identified with it in feeling, interest, and early recollections.
The site of the city, on the right bank of the Ohio river, consists of two plains or bottoms ; one near the river, comparatively narrow, and composed of argillaceous alluvion ; the other in its rear, six or eight times as broad, diluvial, and made up, like the higher or second terraces generally, of pebbles, gravel, and sand, with a cover- ing of loam and soil. The lower plain widens as it stretches down the river, and its back part, on the settlement of the town, was a narrow, shallow, and heavily-timbered pond or swamp, overflowed by ordinary spring floods of the river, which ascended upon it along the marshy rivulets by which that tract was partially drained into the Ohio, below the town. In 1793 the whole of the lower plain was submerged ; and in 1832 and 1848 the inundation was repeated, upon every part which had not been raised, with materials washed by the rains, or hauled from the adjacent higher terrace. For many years after the settlement of the village, the drainage of both ter- races was into the low grounds of this bottom, where it accumulated in part upon the surface, and partly in the numerous pits, formed by the manufacture of brick. From these foul accumulations, in summer and early autumn, a constant escape of gas through the superincumbent water could be perceived. The extent of this tract, lying to the west or windward of the village, was sufficient to gener- ate a great many cases of autumnal fever, chiefly of the remittent type, not a few of which every year prove fatal .* Had its surface been bui a few feet lower, so that it could not have been reclaimed,
* Drake: Notices concerning Cincinnati, 1810.
3
30
MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY.
the nuisances in which it abounded must have exerted a retarding influence on the progress of the city. But for the last twenty years the work of transformation by draining, filling up, and building over, has been steadily advancing, and with it a corresponding improve- ment of autumnal health.
From the lower plain to the upper and older, the ascent is between fifty and sixty feet. With the growth of the town, the front margin of the latter, which was originally a bluff bank, has been graded to a gentle declivity, and the removed material used, as already inti- mated, to raise the back part of the lower bottom ; so that the drain- age of the city is now chiefly by the streets directly into the river.
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