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THE
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST
A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
AND
ALLIED SCIENCES
EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS:
SAMUEL CaLvIn, Lowa City, Towa.
Epwarp W. CiayPoun, Akron, Ohio.
Francis W, Cracin, Colorado Springs, Colo.
JOHN EYERMAN, Huston, Pu. ANDREW C. Lawson, Berkeley, Cal.
PERSIFOR FRAZER, Philadelphi1, Pa. ROLLIN D. SALISBURY, Madison, Wis.
Rosert T. Hii, Austin, Texas. JosePH B. TYRRELL, Ottawa, Ont.
Epwarp O. Unricu, Newport, Ky.
IsrAEL C. Wurtet, Morgantown, West Va.
Newton H. WINcHELL, Minneapolis, Minn.
VOLUME IX.
- JANUARY’ TO JUNE, 1892.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN,
"THE GEOLOGICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1892.
i. KIMBALL PRINTING CO., PRINTERS.
lit
CONTENTS.
JANUARY NUMBER.
Joseph Leidy. ([Portrait.] PrRsiror FRAZER...... ; i
The Chemung and Catskill (Upper Devonian) on the inatern
Side of the Appalachian Basin. J. J. STEVENSON 6
Principles and Methods of Geologic Correlation by Means
Gieriants, Lester F7 WARDEr ot le. SE meee d4
Age of the Limestone Strata of Deep Creek, Utah, andthe
Occurrence of Gold in the Crystalline Portions of
the Hormation:-“ “Ww. P. BUAKE ES 623.2%... a. oe 47
Editorial Comment.—Archexan eruptive rocks of Finnland, 49.—Earliest
Man in America, 52.--Companions of Eozoon, 53.
- Review of Recent Geological Literature —Geological Survey of Missouri;
Age and originof the crystalline rocks. Erasmus HAwortu, 55.—
Descriptions of four new species of fossils from the Silurian
rocks of the southeastern portion of the district of Saskatchewan,
J. F. Wurteaves, 56.—Contributions to Canadian mico-paleon-
tology, T. Rurperr JoNEs, 56.—Laboratory practice, a series of ex-
periments on the fundamental principles of chemistry, J. P.
CooKE, 56.—Report on the geology of the four counties, Union,
Snyder, Mifflin and Juniata, E. V. D’INviniiers, 57.—On some
new fishes from South Dakota, E. D. Corr, 57.—On a new horizon
in the St. John group, G. F. Marrnew, 57.—The story of the hills,
a book about mountains for general readers, H. N. Hutrcurnson,
58.—Correlation papers, Devonian and Carboniferous, H. §8. W11-
LIAMS, 58.
List of Recent Publications, 61.
Correspondence.—The Middleton formation of Tennessee, Mississippi and
Alabama, with a note on the formations at La Grange, Tennessee,
Jas. M. SAFFORD, 63.—Bibliography undertaken by the Interna-
tional Congress of: Geologists, G..K. GILBERT and Em. DE Mar-
GERIE, 64,
Personal and, Scientific News.—Pre-historic horses, 67.—Archeological
exhibition at Madrid, 68.—The late Dr. P. Herbert Carpenter, 69.
FEBRUARY NUMBER.
Alexander Winchell. [Portrait.] An Editorial Tribute.
Iv Contents.
MARCH NUMBER.
John Francis Williams. [Portrait.] J. F. Kemp..... és 149
The Pre-Cretaceous Age of the Metamorphic Rocks of the
California Coast Ranges. HaArotp W. FarRBANKS. 153
Relative Abundance of Gold in Different Geological Forma-
tions. - W..P2BuAKE)...., meee Set (ay Pe ee
The Cretaceous Covering of the Texas Paleozoic. RALPH
a: 6 ee es 169
Notes upon Nebraska Tertiary. F. W. RussELL........ 178
On Fossils in the Lafayette Formation in Virginia. N. H.
DART ON 5 /s:00in 0 «'s <0 + vgn Pecan .
Quaternary Geology of Keokuk, Lowa, with Notes on the
Underlying Rock Structure. [Illustrated.] C. H.
QOBDON : caleb at oe «e/a SS see «aaj @:6 «inet!
Origin of the Gravel Deposits Beneath Muir Glacier, Alaska.
TC ROSSELL. os 54 ee er OEE
Editorial Comment.—The so-called Laurentian Limestones at St. John,
New Brunswick, 198 —In Need of an Editor, 200.
Review of Recent Geological Literature.—Notes on the genus Acidaspis, J.
M. CLarKkeE, 209.—Observations on the Terataspis grandis Hall,
the largest known trilobite, J. M. Cuarke. 203,—Note-ob.Coronura
aspeétuns Conrad: the Asaphus diurus Green, J. M. CLARKE, 203.—
Correlation papers, Cambrian, C. D. Watcort, 203.—A Classifica-
tion of Mountain Ranges according to their Structure, Origin and
Age, WARREN UPHaM, 205 —General Account of the Fresh Water
Morasses of the United States, with a Description of the Dismal
Swamp District of Virginia and North Carolina, N. S. SHaLer,
206.—The Penokee Iron-bearing series of Michigan and Wiscon-
sin, R. D. Irvine, and C R. Van Hise, 207.—Systematic Mineral-
ogy, based on a natural Classification, T. StERRY Hunt, 209.—
Baltimore, a Guide-b.ok, with an account of the Geology of its
Environs, GEoRGE H. Wiu.rams and N. H. Darton, 210.—Ele-
ments of Crystallography, GEorRGE H. WILutaMs, 208.
Correspondence.—Are the Eozoonal Limestones at St. John, New Bruns-
wick, Pre-Cambrian? G. F. MaTrHew, 212.
Personal and Scientific News.—The Winter Meeting of the Geological
Society of America. Obituaries, Dr. Ferd. Roemer, Sir Andrew
Ramsey, and T. Sterry Hunt, 214.
APRIL NUMBER.
A Hitherto Undescribed Phenomenonin Hematite. [Illus-
trated. ] W: 8S) Gresiuy) Jeera... beeen 219
The Lower Coal Measures of Monongaliaand Preston Coun-
ties, W. Va. [lllustrated.] §. B. Brown. ...... 224
The Tin Islands of the Northwest. E. W. CLAYPOLE,... 22
Discovery of the Second Example of the Macrouran De-
capod Crustacean, Paleopaleomon Newberryi._ R.
PB, WEITHIRLD Soi ow ate, oo CREA n se Uae sida on
Contents. Vv
Physics of Mountain Building; Some Fundamental Con-
Peoviong. 2.8: MELLARD READE. oo de. 238
Note on the Occurrence of Erratic Cambrian Fossils in the
Neocene Gravels of the Island of Martha’s Vine-
yard. ([lllustrated.] J.B. WoopworTH........ 243
Isobases of Post-Glacial Elevation. BAron DE GEER... 247
Bibliography of North American Vertebrate Paleontology
for the year 1891. JoHN HYERMAN.,........... 249
‘Observations on Llama Remains from Colorado and Kan-
Bee N CURAGIN | cu eiestsieaeeve tik a0 ove wha ae 257
Editorial Comment.—Progress of American Glacial Geology, 260.
Review of Recent Geological Literature.—The Cause of an Ice-Age, Srr
Robert Bayi, 261.—On the Lower Devonian Fish Fauna of
Campbellton, New Brunswick, A. 8. Woopwarp, 263.—On the
Characters of Some Paleozoic Fishes, E. ). Corr, 263.—Strati-
graphy of the Bituminous Coal Field of Pennsylvania, Ohio and
West Virginia, I. C. Wurrr, 264.—On a Group of Volcanic Rocks
from the Tewan Mountains, New Mexico, and on the occurrence
of Primary Quartz in certain basalts, Jos. P. Inprxes, 264—On a
late volcanic eruption in northern California, and its peculiar lava,
J.S. DILLER, 265.—The relations of the traps of the Newark sys-
tem in the New Jersey region, N. H. Darton, 266.— Earthquakes
in California in 1889, J. EP KEELER, 266 —A classed and annotated
bibliography of fossil insects, 8S. H. ScuppEr, 266.—On the Bear
River formation, CHARLES A. WHITE and the Stratigraphic portion
of the Bear River formation, T. W. Stanton, 266.—Notes to ac-
company a tabulation of the Igneous rocks, based on the system
of Rosenbusch, F. D. ADAms, 267. —Report on the Sudbury Min-
ing District, Canada, Rosert BELL, 269.
List of Recent Publications, 270.
Supplementary List of the writings of Alexander Winchell. 2738.
‘Correspondence.—Arrow Points from the Loess at Muscatine, Iowa, F. M.
WitrER, 276.—The Serpentines of the Coast ranges in California,
M. E. WaApsworTH, 277.—Englacial drift of Long Island, JOHN
Bryson, 287.
Personal and Scientific News.—Prof. Wright’s lectures at Boston, 280.—
Preparations for the sixth session of the International Congress
of Geologists, 281.—Princeton Scientific Expedition of 1891.
MAY NUMBER.
An experiment designed to show the upward movement
of sub-glacial debris. [[llustrated. ] OsstAn GUTHRIE. 283
Preliminary descriptions of new brachiopoda from the
Trenton and Hudson River groups of Minnesota.
N. H. WINCHELL and CHARLES SCHUCHERT....... 284
‘The drift of the North German lowland. Rotuuin D. SAt-
SD UR) Yarn ee eiee a eck « -s, s'e SOR ORM R BR Stes oc stavtt ofemene: elec ctace’’s 294
‘Gas wells near Letts, Iowa. F. M. Wirrer. ps 319
‘Climatic changes indicated by the Glaciers of North rea
ica. ISRAEL G Rmeamengue ws... sak inn 322
Editorial Comment.—Sir Andrew C. Ramsay, Bark ‘336.
VI Contents.
Review of Recent Geological Literature—Tenth annual report of the
United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior,
J. W. PowE 1, 337.— Mount St. Elias and its glaciers, I. C. RussEux,
340.—Parka decipiens, J. W. Dawson and Pror. D. P. PENHAL-
LOW, 341.—Altitudes between lake Superior and the Rocky Moun-
tains, WAR EN UPHAM, 541.—Viscosity of solids, CARL Barus, 342.
—The minerals of North Carolina, FREDERICK A. GENTH, 342.—
Record of North American Geology for 1887 to 1889, N. H. Dar-
TON, 342.—A dictionary of altitydes in the United States, HENRY
GANNETT, 342.—Travels amongst the great Andes of the Equator,
EpwakD WHyYMPER, 343.—The genus Lituites, Breyn, Dr. G
Hom, 343.
Recent Publications, 343.
Correspondence. —-The deltas of the Mohawk, F. B. Taytor, 344.—A cor-
rection; the geology of Buchanan county, Towa, 8. CALVIN, 345.
Personal avd Scientific News, 346.
JUNE NUMBER.
The Double Mountain Section [Illustrated]. E. T. Dum-
BLE. and W. F. Cummins oe 4 347
Prof. I. C. White's CS of the Sitamnde Coal
Field of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia,
JOHN J. STEVENSON. ne : 352
Note on the differences ataeek Acoumien ia aa Hall
and Acervularia davidsoni, Ep. and H. 8. CALvin.. 3090
The Kawishiwin Ageglomerate at my Minn. pnseaatante
NCW ENGR: «ost cee a : 4 ee Boo x.
A new species of Larix from the Tnteemtacial of ‘Manitoba:
DE VP EN TaATDOW ss «sate ay = bt ene 368
Gold in Placers iinetrated]. Heseeer R. Woon! seeks tede 371
On the North American Species of the Genus ai:
[Wustrated], A. W. -VoGDpESmaeee- Bert MENS ois
Striation of Rocks by River Ice. J. EE. oun. Rr a to 396
Review of Recent Geological Literature —Bulletin of t the Gea ‘Sau Am.,
400.—The Labrador Coast; Journal of a Summer Cruise, A. S.
PackKaRpD, 401 Exploration on Grand river, Labrador, AUSTIN
Cary, 402.—On the Osteology of Mesohippus, and Leptomeryz, with
observations on the Modes and Factors of Evolution in the
Mammalia, W. B. Scorr, 402.
Recent Publications........ see delete sbabeieremetetsiete lebe:si< on j .. 404
Correspondence —Rocks of fie Niapard Age in Indiana, C. '§ Bracuumms
409.—Prizes awarded by the Boston Society of "Natural History;
S. Hensuaw, 409.—Deltas of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys,
WARREN U PITAM, 410.
Personal and Scientific News... osven: ccna emses sugiesess sus von ANE
ERRATA.
Vol. VIIIL., page 353, eighth line form the bottom, for ‘‘costal”’
read coastal.
Vol. VIII., page 279, fourteenth line from the bottom, for
‘cwas”’ read were.
THE AMERICAN GEOLOGIST.
Vol. 1X, Plate I.
THE
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST
Vou. IX. JANUARY, 1892. No. lL.
JOSEPH LEIDY, M.D., LL.D.
By Prenrsrror FrRAzer, Philadelphia.
There is no more striking ditference between the past and present
generations of scientific men than the universality of the knowl-
edge of the greatest men of the past and the absence of any pre-
tension to it in our present representatives. It could not be other-
wise. In classic times as well as in the middle ages the distinc-
tion between words and things was not always clearly made. The
same class of mind which would successfully grapple with the
paradoxes of the schoolmen was equally serviceable in speculations
on the philosopher's stone, the existence of phlogiston, or the inter-
pretation of a Greek text. Words were all important, the methods
of logic were conventional, and no extraordinary memory was re-
quired to master at least in outline all that man had attained;
while the discussion of this knowledge could always be turned into:
the channel of the then philosophy, after which the battle was en-
tirely with words and a skillful word-fencer could never be silenced
however little progress he made in convincing his opponent.
With the closing half of the last century, however, methods
were improved, the number of facts increased in geometrical pro-
gression with the years, and out of chaos and clamor, orderly
classification and definite shapes were evoloved, each one requir-
ing a different interpretation, claiming different classes of men,
and requiring different instruments of precision. As the paths of
research diverged it became more and more difficult for any one:
man to understand all the regions through which they passed, andi
one by one the philosophers became specialists. [In the early
part of this century the enormous development of natural and ex-
Zi The American Geologist. January, 1892
perimental science caused the strain ever to increase on those who
would keep abreast of all departments of research, but still there
remained the Humboldts, the Herschels, the Faradays, the Reg-
naults, and in this country the Baches, the Lecontes, the Leidys
and some others. Joseph Leidy was almost the sole survivor of
that class of intellectual giants which seemed to be able to assimi-
late as much as Science in her many forms could produce. Such
a race could not exist forever and it has passed away with him.
After him there are only specialists in one or more subjects, and
generalizers who seldom come nearer to the truths of nature than
their description in a book .
The father of Joseph Leidy, Philip, was born in Montgomery
county (one of those adjacent to the county which is the city of
Philadelphia), December 5th, 1791 and moving in his youth to
Philadelphia successfully pursued the business of a hatter.
By Catherine Melick he had four children of whom the subject
of this sketch was next to the youngest. Through the death of
his mother and the marriage of her sister by his father during his
early infancy, Joseph only knew this kind stepmother who was
as watchful of him as his real mother could have been. He was
educated at private schools and early evinced interest in natural
objects and exhibited that talent for drawing of which he made
such admirable use to the last period of his life. An acei-
dental opportunity to visit a drug shop, was taken advantage of
by him to perfect himself in pharmacy in a very short time, while
the dissection of some domestic animals turned his attention to a
study which he was destined to link closely with his name. He be-
gan the study of medicine in 1842, in the University of Pennsyl-
vania at 19, and in 1844, received the degree of M. D., and in
1845 was appointed Prosector to the chair of Anatomy, under
Prof. Horner. In 1848 he went to England, France and Germany
with Dr. Horner, and again in 1850 with Dr. George B. Wood.
He had been elected a member of the Boston Society of Nat-
ural History, and the Academy of Natural. Sciences in Philadel-
phia in 1845, and of the American Philosophical Society in 1849
In 1852 he was appointed in Dr. Horner's place professor of an-
atomy having been elected to the College of Physicians the year
previous. On the outbreak of the civil war he was appointed
surgeon of the Satterlee hospital in Philadelphia. In 1864 he .
married Anna Harden. During the succeeding years, thickly
strewn with contributions to science of the highest value, he re-
Oo
Joseph Leidy.— Frazer.
ceived many honors from American and European. scientific so
cieties. The long list of them will be found in the careful and
admirable memoir of Dr. H. C. Chapman in the Proceedings of
the Academy of Natural Sciences for June 30, 1891, to which I
am indebted for the statistical information as to his early life
given above.
Among these honors, however, his unanimous and enthusiastic
election as President of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1881;
his installation as Director of the Biological department of the
University of Pennsylvania in 1884; his election as President of
the Wagner Free Institute of Science; and the degree of LL. D.,
which he received from Harvard in 1886; the gift of the Walker
prize of $500 from the Boston Society of Natural History raised
to $1,000 as a special recognition of his great services to science;
the prize of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1879; the Lyell
medal by the Royal Geological Society in 1884; and the Cuvier
medal from the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1888 should not
be forgotten.
Dr. Leidy was elected a member of the National Academy of
Science in 1884.
The bare enumeration of his published works extensive in
length and in variety though it be, would give those who had
never seen this great naturalist no idea of the man or of the
source of this combination of versatility and accuracy which ren-
dered almost every observation he made directly or indirectly an
addition to science. In all that pertained to the acquisition of
facts and to cobrdinating them afterwards he made of himself a
perfect machine in so far as he was insensible to and unaffected
by the ordinary passions of ambition or rivalry which influence
even the best scientists. He had a marvellous eye for noting
the minutest phenomena and appreciating the most insensible dif-
ferences; he had an unusually retentive memory for recording
and keeping in order the vast fund of his observations and the
records of those made by others; and he was conscious of the
limitations of pure inductive philosophy to an extent which made
the conclusions reached by him safe. It is usually said that he
never made an enemy. This seems to be too much to say, for ene-
mies are made by the very fact of superiority, and ne doubt this
great man had them, but if so they were prudent enough to refrain
from declaring themselves. He would never quarrel, and his de-
sire for peace at all hazards would have subiected a less earnest
4 The American Geologist. January, 1592
and pure minded man to the charge of lack of tenacity, but those
whose cause he refused to espouse although he thought it just, gave
him credit for a higher motive for his action. As an instance of
the extreme delicacy of his vision, by a single glance through a
glass case in one of the great University museums of this country
he detected as imitations a number of specimens of so-called quartz
which had been purchased, examined, and mounted by the pro-
fessor of mineralogy as genuine. When these specimens were
removed from the case and carefully tested it was found that those
and only those which he had indicated were artificial.
He has told us of the prosecution of his study of Rhizopods
when he expected an Ameeba-like mass to break into two, or an
enveloped diatom to be extruded, and the patience and endurance
required to keep the eye at the instrument for hours waiting fora
change that would occupy but a few seconds. He would wait and
would see the phenomenon while a student with much more time
at his disposal would have grown tired and missed it.
In the Brazilian department of the Centennial Exposition were
many valuable tourmalines, diamonds, topazes and beryls together
with a large amount of nearly worthless material. This was put
into the hands of the writer for determination and arrangement.
He well remembers the glance of Dr. Leidy at a large mass labeled
beryl and his suggestion that it be more closely examined to de-
termine if it were not a white topaz. The size of the specimen as
well as its color had deceived the American geologist who had
shipped it from Brazil,and the writer. But subsequent investigation
proved it to be in fact a white topaz and the largest then known.
Dr. Leidy was a rare example of a simplicity of character
which neither adulation nor adversity could tarnish.
In his very early life a less sincerely devoted student of science
would have had his head turned by his rapid promotion, by the
unusual confidence and liking of his superiors, and most of all by
the extraordinarily flattering attention of the social world, but he
was not spoiled. Tle probably noted his sensations on those oc-
‘asions as so many psychological experiences.
Scientific men in all countries, very generally despise conven-
tionalisms of dress, conversation, and carriage and there is a cer-
tain external resemblance between them all. Dr. Leidy was one of
the best American representatives of the scientific class in all these
respects. A splendid head with kind expression, set upon broad
stooping shoulders, a deep chest to which an arm generally pressed
Soseph Leidy. —Hrazer. a)
books or papers while the other hung free at the side; a
straight toed walk with a sailor’s swing from one side to the other
at each of his long and easy strides; these things made him
noticeable anywhere. People who knew him but slightly would
go out of their way to wish him good morning, and would feel a
touch of satisfaction at receiving his always hearty response. There
is a beautiful conservatory in Philadelphia, on Chestnut street,
near 'l'welfth, where he often stopped to admire the exquisite flowers
which the generous owners expose to the delectation of their fellow
citizens, The lucky acquaintance who joined him at such times
was treated to an exposition of the peculiarities and beauties of
the various flowers which ran as smoothly and unconsciously from
him as if he were simply discussing the weather, but which opened
new vistas of admiration, both of him and of the works of nature
in his listener.
For years he was accustomed to pass a part of every Sunday in
the mineral cabinet of the late Richard L, Vaux and after Mr.
Vaux’s death in that of Mr. Clarence Bement. Many were the un-
sound determinations set right and many the fruitful discussions
over minerals and everything else,
Like the true naturalist that he was, he bequeathed his body to
his colleagues in the interest of amthropometric science, his friends
and pupils Dr. Harrison Allen and Dr. Francis X. Dercum having
extracted, weighed, measured and preserved that wonderful brain.
His remains were cremated, and thus passed from earthly form
one of the loveliest, wisest, and gentlest of men. May his exam-
ple be of service to us all.
Novre:—Since writing the above | am indebted to the nephew of the
subject of this sketch, himself an eminent physician, for the following
additional facts:
* *« “The weight of the brain was 454 0oz., somewhat smaller than
normal, and the appearance of the surface presented an unusual increase
in the convolutions. No microscopic examination has as yet been made.
The points of pathological interest were the presence of a hemorrhagic
pachymeningitis on the right side and an unusual hardness of the blood
vessels at the base due chiefly to atheroma. By a singular coincidence
the brain of my father (Dr. Philip Leidy who died within a few hours
of his brother, P. F.) weighed exactly the same to a grain and presented
very much the same microscopical appearance, showing a decided fam-
ily trait. They both suffered from anurism, Dr. Joseph Leidy of the
aorta and Dr. Philip Leidy of the heart. In all my experience, which
has been large, at the post mortem t-ble, I never saw the blood vessels
at the base of the brainso largeand hard. They were typical pipe stems.”
In a subsequent note, he adds: “Dr. Harrison Allen assisted by Dr.
Dercum, as representatives of the anthropomoric society, performed the
autopsies in both cases. Drs. Wm. Hunt, J.J. Levick, John Packard and
Joseph Leidy, Jr. (the writer P. F.) were present. * * Both bodies
were cremated in the Germantown crematory.”
6 The American Geologist. January, 1842
THE CHEMUNG AND CATSKILL (UPPER DEVON-
IAN) ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE
APPALACHIAN BASIN.
By Joun J. STEVENSON, New York.
| Vice-Presidential address delivered before Section E, American Association for the
Advancement of Science, at Washington, August, 1891. |
I have chosen as a topic, the Chemung and Catskill on the
eastern side of the Appalachian basin, indicating by this term the
area between the Blue Ridge region at the east and the line of
the Cincinnati uplift at the west. It embraced as a water-area
during the later Devonian much of New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. There is
reason for the belief that the southern outlet through eastern
Tennessee was closed during this time, so that communication
with the ocean was at the west.
The Upper Devonian on the eastern side of this area has al-
ways attracted its full share of attention. Paleontogically, it
has intimate relations with the Lower Devonian and in some re-
spects close relations with the Carboniferous, so that its place in
the column remains even now, for some, an open question. The
equivalence of Upper Devonian within the Appalachian basin to
that beyond the line of the Cincinnati uplift is still a sufficiently
perplexing matter; while the origin and grouping of the beds
within the basin itself are far from being finally settled.
The earliest positive reference to the Old Red sandstone is that
by Amos Katon,* who in 1821 regarded the red sandstone of the
Satskill mountains as typically the same with the Old Red sand-
stone of Werner and as distinctly different from the Red sandstone
of the Connecticut Valley; at the same time recognizing its rela-
tions with the Carboniferous and placing it in the Transition series.
Marcou statest that Richard C. Taylor published a paper in
1831, discussing the relations of the Old Red sandstone to the
Carboniferous; the same author} ina later paper exhibits clearly
the place of the Red sandstone in central Pennsylvania and its
relations to the overlying Carboniferous. He appears to include
*Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture of the State of N. Y., vol. 1,
Albany, 1823, p. 6. The letter to Mr. Van Rensselaer is dated Dec. 17th,
1821. A similar reference was made ina Geological and Agricultural
Survey of the District adjoining the Erie Canal, Albany, 1824, p. 92.
+Geology of North America. Zurich, 1858, p. 114. This paper by
Taylor I have not seen.
tTaylor. Transactions of the Geological society of Pennsylvania.
Phila. 1835, vol. 1, p. 177.
Chemung and Catskill.— Stevenson.
it in the Secondary with the coals west of the Alleghanies, thus
separating it from the graywackes below.
The first systematic classification of American rocks older than
Carboniferous was presented in 1836 by H. D. Rogers,* who
placed in two groups the beds between the ‘ fossiliferous sand-
stone,” (or Oriskany, as we now know it) and the Lower Carbonif-
erous sandstone ( Vespertine or Pocono of later classifications. )
These groups, Nos. VIII and IX of his column were distin-
guished from the Carboniferous, which he divided into four groups,
afterwards numbered X, XI, XII and XIII. The same classifica-
tion, with rather more of detail, was repeated in the Second
Pennsylvania reportt, as well as in the Second Report of W. B.
Rogers{ on the survey of Virginia. .
No distinct effort to subdivide the upper portion of the Devonian
column of New York was made prior to preparation of the Third
Report of the Geological Survey. In that report Mr. Conradé
defines the ‘‘Old Redstone Group (Murchison )” as embracing
9. Olive sandstone.—Old Red sandstone ?
8 { Dark-colored shales,
| Black slate.
thus carrying it down to the base of the present Hamilton. In
the same report, James Hall|| introduced the term ‘+ Chemung ”’
for gray beds in Chemung county, overlying those of his Ithaca
group. ;
The fourth report contains Vanuxem’s description] of the
series in his district, giving a complete grouping of the higher
rocks and placing the Montrose or Oneonta sandstone at the top
of the column. The same report contains the general classifica-
tion by Prof. Hall** in which the terms, Old Red sandstone,
Chemung group, Portage group occur in the order given. One
year later Matherty used the term ‘‘ Catskill Mountain Series ” to
designate all the rocks of the Catskill mountains from the Lower
Carboniferous sandstone ( Pocono ) of Rogers down to the base of
*First Annual Report of State Geologist, Harrisburg, 1836, pp. 12 to 15.
Second Annual report on the Geological Exploration.of the State of
Pennsylvania, by H. D. Rogers, Harrisburg, 1838.
{Second Report of Progress of the Geological Survey of Virginia for
the year 1857. W. B. Rogers; 1838, pp. 75-80.
SAssembly Document, No. 275, Albany, 1839, p. 72.
\|Loc. cit. p. 322. "Assembly Document, No. 50, 1840, p. 381.
**Loc. cit. pp. 452-453.
+tAssembly Document, No. 150, 1841, pp. 77-82.
.
5 The American Geologist. January, 1892
the Marcellus shale, thus making it equal to Formations VIII,
IX and X of the Pennsylvania column. The term Catskill group
appears for the first time in Vanuxem/‘s* final report, where it is
used to designate the rocks at the top of the Devonian, which
are regarded as fully equalling in importance the underlying
Chemung and Hamilton, forming his Erie division; so that the
Krie and Catskill are equivalent to the VIII and IX of Rogers.
No line of demarcation between Erie and Catskill was determined.
Hall’st final report appeared one year later and contained the
grouping which has remained unchanged:
Old Red sandstone or Catskill.
Chemung group.
Portage group.
Fifteen years later appeared the final report on the Geologyt
of Pennsylvania, in which Chemung and Portage are called Ver-
gent, and the Catskill is the Ponent of the palzozoic column.
This report took shape long after the original corps of observers
had been scattered and the field-note books were not worked up
in all cases by those who had made them; so that the statements
are sometimes obscure and local details are too often perplexing
to readers not familiar with the ground. Little additional sys-
tematic information became available after the publication of
Rogers’ final report until the results obtained by the Second
(reological survey of Pennsylvania became known,
The studies by assistants on the Second Pennsylvania Survey
were very much in detail, owing largely to the immense economic
importance attaching to the upper portion of the Devonian col-
umn. But this detailed study, though leading to close concord
in record of stratigraphical work, has led to wide difference of
opinion in respect to lines of separation between the groups. As
the area of Pennsylvania is large, great variations exist in
physical characters of rocks and in vertical distribution of fossils,
so that difference of opinion arose to a greater or less degree
respecting the limitations of every group: but the difference is
especially noteworthy in the case of Catskill and Chemung, for
one observer carries the upper boundary line of Chemung almost
2,000 feet further up in the column than is done by another.
*Geology of New York, part III, Albany, 1842. p. 12.
tGeology of New York, Part IV. Albany, 1848 pp. 18-19.
rGeology of Pennsylvania, H. D. Rogers, Philadelphia, 185s.
Chemung and Catshill.— Stevenson. y
One Observer coming from the northeast along the easterly out-
crop of the Devonian finds good reason to mark Catskill as be-
ginning with the first appearance of red shales, while another
coming from the west and south thinks that Chemung should
close only with the final disappearance of the marine fauna. When
these observers joined their work, their sections were in practical
agreement, but were labeled very differently.
The uncertainty respecting the relations of Chemung and
Catskill is due in no small degree to the fact that the earlier
studies of those groups were made in New York and adjacent
portions of Pennsylvania, without much knowledge of the con-
ditions elsewhere. Had the study been begun at the south in
Virginia, then carried northward along the easterly outcrop
through Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania into New York;
then begun again in western New York or Pennsylvania and
carried eastward to the outcrop, many difficulties, now apparently
so formidable, would have been unknown and the problem of re-
lations, seemingly so perplexing, might have been easy of solu-
tion. At this time, however, the study can be prosecuted to
better advantage than was possible even ten years ago, for the
oil-borings of western Pennsylvania enable one to trace the beds
through that region also, where in some localities they are more
than 2,000 feet below the surface. Let us follow, then, the
courses indicated, depending on the work of I. C. White, J. H.
Carll and C. A. Ashburner in Pennsylvania, and that of J. J.
Stevenson in Virginia and Pennsylvania, with references to the
work of James Hall and H. 8. Williams in New York.
i
In the southwestern portion of Virginia, near the Tennessee
line, the Devonian is represented only by black shale,* belonging
at the base of the Hamilton; but within a few miles the Hamilton
shows a greatly increased thickness,+ while between it and the
Lower Carboniferous there are 350 feet of rock carrying Chemung
fossils to within fifty feet of the top. The fossils are most
abundant in a red or bluish rock with conchoidal fracture, which is
the same in all respects, physically, with some non-fossiliferous
*Stevenson, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. XIX, pp. 223, 233, 243.
Stevenson, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. XXII, p. 136.
10 The American Geologist. January, 1862"
beds higher up in the section. Within sixty miles along the
strike, this 350 feet has developed into a great series with well
marked horizons in the lower part,* while the upper part has
become flaggy with not a few massive beds. The succession now
is, the thicknesses being estimated,
1. Not fully exposed, containing much red sandstone 700’
2. Conglomerate 40’
3. Shales and sandstone 1,000’
4. Conglomerate 30!
5. Shales and flags 1,500'
But the No. 1 of the section contains gray beds in the lower
portion, which, in some localities, have yielded Chemung mol-
lusks at not less than 300 feet above the conglomerate, while on
New river, Va., where the thickness is somewhat greater, Che-
mung forms were seen at about 500 feet above the conglom-
erate. But the reddish beds which prevail toward the top seem
to be non-fossiliferous. The tint of these beds becomes more
and more pronounced toward the northeast, until in Catawba
mountain, somewhat more than twenty miles southwest of James
river, they have the dismal red and greenish color, so character-
istic of the series along the Potomac. And yet, in McAfee’s gap,
only eight miles northward, Sprrifera disjuncta and some other
Chemung forms occur very near the top of the series, within a
few feet of the Vespertine ( Pocono) sandstone,
The other parts of the section can be observed at many places;
the upper conglomerate (No. 2) contains flat pebbles, which
frequently show the longer axis vertical to the plane of bedding;
No. 3 contains concretionary sandstones passing downward into
shales, with brown, blue and red to deep red flags and flaggy
sandstones. Chemung mollusks are especially abundant near the
top. The lowest division consists of flags and shales, olive, gray,
yellow, blue and drab, with but few fossils.
This is the section to James river, somewhat more than 150
miles from the Tennessee line. Details of measured sections
made in recent years between the James and Potomac rivers, a
distance of not far from 200 miles, have not been published; but
we need not wait for detailed measurements in this interval. Ob-
servations by the writer and by others at many localities
have proved the section persistent; and the same succession
*Stevenson, Amer, Phil. Soc. Proc. vol. XXIV, p. 81 seq.
Chemung and Catshill.— Stevenson. 11
is shown along the Baltimore and Ohio railroad as it follows
the Potomac river. Of course there are variations in struct-
ure; Mr. N. H. Darton tells me that the conglomerates are
wanting in the section near Staunton, Virginia, but this is merely
local as they are present elsewhere. Further north, the upper
beds, or Catskill, have an increased proportion of shale, often
blood-red, and the sandstones show a more marked conchoidal
fracture, while the whole section has a greatly increased thickness.
The Pennsylvania line is reached but a few miles north from
the Potomac along the outcrop. Crossing that line, one enters
Fulton county, where the succession is:*
1. CatskrLu. Shales 1,600'
Sandstone and shale 2,100’ 3,700!
2. CuEMUNG. Shales 1,000'
Upper conglomerate 10’
Shales and sandstone 950/
Lower conglomerate 10’
Shales and flags 1,850’ 3,820’
The close resemblance to the Virginia section is apparent at
once, the most notable change being simply the great increase in
thickness of the upper portion. The upper Catskill consists for
the most part of soft deep red shales with occasional sandstones ;
but the lower Catskill is made up of brownish or greenish to red,
eross bedded, almost laminated sandstone, often looking as
though it were worm eaten. Sometimes a large fragment re-
mains on a hill top, resembling much a pile of thin boards.
Occasionally more massive sandstone prevails, as along the
Juniata river in central Bedford county of Pennsylvania, where
no tendency to lamination was seen. The Catskill appears to be
wholly non-fossiliferous along the eastern outcrop from central
Virginia into New York.
The absolute limit between Catskill and Chemung is indetermi-
nable, for the passage from one to the other is practically imper-
ceptible at most localities; the line drawn at any locality, whether
on stratigraphical or on paleontological grounds, is almost certain
to be unsatisfactory at any other. In Fulton county, however,
a marked lithological change occurs at about 1,000 feet above
the Upper Chemung conglomerate, for there the alternations of red
*Geology of Bedford and Fulton counties, J. J. Stevenson, Harrisburg,
1882, pp. 73,75, 82. I have re-arranged the section somewhat, placing
the line between Chemung and Catskill 200 feet higher than in the
original.
12 The American Geologist, January, 1892
and yellow shales cease and the Haggy,almost laminated, red sand-
stones begin. The last horizon of Chemung mollusks was found
at 200 feet lower, where, at approximately 800 feet above the
conglomerate, the writer orginally drew the line between the two
groups.
The interval between the conglomerates is filled with yellow to
red shales and gray, brown, blue or red sandstones; the red beds
form an insignificant portion of the section, but such as are pres-
ent are strikingly like Catskill, for the shales are often bright
red and the sandstones cross bedded or in thin flags. Many of
the beds in this interval are richly fossiliferous and the important
horizons of Chemung lamellibranchs are at but a little way be-
low the upper conglomerate. The lowest beds of the Chemung
are shales and flags; the shales overlying the flags are yellow,
gray, olive, dark brown and reddish; while the flags, which doubt-
less represent the Portage of New York, are almost wholly olive,
and, unlike the overlying shales, appear to be very sparingly fos-
siliferous.
seyond Fulton county northward into New York, we must de-
pend almost wholly upon the work of Prof. I. C. White, who has—
demonstrated the stratigraphical relations of the beds under con-
sideration to those of the Catskill area of New York, and has told
the story with such clearness that there is no opportunity for any one
to cavil. His grouping of the rocks, however, differs from that
already given; he prefers to include as Catskill all beds down to 100
feet below the upper conglomerate, which is the lowest horizon at
which he found fish remains; he regards as transition the beds be-
low that fish bed to the lowest red bed, 150 feet above the lower
conglomerate, and applies to them the term Chemung-Catskill:
while the remaining beds of the section are taken by him to rep-
resent the Chemung and Portage of New York. He identifies
the Upper Chemung conglomerate of Fulton county with his
Luckawacen conglomerate of the New York border and he gives
the name of A/legrippus to the lower conglomerate.
The succession in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, * is :
*I. C. White in Geology of Huntingdon County, Harrisburg, 1885, pp.
92-104. As given here Nos. 1, 2, and 100 feet of No. 3, of the Chemung
belong to Prof. White’s Catskill; the rest of No. 3, except 150 feet at the
base forms the Chemung-Catskill of the same author. All sections along
this outcrop, quoted from Prof. White, have been re-arranged in this
way.
STEVENSON. es
Chemung and Catskill.
1, CATSKILL. 2,500
2. CHEMUNG.
1. Haun’s Bridge group 1,000°
2. Lackawaxen conglomerate 20"
83. Sandstones and shales 1,000’
4, Allegrippus conglomerate 5!
5. Shales and flags 3,250’ 4,675’
The Haun’s Bridge group consists largely of greenish gray
sandy shales and flags with some red beds, and holds from bottom
to top Chemung mollusks, some of which are very abundant.
Prof. White’s measurements near Catawissa, in Columbia
county, Pennsylvania, about sixty miles further along the strike,
show the section still persistent, the suecession being :*
J. CATSKILI, 3,280
2. CHEMUNG.
1. Shales and sandstones 923’
2. Lackawaven conglomerate 40’
3. Shales and sandstones 1,180’
4, Allegrippus conglomerate 10’
». Shales, sandstones and shaly
beds 2,800' 4,453’
The Catskill exhibits little change in structure and, as before,
appears to have no fossils aside from obscure fish remains. No.
1 of the Chemung is the same with the Montrose shales of
Susquehanna county as well as the Haun’s Bridge group of
Huntingdon county. It consists, as it does further south, of
variegated shales and sandstones, greenand red predominating,
and in the lower half has many beds carrying Chemung mollusks.
I have drawn the line between Chemung and Catskill somewhat
arbitrarily, where sandstone ceases to predominate, for there is
no noteworthy physical change in character of the rocks anywhere
above the Lachkawaxren conglomerate. That conglomerate is now
irregular in structure, sometimes not conglomerate, but still con-
taining fish-bones as it does further south. The fragments of
bones are larger and in better preservation than at the more
southern localities.
The interval between the conglomerates contain some red beds
but as usual they form only a small part of the section, little
more than ten per cent of the whole. A bed containing frag-
ments belonging, apparently, to //oloptychius associated with
Pleurotomaria sp. and Lingula spatulata, was observed at 150
feet below the Lachawaxen conglomerate. Vegetable remains
*The Geology of the Susquehanna river region, I. C. White, Harris-
burg, 1883, p. 57.
14 The American Geologist. January, 1892
are not wanting, for Archwopterts hybernica is abundant above the
fish bed. The Allegrippus conglomerate is no longer a constant
member of the series, though occasionally it is recognizable
without difficulty as a massive sandstone, sometimes containing
flat pebbles.
Thus far, the section observed beyond the James river in
Virginia has been persistent, the distance along the line of out-
crop being not far from 500 miles. In Columbia county, how-
ever, the interval between the conglomerates is no longer richly
fossiliferous, while fossils reach to but 516 feet above the Lacka-
waxen, instead of to 1,000 feet as in Huntingdon county. The
section is still sufficiently distinet at Hartville,* Luzerne county,
Pa., about twenty miles further along the strike; but thence
northeastward changes in structure become marked and are ac-
companied by a still more rapid disappearance of animal remains,
so that within a few miles such remains seem to be almost wholly
wanting in beds above the place of the A//egrippus conglomerate.
Prof. White's Pike county section was measured along the
Delaware river about fifty miles northeastward from the Catawissa
locality and practically on the same line of outcrop. It illus-
trates the conditions in New York forthe Delaware river there cuts
across the Catskill mountain region. The succession ist:
CATSKILL.
Honesdale sandstone 100’
‘Montrose sandstone 125'
CHEMUNG.
1. Montrose red shale 100°
2. Greenish-gray sandstone 3
3. Lackawaxen conglomerate 50’
4. Greenish sandstone and shale 300’
5. Red shale 50!
6. Delaware flags 1,000
7. New Milford shales and §. 8. iio
8. Starucca beds 600'
9. Sandstones and sandy shales 1,850’ 4,055’
The highest beds of the Catskill, the Cherry Ridge shales, were
not measured, but they add barely 150 feet, so that, within little
more than fifty miles, the Catskill has lost almost 3,000 feet,
while the Chemung is but 400 feet thinner. But it should be
noted that the upper portion of the Chemung has lost much,
while the lower portion has increased greatly. The Allegrippus
—*W ‘hite, Loc. cit. p. 196.
+Geology of Pike and Monroe counties, I. C. White, Harrisburg, 1882,
"3
pp. 73 and 94,
Chemung and Catshill.— Stevenson. bo
conglomerate belongs at the base of the Starucca beds but it is
not present. Even the Lachawaxen is no longer persistent as a
conglomerate and in some localities it is not even massive.
The most interesting feature of this section, characterizing
also those obtained along fragmentary outcrops in Carbon and
Monroe counties, say 25 miles southeast of that which has been
followed, is the apparent absence of animal remains from the
whole series above the lowest member of the section, there being
no trace aside from what seem to be fragments of fish-bones in
breccias of the Honesdale sandstones.* Archwopteris jacksont is
plentiful near the base of the Montrose shales.
We have followed this section along practically one line of out-
crop for nearly 600 miles, from the northern boundary of Ten-
nessee into southeastern New York. Its persistence, stratigraph-
ically, is remarkable, since variations in structure are inconsider-
able until within thirty miles of the New York border; but serious
changes of some sort occurred during the long period of deposit,
for in the extreme south, even the representative of the Montrose
sandstone carries Chemung fossils, while in northeastern Pennsy|-
vania and the immediately adjacent portion of New York, animal
remains practically disappear above the horizon of the A/legrippus
conglomerate.
Let us now return to southern Pennsylvania and follow the
section westward; but first let us re-label the Fulton county sec-
tion, giving to its parts the geographical names applied in the
counties between that and the Delaware river, so that the relations
of the different parts of the section may be remembered. It be-
comes
CATSKILL,
Cherry Ridge shales 1600'
Montrose sandstone 2100' 3700!
CHEMUNG.
1. Montrose red shales 1000’
2. Lackawaxen conglomerate 10’
3. Shales and sandstones, including Dela-
ware flags and Starucca beds 950!
4, Allegrippus conglomerate 10’
5. Shales and flags, including Portage of New
York 1850’ B820'
The thickness of the section diminishes rapidly toward the
west, so that on the western border of Bedford county, near the
*Mr. C. 5. Proser informs me that he has discovered some lamelli-
branchs in the Delaware flags and some Sp/iriéfers in the Honesdale
sandstone, or possibly at the base of the Cherry Ridge shale.
16 The American Geologist. January, 1892
Maryland line, the Cherry Ridge shales have almost disappeared
and the total thickness of Catskill, including doubtless some of
the Montrose shale, is but 1980 feet. No outcrop is seen in the
adjoining county of Somerset until the western edge has been
reached, where under the great anticlinal of Laurel hill, the
Youghiogheny river has cut down to the Delaware flags. There
the Montrose sandstone is present, but only a few feet thick;
while at not more than three miles further west, on the other side
of the anticlinal, the Catskill has disappeared and the Vespertine
(Pocono) rests directly on the Montrose shale. ;
The Chemung shows a similar decrease in the same direction;
for on the railroad section in western Bedford, the whole interval
of Chemung and Hamilton is represented by a concealed space*
of 2,630 feet, giving to the Chemung a thickness of somewhat
more than 1,800 feet. The exposures under Laurel hill in the
Youghiogheny and Conemaugh gaps suggest a continuance of the
decrease, certainly in the upper portion. The gaps through
Chestnut ridge, ten miles west from Laurel, afford the last ex-
posures, in this direction, of any part of the Devonian on the
eastern side of the basin; the section in the Conemaugh gap,
barely fifty miles in a direct line from Pittsburg,t is
Pocono 443°
Montrose red shales 125%
Lackawaxen conglomerate 20°
Shale and sandstone 120’
Concealed to river 150’
The Montrose shale is composed of duil, grayish-red shale and
thin streaks of sandstone, carrying Chemung species up to with-
in one foot of the Pocono. The Lackawaxen is characterized by
flat-pebbles as it is also on the ‘‘National road” in Fayette county,
where some of the larger pebbles are felsyte-porphyry.{ Exea-
vations made since these measurements were obtained show that
there is much dull red shale below the Lackawaxen, especially in
the concealed portion. The interval from the top of the Pocono
*Stevenson, Geology of Bedford and Fulton counties, p. 81.
+Geology of Fayette and Westmoreland Counties. J. J. Stevenson,
Harrisburg, 1877, p. 291.
An annoying error occurs in my report on the Ligonier Valley
(Harrisburg, 1878). Part of the notes referring to this rock were copied
under the Pocono, and some of the Pocono transferred to this; so that
this conglomerate is described as not containing flat pebbles.
EE
Stevenson. 17
Chemung and Catskill.
to the Lackawaxen is 568 feet; in the deep boring at Pittsburg
it is given as 519 feet.
Mr. J. H. Carll has tabulated the oil-well records in the west-
ern oil-bearing counties of Pennsylvania, and we must depend
largely upon his work as we follow the series northward in west-
ern Pennsylvania; though one may sometimes fail to accept his
identifications, yet all must acknowledge the patience with which
he has worked and the excellence of his results.
At Washington, about thirty miles southwest from Pittsburg,
the interval to the Lackawaxen is from the top of the Pocono is
518 feet, and the rock is termed by Mr. Carll, the ‘‘gas sand.’*
The section there is
Pocono (Shenango sandstone of White) 152’
Interval 366
Lackawaxen conglomerate 20’
Interval 87’
Gantz oil sand 40’
The Pocono has become less coarse. At Pittsburg it contains
much shale, while in Washington county its sandstone is often
less than 150 feet thick.
Mr. Carll recognizes in the Gantz sand, the upper or first of the
Venango group of oil-sands, which consists of three well marked
sandstones separated by shales and showing few variations in
Venango county. It is not easy, however, to accept this identifi-
cation after a careful study of his sections as tabulated in the
Annual Report for 1886, and I am compelled to regard the upper
gas sand of Weirick’s well as the first oil sand of Venango, and
as the Lackawazxen.t The distribution and variations of the
“Venango group are shown in the very numerous records of oil-
wells which Mr. Carll has preserved and published in his volumes
on the western counties of Pennsylvania.
ette county is reached; there, however, the whole mass, 3,700
*Fourth Annual Report, p. 227. Geology of N. Y. Part I, p. 299.
+Geology of New York. Part III, p. 186; 4th Ann. Rep. p. 381.
24 The American Geologist. January, 1892
feet thick in Fulton county, is wanting. In northern Pennsyl-
vania, the decrease in thickness is abrupt for a few miles, but the
final disappearance of rocks of the Catskill type is in Warren
county, just as in New York it is in Allegany county east from
the Genesee river.* In southwestern Pennsylvania the Catskill
is wanting, because the rocks have thinned out; whether the dis-
zippearance in northwest Pennsylvania is due only to thinning or
to interlocking with rocks of different color, cannot be determined
in our present state of knowledge.
The upper sub-divisions of the Chemung, when followed west-
ward, are found to vary much after the same manner throughout.
The abrupt changes observed in the Catskill had no predecessors
in the Chemung, except in southwestern Virginia, where the
whole series, Chemung and Catskill, as well as most of the under-
lying Hamilton and much of the overlying Pocono have disap-
peared. The Chemung section thus grouped
Shales
| Sandstone
VENANGO- Shales and sandstone
| Sandstone
Shales and flags
can be recognized not merely along the eastern outcrop from New
York to far beyond New river in Virginia, but also in western
Pennsylvania many miles beyond the western limit of the Catskill
beds.
It is sufficiently clear that, at the close of the time embraced in
the Chemung group, a physical change occurred, which, though
not observable along the eastern outcrop, becomes very distinct
within 100 miles westward or northwestward. During the whole
of the Chemung period, the subsidence was less and less rapid
toward the west and northwest, though doubtless keeping pace
there as at the east with accumulation of deposits, which, in that
direction, became less in quantity and finer in grain, as the rocks
at the west and northwest were not such as to yield much coarse
material. But at the close of the Chemung, the subsidence be-
came still less rapid toward the west and northwest, so that
the area in which Catskill was deposited became narrower toward
the south.+ It is altogether unnecessary to resort to the concep-
tion of elevation in western Pennsylvania or Virginia; indeed
+Because of the southwestward trend of the Appalachian land area.
Chemung and Catskill.—Stevenson. 25
any such conception would be at variance with such evidence as
from study of the stratigraphy. For the most part, the changes
we have. That region was not above water at any time so as to
make the Catskill deposit in a closed sea; no subaérial erosion
took place there after the close of the Chemung, for the thickness
of Montrose shales in the oil-wells and in northwest Pennsylvania,
where they are Prof. White's Riceville shales, varies immaterially
from their thickness in Somerset county, where they underlie the
western edge of the Montrose or Honesdale sand-stone.
But while making use of these variations in rate of subsid-
ence as affording a convenient method of separating the Catskill
and Chemung groups, we must not forget that in by far the
greater part of the area, the conditions exhibited in the Catskill
are but a continuation, and as it were an intensification of those
existing in the Venango portion of the Chemung. The appear-
ance of red rock with green and greenish gray sandstone begins
in Pennsylvania very little above the Allegrippus conglomerate,
and continues in irregularly increasing quantity to the top of the
column, while in New York, red rock makes its first appearance
in the Portage.* The amount of red between the conglomerates
varies greatly, being seldom more, though often less, than ten per
cent. along the eastern outcrop, while at some places in western
Pennsylvania itis much greater. The Montrose shales are largely
red along the easterly outcrop, but they show not a little varia-
tion even there; while at the west, they are sometimes wholly red
and at others without any red beds whatever. (rreenish gray and
brown or reddish brown sandstones occur in large proportion in
the Catskill itself.
All observers agree that the passage of Chemung into Catskill
is so gradual that, lithologically, no absolute line of separation
ean be drawn in a great part of the Appalachian basin, The
bond between Catskill and upper Chemung is even more intimate,
as far as structure goes, than is that between the upper Chemung
and the lower Chemung or Portage. As far as physical character-
istics are to be depended on, the whole series is one, and the
terms Catskill, Chemung, Portage might well be taken as names
of epochal divisions of the Chemung period.
The paleontological record confirms this conclusion drawn
*James Hall in 28th Annual Report of the Regents on the State
Museum. 1876, p. 15.
“
26 The American Geologist. - January, 1892
in general conditions were insignificant from the beginning of the
Portage to the close of the Chemung; at all events the changes
in by far the greater part of the area under consideration, were
not such as to interfere materially with the existence of the
molluscan fauna known as Chemung, though as we have seen,
there were circumscribed areas in which the conditions did prove
very injurious to animal life.
The Chemung and Catskill are very distinct, paleeontologically,
along the eastern outcrop in southern Pennsylvania. The Cats-
kill, almost wholly red shale and red or greenish-gray sandstones,
appears to be non-fossiliferous; but the Chemung carries its fos-
sils to practically the top of the Montrose shales. The condition
is unquestionably the same in northern Virginia. Near the Ten-
nessee border, the equivalent of the Montrose sandstone has
Chemung fossils; at New River gap, Chemung fossils were not
found in the upper half of the interval between the Lackawaxen
and the Pocono; in MecAfee’s gap in Roanoke county, proof is
shown that Spirifera disjuncta survived all changes to the end
of the Catskill; while at eight or ten miles southeast in Catawba
mountain, the whole succession of red greenish-gray sandstones
seems to be absolutely non-fossiliferous; and this is the prevailing
condition thence northward. It is evident, then, that from, say,
twenty-five miles southwest of James river in Virginia to New
York, the group called Catskill by Vanuxem is either non-fos-
siliferous or practically so. But the Chemung group contains its
characteristic species above the Lackawaxen conglomerate in Vir-
ginia and along the eastern outcrop into Montour county of Penn-
sylvania; so also in southern Pennsylvania* westward to where it
passes beneath the surface beyond the final disappearance of
Catskill in Fayette and Westmoreland counties; while in north-
western Pennsylvania and along the northern line of the state,
Chemung forms are present in the same upper horizon from the
Ohio line eastward into Bradford county. In New York on the
northwest border of the Catskills themselves, Chemung fossils
occur abundantly above the Oneonta? sandstone which Vanuxem
identified with the Montrose sandstone of Pennsylvania.
*In my report on the Geology of Bedford and Fulton counties, p. 81,
I identified the conglomerate of the Laurel and Chestnut ridge gaps
with the Lower (Allegrippus) conglomerate. The error was discovered
too late for correction.
+James Hallin Sczence 1880, p. 290.
Chemung and Catshill.— Stevenson. 27
A remarkable feature of the Chemung is the non-fossiliferous
area of southeastern New York and the adjacent portion of
Pennsylvania, northward from Huntingdon county, of Penn-
sylvania, the upper limit of the Chemung fauna descends;
in Columbia county the upper half of the Montrose red shales
yields no fossils, while in Carbon county, no fossils were found
until practically below the place of the A//egrippus conglomerate ;
and, even in these lowest beds, fossils are rare and usually not
“well preserved. No molluscan fossils were found by Prof. White
in the Delaware river section until considerably below the place of
the Allegrippus, whence downward ‘‘the whole series is sparingly
fossiliferous.”* Hven remains of fishes are wanting aside from
‘the occasional appearance of what appear to be fish-bone frag-
ments in calcareous breccias.” A similar condition is observed
as one comes eastward along the border of Pennsylvania and
New York; Chemung fossils reach the top of the group at the
western border and in McKean county; but in Tioga county the
barren space at the top of the column is 165 feet; in Bradford,
800 feet, in Wayne, 1,170 and in Pike, 2,650 feet, in each case
inclusive of the Catskill, which, however, does not exceed 300
feet even in Pike county.
The area in which the lifeless portion of the column reaches
much below the horizon of the Lackawavcen conglomerate, em-
bracing parts of Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties of
Pennsylvania, and of Sullivan, Delaware, and Greene counties of
New York, contains rather more than 4,000 square miles, while
the whole area under consideration is more than 30,000 square
miles. ‘To explain the absence of life is not easy; it cannot be
due merely to an agent which caused the redness or greenness of
the beds, for, in Huntingdon and Fulton counties of Pennsyl-
vania, the Montrose shales have many fossiliferous beds though
having also many green and red beds. Besides, the Delaware
section shows a great thickness of beds of other colors, which
are equally without animal remains. It cannot be due to chemi-
cal conditions existing in a closed sea, for the successive subdi-
visions of both Catskill and Chemung can be traced directly into
the lifeless area equally from the open sea at the west and along
the Appalachian shore from the south, thus showing that no closed
sea existed in that area. Kven plant remains are rare, being
*Geology of Susquehanna River region. pp. 103 and 105.
2S Th 6 x | merican Geologist. January, 1892
found at but few localities; and as a rule the specimens are im-
perfect, good specimens occurring at only a very few places.
There is little room to suppose from the condition in which the
plants are found that alternations of land, fresh and brackish
water conditions caused the absence of animal life. It is certain
that from the beginning of Oriskany to the end of Catskill, even
during the formation of the Corniferous coral reefs, the Appa-
lachian gulf was shallow everywhere. During the later time,
when subsidence did little more than to keep pace with the inflow
of sediment, the area nearest to the region of great drainage,
whence large streams with rapid flow poured their material into
the shallow basin, would show muddy bottoms and muddy, more
or less brackish water, which would be unfavorable to animal
life of Chemung types. As the Appalachian land became nar-
rower southward, the untoward conditions are less marked in that
direction. Within the portion of the area lying within south-
sastern New York and the immediately adjacent portion of Penn-
sylvania, these conditions may have been begun as early as the
Hamilton, as suggested by Prof. Hall.*
The molluscan fauna of the Chemung and Catskill is unques-
tionably marine. Even the mollusks found in New York above
the Oneonta sandstone belong to the ordinary forms. Of course
it is possible, even probable, that at the extreme northeast there
were small areas at the mouths of large rivers, where fresh water
prevailed and fresh water mollusks lived; but positive evidence of
this iswanting. The Amphigenia found in the Oneonta sandstone of
New York may be a freshwater form, but it occurs in the Montrose
sandstone in southern Pennsylvania so far away from the old
shore line that freshwater conditions seem, certainly, improbable.
The stratigraphical relations of the fishes have been generally
misunderstood, The fishes exist for the most part not in the
Catskill but midway in the Chemung; the celebrated /oloptychius
Bed, is the second ore bed of the ‘Mansfield Reds,” and belongs
at but a little way above the A//egrippus conglomerate, the Falls
Creek sandstone of Bradford county. It has yielded large num-
bers of fish remains at several localities and it Contains marine
fossils.t The Coccostens bed of Warren county is taken by Prof.
*“Setence 1880, p. 290. Prof. H. 8. Williams makes the same suggestion
in Bulletin U.S. G.S. No. 41, but I have mislaid the references.
*Sherwood in Report on Bradford and Tioga, pp. 63, 65, '79, 80.
sae i
STEVENSON. 29
Chemung and Catskill,
White to be the same with the first Venango sand (Lachkawacen
conglomerate). Wherever the fishes are associated with any other
form of animal life, that form is marine, so that the ordinary
presumption should be that the fishes themselves are marine.
A study of the fauna and its distribution shows us that, as far
as any evidence exists, the conditions were marine from the be-
ginning of the Chemung period to the close of the Catskill; that
in the early Chemung, or possibly in the Hamilton, the conditions
within northeast Pennsylvania and the adjacent portion of New
York became unfavorable to the free development of animal life;
and that as time went on, these conditions were gradually ex-
tended southward and westward, so that, toward the close of the
Chemung, they prevailed in Columbia county, fifty miles south-
east from the Delaware river and in Bradford county, about the
same distance west from the outcrop line. Before the close of the
Catskill they had reached southward beyond James river in Vir-
ginia, but had not extended much further west in Pennsylvania
and New York. But, though prevented from existing in the
muddy shallows, the animals existed further west in the basin,
beyond reach of the river silts, so that just as soon as an oppor-
tunity was afforded by a lull in the untoward conditions, the
active fishes found their way eastward again, to be followed, if
the interval were long enough, by the more sluggish mollusks as
in New York and in Roanoke and Russell counties of Virginia.
a few words concerning it, and T have
One matter still remains
done.
What are the relations of this great Chemung-Catskill group to
the Lower Carboniferous?
The Pocono or Vespertine or Lower Carboniferous sandstone,
the lower division of the Lower Carboniferous, is practically non-
fossiliferous throughout central and southern Pennsylvania, the
only animal remains thus far discovered being those of mollusks,
seen by Prof. White* in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and those
of fishes seen by Prof. Stevensont in Fayette county; but these
have not been studied and their relations are stillunknown. The
upper beds of the Pocono become calcareous in southwest Vir-
ginia where the mollusks are unquestionably Lower Carboniferous.
The plant remains, obtained in Pennsylvania, are for the most
*Geology of Huntingdon County, p. 81.
tGeology of Ligonier Valley. p. 57.
30 The American Geologist. January, 1892
part imperfect, but an abundant flora exists near New river in
Virginia, which has been collected by Mr. R. D. Lacoe. It has
not been studied in detail, but enough has been ascertained to
show that its facies is Devonian rather than Carboniferous.* The
lower Pocono in’ Pennsylvania, containing thin coal beds, may
prove to be the same with the series near New river, which
disappears altogether before the state line is reached at the
south. f
The molluscan fauna of the Chemung shows no intimate rela-
tion to that of the Lower Carboniferous. True, not a few Car-
boniferous genera characterize the Chemung, but in like manner
some Devonian genera characterize the Upper Silurian. The
plant remains of the Chemung show somewhat greater affinity. to
the Carboniferous, but there is not enough of the material to jus-
tify positive conclusions in any direction; at the same time these
plants are closely allied to the Erian flora of Canada, occupying
a somewhat similar position in the general column.
The physical break between Pocono and Catskill seems to be
sufficiently well marked at most localities along the eastern out-
crop, as well as along the southern border of Pennsylvania; so
that where Pocono and Chemung go beneath the surface they are
sharply separated. The Pocono goes under in Fayette and West-
moreland counties of Pennsylvania, as a sandstone containing
very little shale; but when it reappears in northwestern Pennsyl-
vania, in Crawford county, it is sandstone on top with much shale
below, so that the separation from the underlying Chemung is by
no means so distinct. Prof. White, in making his correlations
with Ohio, found difficulty in determining the equivalents of the
Cleveland and Bedford shales of that state, which were regarded
then as belonging to the Waverly or Lower Carboniferous. But
Prof. Edward Orton, several years ago, found it necessary to
place the Cleveland shales in the Devonian; and _ still more re-
cently, Prof. Herrick’s detailed studies have shown that the Bed-
ford shales carry the Chemung fauna, as was suggested many
years ago by Prof. Hall. But beyond all doubt, the lower por-
*J. P. Lesley in A Dictionary of Fossils Found in Pennsylvania and
elsewhere. Vol. I1I. Addenda, p. x1.
tIt is worth noting here that, during the study of Wayne and Susque-
hanna counties, Prof. White placed the upper limit of Catskill nearly
400 feet higher in the column than he did in his later publications. It is
not at allimprobable that his original plane of division may prove to be
the proper one for the whole eastern outcrop to beyond New river.
Chemung and Catshill,— Stevenson. 51
tion of the Pocono in Crawford county shows an unexpected re-
lation to the Devonian,* for at about 200 feet below the Shenango
sandstone, there is a persistent limestone, which, though non-
fossiliferous in Crawford, carries many fossils in Warren and
Venango counties. It is found also in McKean. The fossils
from Warren and Venango have not been studied, but Prof.
White says that one of the spirifers suggests SN. disjuncta.
Chemung forms occur at the base of the Corry sandstone, which
Prof. White thought to be the equivalent of the Berea grit of Ohio.
In McKean county? Prof. Hicks found Chemung forms passing
up into the Mauch Chunk or upper division of the Lower Car-
boniferous and associated there as well as in lower beds with
‘Waverly forms’, seven Chemung species having been found
with seven determined and eleven undetermined species, regarded
by him as of ‘‘Waverly type.” Prof. H. 8. Williamst has shown,
in his discussion of the fossil faunas of the Upper Devonian, that,
at some localities in southwestern New York and northwestern
Pennsylvania, species belonging to the Chemung fauna lingered
even into the shales underlying the Olean conglomerate, which is
the floor of the Coal Measures. — It is sufficiently clear that, while
the passage from Devonian to Carboniferous along the eastern
outcrop and for many miles west and northwest from it, was
marked by great physical changes, no serious disturbance oc-
curred in the region of northwestern Pennsylvania and the ad-
joining portions of New York and Ohio, where the passage was
so gradual as to permit the Chemung fauna to overlap that of the
Lower Carboniferous. But the fact that, at some locality or in
even a somewhat considerable area, the passage from Chemung to
Carboniferous is not marked by abrupt change in sedimentation
and by a sharp limitation of faunas is not a good reason for em-
bracing Chemung in Carboniferous. Other portions of the Ap-
palachian region might be selected which would afford material
for very different generalizations.
If local continuity of sedimentation is to be accepted as of
itself a good basis for grouping rocks into ages, one would be
compelled, within a considerable area of Virginia, to inelude in
*Geology of Crawford and Erie counties, p.88. |
tL. E. Hicks in Report on Geology of McKean County, etc. pp. 30-31.
fH. 8S. Williams; Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, No.
41. Chapter tv.
32 The American Geologist. January, 1892
one age all rocks from the Hudson River shales to the top of the
Pocono, for there one finds no interruption, except a streak of
Lower Helderberg, so thin that only one observer* has seen it in
place, though others have seen fragments of chert suggesting the
presence of that group. Nor is the fact that there are localities.
where the passage is not abrupt, is not marked by destruction of
the fauna, necessarily a good reason for joining two consecutive
groups. On such a basis one would have no difficulty in carrying:
the Carboniferous downward so as to include the Lower Silurian,
or upward to include the Pliocene. Thus in northwestern Penn-
sylvania, Chemung fauna lingered into the Lower Carboniferous:
in south central Pennsylvania and Maryland, Oriskany and Lower
Helderberg fossils are mingled together in a transition bed.t
Ordinarily the break between Lower and Upper Silurian is well
marked, but in southern Pennsylvania,{ the Hudson river forms.
occur sparingly in the lower Medina, while in southwest Virginiaé:
Hudson River fossils occur abundantly to within a few feet of the:
upper Medina; so that even on the easterly side of the Appa-
lachian basin it would be easy to prove no break between
Lower and Upper Silurian, Upper Silurian and Devonian, De-
vonian and Lower Carboniferous, Lower and Upper Carbon-
iferous. Dr. C. A. Whitel] has told us how the line between
Paleozoic and Mesozoic disappears in the southwest, while
to not a few of us the gradual shading away of Mesozoic
into Cenozoic brought a sufficiency of burdens in the past.
General, not circumscribed, conditions must be taken as the
basis of subdivision of the column. The separation between
Lower Carboniferous and the Upper Devonian is too well marked,
physically as well as paleontologically, over an immense area to:
be ignored for any but the most cogent reasons.
But may not the Catskill as well as some portion of the
Chemung be contemporaneous with the lower beds of the Lower
Carboniferous of Ohio? Prof. Herrickf has shown that the base
of the Lower Carboniferous there cannot come below the Berea
*Capt. C. R. Boyd, in personal communication.
+Geology of Bedford and Fulton Counties, p. 86.
{Loc. cit. p. 92.
§Stevenson; proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. Vol. xx, p. 138, xxrv p. 89.
Address as Vice President before Section E of A. A. A. S. 1889.
*C. L. Herrick; Bulletin Geological Society of America, Vol. 1, p. 34
et seq.
Stevenson : V2
: Chemung and Catskill,
grit. He has shown also how intimately related the Bedford |
shale is to the underlying Cleveland-Erie shale, and that forms of
Lower Carboniferous type made their appearance only toward the
close of the former, so that there the faunas overlap as in north-
western Pennsylvania. It is possible that when the detailed re-
vision of the Devonian column has been carried across from
eastern New York by Prof. H. 8. Williams into Ohio, the beds
of the Catskill will be found interlocking with beds of other
tints, which in Ohio become the Bedford and Cleveland shales.
If we bear in mind these facts:
First, that the Chemung and Catskill deposits were laid down
in a shallow basin subsiding most rapidly at the east and along a
line rudely parallel to the Blue ridge trend.
Secondly, that the deposits would be much greater near the
main land at the east than at 200 miles away; so that 600 feet
more or less of fine material in Ohio would more than fairly
represent the 4,000 feet, more or less, of Chemung in eastern
Pennsylvania. And
Thirdly, that the water beyond the reach of the great land
wash held a Chemung fauna throughout the whole time of Cats-
kill deposit-—there will be no serious difficulty in the way of ac-
cepting this suggestion,
The conclusions to which I am led are
First. That the series from the beginning of the Portage to
the end of the Catskill, forms but one period, the Chemung,
which should be divided into three epochs, the Portage, the
Chemung and the Catskill.
Secondly. That the deposits of the Catskill epoch were not
made in a closed sea or in freshwater lakes.
Thirdly. That the disappearance of animal life over so great
part of the area toward the close of the period, was due to gradual
extension of conditions existing in southeastern New York as
early, perhaps,,as the Hamilton period.
Fourthly. That the Chemung period should be retained in the
Devonian.
34 The American Geolog ist. January, 1892
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF GEOLOGIC COR-
RELATION BY MEANS OF FOSSIL PLANTS *
By Les'rer F. Warp, Washington, D. C.
In all work on geologic correlation, whether by means of fossils.
or of stratigraphy, the modern doctrine of homotaxis should, I
think, be carefully kept in mind, as it is now well recognized that
identical forms do not necessarily indicate indentity of age.
In the eighth chapter of his well known work on Paleontology,
M. Pictet lays down the following general principle: ‘‘Contem-
poraneous deposits, or those formed at the same epoch, contain
identical fossils. Conversely: deposits which contain identical
fossils are contemporaneous, ’'t
Schimper, in his Vegetable Paleontology accepts this state-
ment and adapts it to plants in the following form: ‘‘Contempo-
raneous deposits, or those formed at the same epoch, contain
floras, if not completely identical, at least homologous, and con-
sequently deposits that contain identical or homologous floras are
contemporaneous. ’’+
Nine years after the appearance of the second edition of Pie-
tet’s work, above quoted, and seven years before that of Sehim-
per’s first volume, viz., on the 21st of February, 1862, professor
Huxley, in his annual address as president of the Geological
Society of London, gave utterance to sentiments widely at vari-
ance with these, but the soundness of which has been more and
more clearly felt with each addition to geologicaf knowledge.
Although in this address Prof. Huxley did not cite the above
propositions of Pictet, and contented himself with making a much
milder statement of the position of paleontologists, he took up
the question of the assumed contemporaneity of the deposits con-
taining identical fossils and apropos thereof expressed himself in
the following language: -++Suecession implies time; the lower
members of a series of sedimentary rocks are certainly older than
*Read before the Geological Section of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, Washington meeting, August 21, 1891.
+Les terrains contemporains ou formés i la méme ¢poque renferment
des fossiles identiques. Réciproquement; les terrains qui contienent
des fossiles identiques sont contemporains.” Traité de Paléontologie, etc.,
par F. J. Pictet, 2d ed., Vol. I, Paris, 1858, p. 100.
{“Les terrains contemporains ou formés i la m@éme epoque renferment
des flores, sinon complttement identiques, du moins homologues, et par
cons¢quent: Les terrains qui renferment des flores identiques ou homo-
logues sont contemporains.” Traité de Paléontologie Végé¢tale, etc.; par
W. Ph. Schimper. Vol. I, Paris, 1869, p. 100. :
Geologic Correlation.— Ward. 35
the upper; and when the notion of age was once introduced as the
equivalent of succession, it was no wonder that correspondence
in succession came to be looked upon as correspondence in
age, or contemporaneity; and, indeed, so long as relative age
only is spoken of, correspondence in succession ‘s correspondence
in age; it is relative contemporaneity.
But it would have been much better for geology if so loose and
ambiguous a word as ‘‘contemporaneous” had been excluded from
her terminology, and if, in its stead, some term expressing simi-
larity of serial relation, and excluding the notion of time alto-
gether, had been employed to denote correspondence in position
in two or more series of strata.
In anatomy, where such correspondence of position has con-
stantly to be spoken of, it is denoted by the word ‘homology and
its derivatives; and for geology (which after all is only the anat-
omy and physiology of the earth) it might be well to invent some
single word, such as, ‘‘homotaxis” (similarity of order), in order
to express an essentially similar idea,”
The term ‘‘homotaxis”, thus introduced into geologic terminol-
ogy, has been widely accepted, and is now in constant use, even
by those who have not taken the trouble to inquire how it origi-
nated, The geologist considers the stratigraphical and lithologi-
cal relations and the paleontologist the related organic forms.
As regards the latter class of workers, they are, I believe, agreed
that two deposits should be considered homotactic* when their
floras or faunas show a sufficiently large number of identical or
closely allied species, or contain to a considerable extent the
same types of life.
I fully share with Dr. Newberry the view that fossil plants
may be made of great value in the correlation of geologic strata,
and also that when properly understood there will remain no con-
flict between animal and vegetable fossils. The difficulty has all
along been that the science of paleobotany is in an unsettled and
unorganized state, and that correct principles have been wanting
for the application of paleobotanical data. It is not claimed that the
science has advanced to the point where its usefulness is at its highest
stage; it is still as it were inits infaney. Nevertheless a sufficient
body of facts now exist to make it a useful aid to geology.
*This seems the proper adjective form, and not “homotaxial” as some
authors write it.
2 ry . .
ob The American Geologist. January, 1892
I propose, in this paper, to first set forth a few principles which,
as it seems to me, should govern the study of paleobotany as an
aid to geologic correlation, and then to explain the methods which
I have adopted for their application.
I. PRINCIPLEs.
Bearing in mind the law of homotaxis, and not forgetting that
similar floras may have flourished in different parts of the world
at different times, it. nevertheless still remains true that the oc-
currence of similar floras in different parts of the world, has a
strong bearing upon the question of the age of the strata in
which these floras occur. That is to say, although these floras
may have flotrished at different times, the difference between the
epochs at which they grew cannot be very great, and while an
exact identity of age cannot be predicated, still it is safe to say
that deposits containing similar floras must have been laid down
at no great distance apart chronologically speaking.
The great types of vegetation are characteristic of the great
epochs in geology, and it is impossible for types of one epoch to
occur in another. For example: It frequently happens in a region
which is much broken up that the stratigraphical geologist is
greatly puzzled to determine the relative position of certain rocks,
The time has gone by when geologists rely implicitly upon the
appearance of the rock in determining age, and rocks of Carbon-
iferous age may have so close a resemblance to those of Tertiary
age that it is impossible to distinguish them lithologically. In
such cases a single characteristic fossil found in place is sufficient
to settle the question. The fossil may be a mere fragment not
specifically determinable, but if its reference to a great type of
vegetation is certain this is as conclusive as if it were known to
what species it belonged. For example, a dicotyledonous leaf
from a stratum supposed to be Carboniferous, enables the paleo-
botanist to say with absolute certainty that such a reference is
impossible. On the other hand a single sear of Lepidodendron
or Sigillaria from a deposit supposed to be Tertiary or Mesozoic
is equally conclusive. It may be said that such cases are not
common, but [ have had in my limited experience a number of
instances of precisely this nature where thoroughly competent
geologists were much perplexed, and were set right by such a
single fact.
Geologic Correlation.— Ward. 57
The celebrated case of the beds of Chardonet, department of
Hanutes-Alpes, studied by Elie de Beaumontin 1828, and positively
referred to the Mesozoic, but in which fossil plants of the genera
Calamites, Sigillaria, and Lepidodendron were identified by
Brongniart, is one of the best illustrations of this principle.
And although, so young was the science of paleobotany at that
time, that Brongniart himself was inclined to admit that these
genera might occur in the Mesozoic, still, long before his death
this was known to be impossible, and no paleobotanist would now
hesitate in a similar case to tell the geologist that he had cer-
tainly made a mistake in his stratigraphy.
But in the determination of nearly related strata this is not
possible, and limited material or single fragmentary specimens
are not adequate. For such cases in order to be certain it is
necessary to have a body of facts; in other words a fair series of
good specimens of fossil plants is required before the paleobotan-
ist ought to attempt to express his opinion with regard to the
exact age of the deposit in which they are found. Most of the
serious mistakes which have been made, and which have gone far
to bring the science of paleobotany into disrepute, have resulted
from neglecting this principle. Purely stratigraphical geologists
have no conception of these laws, and a paleobotanist has to deal
with them very much as he would deal with the notions of un-
scientific persons. They are constantly bringing him mere frag-
ments and only isolated specimens, not perhaps specifically de-
terminable, and they expect of him that from such material he
will be able to tell them the exact age to which it belongs. This
is simply impossible, and the paleobotanist who will base definite
conclusions upon such material is certain to err.
On the other hand, where such a sufficient body of facts exists
paleobotany becomes as conclusive for more nearly related forma-
tions as for more widely separated ones. As an_ illustration of
this, take the clays of Gay Head, Massachusetts. There is no
spot more tempting to the stratigraphical geologist in this coun-
try than Gay Head. Beautifully stratified clays of varied hues
marking the dip and always freshly worn, form a precipitous cliff
visible as a gayly colored object from great distances at sea’; and
about the first work that geologists did in America was to attack
the problem of the age of this cliff. The records’ of this work
date back one hundred yews, and the names of the most eminent
O8 The Americun Geologist. January, 1892
geologists of the United States have been associated with it. As
a final outcome of all this stratigraphic work in such an inviting
field, the conclusion has been at last announced by Professor
Shaler, within the last two years, that these clays are of Tertiary
age (Miocene or Pliocene). Almost simultaneously with this
authoritative announcement, a young paleobotanist, Mr. David
White, of the United States Geological Survey, visited this
spot and spent a summer in obtaining a collection of fossil plants.
A few fragments had hitherto been found, and one or two of
them had been figured in the works of Dr. Hitchcock. But such
limited material was of no value. The specimens were obscure,
and nothing could be concluded from them. Mr. White made
a large collection of fine specimens of fossil plants. They were
shipped to Washington, and he has determined them. They are
found to be nothing more nor less than types of the Amboy clays
of New. Jersey, and therefore represent the Cretaceous.
This discovery has a wider significance than the mere proof that
the plant bearing strata at least, of Gay Head are Cretaceous; it
also proves that the Amboy clays of New Jersey, after passing
eastward and reappearing on Long Island stretch still farther in
that direction, and probably underlie most of the glacial deposits
of Block Island, the Elizabeth Islands, Martha’s Vineyard, and
Nantucket. Thus has paleobotany, legitimately employed, set at
rest a question which stratigraphical geology could probably never
have answered. Many other illustrations of this principle might
be given, but this one will suffice for all.
There is one other principle to be considered, the ignoring of
which has long been a stumbling block to geology, and to paleo-
botany as well. It is indeed impossible to overestimate the im-
portance of the correct systematic determination of fossil plants.
The doubts which exist with regard to the true nature of many of
the vegetable objects found in the earth’s strata, have led to great
skepticism on the part of many with regard to the value of paleo-
botany asa science. Botanists in particular, who have had some-
thing to do with paleobotany, are as a rule much disappointed.
Accustomed as they are to having before them the entire structure
of the plant, all its parts and organs, not only of vegetation, but
of reproduction, they have little patience with such fragmentary
material as constitutes the bulk of most collections of fossil
Geologic Correlation.— Ward. 39
plants. And geologists are apt to reflect their opinions and to
join with them in condemning paleobotany.
There are two answers to all these objections. There is an
answer to the botanist, and a separate answer to the geologist.
The answer to the botanist is that, considering the conditions
under which we find these specimens, there really does exist a
large amount of information of a somewhat exact and reliable
kind with regard to the past history of vegetation. Aside from
the fact that at some points on the earth’s surface fossil floras are
known to exist which almost equal in number of species the ex-
isting floras of the same localities, there is the further answer that
paleobotany teaches us to study more carefully the fragmentary
remains that we find; it sharpens our powers of observation upon
the facts which are in our possession and has added not a little to
our knowledge of botany proper. For example, it is the habit of
botanists to figure leaves so carelessly that the paleobotanist is un-
able to tell the genera to which they belong. This is chiefly due
to the fact that they ignore, as a rule, the exact nervation of
leaves, and are content to figure them almost from the stand-
point of the artist, merely for the sake of the effect. Paleobot-
any has taught the botanists that the nervation of leaves is im-
portant, and that wherever possible it should be carefully figured.
We are indebted to fossil plants for the discovery that nervation
in leaves is of generic rank, whereas form, upon which the bot-
anist chiefly relies, is usually only of specific rank. Leaves,
therefore, which show nervation are not useless in determining
species, but are valuable, and by them alone genera may in many
cases be made out with certainty.
Still answering the botanist, it may be further urged with jus-
tice, that in the case of nearly all problematical forms as ancient
as the Cretaceous, it must not be supposed that the genera can be
determined by comparison with genera of living plants. It is to
be expected that the genera with which we are dealing in these
ancient strata, are extinct, and all that we are called upon to look
carefully for is evidence of their being related to or the ancestors
of our modern plants.
The answer to the geologist is still more conclusive; in fact he
has no right to raise any objection whatever, It really makes no
difference to him whether the form that the paleobotanist has
named, is correctly named or not; this question is one of purely
biological importance, it is one of no geological importance. But
40 The American Geologist. January, 1892
that which is of geological importance, is that the form in ques-
tion be distinctly recognized, that it be carefully portrayed, and
that what has been found be characterized in accurate descriptive
language and represented by clear and careful delineation. There
must be no doubt when the same form is seen again at a different
locality, as to whether it is really the same form. This is a vital
point with the geologist. If the form, no matter what it may
really be, is something clear and distinct, which can be recognized
when seen anywhere, and if it is characteristic of a given horizon
or locality, it becomes to that extent of value in fixing the rela-
tive age of any other deposit in which it may be found. If only
found in two localities or at two points on the earth's surface the
deduction, though not absolute, is legitimate that unless there is
evidence to the contrary the two localities are of somewhat simi-
lar geologic age. But if the object be very abundant, and char-
acteristic of some well known group or horizon, then it is that it
becomes of great importance as a characteristic fossil, independ-
ently of how much may be known of its true botanical nature.
Il. Mernops.
I propose next to indicate the general method which I have
adopted in the application of these principles to geologic correla-
tion by the aid of fossil plants.
In a broad sense this, of course, consists in the comparison of
similar floras, and the conclusion from them of similarity of age;
but there are many limiting circumstances to be taken into the
account. If the localities at which similar floras occur are not
widely separated geographically, the conclusion of similarity of
age is more or less reliable. For example, when we find that the
flora of the Richmond coalfield is very similar to that of the North
Carolina coalfield, the inference that these two coalfields are of
similar age is wholly legitimate. And even when we find the
same species, to a considerable extent, in the Triassic of New
Jersey and in that of Connecticut and Massachusetts as occurring
in Virginia and North Carolina, the inference cannot be very
wide of the mark that the strata containing these plants were de-
posited at about the same time from Massachusetts to North Carolina,
In proportion as these similar floras are separated geographi-
cally the inference of the similarity of age and deposition grows
weaker, but it will remain strong as long as the two localities are
on the same continent, or as evidence exists that an unbroken sea
Geologic Correlation.— Ward. 41.
once stretched all the way from the one to the other, or that sim-
ilar lakes or estuaries existed in both parts of the continent at
the same time. Such is the case when we compare the Triassic
of the eastern states with that of New Mexico, Arizona, and
Central America, and although the floras of these widely sep-
arated parts of the American continent are considerably differ-
ent, still it has been argued by eminent geologists that the oc-
currence of a large number of identical species, and a similar
facies in the type of plants indicate the former existence of a
great Triassic sea of nearly uniform age, from New Mexico to
Honduras; and not widely different in age from the correspond-
ing one which extended on the eastern side of the continent from
Massachusetts to North Carolina. The same principle could be
applied to many other epochs in geologic history.
What then is the specific method adopted in comparing floras?
It may be briefly defined as the preparation of tables of distribu-
tion and their discussion. As already remarked, the more com-
plete the flora of any group to be considered is the more accurate
will be the comparison. Therefore the first work to be done is to
make a complete list of all the fossil plants that have been found
in the given group. This list of species may be primarily re-
‘garded as wholly unknown geologically.
If there are several distinct localities, areas, or basins which
are suspected to be of similar age, the species or forms that occur
in each of these must first be enumerated separately and compari-
sons made to ascertain to what extent they are the same or simi-
lar for the different florules. This is what, in my Triassic work I
have called the American distribution. The number of forms
common to any two such areas will indicate the botanical resem-
blance between such two florules. Thus in the Triassic flora of the
United States as known at the present time, the following table
shows the number of species common to twoor more of the basins:
Areas
Areas New Jersey New Mexico
and Virginia. North Carolina and
Pennsylvania. Arizona.
Connecticut Valley D 5 6 1
New Jersey and 7 10 2
Pennsylvania... 20 2
Preis hs ee 8s 2
North Carolina....
But as the number of species occurring in the different basins
,
42 The American Geologist. January, 1392
is very different these figures might lead to an erroneous im-
pression. What it is desired to learn is the relative preponder-
ance in any florule of species common to other florules. This can
only be shown by a table of percentages. For the Triassic basins
of the United States I present this information in the following
form:
Commontoand
Basins or Areas. | Occurring in | Confined to— some other Per cent. in
5 basin other basins.
Connecticut Valiey 23 13 i) 39
New Jersey and } | 18 5 13 792
Pennsylvania. §
Wate seen ss: 56 34 22 39
North Carolina.... a2 25 27 52
New Mexico and } 1B 1 9 15
Arizona. ..... ) *
Considering the well known fact that in almost any new local-
ity for fossil plants, the majority of the forms found will be new
to science, the percentages of common species here shown, with
the exception of the western basin, are large and may fairly be
taken to prove actual or approximate contemporaneity of de-
position.
The next step is to ascertain how many of the species have
been found at other localities and horizons. This is what I have
denominated their fore‘gn distribution. To show this a table is
prepared with columns for such different foreign localities, ar-
ranged in ascending geological order, the lines of which are oc-
cupied by the species found in the locality to be compared. The
species that have been already described from other localities and
horizons are then indicated in the proper column by some char-
acteristic mark. The range or geologic history of each species is
thus recorded upon the same line on which the species is written.
Such a detailed table of distribution of the species of any
given group, is exceedingly simple and elementary; and in so far
as it goesrequires no explanation. But there are other considera-
tions to be taken intothe account. Inall the lower forms, consist-
ing chiefly of cryptogams, cycads, and conifers, two facts are to
be considered: In the first place it is to be remembered that our
knowledge of the nature of these ancient forms is not sufficient
for us to predicate with certainty their generic relationships. They
are usually extinct forms and are given names accordingly as ex-
tinct genera. In the second place, as all paleontologists now
know, the ancient forms of life on the globe were less definite, or
Geologie Correlation.— Ward. 45
as it is expressed in modern scientific language, less completely
differentiated than they are at the present day. The consequence
is that we are all the time changing from one genus to another,
and from one family to another as the evidence accumulates.
Now there is no doubt that the later forms of life, both animal
and vegetable, have developed from earlier forms, and_ these
transition stages in the paleontologic record enforce this truth far
more strongly than any facts in the living faunas and floras of
the globe. Assuming then that the later floras are derived from
the earlier ones, it is of the utmost importance, not only to the
botanist, but also to the geologist, to: trace these ancestral rela-
tionships of plants, and this can be done with considerable suc-
cess. Therefore in the preparation of a table of distribution we
must not confine our attention exclusively to the species which are
found in the group to be compared. In fact so variable are these
ancient forms that it would be impossible to do this. It would be
very misleading to be guided exclusively by the names given to
the species. The forms differ in different localities by such slight
divergences that the personal equation of the describer would
vitiate such a calculation. Some would join similar forms from
different localities, others would separate them as distinct species,
and the history of the nomenclature of paleobotany is merely a
record of these apparently conflicting determinations, but which
in reality after all, merely show that the forms are more or less
closely related, although they can never agree in all respects.
This, therefore, is the difficult part of the preparation of a
table of distribution, viz., to select not only the species which
are universally regarded as identical in two or more horizons, but
also such as are believed to be related to those of the group under
consideration. There is danger on the one hand of leaving out
important related species, and on the other hand of introducing,
as related species, those which really have no affinity. Without
dwelling upon the details of this difficult part of the task, it must
be assumed that the paleobotanist, if skilled in his craft, possesses
that judgment which will enable him to distinguish the truly re-
lated species from those which are only apparently so. To the species
then which all admit to occur at more than one horizon or in more
than one place, and which we will, for the sake of brevity, de-
nominate identical species, must now be added to those which are
related to species of the group, and which may be ealled related
t4 Th e AA merican Geologist. January, 1892
or allied species. But this introduces a new element into the
table since it is manifestly impossible to indicate these relation-
ships by the same means which were used to indicate identity.
It is necessary to use a separate line for each of these related
species; also to use an additional column at the left hand of the
margin in which to write their names. It is then possible to use
the same sign for the related species as was used for identical
species, and to carry out its geological distribution in the col-
umns as above described.
Such a table is useful when one wishes to follow out any one
particular species, and to‘trace its distribution to other localities
and horizons. But it does not give a comprehensive view of the
relationships of the flora in general; the data which it contains
require to be condensed into more convenient form.
The first step in such condensation should probably be the ar-
rangement of all the species in the ascending geological order,
of the formations in which they also occur. It is instructive in
such a table to show the indentical and the related species for
each formation separately; that is to say, all the species together
which are found at the lowest, next lowest, third lowest forma-
tion, etc., of the entire range of the group. In this way those
horizons at which the largest number of species occur are clearly
g } )
brought into view, not only by the number of species which
occur in them, but also by the relative number of those which
are identical to those which are merely allied.
This condensation may be still further generalized by the re-
duction of the list of species to the numerical form; that is, by a
statement of the number occurring at each horizon without
enumerating the species at length. Just as in the table last men-
tioned the same species will often be several times repeated, so in
the table now under consideration,* the numbers in the columns
include such over-lappings. | Hitherto we have considered the sub--
ject only from the geological standpoint, but it is of interest to
geology as well as to botany that some classification be made of
the principal types of vegetation embraced in any flora. As the
table last described is very short it is possible to introduce some
such classification in it. In discussion the Triassic flora, which has.
*This table appears in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America,
Vol. iii, p. 29. The larger tables used to illustrate this paper will be
published in my essay on correlation, in preparation.
Geologie Correlation.— Ward. 45
been the basis of my remarks upon the method pursued, I have
here shown the number in each horizon respectively, of ferns,
equiseta, rhizocarps, cycads, and conifers, these being the only
types represented in the foreign distribution of that flora.
The method of reasoning with regard to the age of the forma-
tion from data of this kind, is important to be considered. The
usual way is to prepare only some such extended table as the first
one described, often without taking account of related species,
and then to proceed to discuss each species and its bearings upon
the age of the group. The data thus considered are only abso-
lute, not relative, and conclusions drawn from them are apt to be
very misleading. I have frequently pointed out that the great
mistakes of Heer and Lesquereux in placing the American plant-
bearing strata too high in the geological scale was due to this
fallacy. These geologists compared the Dakota group flora, the
Laramie group flora, and all the higher floras of the United
States with those of the Miocene of Europe and of the Tertiary
of the polar regions. They laid great stress on the fact that
species were found in these formations which could not be dis-
tinguished from American species, or which could scarcely be so
distinguished. Such an argument is of little value in view of the
immense magnitude of the Tertiary floras considered. The Ter-
tiary flora of Europe embraces elements of antecedent floras, and
it is so well preserved that the number of these pre-Tertiary
forms, holding over into the Tertiary, is far greater than the
number of pre-Tertiary forms that have thus far been found in
lower formations, which have yielded comparatively few plants
A comparison, therefore, of the American Laramie group, for
example, with the European Tertiary alone without considering
the European Cretaceous flora, and without noting this continu-
ance of Cretaceous types into Tertiary time, proved to be ex-
tremely misleading, and resulted in the general impression, which
still prevails in Europe, that our Laramie group is of Tertiary
age. Perceiving this fallacy | was the first, and so far as | know,
am the only one, to attempt an enumeration of the Cretaceous
species of fossil plants with a view to their comparison with those
of the Laramie group of the United States. *
The system which I have just described obviates this fallacy.
*Synopsis of the Flora of the Laramie Group. Sixth Ann. Rept. of
the U.S. Geol, Surv., pp. 445-514.
46 The American Geologist. January, 1892
In fact it makes a comparison of the forms determined with those
of all the formations in which any of its species occur, In rea-
soning with regard to it, therefore, one is constantly checked in
considering any particular horizon, by the facts relating to the
horizons both above and below. For example, in treating the
Triassic flora in the numerical table last described, if one’s atten-
tion were confined either to the Oolite or to the Lias, one might
conclude that either of these formations was near to the one to be
determined. But dropping the eye down the column to the Rhetie
it is observed that a considerably larger percentage of the same
species, both identical and related, occur in this. So great was
this similarity that Professor Fontaine decided that this must
represent the nearest approach in geologic age to the Richmond
coalfield. But the subsequent researches of Stur, with which
Professor Fontaine was, of course, unacquainted, in the Keuper
formation of Lunz, in Austria, and in the Keuper floras of
Europe of nearly the same age, especially those of Raibl in
Carinthia, and of Neue Welt in Switzerland, have shown that the
Keuper flora of Europe, although much less abundant, contains a
larger number of American Triassic forms than does the Rhetic
flora of Franconia, South Sweden, Brunswick, ete. So that al-
though only a very few American forms occur at any horizon
lower than these, nevertheless we seem compelled to conclude
that this Upper Keuper horizon of Lunz, Austria, comes nearer
to that of the American plant-bearing Triassic deposits than does
any other in the world.
Now the question may arise whether all this really proves any-
thing. Where two floras as old as the Trias and as widely sepa-
rated as Austria and Virginia are found to agree so remarkably
in the forms they contain, is it legitimate to conclude that the age
of the one was the same as that of the other? Certainly not.
And yet, if facts like this do not prove that there existed an
epoch on both sides of the Atlantic, which to all intents and pur-
poses may be regarded as simultaneous, then all paleontologic
data are without value. The fact to be borne in mind is that the
correlation established by such data is homotactic and not neces-
sarily chronologic. Reasons may exist why the same types may
have come upon the stage at a later or earlier period at one of
these localities than at the other. But of the nature of these
retardations or advancements we are without scientific explana-
Limestone Strauta.— Blake. AT
tion. What we possess is the general fact that a similar flora
once existed in two partsof the world very widely separated, and
until some other facts are discovered which complicate and vitiate
such a conclusion, it is both safe and useful for the geologist to
regard the two deposits as belonging to the same geologic age.
There are certain limitations within which this must be true, and
when these limitations are recognized the paleontologist may as
safely draw his conclusions as he could before the law of homo-
taxis had been formulated.
Age or FHE LIMESTONE STRATA OF DEEP
CREEK, UTAH, AND THE OCCURRENCE
OF GOLD IN THE CRYSTALLINE POR-
TIONS OF THE FORMATION.
By WitiraM P. Biake, Shullsburg, Wis.
The Deep Creek region, so called, lies along the western border
of Utah territory and nearly southwest of the Great Salt lake.
It borders upon the state of Nevada, and has lately been brought
into prominence by reason of the development of deposits of
argentiferous lead ores and of auriferous copper ores. The pre-
vailing formations are granite and limestone. The limestone is
largely developed, and forms ranges of hills and mountains of
considerable extent, trending generally in a northerly and
southerly direction, parallel with the ranges of Tintic and of the
southern end of Salt lake. The principal range, known as the
Ibapah, forms the eastern side of Deep Creek valley. Ibapah
mountain, the highest peak of the range, is said to be the
highest mountain in Utah; higher even than any of the grand
mountain masses of the Wahsatch, not excepting Mt. Nebo.
Ibapah is flanked on the north by massive strata of limestone,
which in some places, notably at Gold Hill, are much uplifted
and metamorphosed apparently by intrusions of granitic and
porphyritic dykes, the alteration consisting in loss of color (the
ordinary grayish-blue color being changed to white), a coarse
crystallization, and the formation of a variety of silicates, such
as garnet, tremolite and tourmaline, especially near the planes of
,
48 The American Geologist. January, 1892
contact with the dykes. There is also more or less mineralization
in places, either in the form of vein-like beds, or in isolated
patches and bunches at a considerable distance from any erystal-
line rock—hbut not outside of the crystalline and whitened por-
ly
tions of the limestone. his last observation applies particularly
to some of the copper ores found in the midst of the limestone
existing primarily as the variegated sulphuret—erubescite. These.
ore nodules have decomposed and have formed green carbonate of
copper, which stains the rock for a considerable distance around
and beyond the original nodule, or bunch, of sulphide. In such
places free gold of high grade may be found by crushing and
washing the rock. This noble metal occurs also independently
of any cupriferous mineralization in the midst of masses of
colorless tremolite, in coarse grains and strings in very much the-
same form in which it is found in other regions ramifying through
quartz. This is an unusual and unique association of gold.
It has been found, but rarely, in close association with greenish
black hornblende in veins composed partly of quartz and partly
of dolomite, but never before, to my knowledge, in white tremo-
lite. This tremolite carries, also, some small disseminated erys-
tals of iron pyrites.
The limestone in which the gold occurs appears to be the Lower
Carboniferous, or Mountain limestone, as shown by an abundance
of fossils, chiefly of the genus Productus, founda short distance
vast of Gold Hill.
From the fact that coarse gold in placer deposits has been
found at Osceola and its vicinity, nearly south of the [bapah
mountain, it would appear that there is a gold region extending
north and south near the Nevada and Utah line, and that the
placers were formed during the period of great precipitatiom or
rainfall which preceded the present era of gradual dessication
At the place where gold is now taken from heavy deposits of
boulders and gravel, the flow of water is wholly inadequate to the
formation of such deposits. Probably the deposits were formed
during the great glacial epoch of which there are such magnificent
records in the Sierra Nevada, and the Wahsatch as well as in the
ancient beaches of lake Bonneville. A good supply of water,
even for ordinary purposes, is now one of the greatest needs of
the Deep Creek region.
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
ARCHEAN ERUPTIVE ROCKS OF FINNLAND.
Studien ueber achaische Hruptivgesteine aus dem sud westlichen Finnland.
yon J.J. SEDERHOLM. (Minerulog. und petrogr. Mitth. XIT, 1891.
This paper is an interesting and clear statement of the results
of detailed geological and petrographical.studies, in a field whose
general features have already been described and mapped by Dr.
Sederholm, in the Swedish language.
The Archean age of the rocks investigated is determined by
the geological condition which obtains generally throughout very
extensive regions in Finnland, viz: that the Cambrian and Silurian
rocks are found constantly in a perfectly horizontal and undis-
turbed attitude, while the underlying pre-Cambrian have been
much folded and altered. In the field described by Dr. Seder-
holm the immediate superposition of the Cambrian is not ob-
served, but the rocks he treats of are identical petrographically
and in the conditions of their occurrence, disturbance and altera-
tion with rocks the pre-Cambrian age of which is demon-
strated; so that he infers them to have been in existence prior
to the great epochs of disturbance and erosion, which antedated
the Cambrian in this part of Kurope, and hence Archeean.
Among the different formations which the author recognizes
and describes may be mentioned first a series of phyllites, mica
schists and hornblende schists, all of which appear to be altered
sedimentary rocks. These altered sedimentary formations are
surrounded by granite rocks, which penetrate them in innumer-
able dykes and veins, both transverse and parallel to the planes of
schistosity. Fora-portion of these granites the term ‘‘Adergueiss”’
is used as descriptive of its intimate interveining with the schists.
Occurring in extensive masses there are two chief varieties of
granites of quite different age, viz: (1). A gray granite, rich in
plagioclase and having generally hornblende as a constituent.
This possesses often such a well marked parallel structure that it is
commonly alluded to as gneiss. This parallel structure is held to
be a pressure effect. In the midst of this granite there occur
masses of basic rocks sometimes several kilometers in extent, but
generally much smaller. These pass by gradations into the envel-
oping granite, and are held to be more basic separations or seere-
50 The American Geologist. January, 1892
tions from the same magma. These basic masses are now in part
much altered, but they may be classed with the d/orites. gabbros
and peridotites. This gray granite formation is shewn to cover
a much more extensive area than the schists, and it is held to
constitute a geological unit and to be younger than the schists
with which it is in contact.
(2.) A reddish granite with garnets The feldspar is chiefly
microcline, which is often in part intergrown with quartz in the
manner of pegmatite. The mica is chiefly and sometimes exclu-
sively muscovite. The coarser varieties of this muscovite gran-
ite pass into pegmatite. This red granite is younger than the
gray granite. The red granite also shews very commonly a
parallel structure, but this cannot be ascribed so definitely to.
pressure effects as in the case of the older granite, but it is rather
to be referred to some primary condition. Associated with these
formations there is in the middle portion of the region examined
a long belt, varying in width from two to seven kilometers,
composed of fine grained rocks rich in hornblende, of which the
most typical variety possesses a well marked porphyritic structure,
and is known as wrulitporphyrite. There are some minor varieties
referred to, as melaphyre, plagioclase porphyrite, and amygdaloid,
which are genetically allied to the typical uralitporphyrite. Out-
side of this belt there are other occurrences, but of limited extent.
Notwithstanding the great alteration which these rocks have under-
gone, it is possible to recognize their original characters. They
constitute a series which accords perfectly with some of the
younger volcanic rocks. The occurrence of vesicles, of rocks
which were originally glassy, and of tuffs and other volcanic
ejectamenta is proof of the fact that for the development of these
great eruptive formations there must have been a true voleanic
activity. There was first an eruption of a comparatively acid
magma, which solidified as a highly feldspathic andesite. There
was at the same time, however, also a basic magma produced,
from which arose melaphyre and plagioclase porphyrite. The
cause of the metamorphism of these rocks is sought for in the
strong mountain folding which occurred in pre-Cambrian time.
By this agency the eruptive formations buried deep in the crust
were folded together and altered apparently under the influence
of solution. The relative age of these various geological forma-
tions is determined by the following facts: The wralite porphyrite
kditorial Comment. 51
formation is found in contact with the gray granite and the dio-
ritic rocks genetically associated with it; it is also found in con-
tact with the schists and with the red granite. From a critical
study of these various contacts it is evident that the uralite por-
phyrite formation is younger than the gray granite and the schists,
but older than the red granite. Since the gray granite pierces
the schists the latter are the oldest formation. The sequence of
formations in order of relative age is therefore as follows:
1. Phyllites and schists.
2. Gray granite and associated diorites.
3. Uralite porphyrite and associated rocks.
4. Younger red granite.
At the time of the extravasation of the uralite porphyrite
the schistose rocks had already been folded, and so deeply eroded
that the underlying granitic masses were exposed. — It is probable,
however, from the fact that the uralite porphyrite sheets are so
often found in contact with the schists and phyllites, that the lat-
ter were not extensively or completely folded up at the time of
the outflow of the voleanic rocks, and that a great portion of the
disturbance was effected after that event so that the porphyrites
were effected by it. .
The red granite traverses the uralite porphyrite in numerous
places, but the contact metamorphism is insignificant, and the
alteration of the volcanic rock is, as above stated, ascribed
rather to agencies attendant upon crust crumpling forces.
A perusal of the paper suggests some interesting points of
analogy with the geology of the somewhat similar regions of
Canada. For instance the horizontality of the Cambrian of Finn-
land is comparable with the flat undisturbed attitude of the
Animikie rocks of lake Superior. The absence of any observable
basement for the altered schistose sedimentary formations and
the occupancy of the place of that basement by an irruptive and
younger granite appears to be very analogous to the conditions
which obtain in central Canada, as observed by Dr. A. C. Lawson,
in British Columbia as described by Dr. G. M. Dawson, and in
Nova Scotia as inferred from the descriptions of Mr. Faribault.
The gneissic character of the irruptive granites is also another
feature which the rocks of Finnland and Canada have in common.
And the establishment of the existence of true voleanie rocks,
though much altered, in the Archean of Finnland is in harmony
52 The American Geologist. January, 1892
with the conclusions which have been reached regarding the char-
acter of many of the rocks of the Keewatin (Archean) group in
the region northwest of lake Superior.
EARLIEST MAN IN AMERICA,
The AmeERICAN GxEoLoGIstT, Vol. VIII, p. 180, September,
1891, and the American Naturalist, Vol. XXYV., pp. 991 and
1054, November, 1891, note the important additions that have
been made to our knowledge of ancestral human types by the
discoveries of MM. Lohest and Fraipont, of Liége, Belgium.
These discoveries, together with similar discoveries at Canstadt
and elsewhere in Europe, establish the fact that the anomalous
cranium, known as the Neanderthalskull, which has been discussed
with more or less energy since 1857, represents a race of men
once widely distributed throughout Europe, and not, as has been
over and over again suggested, a mere individual peculiarity.
The object of this-note is not to discuss these discoveries, but
to point out the fact that America was once occupied by a race of
low-browed men, that were in all respects as degraded as the men
of Neanderthal or Canstadt.
Dr. J. W. Foster* was among the first to call attention to the
fact that tumuli in the Mississippi valley furnished crania char-
acterized by great development of the supra-orbital ridges, low,
retreating forehead, and zygomatic arches projecting beyond the
general contour of the face. The skull from ‘‘Kennicott’s
mound,” near Chicago,7 had it been found in Kurope, would be
regarded as a fairly typical cranium of the Neanderthal or Can-
stadt race. A cranium from the region of Dubuque, Lowa, is
equally as flat and as destitute of forehead as the famous Nean-
derthal skull. Dr. Lapham, speaking of the peculiarities of two
skulls preserved at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, refers in particular to
the ‘low forehead, prominent superciliary ridges, the zygomatic
arches swelling out beyond the walls of the skull, and especially
the prominence of the occipital ridge. ”’t
Four crania exhumed and described by Mr. C. L. Webster be-
long to the same degraded type. One of these from near Floyd,
Towa, is figured in the American Naturalist, Vol. XXII, Plate
*Pre-historic Races, Chap. VIII.
tFoster’s Pre-historic Races, p. 280.
{Private correspondence of Dr. Lapham quoted by Foster. Pre-his-
toric Races, p. 290. .
ee; Editorial Comment. 53
VIII, Figs. 1 and 2. Three others were from Old Chickasaw,
Iowa, and are referred to on page 650, of same volume of the
Naturalist. Mr. M. W. Davis, of Iowa City, Iowa, has a cranium
taken from a mound in Johnson county, which exhibits many of
the same racial characteristics. Skulls of the same type are known
from Indiana. In fact a low-browed, ape-like race of men was as
fully developed and as widely distributed in America as in Europe.
There is reason also to believe that man was present in America
at as early a period as the first record of his appearance in Europe.
The arrow points found by professor Aughey in undisturbed beds
of Loéss* at different points in Nebraska and lowa, attest the
presence of man in the Missouri valley in close proximity to the
edge of the retreating glaciers. The human implements found in
the Lquus beds of the basin region indicate the presence of man in
Nevada about the time he made his appearance in lowaand Nebraska.
The early low-browed American had for contemporaries an as-
semblage of animals similar to those with which the Neanderthal
man was associated. The Lyuus beds contain remains of two or
three extinct horses, an elephant similar to the hairy elephant of
Quaternary Europe, a musk-ox, Ovibos cavifrons Leidy, and
others for which see the writings of Cope,t Russellf and Gilbert. 2
Some recent discoveries in South America point to a race even
more ancestral than that indicated by the flat crania of the
Mississippi valley. The question may now arise whether man did
not originate on the American continent. The eastern continent
received its horses and camels from America; why may it not
also have received from the same source its earliest stock of flat-
skulled men?
COMPANIONS OF EOZOON.
The constant recession of the beginning of life to lower and
lower horizons, is like the constant retreat of the rainbow before
the boy who follows it in the hope of finding the promised pot of
gold. Most geologists of middle life can recall the time when
the lowest fossiliferous strata were those lying about the base of
the Ordovician or Lower Silurian system. Below this was a chaos,
*Hayden’s Annual Rept. of the U. S. Geol. & Geog. Survey of the
Territories for 1874. Washington, 1876. p. 250.
tBulletin U.S. Geol. & Geog. Survey of the Territories. Vol. V. p. 48.
Am. Naturalist, Vol. XVI. p. 194.
{Fourth Ann. Rept. U. 8. Geol. Survey, p. 460.
SLake Bonneville, U.S. Geol. Survey. Monographs, I. p. 394,
54 The American Geologist. January, 1892
not indeed without fossils but in which fossils were exceedingly
scarce.
Now, however, the immense Cambrian system has been erected
in this chaotic region with its three divisions, each holding a
characteristic fauna, and geologists are venturing on yet farther
conquests in the same direction. The vast Pre-Cambrian masses
intervening between the Cambrian and the true Archzean are be-
coming more and more a field for careful investigation, and slowly
we are finding traces of forms of lowly life that inhabited the an-
cient seas wherein those rocks were formed.
Behind these zons of Pre-Cambrian time lie the Archzean ages,
and even these are not too old to yield traces of life. For thirty
years has the spectral Hozoon canadense stood before the world as
u paleontologic problem; on one hand stoutly defended by its
foster father, Sir William Dawson, and a few faithful friends, and
on the other attacked by almost all other students of the Foramini-
fera. In the report of Dr. Frazer to the International Congress
in 1888, as given in this magazine for September of that year,
are the opinions of fourteen geologists, of whom only three, Daw-
son, Hunt and Walcott, pronounced in its favor.
It is scarcely possible to doubt that not a few of these were in-
fluenced against Kozoon by its loneliness. Standing solitary as
the single relic of the life of the dim and distant Archeean, it was
surrounded with a haze that no geological telescope could entirely
pierce. For this reason it was exposed, and naturally so, to sus-
picion that would not have been felt had other organisms of
similar date been known or even suspected.
From this point of view some of the recent work of Canadian
geologists is of very great interest. In his address as president
of the Natural History Society, of New Brunswick, Mr. G. F.,
Matthew has reported some remarkable discoveries among the
Archean rocks of Canada, After noticing several connected
matters, Mr. Matthew says:
“It is with pleasure that I am able to call your attention to the
existence, in your neighborhood, of remains of organic forms of
an antiquity far antedating the Cambrian age,
“As we have at St. John a definite base to the Cambrian sys-
tem, and since these basal rocks carry the very oldest Cambrian
fauna known, we are sure of the greater antiquity of the organic
forms to which IT refer.
‘
—
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 55
‘The rocks have been described in the reports of the geological
survey of Canada, as the ‘‘Upper Series” of the Laurentian area,
and in this the fossils to which I refer have been found.”
In a subsequent paper read before the same society, Mr. Mat-
thew described these organisms. The first which he has named
Archwozoon acadiense is, he says, more nearly related to the
Cryptozoon of Prof. Hall than to Kozoon, but differs from both.
Jo the naked eye it resembles pieces of fossil wood, and it occurs
in immense numbers in a reef of limestone.
Again in a later paper Mr. Matthew describes some other forms.
One is Cyathospongia? eozoica and consists of parallel and forked
spicules crossed by others at right angles ornearly so. The other
is Halichondrites graphitiferus, also a sponge, the spicules of
which occur in immense numbers on the surface of the graphitic
shales of the Upper Laurentian rocks of St. John, N. B.
The importance and interest of these venerable fossils it is diffi-
cult to overestimate. ‘If sponges and Foraninifera have come
down to us from the Upper Laurentian rocks there is less reason
to be sceptical regarding the organic nature of Eozoon, if the
Archzean seas were tenanted by such creatures we may yet hope
one day to have a fauna and flora of reasonable abundance from
these old and crystalline limestones and their metamorphosed
shales. We can no longer say that Eozoon stands alone a soli-
tary relic, and scepticism on this ground has no longer any logical
standing-place.
There remains, however, still unsettled the question of the
age of this ‘‘Upper Laurentian,” or so called Archean. Recent
studies in the ‘‘Archzean” in the United States have shown that
much of the limestone and quartzite, which by geologists thirty
and forty years ago, were placed in the ‘Laurentian,’ or more
frequently in the ‘‘Upper Laurentian,” belong in the primordial
zone. ‘This evidence is not only stratigraphic, but is also pal-
eontologic. On this recourse the opponents of the Kozoon may
still object to its Archean age, if not to its assumed organic
origin.
REVIEW OF RECENT GEOLOGICAL
LV RA eer:
Geological Survey of Missour?. Anruur WINSLOW, state geologist.
Bulletin No. 5 contains: The age and origin of the crystalline rocks of
Missouri, Erasmus Haworrnu, and Notes on the clays and building-stones
56 The American Geologist. January, 1892
of certain western-central counties tributary to Kansas City, G. E, Lapp.
Mr. Haworth apparently reverses at once the prevalent idea of the origin
of the crystalline rocks ofMissouri. Formerly Prof. Pumpelly had repre-
sented them as largely or wholly derived from sediments, and Swallow
had only admitted the granites and the porphyries to be eruptive. Mr.
Haworth notes in the field the following evidences of their eruptive
origin, (1) absence of true bedding, (2) flow and banded structure and
lithophysve, (8) breccia, (4) scoria and amygdalcids, (5) tuffs, (6) absence
of gradation of crystalline into non-crystalline rock. The petrographic
evidence he discusses under the following divisions, (1) texture of the
ground mass in the porphyries and breccias, (2) flow structure in the
porphyries and breccias, (3) broken crystals due to flowage of the lava
after the crystals were formed, (4) Magmatic corrosion of porphyritic
crystals and of fragments in the breccia, (5) amygdaloids, (6) absence of
metamorphic minerals.
The rocks, taken together, he accepts as “Archean,” but he does not
define Archean. When it be remembered that “Archean” has been made,
very generally, until quite recently, to embrace all crystalline rocks below
the Lower Silurian, but that there is a complex of primordial crystallines,
as lately demonstrated in Minnesota and New Jersey, which has an im-
portant bearing on the limits of the true Archean, it would have been
wellif Mr. Haworth had gone a step further, if possible, and indicated
whether it is not likely that the crystalline rocks about Pilot Knob belong
to the crystallines of Taconic age. Their lithology seems to exclude
them from the true Archean, and to point to the Labradorian, or erup-
tive age of the Taconic.
Descriptions of Four New Species of Fossils from the Silurian Rocks of
The Southeastern, Portion of the District af) Baskatchenan, By asain
Wurrkaves. This small pamphlet of ten pages and one plate is re-
printed from 7’he Canadian Record of Science. April, 1891. The fossils
described were discovered by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell while making explora-
tions for the Geological Survey of Canada. The localities are on Cedar
lake and on the Saskatchewan river below Cedar lake. The horizon is
Upper Silurian. The species are Strophomena acanthoptera, Pentamerus
decussatus, Gomphoceras parvulum, and Acidaspis perarmata.
Contributions to Canadian Micro-paleontology. Part Ill. By Pror., T.
RureErt Jonsgs, F. R.S., F. G.S. The sub-title of this paper, Ov some
Ostracoda from the Cambro-Silurian, Silurian and Devonian Rocks, fully
expresses its scope and object. There are forty-one pages of text and
four plates.
Laboratory Practice, « series of experiments on the fundamental principles
of chemistry. A companion volume to“The New Chemistry.” By Jostan
Parsons Cooke, LL.D. 12 mo, 192 pp., 1891, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
This little book is what it purports to be; the chemical principles are
demonstrated by simple experiments, and during their performance
exact observation and careful noting of all phenomena are inculcated.
There are first several experiments with water, demonstrating its density,
expansion by heat and by freezing, its distillation, conductivity of heat,
.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 5T
its latent heat, its conversion to steam, its solvent power and its action
as a chemical agent and compound. Air is then taken as an example
of aériform matter, and the student is put through various experiments,
under the guidance of an instructor to show the weight of air, its relation.
of volume to pressure (Law of Mariotte), its eXpansion, and tension in
relation to heat and to its content of aqueous vapor. Oxygen, hydrogen,
sulphur and indeed all the common elements are thus analyzed, together’
with their combinations, their properties discovered, or demonstrated,
and made familiar by repeated operations and accompanying questions.
which present the substances in different lights. Thus all the funda-
mental principles also of molecular and atomic weights and their calcu-
lation are illustrated. This leads on to chemical symbols and notation
and quantivalent expressions. The beginner who conscientiously pur-
sues the course marked out cannot fail to become grounded thoroughly
in the fundamental principles of chemistry, and he must conceive a sin-
cere love for the science and a reverence for the constancy of nature’s.
laws, if not for the simplicity with which they may be demonstrated.
Report on the geology of the four counties, Union, Snyder, Mifflin and
Juniata, with descriptions of the fossil ore mines, Marcellus carbonate
ore mines, Oriskany glass sand mines and Lewistown limestone quarries;
illustrated by two colored geological maps. E. V. D’INviniiERs. Re-
port F,, of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania; a report of
progress, 420 pp., 1888-1889. Harrisburg, 1891.
This adds another valuable number to that large series of publications
devoted to the detailed description of the counties of Pennsylvania.
The accompanying maps show that the area described is one of the
most complicated in the Appalachian region of the state. Mr. D’Invil-
liers has wrought patiently and well, and has put his results simply yet
clearly and compactly into print. The volume will bear with important
testimony on the correlations which yet have to be made of the forma-
tions of the state, whether between those of New York or Virginia and
those of Pennsylvania, or those of Pennsylvania within the limits of
Pennsylvania. It is an important and a great service yet due to geology
in America, that the elaborate survey that has been carried on in Penn-
sylvania for so many years under Dr. Lesley, shall be rounded out with a
final report, showing some symmetry and general conclusions. The re-
ports printed otherwise will fail of much of the good which their cost
seems to warrant us to expect from them. We judge from Mr. Lesley’s
letter of transmittal that such a report is in preparation.
On some new fishes from South Dakota. FE. D. Cork (Am. Naturalist,
July, 1891, pp. 654-58). Five new species are described, G.phyrura con-
centrica,? Sardinius blackburnti, Proballostomus longulus, Oligoplarchus
squamipinnis and Mioplosus multidentatus. Mr. Cove regards their
characters sufficient to exclude them from the Cretaceous. Their age is.
Cenozoic, but whether Eocene or Neocene is uncertain. The rock is soft
and chalky, and the fossils are from the Ree hills.
Onanew horizon in the St. John Group. G. FE. Marrnew (Canadian
58 The American Geologist. January, 1892
Record of Science, Oct., 1891, pp. 139-43). By the aid of Mr. G. Stead,
Prof. Matthews has found, on Navy island, in St. John harbour, abun-
dant specimens of Dictyonema flabelliforme, in black shales of Division
three (Bretonian) of his St. John group. The Tremadoc fauna, however,
which is near the same horizon, is thought not to be on the island, but to
the north of it, in the channel of St. John river. Associated with Dicty-
onema he found also the brachiopods Obolus, somewhat like O. apollonis,
Obolella, Linnarssonia and a Lingula or Linguella.
The Story of the Hills, a book about mountains for general readers. Rev.
H. N. Hurcurnson, 12mo, pp. 357, Macmillan & Co., New York and Lon-
don, 1892. Although this is a popular work it is based on a thorough
knowledge of the geology of the subject. It illustrates how vastly the
popular science of the day is improved over that of a century ago. In-
deed the work here put forth as adapted to general readers would have
been welcomed then as an addition to technical, or at least to philosoph
ical geology. It embodies in a pleasant style much of the philosophy of
the formation, age, erosion and uses of mountains, volcanoes, glaciers,
sedimentation, pressure and upheaval.
Correlation Papers of the U. S. Geological Survey ; Devonian and Carbon-
iferous. H.S. Wii11aMs, Bulletin No. 80, Washington, 1891.
In his consideration of the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks profes-
sor Williams discusses several problems connected with the subject,
after he has given a general review of the literature. He examines in
considerable detail the state of opinion regarding classification and
nomenclature from the beginning of the century up to 1851. The Wer-
nerian system, based upon mineralogical characters, long retarded the
advance of geological knowledge, and it was only after the completion
of the report of the geological survey of New York that the science
advanced with any rapidity. The New York geologists, following
the methods of Sedgwick and Murchison, finally gave to the world the
““New York system,” which, although somewhat defective, established
a standard for the rocks of this country.
Prof. Williams advocates the separation of the study of the geologist
and the paleontologist; he believes the work of the former should be
to carefully observe the characters of the formations, describe their
various features, preserve their fossils and so arrange his observations
that “distinct association will be found in the name applied to each
formation with the observations actually made in the field. The refer-
erence,” he says, “of each particular formation to a place in some stand-
ard scale should not be made without careful study. This careful study
cannot be made independently of the fossils, for fossiliferous rocks, and
in order that the paleonto'ogist may make his studies without prejudice,
the names of the formations, their localities, and their petrographic
characters should be described and recorded, quite independently of the
fossils which they contain.” (p 55.)
The use of the term “ New York system” is argued against inasmuch
as it is considered an imperfect division of geological time. He advo-
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 59
cates the addition of the Coal Measures of Pennsylvania, and then a
natural group of the first order would be produced, nearly equal to the
Paleozoic era. “Were we to adopt for this grand terrane the name Appa-
lachian group, we should have a properly constituted name for an actual,
existing geologic group, free from theory, and its use would probably
assist in the progress of science.” (p 60.) He would discard certain
lithological names still used in classifications, as age can never be de-
termined by lithological characters. “It can be indicated only by that
which changes with time under the influence of some definite law,
and fossils alone have this value.”
In addition to his disbelief in the value of lithological features in
determining the age of rocks, Prof. Williams has but little faith in what
is called “persistent parallelism of strata,” without the aid of fossils. He
points out several erroneous correlations made by this “parallelism.”
One of these was by Hall who, claiming he had traced the rocks step by
step from New York to the Mississippi valley, stated that the Waverly
sandstone of Ohio was the same as the Chemung and Portage groups of
New York. (p. 63.) Other mistakes were made by the geologists of the
Second Pennsylvania Survey, who, assuming an average direction and
rate of dip, identified formations by their altitude. The outcrops were
followed from ravine to ravine or from quarry to quarry, and though the
same method was pursued by both Mr. White and Mr. Carll, when the
correlations reached Chautauqua county it was found that Mr.White cor
related the Panama conglomerate with the third oil sand of Venango
county, while Carll placed it entirely below the Venango oil group. Prof
Williams says:
“The fact seems to be, as we review the records of the survey, that the
data of lithologic character of rocks and of thickness of the deposits
were so constantly variable that the ‘theory of persistent parallelism of
strata’ was little more than a theory, the exceptions to which were as
numerous as the illustrations. It was a cut-and-try system of match
ing together innumerable sections made up of irregular combinations
of shales, sandstones, conglomerates, and limestones of various color,
thickness, and texture. Whenever the gaps were over a mile or two
long the adjustment of the theoretical dip, a few feet more or less to the
mile, would enable the parallelism to fit any particular stratum in a
given section. The fact that those who showed evidence of having
noted the fossils, although they may not have identified them, were
invariably nearer right than those who neglected them, strengthens the
belief that the fossils, even in this case, were the most valuable means of
-correlation.” (pp 111-112.)
Among the various problems discussed we find the differentiation of
the Carboniferous system: the Coal Measures or Pennsylvanian series:
the Lower Carboniferous of the Appalachians and of the Mississippi
valley: the Chemung-Catskill problem: the Waverly problem: and the
Permian problem. The use of the name “Carboniferous” is considered
unfortunate, and Prof. Williams advocates its abandonment in favor of
the “Pennine system,” inasmuch as it is in the Pennine chain of hills
60 Js he American Geol Og ist. January, 1892"
that the typical Carboniferous section is found. (p. 81.) The limits of
the system here are well defined both above and below, but in other
places it shades off into the Devonian below or the Permian above. In
these cases an arbitrary line must be drawn to indicate the limits of each..
Again in the discussion of the Lower Carboniferous strata of the
Mississippi valley, it is proposed to use the term Mississippian series in
place of the old name Subcarboniferous, upon the ground that the old
name is inappropriate, and was ‘introduced as an expression of confus-
ion and dissatisfaction with the correlations attempted.” (p. 142.) This
is a slight modification of the late Dr. Winchell’s term Mississippi, ap-
plied by himto the same series of strata. American geologists have
not hitherto fallen in with the recommendation, and they may be slow
to follow Prof. Williams in both of these proposed changes. The
scheme proposed for the Subcarboniferous rocks of the Mississippi
valley is as follows:
ee { Chester.
Genevieve Group..~ St. Louis.
| Warsaw (in part).
MISSISSIPPIAN
t Series. | Osage Group.......
| Subcarboniferous. | }
) Keokuk.
| Burlington.
j Chouteau lime-stone and the **Verm-
Chouteau Group...- icular” and “Lithographic” formations
| ( of Broadhead.
In the chapter on the Permian problem the conclusion is reached that
as far as the strata of Kansas and Nebraska are concerned there is no
Permian system, the passage from the Coal Measures being gradual and
not abrupt. The application of the term is here considered purely artific-
ial, and induced by those who sought to force a correlation between the
rocks of Europe and America. As for the Permian ranking asa separate
system he says it is still an open question, “and bids fair to continue so:
until a natural method of classification for the time-scale be devised,
which shall be independent of the lithologic character of the rocks.” (p.
209.)
The general remarks and conclusions are well worthy of careful pe-
rusal. That to paleontology is given the first place in all correlations is.
evident throughout the work. We have already shown his opinion of
the theory of “persistent parallelism of strata” and it is reiterated on page
263. Here, also, he refers to the value of fossils, correlations by their
aid being based upon actual evidence, which can be corrected by a criti-
cal review; while the particular form of any organic structure is consid-
ered determined by heredity and environment. “Hence we may deduce
the law that, given the locality and the conditions of environment, the
fossil has in itself the evidence of its geologic age.” (p. 263.) In the
Mississippian province he advocates a structural and a time scale of for-
mations. From the first point of view there should be an increase in the
number of formations; while from the paleontological standpoint the
classification is too minute and the number of formation should be re-
duced.
A new feature is introduced in the consideration of geographical
features as modifying geological classification, but it is not elaborated to
=—— oa
Recent Publications. 61
anyextent. It having been demonstrated that classification cannot be
based upon the uniformity of lithological constitution, and that uni-.
formity of stratigraphy cannot be relied upon for correlations “the
modern school of paleontologists are demonstrating the fact that the
divisional lines marking the biologic or time scale do not correspond to
those of the structural or stratigraphic scale, but are determined by in-
dependent factors. In the classification of rock furmations the character
of the formations should receive chief consideration, but the particular
geologic period in which the sediments are deposited has practically no
relation to the nature of the sediments or their amount or their physical
arrangement as geologic deposits. It is, hence, a grave question
whether the development of our science does not demand that geo-
graphic factors should take precedence of time factors in all classi-
fications of geologic formations.” (p. 267.)
The standpoint of the new school of paleontologists of which professor
Williams is an able exponent, is summed up in the concluding para-
graph of the Bulletin. According to the Darwinian idea of species, as
opposed to the Cuverian, “the modification of organic form is conceived
as not an arbitrary matter, but as correlated with difference of envi-
ronment and of genetic relationship, so that the lesser variations of
specific form are of as great value to the modern paleontologist for pur-
poses of correlation as is the identity of species. Comparison of allied
species in the same genus exhibits to him the rate and direction of
modification taking place in the genetic history of the genus, and in the
plastic or variable characters he finds a sensitive indicator of the stage
of development attained by the race when the particular individual lived.
Biological study shows him that the fossils must contain intrinsic
evidence of their geologic age independent of the formations in which
they were buried,and his chief work is to learn what this evidence is and
how to interpret it. To such evidence the final appeal must be made in
all cases of the correlation of geologic formations.” (p 269.)
Taken as a whole the Bulietin under review cannot but be regarded
as a valuable contribution to the philosophy of geology; and while some
of the conclusions of the author may not meet with the approval of
all, they at least merit consideration. Some portions of the volume show
signs of haste in preparation; and it would have been a valuable addi-
tion had there been given a list of the books and papers consulted or re-
ferred to in the course of preparation of the Bulletin.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
I. State and Government Reports.
Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas, 1888. Vol. IV.
Part I. Geology of Washington County; Part IT. List of the Plants of
Arkansas.
Ditto, 1890. Vol. I. Manganese: Its Uses, Ores, and Deposits. By
R. A. F. Penrose, Jr.
62 The American Geologist. January, 1892
Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Can-
ada. Vol. IV. (N. 5.) 1888-89.
Il. Proceedings of Setentifie Societies.
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
1891. Part II, April-August, contains: Echinoderms and Arthropods
from Japan, by J. E. Ives; Notice of Some Entozoa, by Joseph Leidy;
Note on Mesozoic Mammalia, by O. C. Marsh; Fossil Faunas in Central
Iowa, by Charles IR. Keyes; On Paramelaconite and the Associated
Minerals, by G. A. Koenig; Echinoderms from the Bahama Islands, by
J. E. Ives; Memoir of Joseph Leidy, by H. C. Chapman; Mollusca from
Nantucket, Mass., by H. A. Pilsbry; Geological Features of the Meteoric
Tron Locality in Arizona, by A. E. Foote.
III. Papers in Scéentifie Journals.
Am. Jour. Sci -tug. Vo. contains: Some features of the non-voleanic
ejections as illustrated in the four “rocks” ofthe New Haven region,
West Rock, Pine Rock, Mill Rock and East Rock, James D. Dana;
Notes of a Reconnaissance of the Onachita mountain system in In-
dian Territory, Robt. T. Hill; Note on the asphaltum of Utah and Colo-
rado, by Geo. H. Stone; A gold-bearing hot spring deposit, Walter H.
Weed; Restoration of Stegosaurus, O. C. Marsh.
Sept. No. contains: Pleistocene fluvial planes of western Penn'syl-
vania, Frank Leverett; Genesis of iron ores by Isomorphous and Pseud-
omorphous replacement of Limestone, etc., James P. Kimball; Constitu-
tion of certain micas, vermiculites and chlorites, Clarke and Schneider.
A further note on the age of the Orange Sands, R. D. Salisbury; Note on
the causes of the variations of the magnetic needle, Frank H. Bigelow;
Notice of new vertebrate fossils, O. C. Marsh.
Geol. Mag. August No. contains: Glacial geology, G. W. Bulman; The
Pleistocene beds of Gozo, J. H. Cooke; On orthoceratites vaginatus Schloth.,
Arthur H. Foord; Physical studies of an ancient estuary, A. Irving: On
the British earthquakes of 1889, C. Davison; The age of the Himalayas,
W. T. Blanford. Scpt. Vo. contains: Restoration of Stegosaurus, O. C.
Marsh; The Scandinavian glacier and some inferences derived from it,
T. F. Jamison; Transverse valleys in the eastern Caucasus, Hjalmar
Sjogren; On the sands and gravels in the boulder-clay, G. W. Bulman; Re-
cent geological investigations in the Salt range, India, A. B. Wynne;
Rock specimens from Kimberly, Prof. Bonney and Miss C. A. Raisin,
with a note by 'T. Rupert Jones; Glacial mound in Glen Frain, Dugald
dell. Oct. No. contains: On the origin of concretions in magnesian
limestone, E. J. Garwood; Elevation of the American Cordillera, H. H.
Howorth; On the British earthquakes of 1890, C. Davison; On the lower
Greensand and Purbeck beds, P. B. Brodie; The lower Greensand or
Vectian in Dorset, A. J. Jukes-Browne; On color-bands in Waldhedinia
perforata, Edw. Wilson; Note on the Coniston Flags, W. M. Hutchins.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE MippLEToON FORMATION OF TENNESSEE, MIssIssippr AND ALA-
BAMA; WITH A NOTE ON THE FORMATIONS AT LAGRANGE, TENNESSEE.
The party of geologists, spoken of on page 403, Vol. VIII, of this jour-
nal, stopped in their travels, for a couple of days, at Oxford, the site of
the University of Mississippi. The chief object was to inspect the fos-
sil plants, collected in Mississippi and now in the museum of the Uni-
versity. While there, observing, with the other members of the party,
the many interesting specimens, I happened upon a lot of peculiar rock
fragments, containing casts of fossils, which had a very familiar look
and which I thought must have come from some one of certain locali-
ties in Tennessee. I at once called Dr. Hilgard’s attention to them.
“No,” he says, “they are from the Reeve’s locality in Tippah county of
this state, and from the ‘clay sandstone’ found there.” He then referred
us to page 112 of his “Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi,” where a
section of the rocks at Reeve’s is given. “The clay sandstone is No. 2 of
the section and from this the rock-fragments in question came.” Dr.
Eug. Smith, who was standing near, recalled the fact that the same rock
occurs in Alabama.
All this was a revelation to me. I had known the rock for many years
in Tennessee, and did not know of its occurrence elsewhere. With us,
it is found at a number of localities. One is on the Memphis & Charles-
ton railroad, at Middleton, in Hardeman county. An extensive outcrop
of the rock is seen along the Bolivar and Purdy dirt road. It begins
about eight miles from Bolivar and extends easterly two miles, or there-
abouts, and nearly to Wade’s creek. This is also in Hardeman county,
through which county, indeed, the formation outcrops in a belt running
north-northeasterly and south-southwesterly.
The rock referred to, is one of the most characteristic of a group of
layers. It is about two feet thick, a sort of conglomerate, consisting of
lumpy clay mixed with sand, and more or less consolidated into a bluish
gray mottled mass. It contains also green, glauconitic grains and casts
of fossils. Dr. Hilgard, in the section referred to, speaks of it as “clay-
sandstone, spotted blue and yellow, with green grain dots.” The fossils
he mentions as occurring in it are “Venericardia planicosta, Cardium
nicolleti? Trochus, Ostrea, etc.”
The particular rock described is one of a group, or formation, which
is evidently the lowest division of the Eocene of this region.
From the interest attached to this group and the very considerable
extension it proves to have, it deserves adistinct name. Drs. Hilgard and
Smith approving, I have named it the Middleton formation from the
name of the town where its outcrop is intersected by the Memphis and
Charleston railroad.
Immediately to the east of the formation, in Tennessee, lie the Cre-
taceous (Ripley) beds, while to the west are the Flatwoods (Porter's
64 The American Geologist. January, 1892
Creek) clays. The formation will be further considered and reported
upon hereafter.
Another place visited by the party mentioned above, was the noted
La Grange locality in Fayette county, Tennessee. Those of the party
visiting this point, in addition to the gentlemen already referred to,
were Messrs. McGee, Ward, Hill and Holmes. All were much interested
in the great display presented here. La Grange is located on the edge
of a high table-land. Immediately to the south of the town, this table-
land breaks away in a steep, bold escarpment down to the bottom-lands
of Wolf river. The washes along the old roads leading from the town
down the escarpment have displayed in grand sections the strata of the
region.
The Lafayette (Orange Sand) formation makes up by far most of the
slopes. At the base of the slopes, come in a group of laminated sands
and clays, with shelly, siliceous shales and sandstones containing leaves,
which it was agreed pertain to the La Grange formation. At the top of
the slopes and sections, making the floor of the table-land and resting
upon the Lafayette, is the “Yellow loam,” a division of Mr. McGee’s
‘Columbian formation.
T add that the La Grange formation, which is so low in the sections at
La Grange, rises, at points in Fayette and adjacent counties, to much
higher levels, even appearing and outcropping, now and then, at the
surface of the table-lands. The La Grange had an uneven, more or less
eroded, surface upon which the sands of the Lafayette were deposited.
James M. Sarrorp.
* Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
BIBLIOGRAPHY UNDERTAKEN BY THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
GroLoGists.—Mr. G. IK. Gilbert communicates to the GEOLOGIST the
following letter from Mr. Em. de Margerie, Secretary of the Interna-
tional Committee on the Bibliography of Geology. It sets forth the
organization and plans of the Committee. Geologists residing in North
America who have prepared or are preparing bibliographies of any por-
tion of the literature of geology, are requested to communicate with Mr.
Gilbert (address: G. K. Gilbert, U. S. Geological. Survey, Washing-
ton, D. C.)
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF GEOLOGISTS: COMMITTEE ON THE BIBLIO-
GRAPHY OF GEOLOGY.
Paris, Rue de Grenelle 132, Nov. 20, 1891.
Sir: Atthe meeting of Tuesday, September 1, 1891, the International
Congress of Geologists, assembled at Washington, on motion of Messrs.
Hf. 5. Williams and de Margerie, appointed a permanent international
committee charged with the duty of centralizing the information relat-
ing to geologic bibliography. This committee, which is authorized to
add to itself new members in unlimited numbers, comprises at present
Messrs. Frech (Germany), Gilbert (North America), Golliez (Switzer-
eS
Correspondence. 65
land), Gregory (England),de Margerie (France), Reusch (Scandinavia),
Steinmann (South America), Tschernyschew (Russia), Tietze (Austria-
Hungary), and Van den Broeck (Belgium).
‘The end to be attained is threefold: (1) to preparea list of the geologic
bibliographies already in existence; (2) to prepare an inventory of those
parts of geologic literature, which have not as yet been the subject of
such methodic abstracting, in order to prepare the way for undertaking,
comprehensively, the retrospective bibliography of the science; and
(3) to proceed to the periodic registration of its current bibliography.
The first meeting of the committee took place during the excursion to
the Rocky Mountains. The following are its minutes:
“The International Committee on the Bibliography of Geology met
September 20, at 8 o’clock in the evening, in one of the cars of the
special excursion train, between Manitou and Denver (Colorado).
Present, Messrs. Frech, Gilbert, de Margerie, Reusch, Steinmann,
Tschernyschew, Tietze and Van den Broeck. Prof. H. 8S. Williams also
was present at the meeting.
“Mr. Gilbert was by acclamation elected President of the Committee,
and Mr. de Margerie, Secretary. Mr. de Margerie will take charge of
the correspondence for Europe, and undertakes to transmit to Mr. Gil-
bert all the documents intended for printing.
“In regard to retrospective bibliography, Mr. Golliez announced to
the committee that the Geological Survey of Switzerland, is preparing
a geologic bibliography of Switzerland, which it will probably take
several yearsto complete. Mr. Tschernyschew announced the existence
of a catalogue of the same nature onthe North of Russia, as yet un-
published, of which he is the author. Finally, Mr. Van den Broeck
called attention to the general bibliography of Belgium, which is to
comprise a list of all documents relating to the geology of that country
published in the course of the 19th century.
“After a short discussion, the committee decided to confine its efforts
for the time being, to the preparation of a list of the partial geologic
bibliographies already in existence. Each member of the committee is
to perform that part of the work which relates to the country he repre-
sents. For Spain, Italy and Portugal, which countries sent no represen-
tatives to Washington, the committee will address itself to the directors
of the geological surveys of these three states. Mr. Tietze agrees to
take charge of the bibliography of the Balkans, and Mr. de Margerie
will try to fill out any gaps that may exist in the collection of documents
gathered by the various members of the committee as regards Asia,
Africa and Oceanica. The manuscripts must be sent to the Secretary
before Easter, 1892, in order to be printed with the proceedings of the
Washington meeting.
“The projected list will comprise the detailed titles of works entering
into the following categories:
“(1) Regional or local bibliographies. (Examples: Geologic Bibliography
of Italy; Geological bibliography of the counties of England, by Whitaker;
Catalogue of the publications of the American surveys, by Prime.)
.
66 The American Geologist. January, 1892
“(2) Systematic bibliographies, that is to say, relating to a defined group
of facts. (e. g. Bibliography of the various classes of rocks, inserted
in Rosenbusch’s Petrography; Bibliography of the upper Jurassic, by
Neumayr; glaciers, volcanoes, etc.)
“(3) Personal bibliographies. (Catalogues of the geologic publications
of one author, like those that often accompany necrologic notices;
Royal Society’s catalogues of scientific papers, etc.)
“(4) Catalogues of geologic maps. (e. g. Mapoteca geologica Ameri-
cana, by Marcou.)
“(5) Annual geologic bibliographies either general (e. g. Geological
Record: Revue de geologie, by Delesse and de Lapparent; Annuaire
geologique, by Dagincourt), or special (e. g. Revue geol. Suisse, by E.
Favre and Schardt; Bibliotheque geologique de la Russie, by Nikitin;
Record of American Geology, by Darton.)
“(6) General tables of special periodicals or series. (e. g. the Reperto-
rium to the Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie; Index to the publications
of the Geological Society of London, by Omerod; Table of Paleonto-
graphica; List of the geological maps published in the Quarterly Jour-
nal, by R. Bliss.)
“(7) Printed catalogues of special libraries. (e. g. Catalogue of the
library of the Geological Society of London. Catalogue of geologic
works found in the libraries of Belgium, by Dewalque.)
“As regards the scope to be given to the work, the committee thinks
proper for the present to exclude all documents of purely mineralogic
or paleontologic nature; on the other hand, information relating to
petrography, physical geography, applied geology, mineral waters and
prehistoric archeology will be included. For the rest, full latitude is
left in this respect to the collaborators, the editor being empowered to
extend or abridge manuscripts with a view of securing proper uniform-
ity in publication.
“Important maouscript bibliographies, the existence of which may be
known to the members of the committee, are to be indicated in the
proper places, stating name and address of author.
“The publication will be in French, but manuscripts may be prepared
in the language of the country whence they come, to be translated after-
ward under the direction of the editor.
“Titles must always be given in the language of the original publica-
tion; they will not be followed by a French translation except in case
they belong to a language other than English, German, Italian or Span-
ish. The indication of the author’s name, place of publication (with
the publisher’s name in the case of a separate work), date, size and
number of pages, shall be as exact and detailedas possible; furthermore
it is desired to have stated the approximate number of entries contained
in each bibliography, adding summary information regarding its nature,
such as: ‘Alphabetic catalogue by authors’ names; Catalogue classified
by order of dates; Simple list of titles; Each article is followed by a re-
sume; The number of plates is not given; etc.’ The limiting dates of
Personal and Scientific News. 67
the publications catalogued in the bibliographies are also to be noted.
(e. g. 1802 to 1888.)
“In case a bibliography bears no printed title, which often happens
with such as are appended to special works or memoirs, it will be proper
to define its subject by means of a phrase én brackets: |....], giving after
this the complete title of the document in which the bibliography is
comprised.
“Publications which, without pretending to take the form of a methodic
bibliography, contain the detailed history of the study of a question of
general interest or of a country, are to be mentioned.
“In order to facilitate the final classification of subjects for the pur-
pose of printing, the collaborators are requested to prepare their work
on separate slips.” The Secretary,
é EMM. DE MARGERIE,
To Mr. G. K. Gilbert, Member of the Committee for North America.
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS.
PREHISTORIC HorsEs.—The genealogy of the horse has been
most admirably worked out in various publications, and the fact
has long been established that the genus originated on the North
American continent. The question, however, as to whether pre-
historic man in America had the horse as a contemporary has
been a disputed point, This question may now be considered set
at rest by the discovery of a skull of an extinct species of horse
in strata with human implements.
This discovery was announced by Prof. E. D. Cope at the last
annual meeting of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science. A skull of a horse was exhibited to the mem-
bers by Prof. Cope, who pointed out the characters of the teeth
and who stated it would be impossible for any one to separate
the fossil teeth from those of the quagga and zebra if the three
were all thrown together. In minor characters, such as those of
the size of the bones, the differences are preceptible. So there is
no doubt the skull represents an animal different from any now
living. That it was a horse, however, any one could see.
The most curious thing about the skull was its condition. The
frontal bone had been crushed in exactly as we see in the case of
animals slaughtered for food. The friable bones protecting the
eye sockets were intact, as were also the long nasal bones.
Found in the same bed with the skull was a stone hammer that
bore evident marks of having been fashioned by the hand of man.
What inference was to be drawn from this? In the first place
it has been suspected and considered probable that early man on
this continent had been contemporaneous with a horse, though
not the present living species, but no direct proof had hitherto
68 The American Geologist. January, 1892
been found. When Europeans landed on the new continent the
horse was an unknown animal to the natives. So it had evidently
long been extinct.
All the horses now found in either North or South America came
from stock originally brought over by Europeans. But here
we have evidence in the association of a human implement and a
horse’s skull that man and horse had lived together, and the
peculiar fracture of the skull of the latter leads to the belief that
the animal had met its death at the hands of man.
This fact opens several questions. What became of the race
of horses that once lived on the continent? Were they exterm-
inated by savage man as civilized man has exterminated the
bison? Did they once serve as beasts of burden or were they
used only as food? Were they wild or domesticated?
It seems probable that they were not used for any other pur-
pose than as food, and that they existed only in a wild state, for
it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that having once been used by
man and so domesticated their use would ever have been forgotten
or the breed allowed to die out, Neither is it probable that they
were exterminated solely by the agency of contemporaneous man,
for we know that in spite of the use of the bison by the Indians of
North America their numbers did not decrease to any great ex-
tent. It was only when civilized man began his destructive work
that the bison began to disappear.
What then was the cause of the disappearance of the horse?
If it were demonstrated that this early horse existed prior to the
ice-age his disappearance might be attributed reasonably to the
cold that prevailed, or to some of the attendant conditions.
While Dr. Cope considers the ‘‘Equus beds” as of Tertiary age,
Messrs. Gilbert, Russell and McGee have given much evidence
that they are middle or late Quaternary. The coérdination of the
strata of the southern states with the drift sheet of the northern
has not yet been elucidated. The early Pleistocene was connected
by a link which has not yet been discovered, with the latest
Pliocene. Whether that link consisted largely of the advent of
the ice-age, or the outburst of the Quaternary eruptive forces that
characterize this date in the western and Pacific states, or both of
these cotemporaneously, it is evident that it was marked by great
physical changes such that the habitability of the country by
many of the larger mammals was destroyed.
Mr. Cope has given a description of this skull in the October
number of the American Naturalist. He considers it Equus
excelsus Leidy,and remarks that it is the first that has come to light
inthe United States.
THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT HAS DETERMINED to hold a _his-
torical and archeological international exhibition next year, and
especially honors the United States by its invitation and applica-
tion for aid. The Spanish exposition will in no wise compromise
Personal and Scientific News. 69)
the success of the great Chicago world’s fair of the following
year. On the contrary the more perfect the first display, the bet-
ter will the departments of archeology and history be represented
at our own; for the Spanish government has generously proposed
to transfer a large part of its treasures to our buildings during
the six months which intervene between the closing of the one
and the opening of the other. All persons having collections of
archeological, ethnological (mumismatic), or historical material
connected with the history of this country both before the dis-
covery and after the discovery, up to 1750, are urgently invited
to loan it under the safe guarantees offered by the circular of the
Spanish government, forwhich apply to Senor Campillo, Sec’y of
the Spanish legation at Washington.
Ir APPEARS THAT GEOLOGICAL FRAUDS are not confined to this
country, as the following extract from a late number of Nature
proves. ‘‘A notice which will be read with interest by all owners
of gems, has been issued by Dr. A. Brezina, of the Natural His-
tory Museum of Vienna. It relates to the doings of a young
man who on September 26 contrived to conceal himself in the
department just before the time for the closing of the Museum.
He was caught and found to be armed with a revolver, and to
have in his possession files and other implements. He had also
in his possession nearly 600 gems, some of them cut, but the
majority in their natural state. He has a passport, in which he is
described as Hugo Kahn, of Berlin, but he has also called himself
Krony, Kronek, Kornak and Kronicsalsky. His age is 24, he
measures in hight 170 cm., he is slender, has a longish handsome
face, is of a brownish complexion, has dark hair, grey eyes and a
light brown beard, of feeble growth. Upon the whole he is an
attractive looking person. He has made several journeys in Ger-
many, France, Switzerland and Italy; and between the middle of
last July and the beginning of September he travelled through
Pyrmont, Kms, Strassbourg, Basel, Milan, Genoa, Nice, Monaco,
Genoa and Venice to Vienna. Most of the gems (the names of
which with the exception of a rock-crystal, he does not know),
he professes to have bought from a barber in Marseilles. As it is
important that the former owners should be known, Dr. Brezina
prints a list of the gems, with a request that any one who has in-
formation about them will communicate with him.” Evidently
this man is not nearly so finished and thorough-going a scamp as
the one lately exhibited in the rogue’s gallery of the Grotoaisr.
The narrative given above well illustrates the danger to which all
costly and valuable collections are exposed, when they are opened
to the public, and the necessity of the utmost vigilance for their
protection.
THE LATE Dr. P. HERBERT CARPENTER was the fourth son of
the late Dr. W. B. Carpenter, C. B., F. R. 8. He was found dead
in his dressing-room on Oct. 21. At the inquest it was found
70 The American Geologist. January, 1892
that he had killed himself by the administration of chloroform
during temporary insanity. Dr. Carpenter had been Science-
master at Eton since 1877. The Zimes gives the following ac-
count of his scientific work: ‘‘He was a member of the scientific
staff of the deep-sea-exploring expeditions of the ‘ Lightning’
(1868) and the ‘Porcupine’ (69 and ’70) and in 1875 he was
appointed assistant naturalist to the ‘ Valorous’ which accompa-
nied the Arctic expedition of Sir G. Nares to Disco I., and he spent
the summer in sounding and dredging in Davis strait and the N.
Atlantic. Dr. Carpenter devoted himself exclusively since 1875
to studying the morphology of the Echinodermata, especially the
crinoids. In 1883 he received the Lyell medal from the Geologi-
cal Society of London and in 1885 was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society. His chief papers were ‘Notes on EKchinoderm |
Morphology,’ ‘On the Genus Actinometra,’ ‘Report on the
Crinoidea dredged by the Challenger,’ ‘The Stalked Crinoids,’
‘The Comatule,’ ‘Report on the Comatule dredged by the U.
8. Coast Survey in the Caribbean Sea,’ and numerous papers in
the Transactions of the Royal, Linnean and Geological Societies.”
Pror. P. WHITFIELD DESCRIBES in Science, Dec. 18, the dis-
covery of the remains of a mastodon on New York island, at the
eastern end of Dyckman’s creek at its junction with the Harlem
river, sixteen feet below mean low-water.
Mr. J. W. KIRKPATRICK IN THE SAME NUMBER OF Science, de-
scribes the finding of a nugget of copper, also northern boulders
and stre, near Fayette, Mo., near the central part of the state,
the nugget weighing 23 pounds.
THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
AMERICA was convened at Columbus, O., Dec. 29, 1891. The
acting president was G. K. Gilbert. The numerous articles read
will be noted as they may be published in the Society’s bulletin.
fay arn ce Wee
u1CAN GEOLOGIST.
IX, Plate Il.
THe AMEI
Vol.
THE
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST
pe
Vou. IX. “FEBRUARY, 1892: No. 2
ALEXANDER WINCHELL.
AN EDITORIAL TRIBUTE.
Nore. The following memorial sketch of Alexander Winchell, who died February 19,
1891, is a tribute of the AMERICAN GEOLOGIK? to a deceased member of its editorial corps.
As one of its founders and as its zealous friend and its most able and voluminous writer,
his memory and his eminent services in the infancy of the magazine can most fittingly
be commemorated by this sketch of his life and work. At the same time this account of
one whose name has for the past forty years been seen frequently in geological, ednca-
tional, philosophical, and even in theological literature, will satisfy not only a demand,
but a just expectation which has often been expressed since his death. We are con-
vinced also that the readers of the GroLoaist in general will take pleasure in receiving,
in lieu of the miscellaneous contributions with which the Groxoeisr usually is filled,
this joint memorial of one whose voice, now silent forever, they have many times heard,
perhaps, either in theclass room or on the public platform.
I. _ SIGKNESS, DEATH AND FUNERAL,
Probably the first apprehension of serious bodily ailment of the
late Dr. Alexander Winchell, by others than himself and family,
was experienced while he was in attendance at the Washington
meeting of the Geological Society of America (December 29-31,
1890), where he served as the presiding officer in the absence of the
president (Dana) and of the first vice-president (Newberry). Several
noticed the ashen hue of his countenance, and those more intimately
acquainted with him knew of a weakness of limb, and a shortness
of breath with which he suffered. He persistently adhered to the
discharge of his duties, however, in connection with the Geologi-
“al Society, whether of an official or of a social character, and
after adjournment he repaired immediately to his home at Ann
Arbor, where he was inclined to remain until his strength should
return. Having, however, several engagements to lecture he
72 The American Geologist. February, 1892
remained quiet but a very few days, when he visited Highland
Park (near Chicago) and Milwaukee, where he gave publie lee-
tures. Immediately on returning home again he entered on a
course of four lectures on Lvolution, delivered before the Geolog-
ical Society of Ann Arbor. His weakness increased, and he
could with difficulty walk to the lecture hall in the University
buildings. The fourth lecture was never given, because the
family physician, summoned against his protest, interposed, and
before he could be restored death had put his veto upon it.
The malady with which he had suffered for many years, and
which he fully understood himself, but never mentioned to his
family, crept upon him very slowly to its fatal termination. He
had noted for several months that he became easily wearied
physically. His breathing was difficult, and he had asthmatic
symptoms. Nights he slept little, sometimes being compelled to
rise in order to obtain relief from hard breathing, or panting.
This he attributed to heart disease, but still kept about his work.
Finally, when confined to his room, and mostly to his couch, he
was regretful of the time he was compelled to lose in that way.
His mind apparently ran over the themes of his lectures, and he
planned new topics. ‘You must not think Lam idle, though lying
here,” said he, ‘‘for T have laid out two or three articles to be
written.” Later, the same day, he said: ‘I believe I can dem-
onstrate mathematically the necessity of a modification of the
nebular hypothesis of La Place.” Still later he explained what
he meant by the modification which should be made in the nebu-
lar hypothesis. ‘I believe I can show mathematically that each
successive annulation was accompanied by, and caused, an en-
largement of the orbits of every earlier ring; and that the various
orbital diameters of the resultant planets have been enlarged from
time to time, or pushed away from the residual mass.’’ When it
was remarked to him that the La Placean hypothesis required a
constant shrinkage of the central mass, having once been extended
to the utmost limits of the solar system, and that by loss of ring
after ring it had been reduced to its present condition and size,
‘‘Ah well,” said he, ‘‘let those defend that who believe it, I be-
lieve that, like an exogenous tree-trunk, the outer diameters can
be shown to have been enlarged from time to time.”” This seems
to be a new conception. It certainly would have been embraced
in his ‘‘World Life,”’ had it ever been presented before, but we
- Alewander Winchell. 73
find nothing of it in that volume. The suggestion seems to be a
fruitful one, and may be established or refuted by some compe-
tent physicist. |
The immediate cause of death was suffocation, superinduced
by dropsical secretions which permeated his whole system, and
finally filled his lungs. The primary pathologic cause was aortic
stenosis, by which the aortic orifice was so reduced that the neces-
sary amount of blood could not pass it, deranging the whole cir-
culation. The cause next more remote was a severe attack of
‘inflammatory rheumatism” in the spring of 1865, and the origi-
nal cause, as traced back by himself, at the time, was long ex-
posure, in February, to cold in working inthe University museum
at Ann Arbor without fire.
His old-time college friend, Rev. Wm. 8. Studley, D. D., of
Evanston, Ill., conducted the funeral, and delivered an appro-
priate and eloquent address.* The burial was in Forest Hill
cemetery, Ann Arbor, where four of his children had preceded him.
His death brought forth numerous expressions of sorrow and
testimonials of esteem, some of which were dispatched from
points as remote as San Francisco and Boston, and from several
in Europe. One came from Central America, bearing a sprig of
edelweiss from the Swiss Alps. The geologists of the United
States Geological Survey gave expression of their sentiment and
sympathy, in the following words:
WasHINGTON, D. C., February 20, 1891.
* *£ * * By his unflagging devotion to science and his equally
constant and successful efforts to promote and extend beneficent knowl-
edge among men, Professor Winchell justly won the respect and ad-
miration of his fellow-students throughout the world; and by his per-
sonal uprightuess, the honorable motives manifested in his daily life, and
his unfailing courtesy, he inspired the esteem and friendship of his pro-
fessional associates in those scientific gatherings and institutions in
which he always took so active and worthy a part.
As students of geology we deplore the death of one of the foremost
geologists of the century; as personal friends we mourn the loss of one
of the most highly esteemed in our circle; and in this, our common be-
*This address with several others delivered at a memorial service at
the Methodist church, May.10, 1891, has been published in pamphlet
form. The “University memorial,” embracing the address of Prof. M.
W. Harrington, May 3, has also been put into pamphlet. The memorial
address delivered before the Geological Society of America, in August,
1891, by his brother, Prof. N. H. Winchell, is included in Vol. IIT, of
the Society’s bulletin, together with resolutions adopted by the Society.
74 ‘The American Geologist. February, 1892
reavement, our hearts go out in sympathy to the stricken family whose
sorrow we share.
Signed:
J. W. POWELL, G. K. GrLBenrr,
CoA. Writer, ARNOLD HaGuE,
Marcus Baker, S. F. Emmons,
J.S. DILLER, W. H. Homes,
CHas. D: Waxcort, C. WiLLARD Hays,
Wo. H. Dann, IsrAEL C. RussELL,
A. H. THompson, HENRY GANNETT,
Watrer H. WEED, NeExson H. Darron,
BAILEY WILLIS, GARRICK MALLERY, .
W.J. McGeEr, Henry W. HENSHAW.
The University Senate, Ann Arbor, adopted a memorial ex-
pression of the loss sutfered by the University, from which the
following is taken :
* * * * 'Tosome of his books it was given to guide to a degree
rarely accorded to books in these days, popular thought on the subjects
on which they treat. They have had an influence which few scientific
books have ever reached. They have not only made their author one of
the most prominent figures in American science, but have made his name-
a household word in thousands of families.
But we feel the loss of Dr. Winchell not only because of his eminence
in his chosen field of work, but also because of his personal qualities.
He was a man of impressive appearance and dignified bearing, a court-
eous colleague and a faithful friend, and those who knew him best found
in him depths of gentleness and affection which are found but seldom.
He was absolutely unswerving in his allegiance to what he believed to-
be the truth. With true scientific instinct he firmly believed that all
truth was one, and he devoted himself for many years to proving that
science and revelation could not be in conflict. His faith in ascertained
science was no less unwavering than his faith in religion, and in earlier
days when such an assertion provoked hostile and even bitter criticism,
he dared to assert and maintain that geology and revelation were in ac-
cord. Unmoved by the storm which he had raised, firm in his convie-
tions of scientific truth, and devout by nature, he then passed on to the
study of the great problems of creation—problems to which his deeply
religious feeling, his love of nature and his natural bent and grasp of
mind all irresistibly turned him. With a reverent but master hand he
endeavored to lift the veil of the past, to follow the steps of creation,
ascertain its laws, and follow its evolution. These were the problems to
which he delighted to devote himself. His other studies were only inci-
dental to these, or to the duties of instruction. It was under the inspira-
tion of these grand problems that his most influential books were written,
and his most eloquent discourses delivered; and, as it happens, his iast pub-
lic lecture, the last lecture he was destined to deliver, when the feeble-
ness of mortal disease was overcome by the inspiration of his subject, a
Alerander Winchell, 75
lecture which called together so many that his class room had to be ex-
changed for University Hail—that his last public address was again
devoted to one of the noble problems of creation. It was a fitting sub-
ject for the last discourse, and a fitting close for the public life of so
great, so able and so devout a man.
A noble and striking personality,a man of great learning and lofty
ideals, has been stricken down, and-we grieve at his loss; a gentle and
earnest spirit has left us, and we mourn. * * *
The University Musical Society, the Ann Arbor Geological
Society, the Wesleyan Guild of the University of Michigan, and
the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church at Ann Arbor, of
all of which he was president, adopted similar tributes. The
Hamilton (N. Y.) Theological Seminary and the Davenport Academy
of Science adopted resolutions of regard and sympathy.
The Geological Society of America, of which he was also pres-
ident, at its meeting in the following August, had an appropriate
memorial address, delivered by his brother, Prof. N. H. Winchell,
and adopted resolutions presented by a committee, of which Prof.
Edward Orton, of Ohio, was chairman, The address and resolu-
tions are published in the Bulletin of the Society for 1891.
A multitude of tributes from personal and _ scientific friends
were received by his stricken family, but they need not here be
further referred to. An extract from one simply will suffice:
My admiration for him was boundless. He was the most learned man
I have ever met, and I preferred his society to that of any other Ameri-
can scholar.— Bishop Newman.
- Il, PERSONAL HISTORY.
Alexander Winchell was born of parents in humble but com-
fortable circumstances, December 31, 1824, in the town of North-
east, Dutchess county, New York. The ancestral homestead, a
large frame farm-house, for many years used as a hostelry by his
grandfather, Col. Martin EK. Winchell, for the accommodation of
the travelers who passed by the stage route between the Hudson
valley and the towns of southwestern Massachusetts, still standing,
is surrounded by an undulating mountain plateau forming one of
the spurs of the Taconic mountains, and long known as Win-
chell mountain, His father was Horace Winchell, fifth child and
third son of Col. M. KE. Winchell. His mother was Caroline
McAllister, of Northeast, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, from the
Protestant families of the north of Ireland. His father’s descent
is traceable directly to Robert Winchell, an Englishman who set-
76 The American Geol. ogist 3 February, 1892
tled at Dorchester, Mass., in 1634, and removed with the first
settlers to Windsor, Conn., in 1635.* His father died in 1873,
at Lakeville, (t., at the age of 77 years. His mother still lives,
at Lynn, Mass., with her daughter, at the age of 85. Some of
the dominant traits of Alexander's mental, as well as physical
constitution were derived from his mother.
1824. He was the first-born, and under his father’s fond tuition
he received not only the first elements of his education but the
earliest impressions of honorable striving and achievement. His
father and mother had both been teachers in the public schools of
the town, and Alexander's training profited by that experience.
On the day that he was seven years old he recited, without mis-
take, the entire ‘‘Multiplication Table” to twelves, and had com-
pleted Emerson's First Part of mental Arithmetic. When three
months past ten he had been through W///ett's Arithmetic (similar
to Daboll’s) and had transcribed all the definitions, rules, prob-
lems, and full solutions in a manuscript book, which is still ex-
tant among his papers. This early bent for mathematics re-
mained through his entire life, and gave shape to numerous
discussions and arguments.
1838. He was at first destined for the profession of medicine,
and spent two years with a great uncle, Dr. Charles McAllister,
in South Lee, Mass., attending the ‘Stockbridge Academy” in
the summer and the village school during the winter. The Latin
which he had begun with his father in 1837, was here resumed.
In 1840, being still too young to begin the study of medicine, he
visited his parents, intending to remain a year. Having one day
expressed to his father a desire to teach, though not yet 16 years
of age, his father immediately responded that he would obtain a
position for him, and a district school was engaged, which he taught
during the winter of 1840-41, his patrons supposing him to be a
young man of 21. Here one of his amusements was the collection
and solution of arithmetical problems. He began here the practice,
continued ever afterward, of putting on record the results of his read -
ing and study. He had already filled two volumes with arithmetical
solutions and rules. Here also he began the keeping of a diary,and
a strict account of expenditures, forming a habit which he never
lost, and which furnishes the materials for this personal sketch.
*Genealogy of the Family of Winchell in America, embracing the
etymology and history of the name. Alexander Winchell, 1869.
Ts
Alexander Winchell. (6
1841. His fondness for teaching being confirmed, he engaged
another school for the summer of 1841, and during its progress
he pursued, at his leisure, the study of some higher mathematics.
Day’s Algebra he completed by himself, resolving every equation
and problem, absolutely without assistance, and writing all the
results in a book. Before autumn he had also finished Davies’
Surveying, and then Flint’s Surveying, writing as before all the
solutions in a book. During the winter engagement of 1841 and
1842 he taught Gummere’s Surveying.. In March, 1842, he
joined tae M. EK. Church, in Pine Plains, Dutchess county, N. Y.,
and this membership he maintained to the time of his death.
1842. By this time he felt that the study of medicine must be
postponed for a more extended course of preparation. In fact
the resolution was virtually formed to devote himself to the life
of ateacher. In the summer of 1842 he took up Greek by him-
self. All this time he received spirited encouragement from his
father, although he had now passed beyond the limits of his
father’s education. He was working with Goodrich’s First Les-
sons, When Rey. Davis W. Clark, then principal of Amenia Sem-
inary (afterwards bishop) made his acquaintance and urged him
to enter the Seminary, which he did September 6, 1842. The
winter of 1842-43 was, nevertheless, spent in teaching a district
school; though he pursued by himself the study of the #neid,
and of Sallust’s Cutiline. Astronomy, which he also studied,
fired his imagination, and aroused latent perceptions which later
became longings, and blossomed into beautiful fruition in his
World Life.
1843. He rejoined his class in the spring of 1843, and stood
with them the examinations in the studies of the year. During
the winter of 1843-44 he was Assistant in the Seminary in the
English department, in the spring taking Principal Clark's classes
in Algebra. His studies this term took a remarkably wide range,
Besides completing his preparation for a collegiate classical course,
he finished the ‘‘teacher’s course” in the seminary (including
geology, mental philosophy, Paley’s Leidences of Christianity,
and natural theology), and received the diploma. He was vale
dictorian of his class, and acted a part in a dramatic sketch (writ-
ten by himself) entitled Zhe Reign of Terror. There remain to
this day, among the older, andespecially among the later students
at Amenia Seminary, traditions of the mathematical achieve-
78 The American Geologist. February, 1892
ments of ‘‘that boy Winchell” during the last year of his study
there.
1844. He was now prepared for college, but the difficulties
that beset a youth who at that time aimed to acquire more than a
common school education, if without means to meet the financial
obligations, in any of the colleges of New England, can only be
enumerated by those who have encountered them. Tis friends
generally regarded the idea as chimerical. Fora sustained aspira-
tion to secure the benefits of such a course he here acknowledges
himself indebted again to his father, who was educated at
Phillips Academy, Andover, and to his uncle, Abraham Winchell,
who had received a liberal education at Yale and Harvard, THow-
ever, in September, 1844, he was matriculated as sophomore at
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. Here he encountered,
with indignation, the first check in his educational ardor and sue-
cess, in a rigorous ‘‘marking system,’ which at that time laid
special stress on the literal reproduction of the words of the
text-books, Like most of his class-mates—among whom were
Kdward Gayer Andrews (now bishop), Cornelius Cole (since con-
gressinan from California), Orange Judd (benefactor of his alma
mater and long the distinguished agricultural editor), Joseph EK.
King (the well-known president of Fort Kdward Institute)—he
left the struggle for college honors to the very few who could
cramp their natures to the narrow conditions of success. Here-
tofore he had always expected to win the first premium whenever
a prize was offered for competition, but from college honors prof
fered under so narrow conditions he turned in disgust, and he
always recollected with indignant condemnation the contrast be-
tween this discipline and that more generous and encouraging
which he had experienced at Amenia Seminary, under Principal
Clark and Joseph Cummings.
1845. The winter of 1844-45 he taught the village school at
Winsted. Conn... and in 1845-46 he was assistant in Simmons’
Classical School in his native town, He graduated with his class
in 1847, being assigned the ‘‘honor’ of the ‘modern classical
oration.”’ His theme was The Dayspring of Italian Literature. He
then became teacher of natural science at Pennington Male Sem-
inary, N. J., where he entered with irrepressible zeal and delight
upon the study of the flora of the vicinity, by the aid of that ad-
mirable work, Darlington’s #’/ora Cestrica, As the Morse electric
Alerander Winchell. 79
‘telegraph had just been put in operation between Baltimore and
Washington he set himself to the task of producing, with his own
hands, a working instrument, and though nothing beyond the
fundamental principles had been made known to him, he sue-
ceeded perfectly. At a public exhibition and lecture he em-
ployed an alphabet of his own invention for transmitting intelli-
-gence to the farther corner of the hall. By popular request this
lecture was repeated. Here also he gave a series of popular lec-
‘tures on astronomy, During this year he devoted considerable
attention to the study of Hebrew, under the instruction of prin-
cipal Rev. 8. M. Vail. The grammar used was that of Seixas;
and as no copies were found in the market, he did not hesitate to
make a manuscript copy for himself. Years afterward, his
honored instructor, remembering the incident, presented him a
printed copy.
1846-49. He now began to feel that the field of mathematics
was less spacious and inviting to enterprise than that of modern
science, and, declining the tutorship in mathematics tendered him
by president Smith of Wesleyan University, and the offer of con-
tinued position at Pennington Seminary, he returned to the Semi-
nary which had prepared him for college, where he accepted the
‘chair of natural science. Here he gave his first public geological
lectures. During 1849 he made a thorough exploration of the
flora of the vicinity. With the small reflector of the institution
he made some observations on solar spots, which were published
in the New York Z7ribune for November 5, 1849. He began here
also a series of meteorological observations which were reported
to the New York regents, and published in the report for 1850.
These and later observations are incorporated in the quarto vol-
ume on New York meteorology by Dr. Hough. He was married De-
cember 5, 1849, to Miss Julia F. Lines, of Utica, N. Y., who was
the teacher of instrumental music at the Seminary.
1850. In 1850 he transmitted to the New York Board of Re-
gents his first contribution to science, being a Catalogue of plants
found growing without cultivation in the vicinity of Amenia Sem-
inary.* In July, 1850, he received from his alma mater the de-
gree of muster of arts, delivering on the occasion, by appoint-
ment, an oration on Work.
Having accepted the charge of an academy at Newbern, Greene
*Regent’s Report. 1851, p. 256.
80 The American Geologist. February, 1892:
Co., Ala., he presented his botanical collection, numbering 1,000)
plants mounted and labeled, to Amenia Seminary, and set out
with his wife, October 5, 1850, for his destination in the then
distant south.
Here, with the expectation of a larger field for observation and
study, he found the ‘‘Academy” was located in the woods, in a
small settlement, in the heart of the richest cotton lands in the
state. It was materially unlike the situation which his imagina--
tion had pictured, but with the cobperation of his wife, and with
the calculation of eclipses for an amusement, he entered upon the:
work of ‘building up” an institution-—and not without some suc-
cess, but the beginning was too small to suit him; and, having:
visited Kutaw, in the same county, for the purpose of purchasing
some unused apparatus from an inanimate institution, he was
induced to change his plans so far as to use the apparatus where
it was, and attempt the resuscitation of the institution. Aecord--
ingly in the spring of 1851 he opened the ‘:Mesopotamia Female
Seminary, with a full corps of assistant teachers, and the usual
paraphernalia, accompanied by the seductive announcements suited
to the occasion and the latitude.
1851-52. There had always been an unrealized vision floating
before his mind, of a course of scientific investigation. Here he
entered with zest upon its execution. He fitted up a chemical
laboratory, and, making some quantitative analyses, they were
published in the Kutaw papers. He had already communicated
to the American Journal of Science and Arts notes on the cold of:
January at Kutaw, Ala., and on the aurora borealis of September
29, 1851. He also opened correspondence with the Smithsonian
Institution, and, kindly encouraged by Prof. 8. F. Baird, assist-
ant secretary, busied himself in making collections of plants, ani-
mals and fossils. During 1852 he transmitted to the Institution
a large collection of plants and a considerable number of alcoholie
specimens and preserved skins. Among the fishes was a new
species, afterward described by Girard as Hybopsis winchelli.
The Cretaceous formation of his vicinity interested him exceed-
ingly and he made a faithful study of Choctaw Bluff, on the
Black Warrior river, the results of which he communicated,
through Prof. Baird, to the Cleveland meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1853. This was
the first scientific description of the locality. Some of the
Alexander Winchell. St
scientific papers published in the Eutaw journals in 1851-52 and
1853 were as follows: Yellow Rain, in which he first announced
the nature of the sulphur-like substance appearing in little pools
after a spring rain. By chemical analysis and by microscopic
examination he proved it to be pollen from the pine regions of
the Gulf border. Other topics were Venomous Serpents; Analy-
sis of Artesian Water; On the Use of green wood for Fuel; Ex-
amination of ‘Sandy Land” Soil; The Garpike.
1853. In 1853 he had the satisfaction of witnessing the veri-
fication of his first geological opinion, ventured on an economical
question. Artesian wells were extremely common throughout the
region south of Eutaw, and it was much desired to have such a
well in the village. He pronounced against its possibility, basing
his judgment on the fact that the water-bearing stratum at the
bottom of the Upper Cretaceous outcropped half a mile south of
the village, while the Lower Cretaceous was composed chiefly of
non-porous, argillaceous beds. The authorities, nevertheless, ex-
pended a thousand dollars in an unsuccessful experiment.
In July, 1853, he made the acquaintance, at the ‘‘Commence-
ment” of the University of Alabama, of Prof. M. Tuomey, who
proved a valuable friend. Here he saw for the first time those
classical works for the southern geologist, Morton’s Synopsis of
the Cretaceous system of the United States, and Conrad’s Deserip-
tion of Tertiary Shells. The former he transcribed for himself,
and returned to Eutaw with new impulses toward investigation.
Successful management of a southern female institution of
learning required, at that time, a large amount of personal solici-
tation, and much pandering to the southern love of display. To
this he could not willingly stoop, even had he not determined to
devote his vacations to scientific work. Partly for this reason,
and partly for reasons for which he was not responsible, the sem-
inary did not prove as prosperous as might be desired; and, hay-
ing been elected president of the ‘‘Masonic University” at Selma,
Ala., he sold out his affairs at Eutaw, and in July, 1853, entered
a new field.
Armed with a ‘Prospectus,’ he started out, with a horse and
buggy purchased for the purpose, to spread the claims of the
University before the people of southern Alabama. The unan-
nounced secret of the expedition, however, was the purpose to
make it a yeslogical tour. Not neglecting business interests to
82 The American Geologist. February, 1892
any glaring extent he traveled by Cahaba, Prairie Bluff, Clai-
borne and the Zeuglodon locality in Macon county, as far as St.
Stephens on the Tombigbee; and thence by Camden and Allen-
ton, on the east side of the Alabama river, to Selma. No richer
or more attractive region was ever open to the geologist. He
stood where the veteran geologist Conrad had stood; he studied
where the distinguished Morton had studied; he explored the
hole where Dr. Koch had exhumed his //ydrarchos,and picked up .
the vertebre of that serpent-like cetacean with his own hands.
He gathered large quantities of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils,
and from Claiborne he shipped two barrels full to the Smithsonian
Institution. The yellow fever was raging in Mobile, and had
almost reached the districts which he visited; but a different fever
was raging in his veins. At Claiborne he collected a quantity of
undescribed fossils from the lowest beds of the Kocene, and fixed
the northern limits of that formation twenty miles further north
than had been mapped by Tuomey. For miles south of Selma
he saw the fields overstrewn with ///ppurites which the planters
profanely burned into lime—as in Macon county they were using
the precious vertebre of Zeuglodon for ‘‘dog-irons” (andirons),
stiles and gate-weights. His collections arrived at Selma in good
condition, and he devoted the remainder of his vacation to assort-
ing and determining them.
The collections sent to the Smithsonian Institution were highly appre-
ciated by Prof. Baird, who wrote, December 26, 1853; “The collection of
fishes is magnificent, nearly all undoubtedly new, six species of Pomotzs
alone, cannot give complete lists at present as the genera, even, of some
are indeterminable. The whole is the richest collection we have ever
received from the south. * * * Unless I much mistake you and
your abilities it won’t be many years before you will be called to a big
professorship somewhere north or east. Mark my words for that ”—
Nine days after these words were penned he was elected to a chair in
the University of Michigan.
It will illustrate how long the scientific investigator must wait, some-
times, after the seed is sown, before he can reap his harvest, to note that
the geological specimens collected on this southern Alabama trip in
18538, and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, were investigated first in
L880, when Dr. C. A. White took them in hand, and among others de-
scribed Lvogyra winchelli from those sent from Prairie Bluff, on the Ala-
bama river.*
*Proceedings U.S. Nat. Mus., 20 May, 1880, p. 294, pl. 1, figs. 2 and 3,
and pl. 11, figs. 1 and 2; also Annual report of the Hayden Survey for
1876, pl. x11, figs., 1 a,b,e,d. Compare the Annual Report of the Institu-
tion, 1853, pp. 51, 52, 57.
a
Alewander Winchell, 83
The ‘University’ opened with encouraging prospects; but
within a few days the yellow fever made its appearance in the
city in a very malignant form, Half the population fled; the
institution suddenly suspended operations. Two deaths occurred
in the house where he, with wife and little daughter, was residing,
but he and his family remained at their post. In November he
received a letter (dated November 16) from president Tappan of
the University of Michigan, announcing his election to the chair
of ‘Physics and Civil Engineering” in that University. This.
position he quickly accepted, and the Masonic University was.
abandoned for a long vacation. His fossils were packed for the
journey, during the long, silent and solemn days of visitation of
the yellow fever.
Before leaving the state he paid another visit to Prof. Tuomey,
taking with him a trunk full of fossils, from which Prof. Twomey
was permitted to retain all he chose. Among them were the un-
described Kocene fossils from Allenton. These remained in his
hands awaiting attention until the federal army visited Tuscaloosa
during the war, when, with the treasures gathered by Prof. Tuo-
mey himself, they were devoted to destruction.
1854. He entered upon his duties at Ann Arbor, the 24th
day of Jan., 1854, at the full professor's salary of $1,150 per
year. His family who had visited in Utiea, N. Y., joined him a
month later.
The work of the chair devolved upon him a large amount of
preparation, Instruments and apparatus were wanting, and he
visited New York to make purchases. No good elementary text-
books in civil engineering were in existence—a deficiency specially
felt in the department of railroad surveying. He was obliged to
compile and originate matter and methods; so that within a year
or two he had wrought out the material for an original work on
civil engineering. As a branch of physics he attended to the
keeping of a complete series of meteorological observations
which, while he held the chair, he reported to the Smithsonian
Institution,
The State Agricultural College of Michigan, then lately estab-
lished, had not yet been definitely located. The question of site
had been referred by the Legislature to the executive committee
of the State Agricultural Society. Seeing that they were about
to decide, if they had not already decided, on a location in the
84 The American Geolog ost. February, 1892
unsettled interior of the state, he drew up a communication on
the subject, addressed to the executive committee, urging reasons
for connecting it with the State University. The argument did
not prevail, but the paper was published by the State Agricultural
Society in its report for 1854.
During the summer vacation of 1854 he made some excursions
in company with Profs. A, Sager and Charles Fox, for the pur-
pose of making collections in natural history. A specimen of
shell-marl collected was analyzed quantitatively, and the results
published in the Michigan Furmer. Hegavea good deal of study
to the land and fresh-water-shells of the state, as well as to the
reptiles and fishes. ;
1855. In the spring of 1855, he became enlisted in an effort
to found a state Natural History Society, in connection with the
State Teachers’ Association, and read a paper,—published in the
Michigan Journal of Education for March, 1855—On the Pursuit
of the Natural Sciences. He also published a scheme of opera-
tions proposed. But interest in such subjects was at a low ebb,
and the organization was so loose, and scattered, that this project
never produced much fruit. During 1855, Prof. L. Agassiz’
prospectus for a voluminous work on the Natural History of the
United States was issued, and through personal request Prof.
Agassiz appeals were addressed to the public by Prof. Winchell
through the papers of Eutaw, Ala., and of Ann Arbor. In
August he made a railroad survey from Ann Arbor toward Jones-
ville, as far as Manchester.
On the basis of an understanding reached, on his assuming the
chair of ‘Physics and Civil Engineering,’ the University created,
this year, the chair of ‘‘Geology, Zoology and Botany,’ and to
this chair Prof. Winchell was transferred. The meteorological
instruments which he had purchased and used, impelled by his
interest in natural physics, were surrendered regretfully to his
successor. Prof. Winchell had indeed kept up a continuous series
of observations ever since 1848, first at Amenia, under instruc-
tions from the New York Regents, then at Newbern, Eutaw and
Selma on the blank forms of the Smithsonian Institution, and
lastly at Ann Arbor. He still continued, however, with his own
instruments, the full series excepting the barometric records.
The habit established of regular observations of the weather is
traceable even through the last weeks of his life, since his diary
io 4)
oC
- Alexander Winchell.
nearly always records the morning temperature, and also makes
mention of all extraordinary meteorological changes. His Ann
Arbor observations were finally worked up under the auspices of
the Smithsonian Institution, and also by himself in connection
with the geological survey of the state.
1856. He read a paper, in 1856, before the State Teachers’
Association; On the importance of the Study of Natural History,
in which he advocated the introduction of these studies into the
Union schools and the lower classes of the colleges. He read
also papers before the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, at Albany, N. Y., on the Geology of Middle and
Southern Alabama, and Statistics of some Artesian wells of Ala-
bama.* Much attention was given also this year (1856) to micro-
‘scopical studies; and a large number of drawings in colors were
executed with the camera lucida.
1857. In the early part of 1857, he contributed, by invitation,
a series of seven articles on Popular Education, under the signa-
ture of ‘‘Scholasticus,”’ to the Detroit Tribune. In one of these,
having animadverted on the ‘‘Prussian system,” president Tap-
pan put in a reply, extending over several numbers of the paper,
Tt was stated at the time that the first articles emanated from the
president of Kalamazoo College, Dr. Stone, and that president
Tappan imagined himself replying to him.
At the request of Mr. B. F. Meek he made out a general table
of the Cretaceous rocks of Alabama, which has entered perma-
nently into the literature of the Cretaceous system.t He pub-
lished this year also A Guide to the Pronunciation of Scientific Terms
—a pamphlet intended for his own students, but which had quite
a circulation among scientific men, until the edition was exhausted.
During the summer of 1857 he made a minute microscopic in-
vestigation of Lumbriculus, with colored drawings and descrip-
tions. Inthe autumn and winter he drew up a detailed deserip-
tion of the osteology of Marobranchus (Necturus) lateralis. He
opened in the autumn a class in comparative osteology, which was
attended by about eighteen students from the Medical College,
besides those from the Literary department. In subsequent years
the professor of anatomy instituted a similar course for the medi-
cal students.
*See Proceedings, pp. 82 and 94,
tSee Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, May, 1857, p. 126.
86 The American Geologist. February, 1892
1858. During the winter of 1857-58 he delivered a series of
public lectures, by request of the Young Men’s Association of
Ann Arbor, in the hall of the Union school, Except the public
geological lectures of Dr. Douglass Houghton, in Detroit, this was
the first presentation, before public audiences of the state, of the
popular truths of geology. The final lecture, entitled, Creation
the work of one Intelligence, and not the Product of Physical Forces,
was published in pamphlet form by the Association. | This was
inspired, confessedly, by Agassiz’ splendid Lssay on Classi fica-
tion, in the sentiments of which he felt a profound sympathy.
In May, 1858, he published, for the use of his students a Synop--
tical view of the Succession of Organic Types, which went through
three editions. He carried through the Michigan Journal of Edu-
cation a series of nine popular articles under the general heading
Leaves from the Book of Nature. During the summer he visited
Missouri, and held a quasi-connection with the geological survey
then in progress under Prof. Swallow, sending to the Ann Arbor
papers some account of what he saw.
1859. In January, 1859, he memorialized the State Legisla-
ture on the subject of a geological survey (House Document No.
29); and the survey having been ordered he was commissioned by
Gov. Moses Wisner, as director. On the 16th of May he set out,
with a camp-outfit and one assistant, A. D. White, for the per-
sonal examination of the southern portion of the Lower Peninsula.
He served this year also as editor, and against his will, as pub-
lisher of the Michigan Journal of Education, to which he con-
tributed numerous articles and criticisms—among them a popular
solution of the celebrated ‘‘Pendulum, Problem.” As president
ot the State Teachers’ Association he managed its interests, and
delivered the annual address on What Coustitutes the Successful
Teacher, In October, having, during the season, studied the geo-
logical relations of the various brine springs of the state, he pub-
lished, in one of the Grand Rapids papers, a general conclusion
from which he never had occasion to recede. He discouraged the
attempt to produce salt at Grand Rapids. His exploration of the
Saginaw region enabled him to locate the salt formation at the
depth of 650 feet beneath Kast Saginaw. This was before the
first well was bored. Experiment revealed the existence of a sup-
ply of brine at 648 feet. As, during the same season, he had to
oversee the erection of his new residence, costing about ten
‘
EE
Alerander Winchell. 87
thousand dollars, it is apparent that this was a year of unceasing
activity.
1860. In 1860 the work of the survey called him to spend
most of the summer season in camp around the lake shores. He
was able to cojrdinate the salt wells at different points along the
Saginaw river. The leisure of the year was occupied by paleon-
tological investigations. }
1861. His Report of Progress of the Geological Survey, an
octavo volume of 339 pages, was published in August, 1861.
In this he fully anticipated the vast development of the salt inter-
est in the Saginaw valley. In consequence of the outbreak of
the war the Legislature made no provision for the continuance of
the survey, but the paleontological investigations were carried on
privately through the year. As with all surveys the Michigan
survey entailed on the director a burdensome correspondence relat-
ing to possible and projected economic measures in various parts
of the state. One only need here be mentioned. ‘lo an appli-
cant for information respecting the existence of gypsum in the
vicinity of Tawas, he indicated a ridge near the lake shore, which
he had inspected during the season’s examinations (not the well-
known outcrop by the water's edge further south) as a locality
containing probably a large supply of gypsum. Some experi-
menters had already pronounced the locality barren; but his cor-
respondent, taking a location for the price of an old gun, sold it,
after the discovery of 18 feet of pure gypsum, for some thou-
sands of dollars. On this spot has since been developed one of
the finest gypsum quarries in the world.
1862-63. His special paleontological study was directed
toward the series of strata which he had designated the ‘‘Mar-
shall group,” a Carboniferous assemblage which had been regarded
by American geologists as the equivalent of the New York
Chemung. He published a communication on these rocks in the
Amer. Jour. Sci. [2], vol. xxxu, p. 353, which contained his
first descriptions of new species. Further descriptions were pub-
lished in the Proceedings of the Acad. of Nat. Sei. Phil. for
Sept., p. 405. He also published an article in Hunt’s Merchants’
magazine for September, on The Salt Manufactureof the Saginaw
Valley Researches in the Marshall group were continued through
1865, and the following articles were published: On the Identifica-
tion of the Catskill Red sundstone group with the Chemung (Am.
SS Th e American Geolog ist. February, 1892
Jour. Sci. [2], xxxv, 61); Descriptions of fossils from the Yel-
low Sandstones lying beneath the Burlington limestone at Burling-
ton, Iowa. (Proce. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. Jan. 1863). He also
published Descriptions of elephantine molars tu the Museum of
the University of Michigan. (Canadian Naturalist, October, 1863,
p. 398.) He also investigated minutely the ‘‘Cherry slug,”
Celandria cerasi, and his report was published in the Proc. Bos.
Soc. Nat. Hist., Feb. 1865.
1864. In 1864 he made a detailed study of the ‘Currant
worm” microscopically and embryologically. The results were
published in the Detroit Free Press and republished in the Ameri-
can Journal of Ncieiwee, September, 1864. The following further
papers were published this year, Fossils from the Potsdam Sand-
stone of Wisconsin and Lake Superior (Amer. Jour, Sei. [2]
XXXVI. p. 226); Notice of a Mastodon recently discovered in
Michigan. Ib. [2] xxxvin. p. 223; Description of a garpike
supposed to be new (Lepidosteus oculatus), (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei.
Philadelphia, Aug., 1864); Geological map of Michigan: On the
origin of the Prairies of the Mississippi valley (Am. Jour, Sei.
(2). Xe VID, pp) 332).
1865. In January, 1865, he delivered an address at Lansing,
before the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society,
on The soils and subsoils of Michigan, which was published by
the Committee in pamphlet form. In this he insisted on the
agricultural value of the -‘pine lands” of the state, and pointed
out the existence of a large calcareous constituent in the sandy
soils about Grand Traverse bay. He continued his investigation
of the fossils of the +*Marshall group,” and published another
series of descriptions of new species in the Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei.
July, 1865. About this time his attention was much taken up
with the phenomena of oil wells, and he was called to many and
distant places for the purpose of making surveys. He visited
and studied, in this way, all the oil-producing regions of the
United States and Canada; and a large number of his reports
were published by the proprietors in separate pamphlets. He
wrote numerous articles also on these subjects for the public
journals.
It was in February and March of 1865 that the germs of the
malady which finally caused his death, were made apparent in an
impairment of his general health and rheumatic pains. On the
Alewander Winchell. SY
invitation of Prof. James Hall, he visited Albany, carrying along
with him a ‘‘trunkful” of fossils for mutual study and compari-
son in Prof. Hall’s laboratory. Simultaneously with the com-
mencement of preparations for this trip, according to his diary,
rheumatic pains were perceived in various parts of the body.
These were attributed to having takena bad cold through exposure
in the Museum, where he had to work without fire. Once only
(February 14) while at Albany, he notes ‘‘continual fluttering and
palpitation about the heart. Earsring. Stomach impaired. No
difficulty in drawing a long breath.” Repairing to his father’s
home (Lakeville, Conn.) on February 16, he became much worse
and passed through a severe siege of intlammatory rheumatism,
under the faithful nursing of his mother, leaving there again for
Albany on March 15, and reaching Ann Arbor, March 22. A\l-
though his rheumatic pains ceased gradually, the cardiac mani-
festations were kept up, and increased alarmingly. His diary for
the next two or three years is burdened with references to the
“thumping” and the ‘‘spasms” which he constantly experienced
about the heart. He consulted Dr. Abram Sager soon after
returning from Lakeville, and from his treatment he experienced
some temporary relief. He carefully analyzed his own case, and
the following may be taken as samples of many passages in his
diary written when, at Lexington, Ky., he was inaugurating, un-
der Regent Bowman, the courses in natural science, at Kentucky
University. For years, and apparently until he was wholly in-
capacitated by the encroachment of the disease, he lived with the
impending probability of sudden death constantly before him.
After considering the question whether the peculiar sensations he
felt might not be centered in the stomach instead of the heart, he
writes:
Be that as it may the circumstances have been such that I have been
led to think much about the probable shortening of my life. No one
can think of death without some shrinking back. To go out of the
world into the untried uncertainties which lie the other side of death is
a serious business—to drop half-finished plans—to leave life’s work but
half completed—above all to leave a little destitute family—to break
their hearts with bereavement —to leave my little daughters to the trials,
griefs and exposures of an orphan life—poor, education and accom
plishments not yet secured—Oh, this is trying. But it is after all for
them rather than myself, that regret arises. As for me—the individual
I must die sometime, and the uncertainties of the future will be as reat
twenty years hence as now, and so far as regards nature’s reluctance to
90 The American Geologist. February, 1892
go down into non-existence, I have no desire to postpone the day. For
the world’s sake, for my name’s sake, for surviving friends’ sake, I had
hoped to do more for humanity, more for science than I have, I seem to
be now prepared to labor efficiently in the field of well-doing, I had
hoped to complete my work on Natural Theology—my Geologic Ages
and my Physiological Zoology. And then [ am half prepared to mono-
graph the horizon of the Waverly sandstone. Would that I might be
spared to do that.
But there are real attractions on the other side of the dark river. I
daily see, in imagination, my little angel trio standing hand in hand and
i00king longingly toward the shores of earth and wondering when papa
will come. Oh, if I could feel the firm assurance that I should meet and
know them there, I should cast every regret aside, and joyfully, joyfully,
await the day. It may be that I can attain to this assurance. I under-
stand that others have enjoyed it; and I pray God his spirit may guide
me to the same acquisition. (26 Jan., 1867.) Again he writes (Feb. 11,
67): The other night as I was lying in bed and considering what could
be the nature of the phenomenon, I concluded the most probable expla-
nation is this: The spasm occurs during the time of contraction of the
ventricles, as is shown by the suppression of the pulse, and by the failure
of the sharp, “deep” sound caused by the closing of the mitral valves.
It must be then that the mitral valves do not close when the ventricle
contracts, and thus the blood from the left ventricle instead of being
thrown into the aorta is forced back into the left auricle, meeting the
blood just entering that auricle from the polmonary vein. This sudden
and unusual influx of blood from both directions into the auricle pro-
duces a concussion and distension of that auricle and possibly an un-
usually spasmodic struggle of the whole heart. As the right auricle is
situated near the centre of the thorax and contiguous to the stomach,
the unusual movement which it suffers is felt by the stomach, and thus
that organ seems illusorily to be the seat of the abnormal action as it is
the seat of the sensation.
But in reference to this explanation it should be marked, 1. A regurgi-
tation of the blood into the right auricle and a prevention by this means
of the contents of the pulmonary vein from proceeding forwards would
result in a momentary congestion of the lungs, which should be indi-
cated by a sense of suffocation. 2. As I have never experienced symp-
toms of any real inflammatory action in the heart, or the region of the
heart, and have never even suffered any pain except occasional wander-
ing or shooting pains, which many times were seated in the muscular
layers of the chest, I do not perceive it possible (aside from the exist-
ence of the spasms), that any sach disease has existed in the structures
of the heart as to cause an alteration in the constitution or efficiency of
the valves. 5. There exists therefore room for some other explanation
of these abnormal symptoms. At the same time irregular or intermittent
action of the heart is caused frequently by the state of the nervous sys-
tem; and at the same time these spasms and the pathological condition
on which they depend, produce no perceptible influence upon my health.
a i a i
Alevander Winchell. QI
On the whole, therefore, I am left in a state of uncertainty as to the
fact of valvular disease.
Two things I have neglected to mention. 1. These sensations are
about the same as are produced by a sudden shock—as when a window
falls, ora door slams, or some person suddenly starts up before one.
This would affiliate them to nervous affections. 2. Occasionally, lately,
when lying quietly in bed, listening to the sound of the heart, I have
fancied that the “deep” sound produced by the closing of the mitral
valves is not as sharp as it used to be—but somewhat softened and pro-
longed. This is as I believe it should be if there isan imperfect closure
of these valves, and some of the blood reguryitates into the auricle.
But if this is the constant mode of action Iam sure some impression
should be made on my respiration, which I have not yet detected. I
breathe as long as ever, and I am no more inclined to pant than ever.
In hypertrophy of the heart, the ventricles, from over nutrition, lose
the requisite capacity; but so far as I can see this would result only in a
more sluggish circulation of the blood, producing a sense of faintness.
and suffocation—instead of ¢rregularity in the pulse.
1866. He applied himself, notwithstanding these solemn pre-
monitions, and perhaps partly through the sense of the brevity
of his remaining years, to his duties and to all his plans, with
great diligence and effectiveness. In 1866 he published, in con-
nection with Prof. Oliver Marcy, who supplied most of the speci-
mens, ‘‘An enumeration of fossils in the Niagara limestone, col-
lected at Chicago, Ll. ,”’ with two lithographic plates of illustrations
drawn by himself. This contained descriptions of numerous new
species. He made this year an economic survey of the Grand
Traverse region, on which he published an octavo report of 82
pages, witha map. In an appendix of 20 pages were embraced
descriptions of a considerable number of new species of fossils,
This report first brought to notice the remarkable influence of
lake Michigan upon the climate of the region, and the wonderful
capacity of the latter for agricultural and horticultural produc-
tion. The statements of the report aroused the incredulity of
some of the state officials, and an independent survey was made
which fully confirmed the report. He read before the American
Association at Buffalo, a paper on the Pruit-bearing belt of Mich-
‘gan, in which, as in the report, he brought statistics toexemplify
the hitherto unexpected influence of lake Michigan in ameliorat-
ing the winter climate of the state of Michigan and prolonging
the growing period. He read at the same meeting a paper on
Stromatoporide, in which he described two remarkable new genera
of fossils, and established a new family,
92 The American Geologist. February, 1892
Having declined the chair of Geology, Zoology and Botany in
Kentucky University, he was induced to accept a three-months
winter engagement, and accordingly attended the Commencement
in June, and delivered an inaugural address entitled A plea for
Scrence, which the authorities published in pamphlet. In Janu-
ary, 1867, he entered upon the temporary engagement. He was
unwilling to sever his connection with the University at Ann
Arbor. He also served the Kentucky University in 1868, and
Regent Bowman now pressed upon him unsuccessfully the presi-
dency of the Agricultural college, which at that time conducted
nearly all the scientific instruction of the University. About the
same time he declined also the presidency of the University of
(reorgia,
1867. During the year 1867 he contributed to the Northwest-
ern Christian Advocate, published at Chicago, by special request
of the editor, Dr. T. M. Eddy, a series of twenty-two articles en-
titled Christian Theology iMustrated from Nature. Dr, Eddy had
witnessed his method with a so-called ‘Bible Class” at Ann
Arbor, and desired some of the results spread before the readers of
the Advocate. The fundamental conception of this series of articles
was the harmony between the indications and doctrines of science
and the central doctrines of the Christian religion. The scope of
the discussion appears from the following analysis of the course:
INTRODUCTORY.
1. Nature and scope of the subject.
2. Nature of the two revelations.
5. Harmony of the two revelations.
THE EXISTENCE OF DErry.
1. Human conception of Deity.
2. Direct evidences.
THE UNITY OF Derry.
Harmony of creation in reference to space.
Harmony of creation in reference to time.
3. Harmony of creation in reference to plans.
DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AND OMNIPOTENCE.
DIVINE BENEVOLENCE.
1.
>)
1. Indications of divine benevolence.
2. Vindication of divine benevolence.
Divine TRUTH.
1. Untruth incompatible with divine benevolence. —
2. Untruth is unnatural.
DIVINE JUSTICE.
1. Hangs on the proof of moral law.
oo
Alexander Winchell,
2. The moral law written on the heart of man.
3. Lhe moral law revealed in the material creation.
‘CREATION A DIVINE WORK, AND NOT THE RESULT OF DEVELOPMENT.
1. The inorganic history of creation.
2. The organic history.
THE DURATION OF MATERIAL EXISTENCE FINITE.
1. The present organism had a beginning.
2. The same hastening to an end,
‘THE ORDER OF CREATION.
1. The order indicated by Moses.
2. The order taught by science.
MAN THE LAST TERM OF THE ORGANIC SERIES.
‘THE ORIGIN OF OUR RACE IN THE ORIENT.
Tor NOACHIAN DELUGE.
1. Uninspired evidences of its occurrence.
2 The deluge not universal.
CORPOREAL DEATH NOT THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN.
SIN, PUNISHMENT AND FORGIVENESS.
"THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL.
1. Innate convictions.
2. Mind in nature.
5. Correlative of the brain.
FUTURE EXISTENCE.
1. Innate beliefs.
2. The indestructibility of spirit.
3. The incompleteness of earthly existence.
4, The attributes of Deity pledge future existence.
FUTURE PROGRESSION.
AUTHENTICITY OF WRITTEN REVELATION.
INSPIRATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES?
THE NECESSITY OF FAITH.
CONCLUSION.
These articles attracted wide-spread attention in the circle of
intelligent readers to whom they were addressed, and they received
many testimonials to their value. It was critically pointed out
that their method was much broader than had commonly been
introduced into natural theology. He was solicited to put these
contributions into book form, and especially by the late Dr. B.
F. Cocker, his beloved colleague at Ann Arbor; but the treat-
ment fell so far short of the degree of thoroughness which seemed
to him befitting the theme that he resisted all solicitation to re-
publish, entertaining the belief that within a year or two he would
be able to offer the public a more adequate discussion. He began
at once a re-cast of his argument, but the more he studied the
more he became convinced that the apodictic and therefore the
d+ Th eA MePrican Geologist. February, 1892
satisfactory proof of the being of God must be rooted in « priori
evidence. Illustrations from nature are all useful on the ante-
cedent proof that there is any reality whose being and attributes
are illustrated. With such maturing views he wrote one or two
hundred pages again and yet again, during the succeeding years ;
but a few months lapse of time so changed his conception of the
most appropriate treatment that all which had been written was
rejected. Out of some portions several articles were prepared
for the Methodist Quarterly Review (April, 1875, and Jan., 1874),
viz: The unity of the physical world, and Religious ideas among
barbarous tribes (Jan., 1875). Some of his maturer views were
also embodied in a review of Cocker’s Christianity and Greek
Philosophy (July, 1872).
1868. During 1868 circumstances directed his attention par-
ticularly to the popularization of science. He had written, in
1858, a series of popular geological articles for the Michigan
Journal of Education, and later had written a similar series for
the Ladies’ Repository, of Cincinnati, under the general title
Voices from Nature, and at the special request of the editor, Rey.
Dr. D. W. Clark. These Dr. Clark had suggested to him to have
published in book form, under the title of Zhe Geologic Ages,
but he was not satisfied with the treatment he had there given the
subject, and resisted Dr. Clark’s flattering solicitation.
He was beset, however, on every side, by requests for popular
articles, most of which he hf&id to refuse. However, from his pen
appeared three articles in-the ‘‘ University Magazine,” four in the
‘College Courant,” and three in the ‘‘Western Monthly.” He
conceived also an extension of the project of popular lectures, in
which the grand conclusions of the sciences should be set forth in
more glowing and popular style than till then had been customary
with scientific lecturers of good scientific standing. His ex-
perience in composition had convinced him that the public pos-
sessed an appetite for solid information, though they demanded it
well spiced. Contrary, therefore, to the precedents of his elders
and the strong conservative judgment of the leaders in science, he
boldly took the risk of an attempt to present science in a popular
garb. The result was about what he had anticipated. While
fair audiences of deeply interested people attended his lectures,
there were crowds who would be attracted only by a great and pop-
ular name or a public entertainment which, either in its subject
—S
as
wei
Alerander Winchell.
matter or its author, amounted essentially to a mere amusement
or a spectacle. Though never devoting any portion of his time
expressly to the business of lecturing, he gave annually twenty,
thirty, or more such lectures and his voice was heard in nearly all
the cities of the West and Northwest where literary societies or
lecture courses are maintained.
In October, 1875, when in Boston, he met Prof. R. A. Proctor,
and attended two of the lectures in the course which he was then
delivering before the Lowell Institute. In conversation he re-
marked to Prof. Proctor the difference in the methods pursued
by Proctor and himself to gain the attention of popular audiences.
Proctor took a special theme of limited scope, and brought out
all the details and personal and biographical history connected
with it. This appeared to him the method of the story-teller.
Winchell took a grand chapter of cosmical history, and pre-
sented synthetically the grand conclusions attained by science,
ranging them in logical rather than chronological order—appeal-
ing to the understanding of his auditors for interest, and to their
imagination for illustrative pictures. In later years it was eyi-
dent that Proctor’s lectures more and more adopted Winchell’s
method, at the same time also approximating more closely to the
same themes. During his American tour of 1879-80 he made his
lecture entitled ‘‘The Life of a World” the staple entertainment
for the public. His other lectures, ‘‘The Moon,” ‘‘Death of
Worlds,’ were simply amplified chapters in a general cosmic
history.
Dr. Winchell was perhaps the very first scientist in America
who descended before popular audiences, from that high-caste and
stately, but dry and unpopular, style in which the older scientists
had thought it fit to cloak the dignity of science. Certainly no one
but the elder Agassiz had previously attempted a true populariza-
tion of science, but his lectures were never heard by the plain
people in the smaller cities throughout the country. He simpli-
fied zoological themes, rather than popularized them, and lifted
up his voice only in New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Mobile, San
Francisco, or other large cities where the select appreciators of
science were numerous enough to constitute an audience. Since
1868 the popular platform has been occupied by a considerable
number of lecturers of scientific repute, among whom may be
named Waterhouse Hawkins, Richard A. Proctor and Kdward 3.
“46 The American Geologist. February, 1892
Morse. But two of these have relied largely for popular interest
‘on what is really but some trick of black-board sketching. In
(Great Britain have arisen also the illustrious names of Tyndall,
Huxley, Lockyer and others.
This lecturing did not divert him but casually from his perma-
nent plans of scientific work. In 1869 he prosecuted his studies
on the ‘*Marshall group;’ some of his contributions were included
in Other state geological reports, and the scientific journals. His
most voluminous publication on the subject appeared in two num-
bers of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.
‘This presents a general resumé of discussions bearing on the
rocks in question, a study of their equivalency in the various
western states and the lithological and paleontological evidences
of the unity and distinctness of the group, and its proper posi-
tion in the Carboniferous system.
1869. On the re-organization of the geological survey of the
state, governor Baldwin re-appointed him director, and he was en-
abled to resume the work which had been suspended by the inter-
vention of the war of the rebellion. Nine years had elapsed, and
he had learned much, in his private travels for economic surveys
at various localities, of the rock-structure and physical features
of the state. He assumed for himself the personal investigation
of the Lower Peninsula, and committed to major T. B. Brooks
the study of the Marquette Iron region. As director he drew up
a plan of operations which major Brooks pursued to the comple-
tion of his work, some four years afterwards.
1870). For several years he employed every opportunity to col-
lect data relative to the Winchell name in America, and he put
his information in systematic shape in a volume, which appeared
in February, 1870, entitled Genealogy of the Family of Winchell,
an octavo volume of 272 pages, containing names of about
5,000 of his relatives. In March of the same year appeared
“Sketches of Creation,”’ a purely popular work embodying some
of the grander views of geology which he had_ previously pre-
sented either in print or from the public platform. ‘‘Some por-
tions of it indeed surpass the requirements of a popular style
and become sophomoric and stilted.”” So he himself criticised it.
It presented accurately, however, some of the accepted doctrines
of science, and contained many thoughts and speculations original
with the author. His picture of the primeval condition of the
Alerander Winchell. 97
world, and especially of the stormy period, antedated (in 1858
in the ‘‘Michigan Journal of Education”) the publication of
the similar pictures of Figuier; and his speculations concerning
the wastage of the land, the final refrigeration of the earth,
and the sun, and the inevitable running down of the machinery
of the solar system, were entirely independent; though it later
appeared that Mayer had preceded him in reference to the doctrine
of solar cooling, and Sir William Thompson had already an-
nounced the germ of his doctrine of the ‘‘dissipationof energy.”
The popular character of the work tempted several ignorant re-
viewers to speak of it as a compilation, and as something similar
to the attempts of Hitchcock and Hugh Miller. The Nation re-
ceived it with that affectation of superior wisdom, and that pomp-
ous superciliousness which have since been the recognized char-
acteristics of that conceited journal. With these exceptions the
work was received with a universal and cordial welcome. From
his numerous scrap-books the following, from the New York Jide-
peudent, is selected as a sample of the judgment of the best
critics.
But setting aside the engraver’s help toward the rich attractions of this
volume, and confining ourselves simply to the author’s manipulation of
words, we should call this a very picturesque volume. Dr. Winchell is a
learned professor of the sciences of geology, zoology and botany; but
more than that he is a singular master of the art of telling about these
sciences. His mind is filled with the poetry of science; he brings his
heart and his imagination into the field as allies of his analytic faculties;
and his essays in the popularization of science are realiy extraordinary
specimens of word-painting. Like Waterhouse Hawkins, Dr. Winchell
is a popular orator of the facts of natural science; and like Hugh Miller,
Tyndall, Huxley, Agassiz, he is also the graphic rhetorician of those
facts. If any one has supposed that geology is a dry, dull science, he
can be cured effectually by the perusal of the Sketches of Creation. It
clothes the dry bones of an august science with the living flesh and
splendid vestments of poetry. Its rehearsal of the tremendous story of
the physical universe is a superb prose epic.
In similar strain wrote the New York Evening Post, the Chicago
Post, and nearly every other reviewer. The remarkable sale of the
work combined with these commendations and many friendly let-
ters, demonstrated that the author had reached the very audience
for whom he wrote. The publishers accounted to the author for
4,181 copies sold within the first six months, and they testified
subsequently that no scientific work ever published in America
oS The American Geologist. February, 1892
had found so large a sale as the Sketches of Creation, A large
demand has continued to the present date.
Almost simultaneously appeared his Geological Chart, intended
for the class-room of the college and the High School,
1871. But his principal activity was demanded by the duties
of the geological survey. In the latter part of 1870 he drew up
a preliminary cast of a report of progress, and in Jan., 1871, it
was submitted to the Legislature. It was printed at once in
pamphlet. This did not attempt to embody results, but set
forth the plan of operations and the scope of the work contem-
plated, producing estimates of final cost, with a degree of un-
reserve more candid than judicious. The greater part of an
octavo volume was substantially ready for the press. But a hos-
tile influence had insinuated itself into the Legislature. The
Senate very promptly passed a bill making appropriations for pub-
lication ; but the House was now under the manipulation of one
S W. Hill, from the Upper Peninsula, who had taken offense at the
employment of Prof. R. Pumpelly, instead of himself or some
other resident of the district, to prosecute the survey of the cop-
per region. Mr. Hill had been a subordinate employe of the
survey under Foster and Whitney, and was known as an exploring
miner or ‘‘expert”’ in the Northern Peninsula. As director, Prof.
Winchell had made a preliminary arrangement with Forster,
who was well versed in the facts connected with the geological
developments of the region, but Gov. Baldwin objected, because
Forster was already one of the commissioners of the Sault canal.
Hill was utterly incompetent and out of the question, though both
ambitious and unscrupulous. Prof. Pumpelly was well known,
even then, as a student of such ore-deposits, and was the ‘most
suitable man, But Hill notwithstanding his assuring and frtendly
letters, conceived an implacable hostility to the director and to
the survey, and secured his election to the Lower House with
the proclamation that he would kill the survey. So by the most
industrious, insidious and unscrupulous misrepresentations and
perversions of facts, he created a strong adverse sentiment. In
this he was aided by Dr. Manly Miles, then residing in Lansing,
who ten years before had so mismanaged the Zoological depart-
ment of the survey then in progress, that the director got rid of
him by having the Zoological department abolished. Between
the two suflicient influence was exerted to induce a majority of
Alewander Winchell. QQ
the house to withhold appropriations for publication, and to this
day the materials that were gathered under his administration in
the Lower Peninsula for two seasons of field work largely remain
unpublished. They fill numerous large record volumes of manu-
script.
Meantime governor Baldwin, whose authority had compelled
him to take the step which roused such deadly hostility, neither
assumed the responsibility, nor justified the director in any offi-
cial way, and the latter was restrained by official etiquette from
shifting upon another the responsibility for his official acts. The
whole Geological Board had but recently fully endorsed all the
plans and operations of the survey; but they had not the virtue to
defend what had been done with their open and individual
approval. So, on the failure, or impending failure, of the appro-
priation, the director sent in his resignation, glad enough to be
relieved from what appeared to be the tyranny of an ignorant and
capricious Legislature. ‘‘A Remarkable Maori Manuscript,”’
published in Sparks from a Geologists Hammer, is a parody of
this episode.
At the dedication of ‘‘Orange Judd Hall of Science,” at the
Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Ct., he delivered an address
on Setentific Education. The institution was hisalma mater, and
its benefactor was his classmate. This address assumed bold and
forward ground, and was published in pamphlet. The Boston
Advertiser said: ‘‘It will be likely to attract much attention among
-all who are interested in the ‘modern protest,’ since it takes de-
cided and strong grounds in favor of the new education, boldly
advocating its advantages, not only for special training, but for
that liberal culture and discipline of the mental faculties and the
character, which, it is generally supposed, can be obtained only
from the classics. It will take rank with the most thorough and
able arguments yet presented on this side of the discussion.”” On
this occasion he reeeived from his alma mater the degree of Doctor
of Laws.
His recent experience with the versatile lower, house of the
Legislature of Michigan brought sharp confirmation of a convic-
tion, which he had already entertained and expressed, as to the
unrestricted extension of the elective franchise to the ignorant
citizen. The progress of the institutions of American civilization
he considered endangered by thus putting them into, the hands of
LOO The American Geologist. February, 1892
ignorant and too often unappreciative trustees. Such views were
embraced in a lecture entitled Auhistocracy, or Too Much Popular |
Government. This was first delivered at Mattoon, Ill., Dee. 4,
1871. It appeared in the Mattoon Journal of Jan. 6, 1872. The
lecture, as may well be imagined, created considerable excitement,
as it went point blank against the short-sighted, material selfishness
of the rabble, and the aspirations of the self-seeking demagogues
who lead them. The lecture was, however, rewritten and delivered,.
March 13, before the +‘‘Jetfersonian Society” of the Law Depart-
ment of the University of Michigan.
1872. A series of articles adapted to the NSuwuday School
Journal were published in that periodical in 1872, and subse-
quently were amplified into a volume entitled Reconciliation of
Nerence and Religion, We was this year vice-president of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science; and poet
for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his college class. On the latter
occasion he delivered a very touching and melancholy, though
perhaps appropriate, poem, which is.one of the rare occasions on
which he allowed the outer world, which knew him chiefly by his
scientific contributions, to have a glimpse of the inmost recesses of
his heart. Here he poured out his grief *in an impersonal way,
in beautifully flowing metre—of which there are also numerous-
other examples scattered through his diary and his record books.
1873. He experienced a severe trial, on leaving, in 1873, the
University of Michigan, and accepting the responsible position of
chancellor of Syracuse University. The step was long debated,
and he could scarcely bring himself to abandon all the ties which
bound him to Ann Arbor and the State of Michigan. He had
heretofore firmly resisted the personal solicitations of various
committees to enter upon what they, with the world in general.
regarded as ‘a wider field.” But now the representations of the
authorities of Syracuse University were to the etfect that the insti-
tution was in rapid progress of endowment, and had already :
productive capital of $650,000, and that, as it was his scientific
reputation which had attracted them to him, they wished him not
to discontinue his relation to the scientific world. His salary
would be more than double what he was receiving from the Univer-
sity of Michigan, and he would not have to be worried with the
financial affairs of the endowment, since there was a salaried
“He had lost three of his children by early death.
ANlerander Winchell. Lor
officer to look after that. Hewas very cordially received and
introduced by bishop Peck and Drs. Reid and Bristol. His
inaugural address was a broad and searching discussion of The
Modern University.
A portion of the material intended for the report of the Geo-
logical Survey of Michigan was condensed for Walling’s At/as of
Michigan, embracing articles on the geology, topography and
climate of the state. These memoirs subsequently were collected
in a volume of 121 pages, accompanied by topographical, geolog-
ical and isothermal charts—six in all. Resulting froin the same
study he contributed to the Amer. Jour, Ser., July, 1873, a paper
on The Diagonal Nystem in the Physical Features of Michigan.
As soon as he had opportunity to learn the financial condition
of the University, he discovered that it was not what he had been
led to suppose, and that the financial stringency of the times
(1873) bore heavily on even what there was of a firm foundation
for future expectation. Notes which had been given on the
opening of the institution were met with disheartening non-
payment, and on others the productive interest was eaten up by
second-hand men and bankers who had advanced money on them
and held the short time notes of the University. However, he
kept up good courage, outwardly, to the end of the scholastic
year, and in July he sailed for Kurope, intending there to leave his
family for a short sojourn while his eldest living daughter should
enjoy the opportunity and advantages of musical instruction by
the best foreign masters. He returned himself to Syracuse on the
opening of the new scholastic year.
He delivered a course of four geological lectures during the
autumn at Cooper Institute, New York, and two on evolution
before the ‘‘Drew Theological Seminary,” the latter, in April
(1874), appearing as a small volume from the press of Harper
Bros. ee ie eee eee 6 feet
3. Boulders, clay, gravel, and sand in irregular patches.
Same as No. 4, but boulders larger, frequently from 2 to
Gdeetin diameter... sesso eee Boe eeiaio he eae 13 feet
2. Blue clay, gravel and sand....... mink +\s ee. seas 0/0 wee eo Ogee
1. Shales of the Geode formation. ........ A OPES a Bre coher | Ldteet
At the foot of Bank street, one block south, No. 3 was seen in
contact with the Geode shales. In this division erratic boulders
predominate, while above in No. 4 limestones are numerous and
apparently but little removed from their original locality. Frag-
ments of the St. Louis, Keokuk and Burlington limestones were
observed. Some of the boulders were greatly exfoliated and de-
composed. This, together with their cemented condition, has
been adduced by Chamberlin and Salisbury as evidence of the
early origin of the border till.* No striated boulders were ob-
*U.S. Geol. Surv., 6th An. Rep., p. 264.
Quaternary Geology.— Gordon. 18
served. This may be accounted for by the exfoliation which they
have suffered. Moreover, those rocks which have suffered little
from this cause, were probably borne along within or upon the
ice, Mr. Guthrie has shown* that boulders thus inclosed are con-
stantly rolling upward in the same manner that the coarse mate-
rial in roily water is whirled upward and outward to be deposited
along the banks, or transported to some quiet resting place.
Loess. —A cutting at the corner of Second and Des Moines
streets not far from the above locality, discloses the following
arrangement:
SECTION III.
7. Fine, dark drab or ash-colored material, becoming coarser
below, and gradating into No. 6...... Deemer wats —. O Leet
6. Coarse red sand, mingled with finer particles; approaches
a red clay in places......... Louis acs a Suet ora eratete Sera atsh at 10 feet
5. Fine white sand, interstratified with hard red iron oxide
handeriromel tow) imehes! thick .; ....¢. sce... cael wc eres 14 feet,
4, The boulder bed underlying the above shows its relations
ne REreCeGINE BECtION:|....5. 2... .250¢ ccc sacsancecees ?
Ferruginous Zone.—The uppermost division presents the typical
characteristics of loess. No. 5 and the lower part of No. 6 are
more or less stratified. No. 5 is made up of white quartz grains
varying in size from 1 to 4 mm. in diameter, those above 2 mm.
predominating. They are more or less rounded in outline, though
angular forms are not wanting. The red bands show no variation
except in the presence of cementing material in the form of iron
oxide. No. 6 differs from No. 5 in the added presence of grains
from 4+ to 10 mm. in diameter, and an abundance of iron oxide
and finer particles. Under the microscope the oxide may be seen
coating the sand grains, and in masses, along with the smaller
particles, filling the interstices between the coarser grains. A
vertical cut through the bed exposes small cavities with hardened
walls, partially filled with clean white sand. The same white
grains may be obtained from the main mass by dissolving the
oxide with hot hydrochloric acid, thus indicating the probable
origin of these pockets in a leeching process, due to waters
charged with organic acids derived from the decaying vegetation
above. Rounded grains are common. The decided coloration is
a prominent feature of this bed. Wherever laid bare it is easily
traced for long distances. Just above Warsaw, on the Illinois
*Lake Michigan Glacier, p. 11.
188 The American Geologist. March, 1892
side, is an exposure easily recognized from Keokuk several miles
away. Pebbles of granite are occasionally found, but are not
numerous. Chert fragments are frequent, and often occur in
accumulated masses. I have also observed geodes distributed
sparingly through the bed. Lime concretions occur in the upper
portions. The deposit is mostly coarse and porous, and is some-
times used for molding purposes. This bed has sometimes been
considered as representing the more important formation towards
the south, called the Orange Sand. Hilgard, who first studied
these beds (Orange Sand), regards them as the southern equiva-
lent of the northern drift, considering the materials of the two to
be ‘essentially correspondent,” and asserts ‘‘that there are but
two essential particulars to distinguish it from the beds of the
northern drift proper; first the absence or at least great scarcity
of erratic rocks proper, * * * and secondly the great preva-
lence of limited deposits of ferruginous sandstone or conglom-
In the drift of the northern states the ferruginiz-
ing process has played but a subordinate part.”* Until quite re-
erate.
cently this view has been sustained by nearly all of the geologistst
who have written upon the subject, those of Illinois alone dis-
senting, and insisting upon their pre-Pleistocene character. The
latter view has recently been confirmed by investigations in east-
ern Arkansas under the auspices of the state geological survey. R.
E. Call,who has made a special study of the Orange Sand, gravels,
and Loess of Crowly’s ridge, says that he regards the Tertiary
age of these beds as unequivocal. In a contribution to the same
report, R. D. Salisbury sustains this opinion from confirmatory
evidence gathered along the lower Ohio. Briefly,the reasons ad-
duced by the latter for this disposition of the beds, are as follows:
1. The unconformity which exists between the loess and the under-
lying gravels and sands.
The profound weathering and oxidation which these formations
underwent previous to the deposition of the loess.
3. The constitution of the gravels of Crowley’s ridge precludes
their reference to the Pleistocene.§
wo
*American Journal of Science, 2nd Ser. No. 123, p. 315.
+Safford, Am. Jour. Sci., 1864, Vol. 37, p. 361.
Dana, J. D., Manual of Geology, p. 548.
Leconte, Elements of Geology, p. 548.
Loughridge, Jackson Purchase Region, Ky. Geol. Surv. 1888.
tArkansas Geological Report, Vol. 11, 1889, p. 126. SSame, p. 224.
Quaternary Geology.— Gordon. pokey
Upon the last point Salisbury’s statements are greatly at vari-
ance with those of the majority of previous writers, for he says
that, in the ‘hundreds of exposures examined for this especial
purpose, not a single pebble of demonstrably northern origin has
ever been found.” If the correlation of these beds with the Ter-
tiary be accepted, and the evidence presented seems conclusive,
it opens anew the question as to what constitutes the southern
representative of the drift corresponding to the first episode of
the first glacial epoch. This is found by the above writers in the
lower division of the loess, above which is a zone of ozidation
with traces of an old soil separating it from the later loess above.
According to this view, it would seem probable that all the de-
posits above the till at Keokuk should be referred to the loess,
and if the ferruginous zone corresponds to that giving rise to the
two-fold division suggested by the above authors, then we have
the lower division of the southern loess represented here by the
lower till and the ferruginous division above. An explanation of
this, however, may be found in the peculiar location of Keokuk
just within the border of the glacial area. In the retreat of the
ice sheet to the north there would be deposited first the material
held by the ice, forming the lower till. But, as the edge of the
ice receded up the valley, the deposit would gradually change,
becoming essentially estuarian in character. Then followed a
period of deglaciation during which, probably, oxidation played
a prominent part. This constitutes the interglacial episode of the
earlier glacialepoch. Then came the. closing episode, during
which, apparently, estuarian conditions prevailed, and the main
body of the loess was deposited. According to Chamberlain and
Salisbury this all belongs to the first glacial epoch after which the
conditions of loessial deposit no more obtain, and the subsequent
history of these regions is one of continued oxidation, erosion and
rearrangement,
In studying this formation we have been specially interested to
learn if there is any significance in the fact that it is most prom-
inently developed opposite and for some distance above and below
the mouth of the Des Moines. In seeking an explanation of the
probable source of the material constituting it, the agency of that
river must not be overlooked. For a large part of its course it
has been cutting its way through the sandstones and shales of the
Coal Measures, About one hundred miles above its confluence
190 The American Geologist March, 1892
with the Mississippi occurs an excessive development of red and
variegated sandstone. In the vicinity of ‘“Red Rock,” to which
it has given name, this bed has a maximum thickness of 150
feet.* The material gathered by the river from this and other
rocks in its course must have had some part in determining the
character of the deposit forming about its mouth.
The Upper Loess.—The upper portion presents the usual char-
acteristics of typical Loess. A careful examination reveals the
presence of quartz grains essentially the same as in the ferrugi-
nous portion, but greatly diminished in number. The main mass
consists of finely divided particles, rock-flour, varying in size
from .01 to.05 mm. indiameter. They show no signs of attrition.
A bare trace of iron oxide may sometimes be observed. No fos-
sils were seen though the ‘‘lime balls’” or ‘‘loess-kindchen” held
by some to be derived from fossil shells are common.
Evanston, Ill.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.
Scale (except in figure 4). fo Amore i
Fig. 1. Profile section (41g miles) from west to east, through Keokuk
and Hamilton, I!l., crossing the Mississippi in the vicinity of the lower
lock of the Des Moines canal.
Fig. 2. Profile section (314 miles) from southwest to northeast across
Keokuk Point, starting from a point midway between the mouth of the
river and Des Moines bridge. :
Fig. 3. Profile section 34 mile southeast of No. 2, and parallel with it.
Fig. 4. Profile section on Des Moines from the river to Sixth street.
1, 2, 3, 4equal 4, 5, 6, 7 of Secrron tr., p. 187.
ORIGIN OF THE GRAVEL DEPOSITS BENEATH
MUIR GLACIER, ALASKA.
By Israet C. Russeti, Washington, D.C.
| With contributions by Prof. G. FrepERick Wright, Prof. Harry Fielding Reid and Mr.
H. P. Cushing. |
In an excellent article on the Muir glacier, in the October num-
ber of this journal, Mr. H. P. Cushing described the gravels on
which the lower end of the glacier rests, but states that he is un-
able to explain their origin. t
*Geological Report Iowa (1858), Vol. 11, Part 1, p. 168.
Keyes, C. R., Bull. G. S. A., Vol. nm, pp. 277-292.
+The same deposits are discussed by G. F. Wright in Ice Age in North
America, pp. 57-61; and also in AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, Vol. 9, pp. 330-381.
a
Breceiaxed — Se Oe
f= _-— - " : +)
i a SE GE! De: -_ ee
‘R ce: D hom
-§ Yniss- Ray ey
%
&
8
Sr CTrions ar Weowun, Vown,
THh AMERICAN GEOLOGIST,
Vol. IX, Plate TTT.
Gravel Deposits, Muir Glacter.—Russell. 191
IT made a hasty examination of the gravel deposit beneath the
ice on the east side of Muir inlet, in 1890, and believe that if I
can make clear to my readers how similar accumulations of gravel
and sand are now forming in other portions of southern Alaska,
we shall be able to come to an agreement as to the history of
those under consideration.
THe Lesson.
About the outer border of the Malaspina glacier and at the foot
of the Atrevida, Black and Lucia glaciers on the west side of
Yakutat bay, there are immense ‘‘boulder washers,” as IT have
been in the habit of calling them, which are being deposited by
over-loaded, glacial streams and have the essential feature of the
‘‘alluvial cones” or ‘‘alluvial fans,” so common in arid regions,
except that the material of which they are composed is in general
more thoroughly rounded. They are also similar to the subaerial
portions of the deltas of high-grade streams.
One of the most characteristic boulder washers observed in
Alaska, is on the east side of the Atrevida glacier, and has its
apex at a locality where a creek of turbid water, called Esker
stream, rushes.out from a tunnel at the foot of a precipice
of ice about 200 feet high.* The stream flows for two or three
miles through a deep gorge, having a moraine-covered bluff of
ice for its right wall for a large part of the way, and a precipi-
tous mountain slope, loaded with morainal deposits, for its left
wall. The gorge has been formed by the melting back of the ice
owing, in a great measure, to the action of the stream which flows
through it. Many other sub-glacial streams emerge in a similar
manner at the margins of the glaciers mentioned above. Some of
these have cut back deep bays or canon-like recesses in the periph-
ery of the ice; while others have failed to form re-entral angles
of this character. Whether or not a local recession of the ice-
front shall follow the emergence of a sub-glacial stream, depends
on the volume and swiftness of the stream, and on the amount
and size of the débris that rests on the ice, and as the ice melts,
falls into the stream. When the stream is strong enough to keep
its channel open, a deep notch in the ice-front may result; but
when the débris from the sides and head of the recession is abun-
dant, and especially when it is of large size, the channel frequently
*An illustration of the source of this creek is given in National Geo
graphic Magazine, Vol. 3, 1891, pl. 10.
192 The American Geologist. March, 1892
becomes choked, and the sub-glacial waters are forced to find a
new outlet.
In the case of the stream issuing from the Atrevida glacier, the
channel is deeply filled with débris, most of it of large size, de-
rived from the ice cliffs near its source, but the water is swift and
the boulders are swept along the channel until they can find a
resting place. . When near the stream, one may hear, even above
the roar of the torrent, the clashing and pounding of the boulders
as they are rolled along and hit against each other or against the
still larger stones over which the water rushes. As soon as the
canon widens, the stream divides and piles up the boulders, now
on one side of its channel and now on the other, while the finer
material is carried farther down. Owing to the deposition of the
coarser portion of the heavy load with which the stream starts, its
channel is built up higher than the adjacent surface, and conse-
quently the drainage is unstable. Some three miles from its
source the stream passes a spur of hills on its left and has room
to expand its deposits. It then bifurcates again and again, and
is constantly forming new channels. The region through which
the stream flows is heavily timbered and the expansion of the tor
rent-swept area is accomplished by invading the forest on either
side of its course. Where this has occurred recently, the dead
trees are still standing, and in some instances even retain their
withered foliage; farther out in the gravel deposit they are dead
but unbroken; while still farther away, only trunks and stumps
project above the barren, stream-swept surface. The dé-
bris thus being laid down has the form of a segment of a low
cone. The apex of the cone is four or five miles from its base,
on Yakutat bay, and has an elevation of some six or eight hun-
dred feet. Its breadth near its base is about two miles. The
depth of the deposit cannot be determined, as building is in active
progress and dissection has not begun, but judging from the con-
tour of the adjacent surface, is must be several hundred feet in
the central portion. The deposit is coarse and sub-angular near
the apex of the cone, boulders four feet in diameter being not un-
common, but become finer and finer near its base. The outer
portion of the deposit, near Yakutat bay, is composed of gravel
and sand, From the mode of its formation and the character of
its surface, it is safe to assure that it is cross-stratified through-
out and has many abrupt alternations of fine and coarse material.
Gravel Deposits, Muir Glacier.— Russell. 193
Trunks and branches of trees are scattered over its surface or im-
bedded in the superficial layers. Portions of trees probably oc-
cur throughout the deposit, and beneath it over large areas, there
must be a buried forest. Conditions are easily conceived whereby
other forests might become buried above the first.
The débris carried down by the stream is derived almost en-
tirely from the moraines on the glacier from which it flows, and
partakes of their heterogeneous character. Examples of all of
the rocks bordering the east side of the Atrevida glacier occur in
the stream deposit.
Owing to the fact that the stream is overloaded at its source
and is depositing in that region, it is evident that the apex of the
cone is rising, and, consequently, that it is increasing in thick-
ness throughout. The grade of the stream increases towards its
source and will continue to increase as the ice wall from beneath
which it flows recedes farther and farther. These conditions, to-
gether with the constant bifurcation of the stream as it flows down
the cone, thus decreasing its transporting power, make it evident
that the cone will continue to grow in all of its dimensions until
the glacier which feeds it, both with water and débris, ceases to
recede, or until the ratio between water supply and the amount of
débris contributed is greatly changed.
Another boulder-wash which is being formed by Kwik stream,
at the foot of the Lucia glacier, is several times larger than the
one described above, but is of the same type. Many others of
less size were observed at the extremities of the secondary glaciers
about Disenchantment bay, and about the borders of the Malas-
pina glacier. These numerous examples seem sufficient to dem-
onstrate that deposits of boulders, gravel and sand of the nature
of those noticed above, are dependent on the retreat of the gla-
ciers about which they are formed. Should a glacier, after re-
treating and depositing an alluvial cone, become stationary, it is
evident that the amount of coarse débris contributed to the streams
draining it would be greatly decreased. The streams would then
be in a condition to erode the deposits previously laid down, and
to cut channels through them. Should a glacier then advance, it
might override or plough into the deposits about its front, and
thus still further assist in their removal.
Owing to the rapid disintegration of rocks under the climatic
conditions prevailing in southern Alaska, alluvial cones, more
194 The American Geologist. March, 1892
nearly allied to those of arid regions than are the great boulder-
washers just described, occur at the mouths of high-grade gorges
which join broad canons, or valleys, but it is not desirable to con-
sider these at present.
THE APPLICATION.
From the very clear description of the gravel deposits beneath
the Muir glacier given by Mr. Cushing, as well as from my own
hasty examination of them, Iam inclined to think that they are
of the same nature as the boulder washer to which attention has
been directed. In describing the gravels beneath Muir glacier
Mr. Cushing says :—
“They were deposited by swift currents. The material is all coarse,
alternating beds of gravel and sand, the gravel largely predominating,
and with little or no admixture of clay. Rapid alternations of horizontal
and cross-bedding characterize them. A considerable number of the
pebbles in the gravel are derived from the eruptive rocks far to the
north. They have their edges rounded but are much more angular than
are stones which have suffered attrition in water for any considerable
length of time. They have rather the aspect of somewhat water-worn
glacial pebbles.*
Other points of close similarity between these gravels and the
boulder washes now forming, might be cited from the reports of
Cushing and Wright; but it is better, perhaps, that the reader
who is interested in this discussion should consult the original
dlescriptions.
If we assume that Muir glacier formerly retreated a few miles
above its present terminus, so as to allow forests to occupy the
region about the head of Glacier bay, and that from the extremity
of the retreating glacier a boulder wash was spread out and in-
vaded the forest, and should the glacier then advance and over-
ride the deposit of boulders and gravel, we should have an occur-
rence similar in every way to what is now found at Muir inlet.
That glaciers of great thickness may overrun unconsolidated
gravels, without disturbing them, is no longer open to question.
An occurrence of this nature on a much larger scale than at Muir
inlet, may be seen along the southern margin of the Malaspina
glacier, midway between Icy bay and Point Manby, where the sea
had encroached upon the glacier and for about three miles ex-
posed a bluff of ice some three hundred feet high, resting on an
*AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, Vol. 8, p. 219.
i
oe
Gravel Deposits, Muir Glacier.— Russell. 195
undisturbed gravel and boulder deposit. The Quaternary gla-
ciers near Mono lake, California, are known to have done the
same thing, as is plainly recorded in the gravel-lined troughs
through which they flowed, and which still retain their original
contour.
A more careful study of glaciers may show that there is a ratio
between the grade of an ice stream and its rate of flow, which de-
termines whether it shall erode or protect its bed, or permit of
the accumulation of débris beneath the ice.
The manuscript of this paper was forwarded in turn to Prof. G.
Frederick Wright, Prof. Harry Fielding Reid and Mr. H. P.
Cushing for criticism and suggestions. Their contributions to
the discussion are given below :—
Conrripution By Pror. G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.
Mr. Russell having kindly permitted me to read his paper upon “The
Origin of the Gravel Deposits beneath the Muir Glacier, Alaska,” and
having asked me to add any suggestions which come to my own mind
upon the subject, I would say that his explanation of the origin of the
phenomena seems to me exceedingly probable, and gives great relief to
my mind. One fact which he has not mentioned which I had recorded
(see Ice Age, p. 57) seems to agree perfectly with Mr. Russell’s observa-
tions. On the west side of Muir glacier the gravel deposits which have
covered the forests, and which are now in part overridden by the glacier,
rise from 100 feet above sea-level at the southern termination of the de-
posit, to more than 300 feet in the vicinity of the present ice-front, which
seems to be exactly in accordance with Mr. Russell’s theory.
This explanation furnished by Mr. Russell of the perplexing facts in
Muir Inlet illustrates anew the complicated character of the forces
in operation during both the advance and the retreat of a great glacier,
and shows how competent a glacier is to account for most diverse classes
of facts. With such a cause in the field, we may well hesitate long be-
fore concluding that we have exhausted its capacity or resorting to un-
known causes for the explanation of our facts.
Oberlin, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1891.
CONTRIBUTION BY PrRor. HARRY FIELDING REID.
The explanation given by Mr. Russell of the sand and gravel deposits
on the shores of Muir inlet seems perfectly satisfactory. From Mr.
Cushing's observations both he and I were convinced that they were
formed by running water. The gravels in Main valley and in the valley
of the Dying glacier probably have a similar origin; in these cases, how-
ever, they sweep quite across the floors of their respective valleys. We
often questioned whether the deposits on the two shores were ever con-
nected, without finding any evidence pro or con,
196 The American Geoloqist. March, 1892
« 9
The gravels forming these deposits vary in size from sand to pieces as
large as one’s fist, rarely being much larger; so it is probable that the
glacier is now somewhat more extended than when they were laid down,
and that the upper end of the cone where larger and more angular rocks
would be found, is still under the ice some distance higher up the valley.
The highest part of the bluff overlooking the Inlet is about 150 feet
above tide, and occurs about where the glacier ended at the time of
Prof.Wright’s visit in 1886 (see map in “Studies of Muir glacier,” shortly
to be published in the National Geographic Magazine.) According to
Mr. Russell’s idea they should become higher as we ascend the valley;
as a matter of fact they become lower, being almost at water level at the
point where the ice-point stood in 1890. Hence if Mr. Russell’s explan-
ation is correct, and I think it very probably is, some 150 or 200 feet of
gravel has been carried off from this point (and still more higher up the
valley) since the former great retreat of the glacier. The angular rocks
spread over the surface of these deposits were left there during the
present retreat of the ice.
Charpentier was the first one, I think, to notice that glaciers will ride
over gravels* It is a mistaken notion that sands and gravels do not form
asolid bed. When prevented from yielding laterally, or, what amounts
to the same thing, when in large amounts, they offer a remarkably firm
support. In soft, marshy lands it is customary to make satisfactory
foundations for buildings by driving in piles, withdrawing them, and
then filling the holes with sand.
Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 23d, 1891.
Contrisution BY Mr. H, P. CusHING.T
I have read your MS. with great interest. It clears up several doubtful
points, but I must confess that the inain difficulty under which I labored
in endeavoring to interpret the phenomena does not seem to be helped.
That the deposits were formed by overloaded sub-glacial streams was
clear tome. It was not clear, however, and is not yet, how they could
be deposited in such a location. A glance at Reid’s map accompanying
my paper, will indicate what I mean. Muir inlet is narrow and deep,
and its shores are precipitous mountain slopes, except for the narrow
space occupied by the gravels, which rest on an old forest soil. As
stated in my paper, p. 221, suppose the ice to have retreated some few
miles back, which is also required in your explanation. As the ice re-
treated, sea water would follow it, certainly for a considerable distance,
leaving merely a narrow sloping shore between the water and the mount-
ain slopes. Howa stream could run along such a shore for any distance
and build up such a deposit, I cannot conceive. After running at the
*Essai sur les Glaciers, 1841, p. 72, foot note.
+Mr. Cushing’s letter was not intended for publication, but permission
was granted to use such portions of itas I thought best. The paragraphs
given above are all that relate directly to the subject under discussion,
and are presented with a few slight verbal changes.
° a
Gravel Deposits, Muir Glacier. —Russell. 197
most a very short distance, it seems to me that it must have turned its
course into the sea. That is, of course, with the relative levels remain-
ing as at present. That is what puzzles me. With Muir glacier retreat-
‘ing, and some distance away from this spot, how is a stream of water
from the glacier going to be able to reach it? That Muir glacier did so
retreat, and long enough to allow a forest growth on the mountains all
around its basin to take place, is certain from the evidence there. (See
my paper p. 223.) I thought it more probable that these gravels were
deposited during a pause in the advance of the glacier which followed
the recession, and when it was near this spot, simply because I was un-
able to conceive how otherwise streams could have reached this spot
with their gravels. If this point is well taken the natural conclusion
would be that the conditions were in some way different from the pres-
ent, and there being no evidence as to what that difference was, so far as
I found, nothing remained but speculation. Moreover the deposit
reaches its greatest hight where it rests against the mountain slopes,
in one place 600 feet above the water. Again, as you can see from the
plate accompanying my paper, where the glacier rests upon these depos-
its they regularly decrease in hight as the ice increases in thickness,
showing a diminution in hight toward the north. This may be due to
the ice over it, but I doubt it.
This then is my main trouble about accepting your explanation. If
Muir glacier should now retreat five miles, sea water, not forests, would
occupy the large part of the territory deserted by the ice, and a long
stream running along a narrow shore parallel to the coast line and
building up a thick deposit thereon seems to me “agin Natur,” as Josh
Billings would say.
Munchen, Germany, Dec. 9, 1891.
The main objection which Mr. Cushing urges seems to be that
the gravels are found on the borders of Muir inlet, but are absent
from the central portion, where there is now deep water. If the
explanation I have suggested is the correct one, we must suppose
that the alluvial-fan spread out by the streams flowing from Muir
glacier during its retreat, advanced southward and occupied the
entire width of the valley, and formed a delta when the sea level
was reached. Only the marginal portions of this deposit are
now exposed; the central portion, and most of the surface, as
suggested by Prof. Reid, having been eroded away. The greater
erosion along the axis of the valley may have been due to the
advance of the glacier which was capable of re-opening the
central part of the channel where the ice current was deepest
and most rapid, while remnants of the interglacial gravels were
left at the sides,
Washington, D. C., Dec. 22, 1891.
198 The American Geologist. Mareh, 1892
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
THE SO-CALLED LAURENTIAN LIMESTONES AT ST. JOHN, NEW
BRUNSWICK.
We are obliged to Prof. Matthew for stating concisely the evi-
dence of the Archean age of the limestones which at St. John
contain the newly discovered fossils mentioned in the GEOLOGIST
for January, p. 55. We do not intend to take issue strongly with
Prof. Matthew on a question pertaining to the geology of his own
region. We only intended, in our note calling attention to the
possible primordial age of the fossils he has described, to direct
his attention to the lack of demonstration that they are of the age
to which he has assigned them. Since he has taken the pains to
question the validity of our doubt, we will state more fully the
several facts which form its basis:
1. The base of the Taconic (which here we use as equivalent
to primordial), is everywhere a quartzyte associated with a lime-
stone. Usually the limestone overlies, but in some cases it is in-
terbedded with or blended with the siliceous rock, constituting a
fine-grained cherty limestone. It is not necessary to mention all
the localities where this is known to be the succession. In Ver-
mont it embraces the Granular Quartz and the Winooski marble,
followed by a series of reddish, tufaceous, siliceous sandstones
and shales which are probably the remote effects of oceanic vol-
canoes which broke out immediately after the deposition of the
Winooski limestone. It is a desideratum to ascertain the strati-
graphic succession from the limestone to the chronologically over-
lying strata in the Vermont district, but further south Prof. Dana
has traced the limestone (under the name of Stockbridge lime-
stone) through Massachusetts and Connecticut to Courtland, N,
Y., where he found it upheaved and overwhelmed in the eruption
of the Courtland gabbros. Intermediate points indicated that
they took on the aspect of crystalline rocks, and indeed that much
of the +‘ Laurentian” of western Massachusetts and Connecticut
(in which to this day no fossils have been found) is of the age, ex-
actly or nearly, of these basal Taconic rocks. The mineral chon-
drodite was considered diagnostic of the Laurentian age of this
limestone.
2. In Vermont characteristic Taconic fossils have been found
Editorial Comment. 199
by Mr. Walcott in this quartzyte, and in northwestern New Jersey
they have been found by Mr. Beecher in the same strata «ssoci-
ated with chondrodite. These strata are unconformable below the
later series at Rutland, Vt.
3. The Courtland (N. Y.), gabbros are repeated, and of the
same age, in the Adirondacks. ‘They here broke out at the same
date and buried these strata under immense floods of eruptive
rock. Asin Vermont and in eastern New York this horizon is
the great iron-bearing horizon of the region; but in northeastern
New York an element is introduced into the iron which is not
found when there was no actual outflow of basic rock, viz., titanic
ores abound, these being a characteristic native element of gabbro.
4. It is only recently that the effect of this early Taconic
eruptive period has been located farther north, r/z., in the St.
Lawrence valley. Mr. Ells has carefully described the so-called
‘Quebec Series’ of the Canadian geologists. He has found the
primordial portion of it to consist of two parts, v/z., a series of
shales and sandstones, and a series of quartzytes and limestone,
the latter series being unconformable below the former, This un-
conformity we take to mark the date of outbreak of the Adiron-
dack and Courtland eruptives, and especially so as the rocks are
said to contain large admixtures of volcanic materials, and as the
lower strata are lithologically identical with those which ante-
dated that outbreak in Vermont and New York. The red shales
of the upper Sillery are the Georgia shales and sandstones of Ver-
mont. :
5. Without referring to intermediate localities, the strati-
graphy of which might be considered, in this review, of question-
able purport, we will mention only the succession in the North-
west. In northern Wisconsin, according to Prof. Van Hise, not
only are the basal rocks of the upper iron-bearing series (the Ta-
conic) a cherty limestone and a quartzyte, but an erosion tnterval,
introducing a distinct non-chronologic succession and an wneon-
formity, separates them from the later strata of what he has called
Huronion but which we consider the later Taconic. Although
there is a belt of gabbro rocks at other points in Wisconsin their
relation to this erosion interval and to this non-conformity has not
been pointed out by the Wisconsin geologists.
6. However, on the north side of lake Superior, where Prof.
Matthew has described primordial fossils from the strata succeed-
200 The American Geologist. March, 1892
ing this great break, this relationship has not only been inferred,
but the actual date of the gabbro flood has been established by
ample field evidence, and there also the quartzyte and the lime-
stone (which latter however is almost wanting) are the only strata
that are overwhelmed in the eruption. The Animikie black
slates, which are abundantly interstratified with eruptive mate-
rials, mainly in the form of consolidated ash, making now various
‘‘oreenstones, ’ into which the slates graduate, followed the date of
this eruption and fade off upward into the red shales and sand-stones
that have long been known as characteristic of the Cupriferous
series. These red shales we consider the chronologic analogue of the
Georgia formation of Vermont, and the upper Sillery at Quebec.
7. The succession of geologic events and the order of stratifi-
cation which have been worked out at St. John by Prof. Mat-
thew, are, thanks to his statement of them, so nearly identical
with what has been worked out in several places in the United
States at the same geological horizon, that it seems the course of
prudence to hesitate about continuing the old idea of the Lauren-
tian age of those St. John limestones, The trend of evidence is
toward placing them at the bottom of the Taconic. Whether
they should be included in the Cambrian depends on the limits
and definition which may be given to that term.
Below these so-called Laurentian limestones and quartzytes
there is to be found, if the succession in New Brunswick is iden-
tical with that in the United States, a profound non-conformity.
The older strata, the true Archean, are highly tilted, or vertical,
and present their edges abruptly against the non-conformable
overlying beds. This erosion interval has been pronounced by
Dr. Lawson the greatest in geological history, and it is a datum
of the first order for establishing, in North America, the base of
the primordial series, for primordial fossils have been found in
several localities, but little above this plane.
IN NEED OF AN EDITOR.
Far be it from the AMERICAN GEOLOGIST to disparage any effort,
however humble, to spread the knowledge of any subject in the
department in which it is itself engaged. With this feeling it
welcomes to the field every new attempt to popularize the science
of geology and its companion study, mineralogy. But all who
seek to accomplish this end should themselves be at least ‘ac-
Editorial Comment. 201
quainted with the rudiments of the science. Otherwise they will
be only blind leaders of the blind and will meet the traditional
fate of such leaders and such led.
We take the following from the ‘‘Mineralogists’ Monthly”
for January, 1892. As this periodical has reached its seventh
volume we think it should have outgrown its childhood and be
incapable of perpetrating such enormities and of misleading those
-among its readers who know no better than its editor.
“Among other specimens we observed a six-sided prism of quartz which
we were told by its owner was ina plastic state when taken out of
the quarry. This gentleman showed us the portion of the prism he had
cut off before the crystal hardened which it did very soon after being
exposed to the air.”
“We (the contributors of the note) are not sufficiently versed in the
mysteries of mineralogy to be able to say positively whether a quartz
crystal, however pure or impure,can be dissolved or made plastic by the
action of strong acids except the powerful hydro-fluoric.”
Again we read:
“A Passaic stone-cutter has a curiosity, a petrified rat, found in a block
of brown stone. While preparing a six-foot block his chisel sank into a
cavity The workmen thought it strange and laughingly advised him to
examine it, suggesting that it might contain a diamond or a nugget of
gold. He peered into the hole and was astonished on finding a petrified
animal resembling a rat. Every part was well preserved. Experts are
sure that it isarat. The little creature’s anatomy had remained perfect
for all the period since the formation of the stone. Every claw, tooth
and vertebra was present and well preserved. The skin had lost its hair
and time had dried the form slightly but petrifaction had preserved it
in its dark prison.”
The stone-cutter’s astonishment was justifiable, but there is
cause for greater astonishment in the fact that at the present day
an editor of a so-called scientific magazine can be found who
is willing to publish such stuff. All editors get more or less of
this sort of rubbish and while these stories may pay in a sensa-
tional newspaper they are utterly out of place, not to say dis-
graceful, in the columns of the cheapest scientific journal. Of
what value is an editor if not to winnow out such chatf from the
wheat? It is fair to presume that in this case the editor knows
more than would be inferred from the extracts given above,
Otherwise he would scarcely assume the position of conductor of
the ‘‘Mineralogists’ Monthly.” But if he desires success in the
field on which he has entered we counsel him to aim at a higher
standard and to be more critical over the matter that he chooses
for insertion. Otherwise even at fifty cents a year his periodical
will ‘‘take in” rather than ‘‘be taken in.”’
202 The American Geologist. March, 1892
REVIEW OF RECENT GEOLOGICAL
LITERATUGE:
The three following papers are extracts from-the Tenth Annual Re-
port of the New York State Geologist, 1891.
1. Notes on the genus Acidaspis, 13 pp.,3 plates. By J. M. CLARKE.
In his revis‘on of Ac¢dasp7s and related genera the author adopts a. rela-
tion towards the earlier work of paleontologists which it is to be hoped
will be more generally followed. “To ascertain as far as possible from
the descriptions by earlier writers, their intentions. The original diag-
nosis may have been brief, all too brief to satisfy the present require-
ments of our science, their illustrations insufficient or faulty, but it will
not suffice to reject aname upon these grounds alone. ‘Too imperfectly
described to be identified,’ is a decree which often veils an unbecoming
aspiration after immortality unrelieved by an abiding conviction of the
necessity and justice of making every effort to establish the results of
another’s investigations.” ;
Ceratocephala, Warder, is retained and defined. Barrande objected to
the use of this name on the ground that a very similar name had been pro-
posed earlier by de Candolle, Ceratocephalus. ‘ For us, however, the ex-
istence of de Candolle’s term does not in the least affect the value of that
of Warder, as the two words are different.” In this connection we will
restate a pertinent question recently raised in an editorial on “ preoccu-
pied names,” in the American Naturalist for July, 1891: “Ifa difference
of two letters is not enough to preserve two names, it becomes a question
how many letters will constitute diversity, and soon. * * * The fact
is the changing of a name which differs by a single letter from another
hame has no warrant in any rule or in common sense.”
The author then gives the history of a number of related generic
names which have more or less fallen into disrepute but are shown to
have a sub-generic value. Ceratocephala is divisible into two sections;
the first with (1) Odontopleura, Emmerich, (2) Ac¢dasp?s, Murchison (syn.
Acantholoma, Corda), (3) Ceratocephala, Warder (syn. Trapelocera, Corda),
and (4) Dicranwrus, Conrad; the second section with Selenopeltis, Corda
(syn. Polycres, Ronault). A new sub-genus, Ancyropyge, is established on
Aciduspis romingert Hall, with the generic relation nearest to Cerato-
: cephala.
The North American species of which sufficient is known for sub-gen-
eric classification are arranged thus: Ceratocephala, Warder sensu
stricto: C. goniata Warder (syn. Acédaspis danai Hall, A. idu Winchell
and Marcy). Acédaspis, Murchison: A. anchoralis Miller=?? A. ceralepta
Anthony, A. Tuberculatus Conrad. Odontopleura, Emmerich: 0. trenton-
ensis Hall, sp., 0. parvula Walcott, sp., O. hallé Shumard, sp., O. crossota
(Locke?) Meek, sp., O. o’nealli Miller, sp., 0. ortont Foerste, sp. 0. callicera
Hall, sp., Dicranurus Conrad with hamatus Conrad. Ancyropyge, Clarke
with rominger?.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 203
2. Observations on the Terataspis grandis Hall, the lurgest known trilo-
bite, pp. 6 and one folding plate. By J. M. CLarKkr.
This valuable paper contains measurements of all of the larger trilo-
bites known. We learn that with the middle primordial fauna some of
the largest species of trilobites have their appearance; Puradovides with
a length of eighteen inches. The author mentions a number of very
large Silurian and Devonian species of various genera. A large plate is
devoted to a well-executed outline drawing of a restoration of Terutasp7s
grandis, a species occurring in the Lower Devonian of New York and
Canada. This restoration measures nearly twenty inches in length. If
however, the largest cephalon yet discovered of this species were taken
as the basis of a restoration the author says it “would represent an indi-
vidual fully 24 inches in length, a size unsurpassed and unequaled by
any other known trilobite.”
“With this extravagant armor of defense and aggression, 7erataspis
grandis must have been easily lord of his invertebrate domain and no
very palatable morsel for the heavily plated fishes of his day.”
3. Note on Coronura aspectans Conrad (sp.), the Asaphus diurus Green.
pp. 7,1 plate. By J. M. Cuarke.
The New York State Museum of Natural History has recently obtained
an entire individual of Asaphas aspectans Conrad, measuring 57, inches
in length. This specimen proves conclusively that Dalmania helena Hall,
Daimania ohioensis Meek and Asaphus aspectans Conrad, are one and the
same species. The auther believes, however, that this species was de-
scribed two years earlier than Conrad’s by Dr. Green as Asaphus diurus:
This species will therefore ba known as Coronura diura Green, sp.
Correlation Papers, Cambrian. Bulletin No. 81, of the U. 8. Geological
Survey. C.D. Watcorr. 8vo, 447 pp., Washington, 1891.
The second of the “Correlation Papers,” is based upon an entirely dif-
ferent plan from its predecessor (No. 80, Devonion and Carboniferous).
At the outset it is stated to be an “unfinished memoir.” It is not a cor-
relation essay in the strict sense of the term, but “an account of the pres-
ent knowledge” of the Cambrian group. It is largely historical in its
method, and the references to papers treating of the subject are very full
and complete. This is shown by a list of 655 papers which are referred
to in the course of the bulletin. The historical review of the literature
occupies 187 pages. This is followed by a chapter on nomenclature, and
this in turn by one giving a summary of the present knowledge of the
formations. Problems for investigation, and the criteria and principles
used by authors in the correlation of the parts of the group, close the
volume. The Olenellus fauna is considered to mark the base of the
group and the Dikelocephalus fauna the summit. This delimitation is
based on the principles enunciated by Lapworth that a great geological
group rests on the zoological features of its fauna and not on a local
stratigraphical break; that the most reliable chronological scale in geol-
ogy is that of zoological change; and that the duration and importance
of any system in geology are in proportion to the magnitude and dis-
tinctness of its fauna.
204 The American Geologist. March, 1892
The division of the Cambrian into Lower, Middle and Upper is ad-
hered to throughout the volume, and the country is divided into four
great provinces as follows: The Atlantic Coast or Eastern Border; the
Appalachian; the Rocky Mountain or Western Border; and the Interior
Continental or Central. Under each one of these heads is given a his-
torical review of the literature pertaining to it; and it is followed in each
case by a notice of the paleontology, This serves as an index to the
species described from various localities and by different authors.
The recognition of the Cambrian as a separate and distinct geological
system or group is of quite recent origin. Most of the early writers who
described rocks now referred to the Cambrian placed them in almost
every system but that one. The Potsdam (St. Croix horizon) now the
Upper Cambrian, was long considered to be the base of the Lower Silur-
ian. The age of the Braintree, Massachusetts, beds (Middle Cambrian)
was not known until about 1857, when the identification of Paradoxides
from there caused them to be referred to the Primordial of Barrande,
below the Potsdam. These beds were then supposed to be the oldest on
the continent, and they were regarded as Lower Cambrian until 1888
when Mr. Walcott observed in Newfoundland rocks containing a similar
assemblage of fossils above a zone with Olenellus. It was only then that
in America the actual sequence of the Cambrian formations was settled,
bringing about an agreement with the earlier determinations of the Scan-
dinavian geologists. _It is easy to see that the study of the group is in its
infancy.
These facts have rendered it difficult to arrange the material in a con-
venient form for reference, and have made it nearly impossible to pre-
sent any detailed study of correlation. We find, therefore, that the bul-
letin is a history of the literature of the Cambrian rocks in America, and
the great number of problems still awaiting solution (covering eleven
pages of the bulletin), serve to show how much remains to be done be-
fore a full knowledge of the group is obtained.
In the synopsis of the group (p. 359) it is said that the Cambrian is
firmly established by the presence of 6,000 feet of limestone and 10,000
feet of quartzite in the Rocky Mountain region; by over 12,000 feet of
quartzites, shales, slates and limestones in the Appalachian region; by a
continental distribution and a characteristic, highly differentiated fauna.
This is followed by a table giving the typical exposures of the Upper,
Middle and Lower Cambrian and the rocks correlated with them. In
substance it is as follows:
Type. Correlations.
Adirondacks (N. Y Ste
Dutchess Co. (N.
Marble Belt (Vt.)
Knox Shales (Tenn.)
Counasauga (Ga. and Ala.)
St. Croix (Miss. Valley.)
Tonto (Arizona. )
Katemcy (Texas.)
Hamburg (Nevada.)
Gallatin (Montana. )
_ Belle Isle (Labrador. )
|
|
UPPER
: | Potsdam
CAMBRIAN.
a
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 205
J
Prospect (Nevada. )
Cottonwood (Utah.)
Castle Mt. (Brit. Col.)
Braintree \ Stissing (N. Y.)
ee ) St. John - Corsa (Ala. )
‘(Avalon ( Mt. Stephen (Brit. Col.)
{ Granular Quartz (N. Y and Yt.)
Chilhowee (Tenn.)
oes aae ue
. Georgia acentia (Newfoundland. )
ee 4 Bee Sand- + Hanford (N. B.)
: Rock | Attleborough (Mass.)
The base of the Cambrian is drawn at the lower limit of the Oleaellus
fauna. The summit of the group while placed at the upper limit of the
Dikelocephalus fauna is in the Nevada district drawn arbitrarily, for the
genera Asaphus, Dikelocephalus and Ptychoparia occur there on the same
surface of rock. “It is not, however, by the specific break in the fauna
that the two groups are separated; it is the general facies of the fauna
referred to the Cambrian and that referred to the Silurian” (p. 363).
Three maps accompany the bulletin. Une of these shows the outcrop
of Cambrian rocks in the various provinces into which the country has
been divided. A second shows by vertical sections the sedimentation at
different points, and on a theoretical section the vertical contour of the
continent at the end of Cambrian time, while the third is a hypothet-
ical map of North America at the beginning of Lower Cambrian time.
Many subjects are treated which cannot be alluded to here, and the bul-
letin is full of information for those desirous of a better acquaintance
with the rocks of which it treats and the pioblems connected with them
A Classification of Mountain Ranges According to their Structure, Origin
and Age. WARREN UrHaAmM. (Appalachia, Vol. vi, No. 3.)
This consists of a review of the mountain systems of North America,
with incidental mention of some others. Its evident purpose is to make
clear the relation in time, and inferentially in cause and effect, between
mountain elevations in the later Tertiary and early Quaternary time, and
the Glacial epoch. This central idea finds its illustration in the mountain
ranges of the western portion of North America. The “arched mount-
ains” illustrated by theUinta range of northeastern Utah, dating from
early or middle Tertiary, and by the Junction and Yampa mouutains,
dating from the same time; the “domed mountains,” viz: the laccolitic
Henry mceuntains in southern Utah, rising about the middle of the
Eocene; the “tilted mountain” ranges, such as the Wahsatch and the
Sierra Nevada which were formed io early Quaternary time, and the
later smaller tilted ranges of the “great basin’—blocks of the earth’s
crust raised bodily above the surrounding areas by abrupt fractures that
penetrated deeply through the strata and then settled unequally, so as to
assume a “tilted” position;—and many “erupted mountain ranges,” or
volcanic cones and ridges formed by ejected lavas, bombs and ash, per-
fectly illustrated by the Cascade range which crosses Oregon and Wash-
ington, dating from late Tertiary and early Quaternary,—all these, which
constitute some of the most unique and remarkable mountain ranges of
the United States, are shown to have been produced just prior to, or con-
206 The American Geologist. March, 1892
temporary with, the greatest extension of the glaciers of the Glacial epoch.
The author believes that the great weight of the accumulated ice caused
a sinking of the earth’s crust, and that such sinking had its complement
in the contemporary rising of other areas nearly contiguous, or perhaps
more remote, causing fractures, faults, volcanoes, laccolites and elevated
domes..
Mr. Upham also traces a relation between the great ancient lakes.
(Bonneville and Lahontan) and the glacial period. The first flooded
stage he considers was contemporary with the second glacial epoch, and
the second high stage was due to a third epoch of glaciation in the
northern part of the Cordilleran region.
These orogenic movements, so called by Gilbert and White, are to be
distinguished from the epirogenic, which consist of slower and grander
elevations of large continental areas. The unequal denudations of these
larger areas result in the carving out of mountains which constitute Mr.
Upham’s sixth class—‘‘eroded mountain ranges.” Such are the Crazy
mountains in Montana, and the Highwood mountains, twenty-five miles
east of Great Falls. Turtle mountain, Pembina-mountain, Riding, Duck
and Porcupine hills in North Dakota, illustrate this structure. This.
epirogenic movement also took place at the close of the Cretaceous, or
early in the Eocene. Indeed, the “Tertiary era seems to have been ter-
minated, and the Quaternary ushered in, by a new epirogenic differen-
tial uplifting of this continent, causing the accumulation of the ice-sheet
of the first Glacial epoch.” * * * “There have been two epochs pre-
eminently distinguished by extensive mountain plication, one occurring
at the close of the Paleozoic era, and another progressing through the
Tertiary and culminating at the beginning of the Quaternary era, intro-
ducing the ice age.” * * * “With the culminations of both of these
great epochs of mountain building, so widely separated by the Mesozoic
and Tertiary eras, glaciation has been remarkably associated, and indeed
the ice accumulation appears to have been caused by the epirogenic and.
orogenic uplifts of continental plateaus and mountain ranges.”
Within the scope of the paper the author has gathered most of the
collateral American data derived from a study of mountains, which go to:
illustrate, if not to demonstrate, his theory of the cause of the glacial
epoch, viz., continental elevation.
General Account of the Fresh-water Morasses of the United States, with a
description of the Dismal Swamp District of Virginia and North Varolina..
By NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER., pp. 255-339; with plates vi-xix, and
37 figures in the text. (Accompanying the Tenth Annual Report of the
Director of the U.S, Geol. Survey.) ;
The swamp lands capable of drainage and use for agriculture in the
United States, east of the Cordilleran mountain belt, are estimated to-
comprise somewhat more than 100,000 square miles. Professor Shaler
states that fully one-fifth of the most fertile fields in Great Britain and
Ireland, also large tracts in northern Germany and in the valley of the
Po, have been won in such bog districts; and he believes that the aggre-
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 207
gate value of these now inundated areas in the eastern half of our country
when drained and brought under cultivation, will be not less than that
of all the present rich farming lands of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
together.
The processes of formation of the delta swamps of the Mississippi valley
from the Ohio river to the gulf of Mexico are admirably described. This
great river is remarkable in being the only one on our continent that has
formed a delta filling the inlet of the sea at its mouth and projecting
beyond the general coast line. From the indentations of the shore at the
mouths of other rivers, the most notable being the Chesapeake and Del-
aware bays, into which the tributary s‘reams have built no delta depos-
its above the sea level, it appears that the continent has lately been much
elevated and more recently has undergone subsidence.
Vegetation in many forms, as peat mosses, forests and their under
brush, and the mangroves of the southern coast, have been very efficient
to retard the drainage of lands having only slight slopes, thus producing
swamps and extending their area. The surface of the Dismal swamp
has a descent toward its borders at an average rate of about twenty inches
per mile, and the forest is extending itself into the shallow lake Drum-
mond in the central part of the swamp.
Pliocene sand beds, which have yielded twenty-nine species of marine
shells, five of them extinct, underlie the Dismal Swamp district, and are
thinly covered by unfossiliferous Pleistocene sands. The Nansemond
escarpment, cut by the sea in the upper sands when the district for some
time was submerged about thirty feet more than now, extends from
Suffolk, in Virginia, south to Albemarle sound, and forms the west border
of the Dismal swamp. Thechanges of relative elevation thus indicated,
and several other small oscillations preceding and following it, of which
the region affords evidence, are regarded as not improbably referable
chiefly to the effect of ice attraction upon the sea, and to the subtraction
of its water to form ice-sheets, during the epochs of glaciation of the
northern part of this continent and of Europe.
The Penokee Iron bearing Series of Michigan and Wisconsin. By
Rotand Durer Irvine and Cuar tes Ricuarp VAN Hisk, pp. 341-507;
with plates xx—xlii, and five figures in the text. (Accompanying the
Tenth Annual Report, U.S. Geol. Survey.)
This is an abstract of a monograph by these authors, which is now in
press and will soon be published. A belt a few miles wide and about
eighty miles long, extending from lake Gogebic, in the upper peninsula
of Michigan, westward to lake Numakagon, in northern Wisconsin, is
elaborately described; and the origin and relations of its rock formations
and of its large deposits of hematite, recently opened by extensive mining
operations, are discussed at length. Owing tothe lamented death of the
senior author after this work was far advanced, its preparation for pub-
lication has been chiefly done by his associate and successor in charge
of the Lake Superior division of the survey.
The Penokee series, occupying a width that varies from a quarter of
208 The American Geologist. March, 1892
a mile to about three miles, is underlain, on the south by a complex
group of granites, gneisses, and schists of Archean age, and is overlain on
the north by the interbedded eruptive and fragmental rocks of the
Keweenawan series, the whole section having a steep northward dip.
The Penokee and Keweenawan series are classed together as belonging
to the recently named Algonkian period, between the Archzean or Lau-
rentian and the Cambrian or Taconic, nearly equivalent to the Huronian
period of the Canadian geologists.
A cherty limestone, attaining a maximum thickness of 300 feet, is the
lowest member of the Iron-bearing series in the Penokee region.
Whet er it was originally of chemical or organic origin is undetermined,
but it gives no evidence of having been fragmental.
The next member, called quartz slate, is a detrital formation, averag-
ing about 450 feet thick.
Upon this rests the iron-bearing member, in which all the known ore
bodies occur. It is mainly about 850 feet thick, and consists of slaty and
often cherty iron carbonate, ferruginous slates and cherts, and actinolitic
and magnetitic slates. All these rocks are believed to have had a
chemical or organic origin, none being accumulated as mechanical
detritus. The ores are soft, red, somewhat hydrated hematite, derived
by concentration from the lean carbonates of the formation through the
action of infiltrating surface waters during or after the uplifting and
partial erosion of the series.
Succeeding next above these strata is the upper slate member, the
highest of the series, which in places is several times as thick as the
three lower members combined. It is a slate or mica schist, chiefly
composed of quartz and feldspar, and thin sections usually reveal its
fragmental character.
The four divisions are conformable with each other through all their
extent. Many dikes of diabase, varying from a few inches to ninety feet
in width, intersect the series, which also in some portions contains
interbedded sheets of diabase, apparently intrusions rather than over-
flows.
Hlements of Crystallography, by Gro. H. WittiAMs, Pu. D. Second
edition. New York. Henry Holt © Co. 1891.
Lhe appearance of a second edition of the ‘Elements of Crystallo-
graphy” so soon aiter the issue of the first, is the best proof of the need
which has existed for such a book. Hitherto there has been no satisfac-
tory exposition in the English language of elementary crystallography,
if we except, perhaps, Bauerman’s “Systematic Mineralogy,” which has
not met with favorable acceptance in this country, aad which in some of
its features is objectionable as a book for beginners. With the growth
of the science of mineralogy, particularly on its physical side, with the
increasing interest among chemists in the relations between chemi-
cal properties and crystallographic form and with the rapid modern de-
velopment of petrography as one of the most important departments of
seological science, there has sprung up in these various departments of
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 209
instruction a very urgent demand for an elementary text book of crys-
tallography. ‘That Prof. Williams’ book meets this demand will be con-
ceded by the great majority of teachers and students of the subject.
Apart from its practical aspects as an essential auxiliary to the study
of mineralogy, petrography, chemistry and physics, crystallography has
an important place in any thorough educational scheme as affording
probably the best insight into the symmetry of natural forms ; and in its
philosophical suggestiveness as to the constitution of the universe, the
study is entirely comparable to the study of elementary astronomy, the
laws with which the student becomes familiar in both subjects being
alike mathematically rigid and yet extremely simple.
For many reasons, therefore, it seems probable that the study of crys-
tallography will in future play a more important role in American col-
lege and university curricula than has been its fate in the past, and we
therefore welcome gladly this clear and concise treatment of the elemen-
tary principles of the subject as a vigorous step in that direction.
The book is not entirely above adverse criticism, but its shortcomings
are few when compared with its many good qualities. The considera-
tion of the theoretical possibilities as to the mode of molecular arrange-
ment in crystals, which meets one in the opening chapter, might with
advantage to the student if not to the book, have been postponed till the
concrete actualities of the subject had been discussed. The numerous
cuts throughout the book are well executed, and the two plates, one of
limiting forms and the other of combinations in the isometric system,
are all that could be desired. Prof. Williams is to be congratulated on
the success of his book and of his efforts to present to American stu-
dents in simple form a department of science whose proper treatment
has up to the present been found only inthe elaborate works of the
German authors.
Systematic Mineralogy, based on a natural classification. THOMAS
SrerRyY Hunt. 8vo, 391 pp. The Scientific Publishing Company, New
York. 89"
No student of mineralogy can pass beyond the stage of the novice with-
out becoming painfully aware of the loose, if not chaotic, condition of its
systematic nomenclature. The most trivial circumstance or quality h s
often been exalted above the fundamental principles of chemical compc-
sition in assigning a mineral species a name or a place in classification. In
the infancy of the science it was necessary to apply such designations, but
as these became often synonyms, or as they were multiplied through the
labors of many investigators, it became apparent that some system of
classification and elimination must be chosen. There sprung up two
rival schemes, known as the “natural history” method and the “chemi-
cal” method. Werner, Mohs, Jameson, Breithaupt, Shepard, and, at
first, Dana, employed the natural history method, and Berzelius, Clarke,
Cleaveland, Phillips, Rammelsberg, and at last Dana, and nearly all later
authorities, employed the chemical method. The former ignored chem-
istry, and the latter ignored the physical characters, speaking broadly,
210 The American Geologist. March, 1892
and they were therefore at once, and continually, in antagonism. Mean-
time, as a common ground, on which they could compromise, the con-
testants, by the necessity of intelligent discussion, fell mutually into the
practice of using “trivial” names for all mineral species, and as time
elapsed these names have become, at this day, the only ones inuse. The
chemical classification, though not having any acceptable nomenclature
based on it, has been strengthened by continual advance in the knowl-
edye of the chemical composition of minerals, and in the philosophy of
chemical combinations, until it is not too much to say that not any living
author of systematic mineralogy, however strongly he may insist on
physical characters, but discusses and depends largely on the composi-
tion of minerals for the ultimate determination of their places in his
scheme. In nomenclature, however, there has been little or no change.
It is Dr. Hunt’s task to show that physical characters are but the ex-
pression of chemical characters, and that they cannot be divorced, and
that a “natural classification” must take cognizance of both. He has
presented therefore a system which is both nutwral and chemical, and has
covered it with a binomial Latin nomenclature which divides all the
known minerals into classes, orders, genera and species. The classes
and orders are determined essentially on chemical grounds. The genera
are arranged from physical difference and resemblances, and the further
definition of the species is the work of chemistry. All the mineral
species are divided into four classes—Metallacer, Halidacexe, Oxydaceze
and Pyrocaustacex. Order IV, in the class Metallacez, is thus com-
posed :
Order IV. PYRITINEA.
Genus I. PyYRiveEs.
Metallic sulphides H=> 5. v7 <5
1:.Pyrites rutheneus: <... cs. 0.0... sclaw cack omer ee mlcieieacre Se niae rasa ee een Ese
BB: ss VU SATIS oF 5 5.5 oss waco Tee ae a ae ee eacoteie te a).clo fa eT a
3. £6 ~ s SCCUNGUS® . @.<). «ans.0 cc aisieaete Meee een ele ae Ue oie te CAR EReN
4, te “cobalteus 0. =) 2. eo tess eons soe eianicle ne cruel ae ete ie RE igen
Be 2 NICCOlLCUS 2:2, d0:5.504,c vowels ce eee tases Mens ehiec cee Cena.
6. s ' - Cuprocobaltens.... 2 acc na coon ae ete ere eae sae CLO beter
We Chromicus.. sesh. ji. 2s see eet odes eee cane ae D AULDECe Eas
The work, with its accompanying discussions of chemical philosophy
and mineral physiology, is the culminating result of a life-long study,
We consider it Dr. Hunt’s chef @’ wurre, and the most important addition
which American authors have made to the science of mineralogy. Dr.
Dana’s great volume, System of Mineralogy, is a vast compilation, ar-
ranged under a loose chemical classification, but makes no attempt to
justify its philosophy—if it may be said to have any. On the contrary,
Dr. Hunt’s work marks an epoch in the science, as it discusses from new
standpoints and readjusts, in accordance with the latest chemical philos-
ophy, all the discordant material, and establishesa fundamental skeleton
on which the future may build a symmetrical structure in mineralogy.
It seems to answer to mineralogy as the classification of Linnzeus does
to botany.
Guide to Baltimore, with an Account of the Geology of its Environs.
GEORGE H. WriuiAMs. Prepared for the American Institute of Mining
Recent Publications. 211
Engineers, Baltimore meeting, February, 1892, 12mo, cloth, pp. 189.
Issued by the Local Committee.
Besides the usual announcements and descriptions of the institutions
of the city this volume contains a concise account of the geology of Bal-
timore and its vicinity, with two geological maps, based on excellent
contoured maps by the U. 8. Geological survey (‘‘ Baltimore sheet”). The
crystalline rocks are described by Dr. Williams, and the physiography
of the origin and geology of the sedimentary rocks by N.H. Darton. It
makes a very useful and valuable compend fer the general student of
the region.
Description of a new species of Panenka from the Corniferous Limestone
of Ontario, by J. F. WHITEAVES.—(Can. Rec. Sci. Vol. IV, No. 8, Oct.,
1891. pp. 401-404, with plate.)
Panenka grandis, the species described was collected at St. Mary’s,
Ontario. The specimen figured is six inches and four-tenths in length,
and four inches and two-tenths in hight.
Note on the Occurrence of Paucispiral Opercula of Gasteropoda in the
Guelph Formation of Ontario, by J. F.Wutreaves. (Can. Rec. Sci. Vol.
IV No. 8, Oct. 1891. pp. 404-407.)
A specimen figured has a length of 20 mm. and a breadth of 16 mom.
They resemble the opercula of Litorina and Natica, and the conjecture
is hazarded that they may belong to Holopea gracia or H. harmonia, of
Billings.
Short Notes on some Canadian Minerals, by W. F. FERRIER. (Can. Rec.
Sci.Vol. [V, No. 8, Oct., 1891. pp. 472-476, with plate.)
The minerals noted are native arsenic from near Thunder bay, lake
Superior, molybdenite from Labador; sphalerite or blende, from Bauce
Co., Quebec; particularly fine crystals of pyrite; martite from Lanark
Co., Ontario; kermesite from Haut Co., Nova Scotia; quartz crystals
with concave faces; black sp/nc/ from Ottawa Co., Quebec; anhydrite
and gypsum from the Laurentian crystalline limestone of Lanark Co.,
Ontario.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
I. State and Government Reports.
The following bulletins of the United States Geological Survey have
recently been issued: No. 62: The Greenstone-Schist Areas of the
Menominee and Marquette Regions of Michigan, by G. H. Williams;
No. 65: Stratigraphy of the Bituminous Coal Field in Pennsylvania,
Ohio, and West Virginia, by I. C. White; No. 67: The Relations of the
Traps of the Newark System in the New Jersey Region, by N. H. Dar-
ton; No. 68: Earthquakes in California in 1889, by J. E. Keeler; No. 69:
A Classed and Annotated Bibliography of Fossil Insects, by 8. H. Seud-
der; No. 70: Report on Astronomical Work of 1889 and 1890, by R. 8.
Woodward; No. 71: Index to the Known Fossil Insects of the World,
inciuding Myriapods and Arachnids, by 8. H. Scudder; No, 72; Altitudes
212 The American Geologist. March, 1892
between lake Superior and the Rocky mountains, by Warren Upham;
No.73: The Viscosity of Solids, by Carl Barus; No. 74: The Minerals of
North Carolina, by F. A. Genth; No. 75: Record of North American
Geology for 1887 to 1889, inclusive, by N. H. Darton; No. 76: A Dic-
tionary of Altitudes in the United States, by Henry Gannett; No. 77:
The Texan Permian and its Mesozoic Types of Fossils, by C. A. White;
No. 78: Report of the Work done in the Division of Chemistry and
Physics, mainly during the fiscal year 1889-90, by F. W. Clarke; No. 79:
A late Volcanic Eruption in Northern California and its peculiar Lava,
by J.S. Diller; No. 80: Correlation papers—Devonian and Carboniferous,
by H. S. Williams; No. 81: Correlation papers—Cambrian, by C. D. Wal-
cott; No. 82: Correlation papers—Cretaceous, by C. A. White.
Explorations in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1887, made in connec-
tion with the cruise of the U.S. Fish Commission schooner Grampus, by
F. A. Lucas. From Report of U.S. National Museum, 1888-89. Wash-
ington, 1891.
Preliminary Handbook of the Department of Geology of the U. S$. Na-
tional Museum, by G. P. Merrill. From Report of U.S. Nat. Mus., 1888-
89. Washington, 1891.
Preliminary Report on the Coal Deposits of Missouri, by ArthurWins-
low. Published by the Geological Survey of Missouri. Jefferson City, 1891.
Report on the Geology and Mineral Resources of the central mineral
region of Texas, by Theo. B. Comstock. From Second Ann. Rep of Ge-
ological Survey of Texas. Austin, 1891.
Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for 1890, Vol. II,
The Igneous Rocks of Arkansas, by J. Francis Williams.
Preliminary Report on the Utilization of Lignite, by E. T. Dumble,
State Geologist of Texas
Geological Survey of Kentucky. Report on the Geology of parts of
Jackson and Rockcastle counties, by Geo. M. Sullivan.
Geological Survey of Alabama. Report on the Coal Measures of the
Plateau Region of Alabama, by Henry McCalley, including a Report on
the Coal Measures of Blount county, by A. M Gibson.
Geological Survey of Canada. Contributions to Canadian Micro-Pal-
wontology. Part III, by T. Rupert Jones.
United States Geological Survey. Tenth Annual Report. Part 1,
Geology. Part 2, Irrigation.
Report on an Additional Water Supply for the city of Rockford, Il., by
J.T. Fanning, D. C. Dunlap and D. W. Mead.
CORRESPONDENCE.
ARE THE Eozoonat LIMESTONES AT St. Joun, NEw Brunswick, PRE-
CAMBRIAN‘—In an editorial reference to Eozoon and the pre-Cambrian
fossils of St. John, you appear to imply a doubt as to the pre-Cambrian
age of the latter; or at least that this may be an alternative with some
who may admit the organic origin of the former; adding that other
eee
Correspondence. 213
limestones in the United States for which a Laurentian age had been
claimed, had, on further examination, been found to be primordial
[¢. e., Cambrian}.
This, I think, can hardly be the case with the St. John limestones.
The earthy (cryptocrystalline) condition of some of these limestones
is apt to mislead those who expect to find Laurentian limestones (or
perhaps I should say pre-Cambrian limestones) always coarsely crys-
talline. Hence Sir Wm. Logan, when he came here (about 1870) fresh
from the survey of the limestones of the Ottawa valley, was surprised at
the modern aspect of those near St. John. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt also,
after his studies of the pre-Cambrian rocks of New England and the
maritime provinces of Canada, classed these limestones in his Lower
Taconic, below the Cambrian. Their comparatively unaltered condition
is shown by the numerous carbonaceous bands, called, locally, “blue
limestones,” which are intercalated in certain parts of the terranes. In
fact there are not only carbonaceous, but bétwmdnous limestones present
in this series, and this is shown by the fact that they give off a distinctly
bituminous odor when struck with a hammer. This, however, is not an
isolated fact, because a limestone in the Archiean tract of Scandinavia
has been shown to contain bitumen, I think as high as 5 per cent. It is
difficult to conceive of the introduction of this substance into a series
of sediments except through the agency of organisms of some kind.
Such we know to have been the source of bitumen in the rocks of later
ages, and we naturally seek thus to account for its presence ia these old
limestones.
And yet, though in certain places these limestones show compara-
tively little alteration, they exhibit everywhere a secondary crystalliza-
tion, often strongly pronounced, and not infrequently giving rise to
highly crystalline, calcareous masses; the preservation of any organisms
which may have been associated with the production of these limestones
is therefore not only uncommon, but seemingly local.
Although comparatively modern in aspect, these limestones are no
doubt pre-Cambrian, for the following reason: Subsequent to the pro-
duction of the series of which they form a part, a great extrusion of
igneous rocks (volcanic ash, scoria and mud) occurred in this district.
These were piled up toa great thickness and spread over a wide tract
of country; yet their thickness appears to have been very irregular, or
denudation before Cambrian times swept away large masses of them, so
that the underlying limestone series was brought near, or quite to the
surface in some places.
The Cambrian rocks themselves have a clear foundation in certain
conglomerates which overlie the volcanic series and show themselves
along the borders of the Cambrian basins. These conglomerates are
usually made up of fragments of the volcanic series, intermingled with
quartz pebbies, but at one locality in the city of St. John, where the
Cambrian rocks are in close proximity to limestone ridges, pebbles of the
limestone are mingled in the conglomerate with those of the volcanic
series, hence we cannot doubt that these limestones were hard rocks,
214 The American Geologist. March, 1892
subjected to denuding agencies, at the time when the Cambrian sedi-
ments were being deposited in the submarine valleys near St. John.
Further—there is much negative evidence pointing to the same conclu-
sion. If these limestones are post-Cambrian, to what age shall we assign
them? The Cambrian terrane here includes the Lower Ordovician, and
is an unbroken series of sediment. (See last volume this Journal, p. 289.)
The Silurian (Upper) is present within twenty miles of St. John, and is a
series of calcareous slates and earthy sandstones with characteristic fos-
sils. The Devonian shales and sandstones, with plant remains, lie imme-
diately south, separated from the limestones only by the basin of Cambrian
rocks at St.John, about a mile wide; and the Lower Carboniferous
conglomerates and shales actually overlie the limestones unconformably.
There remains only the Upper Ordovician, which could possibly be rep-
resented in these limestones, and in limestones so little altered as some
of these are, some trace of the abundant marine life of the Ordovician
period should show itself; but none such has been found.
Altogether we see no reason to depart from the decision on the age of
these limestones arrived at twenty years ago by the officers of the Dominion
Geological Survey, that this calcareous series, isolated amid the Laurentian
gneisses, mica schists and quartzites, is essentially of pre-Cambrian age.
Before closing | may say a word about the Cambrian rocks themselves.
In my conspectus of the succession of faunas inthe St. John group,
given ina foot note on page 290 of the last volume of this journal, a
section of “Upper Paradoxides beds, no fauna known,” was introduced.
By this it is not intended to be asserted that any of the later species of
Paradoxides are known in the Cambrian rocks of the mainland of Amer-
ica; but only that the horizon indicated is the place where, if present,
they should be found.
Another point of interest to students of the Cambrian is that Hyolithes
billingsi, or a species very like it, has been found in the basal Cambrian
rocks, near the middle of that series. This species was found by Dr.
Charles Barrois and myself last summer, when examining the section in
the eastern part of St. John county. The species is of interest as a com
mon one of the Olenellus beds, being at the same time, according to Mr.
Walcott, a species of great vertical range in the Cambrian rocks of the
Rocky mountains. G. F. Marriew.
St. John, N. B., Canada, January 13, 1891.
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS.
THE WINTER MEETING OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
was held at Columbus on Dec. 29, 30 and 31. The members were wel-
comed by the mayor of the city, Mr. G. T. Karb, whose address was re-
plied to by the president.
The treasurer’s report showed a balance of $280 unexpended, and that
of the secretary, Prof. H. L. Fairchild, of Rochester, N. Y., showed the
society to be in a prosperous condition.
At the first session the officers for 1892 were announced as follows:
Personal and Seventifte News. 915
MPO TE Ee way aaa) xis arte wie we rietsieiele aiaisiatel ae wiare ed Mr. G. K. Gilbert.
Vice-Presidents....... Sir J. W. Dawson, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin.
Secretary. . Ete nee .. Prof. H. L. Fairchild.
PUIneNeR IED rate pate achat Dio oie
Shale a.c see coe 1 3 |
Coalee en. iti ile 0
Only the two upper benches of coal are mined; the 15 inches of
shale in the bottom being too much to remove for the 12 inches of
coal beneath. The roof here is of thin bedded sandstone and is
excellent. Elsewhere along the Chestnut ridge anticlinal, this coal
is seldom over 2 feet in thickness, and usually has porous, sandy
beds for a roof that are incapable of sustaining great pressure.
Prof. White shows this coal to have the following structure
in the Newburg shaft ;
Coal Aiea sings eee ite Ooi)
Slate.../izccuonewen oer 0’ 3" |
Coal, slaty, “ccccce seme 2! UME (UE 7s
Fireclay:... teens 2! Q"
Coal; 00d 725. wes .te owe" 0"
Immediately under this coal is a limestone about 2 ft. thick.
THe AMERICAN GEOLOGISY. Vol. IX, Plate VI.
PRESTON
SYNCLINE
M. RIVER
Z Miles.
Fie. 1, Prorme SECTION FROM NEAR MorGantown, W. Va., Tairvy MILES SouTHEAST WARD TO Higutry Cur.
Fig. 2. PERPENDICULAR SECTION IN THE LowER Coat Measures, WHITE DAy CREEK, W. VA.
Lower Coal Measures.— Brown. 2,4
bo
‘
At other places in the same neighborhood there is one foot of
shale between the coal and limestone, while in the vicinity of
Clinton furnace, the limestone is more siliceous, highly ferri-
ferous and 10 ft. to 12 ft. of sandstone divides it from the over-
lying coal. This limestone is the Johnstown cement bed of
Pennsylvania.
Descending, we next pass through 40 ft. of flaggy sandstones
and shales and reach a stratum of black shale, usually about 1 ft.
thick, filled with fossil plants, calamites, Lepidodendra, Neurop-
teris hirsuta and Pecopteris of various species. | The black shale
is the roof of a very important seam of coal, the Lower Kittan-
ning, the most extensive coal seam of the Appalachian field. — It
varies greatly in thickness, but is nearly always workable. In
the western part of our section it is four feet thick; in the New-
burg basin it is over seven feet in thickness. In the vicinity
of Halleck, this coal shows the following structure:
WOM errtesa nets isc « a1 050 2
SSIES) eucoteiain te ia\e x piers 2! Hee ©
(CORI BAGG Ac aie Semen NY OE oy 8
REISUEOS sapalalic'e ae vie) nv sje's 0) 2
COE ce Seen CR euninte 0 10
Although it is all good coal the lower stratum of ten inches is
of very superior quality and is much used by blacksmiths. —In-
deed, it is to its value for this purpose that the whole seam owes
its high reputation,
In the bottom of the shaft at Newburg, it shows the following
complex structure:
(Cle Les eortai Acats Recto aa 0’ Oe
RUMEN eS OA Van Arete esxeioron treks 0! 10"
COad See itis « aycie eins 0! 6”
CORT, OMY sss alsc5 ot tes GO. chi hy ae SRS lala
Coal, main bench......4' 6"
DIAC KE SIALG Hea srurtetels 0! 6"
(Comer tc severe? 2! 0"
Under the Lower Kittanning coal, we have 35 ft. of shales and
clays bearing iron ore nodules near the bottom. — It is this iron
ore that furnishes a cause for the number of chalybeate springs
that occur at this horizon along Chestnut ridge.
Next comes a hard-pebbly sandstone that is usually about 15 ft.
in thickness, filled with impressions of large plants, Sigillarids
and Lepidodendra, and which resembles the ‘Great Conglomer-
ate.” Thisis perhaps the Homewood sandstone, of Pennsylvania,
the uppermost member of the Pottsville conglomerate series.
228 The American Geologist. April, 189
This rock makes a sharp change in the topography wherever it
appears above the surface. It does not disintegrate easily, and
hence usually makes an abrupt cliff, while its great boulders are
scattered far down below its present outcrop.
Under this hard sandstone, we find about 30 ft. of sandy shales
filled with plant fossils. Then one foot of hard, black slate caps
one foot to one and a half feet of coal. This coal is often worked
and is of good quality.
About 10 feet of shales underlie this coal, which brings us down.
to the main mass of the Great Congiomerate.
W. Va. University, Dec. 12th, 1891.
THE TIN ISLANDS OF THE NORTHWEST.
E. W. Ciaypore, Akron, O.
if
The Cassiterides or Tin islands of the ancients were the granitic
masses of Cornwall and the Scilly islands. Hither came in days
before the dawn of written history (except perhaps Egyptian)
the enterprising mariners of Tyre, to buy from the Britons their
much prized and very scarce metal. By craft and daring in nav-
igation, they for many years kept the destination of their tin-
ships a profound trade secret. Few dared follow them out be-
tween the pillars of Hercules into the foggy and stormy Atlantic,
and Pheenicia was consequently for ages the central mart for the
sale of this metal—the stannary of the world.
Not, however, for the sake of tin pure and simple, did these
old Pheenician mariners undertake the voyage from the Levant to
St. Michael’s Mount and back-—6,000 miles of sea, and often out
of sight of land. Tin alone (the p/liambum album or white lead
of the Romans) was of little use. Pliny,* it is true, speaks of
tinning copper vessels, but Pliny lived at a comparatively late
date. It was the peculiar and intense hardness that characterizes
its alloy with copper that gave this metal its value among the
ancients. Bronze was the material of which all metallic cutting
tools were made before the discovery of steel, and for many years .
afterwards until this latter became cheap and easily wrought.
It is therefore needless to point out the great advantage possessed
by the nation that held the secret of the Cornish tin. Others
*“Staunum illitum aeneis vasis compescit aeruginis virus.” Plin. 34, 48,
Tin Islands of the Northwest.— Claypole. 229
could buy the bronze after it had been made, but could not make
it, and this, there is abundant reason to believe, was done.
Even after the introduction of steel had destroyed the value of
bronze weapons, so many uses for tin remained that the old Corn-
ish mines were never entirely closed, though in the time of the
English Plantagenet kings the royalty had dwindled down almost
to nothing.
jt
Rising like islands from the vast prairies of the Northwest are
the Black Hills of Dakota. They break through the monotonous
plain that extends from Chicago to the foot of the Rocky mount-
ains. Their steeply inclined axial strata are in strong contrast
with the flat beds of the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras around
them. To these, as to the new Cassiterides, much attention has
been directed for some years past, in the hope that the future tin
supply for the markets of North America will be drawn here-
from.
To the geologist these hills are equally interesting on account
of the problems which they suggest, and the facts which they re-
veal concerning the evolution of the Northwest.
Prof. N. H. Winchell and Mr. Henry Newton were the earliest
explorers in this field, and entered on its investigation while it was
still in a wild state, and occupied by hostile tribes of Indians.
To their work the present writer, and all who have followed
them, are deeply indebted for facts and data. The writer’s own
observations have been made mostly in the southern tin-district,
and in some parts of the east and north of the Black Hills.
ELE:
The core or medial axis of the Hills consists of a ridge of
schists and slates dipping at a high angle to the east, and often
nearly vertical. Of these the schists are the older and underlie
the slates. They are very micaceous, and often so full of garnets
as to appear red, and have been likened by Profs. Blake and
Crosby to the ‘‘Montalban” series of New England. These
schists are heavily charged with lenticular sheets of a very coarse
granite composed of quartz, albite and mica, which have been
described by some as intrusive. But the evidence rather justifies
the belief that they are really veins of segregation, as they uni-
formly agree with the schists in strike and dip. These veins are
250 The American Geologist. April, 1892:
very striking to one only acquainted with granite in its usual
form—a finely granular mass. The quartz is as usual, dissemi-
nated, but the albite, the chief ingredient, is found in very large
erystals. and the mica in sheets sometimes a foot or more in diam-
eter. With these occur crystals of black tourmaline occasionally
weighing several pounds, and magnificent spodumenes, ten, twenty
and thirty feet long in the rock. Here too, are found bery],
cassiterite (tin-ore), columbite, and other minerals often associ-
ated with these.
These intercalated veins of coarse granite weather less rapidly
than the schists and consequently stand out in bold relief on the
hillsides, their wreckage strewing the ground so as to convey the
impression that the granite area is much larger than is really the
ease. No massive granite exists in the Hills, even the central
Harney peak being composed chiefly of schists. The veins run
in some instances for long distances—many hundred feet or yards
—but eventually disappear to be succeeded by others in parallel
lines. ;
The presence of the cassiterite in them has drawn attention to
these schists almost to the exclusion of the other strata of the
Hills. We will return later to this topic when treating of the tin. *
ry.
The eastern slates overlying and conformable with the schists
compose the younger part of the axis already alluded to. They
occupy the whole eastern side of the mass of the Hills, and like
the older schists dip steeply to the east. They are hard and blue
or dark grey, have no true cleavage, and weather into ragged
peaks or edges. So far as it is known they contain no useful
minerals. Vast beds of quartzite are found in them so massive
as to justify calling them at times sandstone deposits.
V3
Both the formations above mentioned belong to those early
ages of geologic history or rather legend, which are at present
comprehended in the term ‘‘Pre-Cambrian.”” It would be more
*It is worthy of remark in this connection that the stanniferous veins
of Dakota are immensely older than those of Cornwall. The latter are
all of post-Devonian age, and probably in some cases very much later
than the Carboniferous. Indeed it would seem as if the process of the
deposition of cassiterite were continuous, as it is not uncommon to find
in Cornwall recent deer-horns so impregna ed with the mineral, that
they are as rich as the average ore of the county.
Tin Islands of the Northiwest.— Claypole. 231
strictly logical to write ‘‘Pre-Potsdam” because we can only prove
that they antedate that era. But the total absence of fossils and
their structure and immense thickness point strongly to a Pre-
Cambrian date. Regarding the last character Prof. Newton
writes:
“The whole thickness of vertical rock with a width of about
twenty-five miles, is believed to retain its original relation of
parts.” So great a thickness of even Pre-Cambrian strata is
scarcely credible.
Immense beds of conglomerates are a featureof the slates, and
are well displayed in many places, as for example, near Lead City
on the railway. The pebbles consist chiefly of glassy quartz and
quartzite, both of which are found in the older schists, but the
conformability of the two series forbids our ascribing them to
that source, and compels us to seek some other and more distant
origin. The pebbles of quartzite are elongated, says Prof.
Crosby, but those of quartz are not.
Prof. Crosby has also called attention to a vast sheet of diorite
(plagioclase felspar and hornblende), sometimes auriferous, which
passes through the entire length of the easternor slaty series, and
of which abundant fragments may be seen on the eastern slopes,
and also to massive but very siliceous beds of hematite like those
of the lake Superior region. He has further demonstrated from
the presence of limestone pebbles in the Potsdam, that a bed of
this material must be covered up somewhere in the Hills. This
discovery may some day throw light on the age of the slates, some
of which may, though such a supposition is searcely possible, be
of lower Cambrian date.
els
After the deposition of the series above described in the sea of
Pre-Cambrian age, an elevation of the region took place whereby
the schists and slates were bent and folded at a very high angle
and the Black Hills of Dakota were born. If we must regard
the whole series as one unduplicated mass, they form a mono-
clinal ridge with strong easterly dip. This movement alone indi-
cates a long time, but the enormous erosion which the strata
suffered before the Potsdam sandstone was laid down upon their
basset edges forbids any doubt on this point. The interval rep-
resented by this gap extends from the date of the latest slate to
that of the Upper Cambrian, and may include the whole of Lower
232 The American Geologist. April, 1892
and Middle Cambrian time, with possibly some earlier eras.
During all these aeons the Black Hills stood as an island or as
islands in the Cambrian sea, supplying by their wear and tear
under the action of the weather and the waves the sand required
for the building of the Potsdam sandstone.
The elevation which had set in after the deposition of the
schists and slates, at length ceased and subsidence ensued. The
sea began once more to submerge the sinking land, and the Pots-
dam sandstone already forming in the surrounding sea encroached
on the island. As the water advanced it destroyed the super-
ficial parts of the old land, and deposited the material as the Pots-
dam sandstone. This is seldom more than 250 feet thick, and is
conglomeratic at base containing pebbles of all the harder rocks
found in the hills, as well as of the limestone above mentioned.
These last occur all round the Hills, and in some places compose
almost the whole of the basal conglomerate.
There can be no reasonable doubt of the identification of the
Potsdam, though no fossils have yet been found. — It is probably
continuous from its eastern outcrops beneath all the other pal-
weozoic strata. But the slightly calcareous nature of its upper
layers and the few fossils which they have thus far yielded, indi-
cate that these may represent strata much higher in the seale.
This will be more evident after consideration of the next topic.
VII.
If the sandstone be referred entirely to the era of the Potsdam,
then there is a second long gap in the strata of the Hills, inelud-
ing all the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian eras. But if the
qualification just stated be allowed then the gap only includes the
Ordovician and Silurian eras—a time sufficiently long. Prof.
Carpenter has discussed this question, and has adopted a sugges-
tion first put forth, I believe, by Prof. Crosby. The former says:
“It was shown by the Challenger Expedition that in the truly abysmal
depths of the sea, there is, properly speaking, no sedimentation. These
are the red clay areas which form a characteristic feature of the deeper
portions of the sea, and are found at all depths from 2,000 fathoms down
to the deepest abysses. They consist of exceedingly fine clay colored
red with oxide of iron. This clay is not a sediment, having its origin in
the erosion of the land, but is derived from the aluminous portion of
shells, decomposed pumice and fine volcanic ash.” “So slowly is this
accumulation taking place that the ear-bones of whales and the teeth of
Tin Islands of the Northwest.— Claypole. 233
sharks believed to have been extinct from early Tertiary times, have not
yet been covered with it.”
“The point that I wish to make is that if this section sank to these
abysmal depths during Silurian and Devonian times, it reached a depth
in which there was no sedimentation, and hence rocks of these ages are
ab:ent. A slope of only one degree would in two hundred miles from
the shore have carried it to the depth of 3,000 fathoms, or far into the
red clay area,”
Though the acute hypothesis above stated can scarcely be as-
sumed at present, yet one fact strongly confirmatory must not be
forgotten. When sedimentation again set in limestone and not
sand was deposited, indicating distance from shore.
Though apparently unique thus far in geology as an explana-
tion of the absence of strata, it is certainly at least plausible,
and none of the objections urged against it have sufficient weight
to form an insuperable obstacle in the way of its acceptance.
On this view the Potsdam subsidence continued until the area of
the Black Hills had sunk below the 3,000 fathoms level, and of
course the tops of the highest peaks were covered with water.
On the cessation and reversal of this movement, the first sedi-
ment that covered the bottom of the rising area was that of the
Carboniferous limestone. This holds characteristic Carbonifer-
ous fossils, and indicates oceanic conditions of deposit. It is 500
or 600 feet in thickness, exceedingly hard and durable. — Its
position shows that at the time of deposition the area of the Hills
was deeply sunk, because over a great part of the district this
limestone lies horizontal on the horizontal Potsdam, and is never-
theless elevated above the edges of the slates and schists except-
ing on the very highest peaks. It has been raised without con-
tortion, and shows only gentle dips around the margin of the
Hill region.
VILL.
The incoming of sandstone near the close of the Carboniferous
deposits indicates that some part of the Pre-Cambrian area had
then risen above the water, and the lack of any decided break
between the Paleozoic and the Mesozoic as well as the variation
in the material of the Trias shows an unstable condition of level
during that era. The Trias contains beds of bright red clay, a
very pure 30-foot limestone, hard and uniform, and enormous
strata of gypsum cropping out all round the hills in quantity
sufficient to supply the whole continent. The limestone forms a
234 The American Geologist April, 1892
rampart through which the streams have cut narrow channels, by
which entrance is with difficulty gained to the central fastness.
A fine illustration of this structure is seen along the narrow-
gauge railway running up Elk creek from Postville to Lead City.
Though the Jurassic beds that follow are conformable to the
Trias, yet no greater contrast can well be imagined than that
offered by these two formations. The former is absolutely desti-
tute of all trace of life, while the latter contains some of the
richest fossiliferous strata known anywhere on earth. What
physical changes are indicated by this difference cannot now or
here be discussed, but whatever they were, they permitted the
abounding reptilian life of the Jurassic to invade the lifeless seas
of the Trias. The rapid thickening of the former beds to the
northwest, as pointed out by Prof. Carpenter and others, shows
that the land whence they came lay in that direction, while the
gypsum of the Trias would imply a closed sea and great evapor-
ation.
The vast and varied reptile fauna now accumulated by Prof. O.
C. Marsh, at New Haven, has been chiefly taken from the Juras-
sic of the region surrounding the Black Hills. Many of its
members being in part or altogether terrestrial, indicate land at
no great distance, and the Hills then probably rose as islands
above the Jurassic waters.
Of this fact there is no room for doubt at the commencement
of the Cretaceous era, for the fine conglomerate at its base owes
its origin to the Pre-Cambrian strata of the axis. But the emer-
gence was apparently only temporary, and was followed by sub-
sidence, which again carried the Hills under water, and allowed
the deposition of the later Cretaceous beds over the whole area.
These strata indicate marine conditions, but no great distance
from land, as they consist of clays and shale, with little lime, and
contain abundant and beautiful specimens of Baculites, Am-
monites, ete.
IX.
It seems probable that the Cretaceous sea continued on into the
Kocene era, and that Eocene strata were deposited over the Cre-
taceous. As Prof. Carpenter has shown, there is evidently a gap
in the record here. The Eocene is wanting in the Black Hills,
and the Miocene lies immediately on the Cretaceous. During
some part of this interval the central peaks, if not more, served
‘
a
Tin Islands of the Northiwest.— Claypole. 935
as distributing centres of the Pre-Cambrian rocks which lie scat-
tered over the surface to the distance of 150 miles from the peak.
They lie below the Miocene beds, and disappear under them at
their first occurrence, and are even seen below their outliers.
The means and manner of the distribution of the boulders has
been a matter of some speculation. Prof. Carpenter was once in-
clined to believe that they proved the occurrence of an Kocene
ice-age, but has since abandoned that view. It is not easy, how-
ever, to see how such boulders could be scattered so far over the
country merely by the ordinary agents of erosion.
The Miocene deposits were laid down in a great fresh-water
lake, and in them are entombed the remains of a gigantic mam-
malia of that era, indicating the proximity of land. During all
this time the Black Hills stood as islands in this lake, and were
doubtless tenanted by the animals whose remains are found in the
strata. Miocene deposits approach within 15 miles of the Hills.
Here the geological record of the region ends. With the ex-
ception of a few fragmentary notes of Quaternary time made by
the usual stream erosion and of the relics of a few Pieistocene
mammalia that occupied the Hills, the later annals do not exist.
The great Ice-Age has left on the Black Hills no sculptured
hieroglyphics of its ice-chisel, such as those that have immortal-
ized it elsewhere. No erratic boulders, no arctic drift indicate an
invasion by the northern ice, and no striation or grooving of the
rocks leads to the belief that the Hills were an independent cen-
tre of glaciation. This fact is full of significance. Lying four
hundred miles north of the southern edge of the great ice-sheet
they were yet out of the zone of accumulation, and even beyond
the zone of waste. The ice of the northeast and of the north-
west expended its strength in crossing the wide prairie regions
that separate these hills from the great glacial centres of the con-
tinent,
X.
But the chief interest of the region at the present time lies in
the presence of the tin-ore mentioned at the outset of this paper,
The economical importance of this mineral is greater than that
of any other that the Hills are known to contain.
Cassiterite is usually limited to the proximity of granite rocks,
but in the Black Hills it is yet more closely limited to the granite
veins deseribed above as occurring in the older schists. And in
236 The American Geologist. April, 1892
these it is, as usual, very irregularly disseminated. Some veins
are altogether barren. In others is found a varying quantity of
ore, never very large. Strings and threads and granules, often
almost invisible, with occasionally a lump weighing a few ounces,
or more rarely a few pounds, are the forms in which the cassiter-
ite occurs. This, it may be remarked, is the usual mode else-
where. In some instances, and probably either in choice speci-
mens or in chosen localities, a yield of three and even of four
per cent., has been reported. But a sanguine estimate for the
productive veins of the region could not exceed two per cent.,
and even this could only be reached by careful work and the re-
jection of poor material. The whole of the stanniferous material
must be mined and picked over or crushed and washed in order to
extract the ore,a process that entails considerable labor and expense.
It would be premature to give any positive opinion regarding
the contents of the veins as they are followed down, but judging
from indications there is no ground to anticipate any change.
The weathered material on the hill-side is scarcely richer than the
lodes, nor are the ‘‘streamings”” to be compared in richness with
those of some other parts of the world. Hence there is no rea-
son to conclude that the portions of the veins already eroded were
any richer than those now existing. Judging also from the ar-
rangement and the structure of the veins they will run out down-
ward as at the surface, and be succeeded by others, and they will
a fact which
certainly vary much in richness from place to place
always renders lode-mining an uncertain occupation.
There has been an immense expenditure of money during the past
few years in the Hills,in mining machinery and other plant,and itis
only reasonable to expect some return of metal from the outlay at
no distant date. Enormous quantities of cassiterite undoubtedly ex-
ist in the granite in spite of its sparse and fine diffusion in the rock,
but the problem awaiting solution is whether or not it can be con-
centrated and reduced at a figure that will afford a reasonable profit.
[t is too early at present to say what can be done with better ma-
chinery and methods, and the practice of the most rigid economy
in the work. But the experience of a few years will show if the
tin from the Black Hills can be produced at a figure sufficiently
low to maintain itself in the open market of the world. If not,
the subject of Dakota tin-mining will cease to be one of economic
geology, and will become merely a question of the hight of the
tariff-wall that can be built around it for its protection.
237
BPISCOVERY OF A. SECOND EXAMPLE OF THE
MACROURAN DECAPOD CRUSTACEAN,
PALAOPALAOMON NEWBERRYI.
R. P. Wuirrietp, New York.
The occurrence of decapod crustaceans in the Devonian, or
Lower Carboniferous strata, is so rare that the discovery of an
individual is well worth recording; and as Palwopalwomon new-
berry/ is the earliest or first of the group yet known, its occurrence
may well be considered as of special importance.
A few weeks ago [received from Dr. A. 8. Tiffany, of Daven-
port, Iowa, under the name of Hehinocaris sp., undescribed, a
fossil crustacean so badly preserved as to be somewhat mislead-
ing on first examination, but which, on being cleared from the
rock in some of the critical parts, proved to belong to the genus
Paleopalwonon, and so far as the specific features can be ascer-
tained, to be identical with that species described in the Aer.
Jour. of Science, 3d series, 1880, Vol. 19, pp. 40-41, and subse-
quently in the Annals of the New York Acad. Set., Dece., 1890,
ip. 005, Pl. XL, Figs. 19-21.*
The specimen is of about the same size as that figured as above,
but much less perfect, as it shows only a part of the carapace,
the right side and anterior end being quite defective. The basal
joints of the antennz shown in the first example are entirely ab-
sent in this one, and the first two segments of the abdomen,
although present, are so crushed and folded as to be practically
useless except to_prove their existence. The other four segments
are fairly preserved, and the central spine of the telson and right
side of the flap are also tolerably well represented; while parts of
several of the ambulatory feet can be detected at points in the
rock.
No marked variation from the typical specimen can be found
on this second example. The central or median ridge of the car-
apace is well marked, and the two halves are slightly disconnected
along the posterior portion of its length; while the lateral ridge, or
carination, shown on the type, is strongly marked on the left side
of the present one, and appears as an elevated line, like a line of
suture. There is also an area of depression extending from the
* Figures of this and several other crustaceous fossils were distrib-
uted on an albertype plate, with copies of the descriptions, extracted
from the Amer. Jour. Sct., early in 1881, to the number of 150 copies.
238 The American Geologist. April, 1892
anterior margin, at the point of the lateral angulation, backward
to the median line, at about half the length of the carapace, form-
ing a large V-shaped depressed area over this part of the surface.
The ornamentation has been only pustules and pits on the cara-
pace and segments.
This specimen is said by Dr. A. 8. Tiffany to have been found
in the Kinderhook group at Kaskade, three miles west from the
court house at Burlington, Iowa, in a forty foot bed of clay shale
containing many nodules or concretions, one of which this has
occupied. The type example of the genus and species above men-
tioned was found in a concretion, from the Krie shale at Leroy,
Lake Co., Ohio, which is probably of the horizon of the Chemung
group of New York, though this is not entirely settled.
PHYSICS OF MOUNTAIN BUILDING; SOME FU N-
DAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS.
T. MELLARD Reave, CE. F. G. 8., Park Corner, Blundellsands, Eng.
One of the most frequently urged objections against the theory of
mountain evolution with which my name is associated™ is its sup-
posed inadequacy to the production of the requisite lateral pres-
sure. [hope to be able to show that much of this criticism is
founded upon misapprehension; that it in fact gives more play in
this direction than any other theory consistent with geological
facts, at present in the field. ;
The fundamental idea underlying all these theories, and there
are really very few of them, is that our globe is a cooling spheroid.
It arises from this, that orographie changes can only occur from
actual loss of heat by a part of the spheroid, or by redistribution
of heat and pressure relative or absolute. These principles will
become more obvious as we proceed in our inquiry.
Changes directly brought about by actual loss of heat, or what
is called secular cooling, have formed the basis of a theory that
has held the field for a very long time, and when we do not in-
quire too closely into the reasoning upon which it is founded, or
indulge in quantitative investigation, it meets some of the first
« prior’ Conceptions of the sort of an agent required to effect the
gigantic corrugations seen insome of the world’s mountain chains.
It has the merit of being a simple idea easily grasped, and the
“Origin of Mountain Ranges.
Mountain Building.—Reade. 239
postulates granted, capable of doing an immense amount of work.
The conception is now pretty generally recognized as founded on
a fallacy, for the nucleus of the spheroid is not cooling, but only
the outer rind to a very small depth while the shell itself is cireum-
ferentially contracting, except at the actual surface. The result
*being,as [was the first to point out, that a much less thickness of
the crust than was generally supposed isin compression. All this
is matter of recent scientific historyt but for the further elucida-
tion of. the position I have taken up in my ‘“‘Origin of Mountain
Ranges,’ I purpose showing that the secular contraction principle
will only act as a mountain building agent—granting all the im-
possible postulates required for it—by an expenditure of heat
and therefore initial energy out of all proportion to the work
to be done.
In order to illustrate my meaning and to get the conception
well into the minds of my readers, I will assume a hard crust
forming a shell 20 miles thick of equal temperature throughout,
resting upon a heated nucleus such as we suppose obtains at pres-
ent in our globe. Assume that this nucleus, cooling only on the
outer surface to a depth of a few hundred miles, loses sufficient
heat without in any way changing the temperature of the enclos-
ing shell, to produce a contraction of 550 feet of a radial bar cut
out of the nucleus, then in consequence of the principle of cubical
contraction the radius of the earth would be reduced by three
times this amount or 550% 3—1650 feet. The hard shell un-
changed in dimensions would have to fit itself to the reduced nu-
cleus either by thickening or by corrugation. Let us assume the
adjustment takes place by corrugation, then we shall have
1650 6.28 or 10,362 feet of surplus circumference to dispose of
in folds measured in any direction over a great circle of the globe.
I have chosen the figure 550 for the purpose of easy compari-
son because that is the amount of linear vertical expansion that
would take place in a crust 20 miles thick as assumed in our ex-
ampleZ raised 1000° Fahr. and is therefore an equivalent amount
*Origin of Mountain Ranges, Chap. x1.
+See Smithsonian Report. Record of Science for 1887 and 1888.
McGee p. 240.
{This is not obvious at first sight, but it arises from the circumferen-
tial stretching of the cooling outer layer over the uncooled portion of
the nucleus.
$2.75 feet per mile per 100° Fahr.
240 The American Geologist. April, 1892
to the heat lost to produce 550 feet linear radial contraction in
a cooling globe.
Let us now examine the potency of the opposite principle of
expansion which lies at the foundation of my theory. I have
shown that if 10 miles of sediment were laid down on the crust
of the earth, the underlying strata would be raised 1000° Fahy,
in temperature by the rising of the isogeotherms, and the bottom
layers of sediment to the same temperature gradually shading off
to the normal at the surface. I have taken 20 miles in thickness
of the under crust and overlying sediment combined raised 1000°
Fahr. as representing my conception of the heating that would
take place under the assumed conditions.
I must also ask my readers, to assume that instead of the heat
being lost, equal to the production of such a contraction of the
earth it is, by some non-conducting covering over the whole earth
prevented from escaping into space. Under these conditions the
heat from the nucleus would flow into the assumed shell 20 miles
thick, until the temperature of the shell and the nucleus became
equalized. Let us now consider what would be the effect on this
shell when it was raised 1000° Fahr. in temperature, intercepting
the precise amount of heat lost into space in the previous example.
It is evident, firstly, that if the co-efficient of expansion were
the same at all temperatures in the shell as in the cooling mass it
envelopes, the radius of the globe would remain the same, if we
consider the radius as measured to the mean of the irregularities
of the surface which would certainly come into being.
Secondly, though the cubic contents of the globe would remain
precisely the same, the redistribution of heat within the mass would
produce certain stresses and strains which we may easily picture
to ourselves. The shell 20 miles thick, if it were possible for it
to receive this accession of heat and sustain itself as a spheroidal
shell, would increase in diameter. Taking the mean diameter of
the earth, considered as a sphere at 7912.41 miles,* and the ex-
pansion 2.75 feet per mile per 100° Fahr., the mean diameter of
the spherical shell would be increased 7912.41 x 27.5=217,591
feet=41.2 miles. But it is evident that this could not happen,
but that the shell must adapt itself to the nucleus, so leaving out
of account for the present the contraction of the nucleus, which
would be the same as in the first example, there will be a surplus.
*Herschel. Outlinesof Astronomy.
Mountain Building.—Reade. 241
of 129.368 miles over every great circle of the sphere to dispose
of in folds.
Thus we see plainly that with the same loss of energy by the
nucleus, very different effects are produced; the interception of
the heat otherwise radiated into space, would provide lateral pres-
sure by expansion compared to lateral pressure by secular cool-
ing in the proportion of 129.368 to 1.96, or in round figures
66 times as much. Itis worth noting that any effect in corrugat-
ing the 20 miles shell produced by contraction in the first example
would add to and intensify the effect in the second example.
These two comparisons are given merely as extreme illustra-
tions to enable others to grasp the essential difference between
expansion and secular contraction as mountain building agents—
neither case is reproduced in nature, but both partially so. In
place of the absolute non-conductor assumed to envelope the
globe in the last example, put sedimentary deposits over a portion
of it. Under these portions a re-distribution of heat occurs in
precisely the same manner, though in less degree than in our ex-
ample, for the sediments do not stop all the heat—only a portion
thereof. The globe goes on losing heat as before, but much less
under the sedimentary areas than where denudation ‘is taking
place, or where the condition of the crust is completely stationary,
like in the non-sedimentary depths of the great oceans. It is to
the relative distribution of heat in the earth and its crust that we
must look for our mountain building agents and for the requisite
stresses and strains. Some physicists, by a confusion of ideas,
have supposed, that because there is no actual increase of heat
under a sedimentary area simply through the raising of the iso-
geotherms, no mountain building can in this way take place. If
the idea had been properly thought out the fallacy would readily
have been detected.
I have dealt with this fundamental idea of the expansion of
the crust through the interception of heat that would otherwise
be wasted into space because it underlies my theory of mountain
formation. I trust my readers will not therefore take this part
for the whole of the theory for the rising of the isogeotherms is
the ‘nitiatory precedent condition only.
I have described fully in my Origin of Mountain Ranges and
in the outline of my ‘‘Theory of the Origin of Mountain Ranges
by cumulative recurrent expansion” published in this magazine
242 The American Geologist. April, 1892
Noy, 2, 1891,* the manner in which the internal forces of the
earth are thus unlocked.
When we come to test physical theories by geological facts it
is impossible to ignore the intimate relation that exists between
sedimentation and mountain formation. It is quite unnecessary
for me to dwell upon this in an American publication, for it is to
the lasting credit of American geologists that they were the first
to establish the fact, and no theory which does not take it into
account as a first principle will ever be likely to establish itself
as a reasonable explanation. This has been seen by many
and from the time of Sir John Herschel down to the present,
loading by sedimentation and unloading by denudation have been
considered more or less a vera causa. It does not need deep
thinking however to see that this can be but a partial explanation.
It is a machinery that must in the absence of some other opposite
force evidently come to an end—it must run down. Some of the
geologists of the Indian Survey account for the supposed con-
tinued rising of the Himalayas in a similar way by the denudation
of the mountains and the laying down of sediment on their
flanks and onthe Gangetic plain. At the best, whatever value we
may be inclined to attach to the explanation, the Himalayas can-
not have or/ginated in this manner. It is nota theory of ‘‘origin”
but of ‘‘matntenance’ and the lateral pressure that it provides,
is, compared with any form of the contraction or expansion
theories, almost zero.
Mr. Fisher has lately introduced the conception of a fluid zone
subject to convection currents. These convection currents flow-
ing from under the crust under the great oceans are supposed to
drag the crust towards the continents and to produce lateral pres-
sure and mountain folding on their margins. Granting all the
hypothetical conditions required—and this is granting a
great deal—it is difficult to conceive how convection currents
which can only originate from differences of specific gravity in
the fluid itself, due to differences of temperature, could produce
the necessary force, and still less, act continuously in certain
(lirections through all the great time occupied in the building of
i mountain range. A mountain range is too permanent a feature
of the earth's surface to have originated or been maintained in
this manner.
*Originally published in the Phil. Mag.
teratice Cambrian Fossils.— Woodworth. 943
But perhaps I am unable to do justice to Mr. Fisher's views as
I feel insurmountable difficulties in looking at the problem from
his standpoint.
We have now almost exhausted the catalogue of initiatory
compressive agents invoked by various authors for the production
of mountain ranges. It remains to consider a final one, namely, the
intrusion of molten matter into the crust, and the detrusion and
throwing back of the upper strata due to the forcing up of tongues
or folds of the strata below. These agents can, however, be only
secondary effects of expansion or compression, not initiatory
forces. Nevertheless they play a very important part in the fold-—
ing and building up of a mountain range which I have explained
very fully in the ‘Origin of Mountain Ranges.”
I trust I have now said enough to show that simple expansion
by increase of temperature is by far the most potent of any
known cause in the production of lateral pressure in the earth’s
crust. If to this we add recurrent expansion and the other
agencies I have endeavored to show from geological and physi-
cal data are concerned in the building of a mountain range, we
arrive at a satisfactory solution of the great problem of the fold-
ing and elevation of mountain chains.
Jan, 18, 1892.
NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF ERRATIC CAM-
BRIAN FOSSILS IN THE NEOCENE GRAV-
EES OF THE ISLAND OF MARTHA’S
VINEYARD.
By J. B. Woopwortu, Somerville, Mass.
In the course of an examination of the dislocated Neocene® strata
of the island of Martha's Vineyard, carried on under the supervision
of Prof. N. 8. Shaler, for the U. 8. Geological Survey, during the
summers of 1889 and 1890, I collected a number of chert peb-
bles from the white quartz gravel or ‘‘osseous conglomerate” of
Gay Head, and from an outcrop of the same age in the village of
West Tisbury. Several of these specimens proved to be fossilif-
erous; one from the locality in West Tisbury contains a_ fossil
which, on close examination, is seen to be the zoantharian coral,
Ethmophyllum, Meek, of the Lower Cambrian.
*Neocene is here used to designate the Miocene strata of Gay Head,
See 10th annual Rept. U. 8. Geol. Survey, p. 65.
Y44 The American Geologist. April, 1892
The accompanying diagram, Fig. 1, represents a cross section
of the coral, the outer wall, where wanting, being indicated by
the dotted line. The fragment found is 6 mm. in diameter, Fig.
2 represents a longitudinal section of the inner poriferous
structure.
This form bears a close resemblance to Ethmophyllum whitney?,
Meek,* except that the radiating septa meet the outer wall ata
much less distance than in the figured specimens of this species.
The number of septa is about the same, being at least 36. Some
Fie. 1 is drawn twice the diameter.
Fic. 2 is about five times as large as:
as original section.
doubt is entertained as to the exact equivalency of the number by
reason of the partial loss of the outer wall and some of the septa
in the specimen,
The pebbles of chert from the osseous conglomerate at Gay
Head show less clearly their organic contents, but coralline strue-
ture has been detected in a number of pebbles. Those contain-
ing fossils are of dark blue, almost black chert, are more or less
rounded, smoothened and polished, and range in :diameter from
half an inch to pieces two or three times this size.
Occurrence of the Pebbles: These fossiliferous pebbles have so
far been found by me only in the Neocene beds carrying the
remains of Cetacez and sharks, and in the base of the overlying
ereensand in the places where the osseous conglomerate was par-
tially or wholly reorganized in the deposition of the greensand,
At Gay Head, the osseous conglomerate is on the average about
one foot thick, but in West Tisbury it attains a thickness
of at least two, and in some places, three feet, being apparently
the fossiliferous upper portion of the white sands and clays which
were deposited upon the plant-bearing Cretaceous beds described
by Mr. C. D. White.t The number of these chert pebbles in the
Neocene gravel beds is relatively small, the mass of the deposit
being composed of quartz of vein origin. In the Gay Head sec-
*C. D. Walcott: 10th Annual Rept. U. 8. G.S., p. 601, pl. LV.
+On Cretaceous Plants from Martha’s Vineyard, Am. Jour. Sed., (IIT)
XXXTX, 1890, pp. 93-101.
Erratic Cambrian Fossils.— Woodworth. 945
tion, perhaps one per cent. of the pebbles in the osseous con-
glomerate are of chert.
Immediate origin of the Chert: The immediate source of these
fossiliferous Cambrian pebbles is apparently to be found in the
coarse sands and gravels underlying the Neocene formations.
The age of these beds has not yet been definitely settled: They
lie, unconformably, by slight erosion of their upper surface,
below the marine Neocene or osseous conglomerate, and they
overlie, without recognizable unconformity, the plant bearing
Cretaceous beds which include the Gay Head lignites. On
account of this apparent continuity of deposition succeeding the
Cretaceous beds, the sands and gravels may tentatively be con-
sidered of the same age. No fossiliferous pebbles have as yet been
PLEISTOCENE.
( Green sand.
N EOCENE.
? Osseous conglomerate.
White
e Sands
= and
2 Y
s Clays.
Leaf beds.
Lignites.
_ Fie. 3. Correlation section of the strata involved in the Gay Head dislocation, show -
ing position of osseous conglomerate, and Cretaceous gravels.
found in the exposures of these Cretaceous sands and gravels,
although they are probably present in these beds, as is shown by
the consideration of the origin of the detritus in the osseous
conglomerate.
The detritus of the osseous conglomerate appears to have been
derived as follows: Sometime after the deposition of the Creta-
ceous sands, clays and gravels, the surface of this formation was
exposed to ablation in a manner to assort out and carry further
down the coastal slope much of the finer material, leaving behind
after a short carriage. a stratum of coarse gravel of the thickness
previously described. That this quartz pebble conglomerate at the
base of the identified Neocene was derived from the underlying Cre-
taceous beds by asifting process like that just appealed to, and not
246 The American Geologist. April, 1892"
by the erosion and deposition of fresh detritus from the granites
gneisses, sandstones and other clastic rocks of the mainland, is
shown by the factthat no decomposable rocks of feldspathic com-
position exist in the stratum. This view of the origin of some
of the Tertiary and perhaps earlier Pleistocene gravels of New
Jersey and Long Island has been advanced by Mr. N. L. Britton *
It is possible to trace the quartz pebbles and associated cherts
to a previous cycle of deposition, in which, before the making of
the Cretaceous beds, the quartz pebbles with the cherts composed
the finer, quartzose conglomerates of the middle and lower por-
tions of the Narragansett coal basin. In the coal bearing section
of these recks, there occur numerous beds which, but for their
consolidation and black color, closely resemble the Martha's
Vineyard gravels, the thickness of which is explained by the
extensive erosion of these antecedent Carboniferous beds.
Original source of the Cherts: The vein quartz in the Carbon-
iferous appears originally to have come from the disintegration of
a terrane thickly set with quartz veins, as Britton has suggested in
the case of similar quartz pebbles in the coast plain of New Jer-
sey; but the fossiliferous chert pebbles with identifiable fossils
clearly. point to a more definite association of rocks, Cherts
naturally associate themselves with limestones, though rarely with
sandstones, as in the Oriskany, and with shales; but the occur-
rence of chert pebbles in the lower Cambrian, siliceous limestones
of Nahant, makes it seem probable that the Martha’s Vineyard
cherts were also derived froma calcareous section of the Olenellus
Cambrian. As yet the nodules of the Nahant horizon have not been
shown to carry Kthmophyllum and its congeners, yet Louis Agassiz, T
in 1850, reported finding in them the structure of an Astrewa.
The locality of lower Cambrian nearest to Gay Head is that of
the red shales of North Attleboro.{ a distance of fifty miles, but
no nodules have been observed in the Attleboro section. That
there is in the southern coast of Massachusetts or Rhode Island
the seat of an extensive Cambrian section now concealed or
removed by erosion, is shown by the abundant fragments of Cam-
brian quartzites found in the coarser conglomerates of the Car-
*American Naturalist, 1875, XXIII, p. 1035.
tL. Agassiz: Proc. Am. Acad, II, p. 270; also’ Proc. Boston Soc. Nat.
Hist., ILI, p. 341, 1850.
{N.S. Shaler: On the geology of the Cambrian district of Bristol
Co., Mass. Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., xv1, 1888, p. 13.
Tsobases of Postglacial Hlevation.—De Geer. 247
boniferous, particularly on the southern border. These pebbles
earry Lingule worm burrows, and more rarely pteropod casts.
They have been found at Dighton,* Mass., in the Newport con-
glomerate by Dale;t I have found Lingule in a quartzite pebble
in the red Carboniferous rocks of Attleboro, and they occur in the
glacial drift on Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket in
great abundance. These quartzite pebbles, however, do not occur
in the Neocene gravels, their absence being apparently due to the
relative ease with which their friable material has been reduced
to sand in the repeated migrations of detritus which have deter-
mined the nature of the Neocene gravels.
The finding of these chert pebbles adds nothing to the evidence
concerning the probable extent of Cambrian deposits in this part
of the state at some time in the past, unless it be to indicate that
we have to look for an extension of the Calcareous series which
outcrops near Cape Ann,{ at Nahant, and on Mill River, in Wey-
mouth.@ The general trend of this formation in the direction in
which we should expect to find the source of the chert pebbles is
an incentive to more careful search, which it is the object of this
paper to foster by calling attention to these less easily seen traces
of the Cambrian sediments and fauna.
I am indebted to professor Shaler for kind permission to publish
the notes concerning this collection of fossiliferous pebbles.
ISOBASES OF POST-GLACIAL ELEVATION.
By Baron GERARD DE GEER, Stockholm, Sweden.
After the session of the International Congress of Geologists,
last summer, in Washington, I made a journey of two months
along the coasts of New England and Canada and inland along
the St. Lawrence and Ottawa valleys, with the principal purpose
of determining the limit of the Champlain submergence and the
amount of the subsequent post-glacial elevation. The following
is a brief outline of the results obtained:
Traces of sea action and marine deposits of Pleistocene age
*W.B. Rogers: Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1860, Vol. VII, pp.
389-91; W. W. Dodge, ibid, Vol XVII, p. 406.
+T. N. Dale: Proc. Newport Nat. Hist. Soc , 1884-5, Doc. 3, p. 9.
{John H. Sears: Bulletin, Essex Institute, XXIII, pp. 12-16, 1891.
SAug. F. Foerste: Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XXTV, pp. 261-263; 1889.
248 The American Geologist. April, 1892
above the present sea level were found only north and northwest
of a line drawn from some point probably a little north of New
York city to another between cape Cod and Boston and through
Nova Seotia. In the northwestern part of Nova Scotia the limit
of the uplifted marine deposits was found at a height of only
about forty feet. Starting from this line the marine limit grad-
ually rises toward the northwest, so that another line, called an
isobase, drawn through points which have been upheaved 300
feet, passes probably from near Niagara falls by Albany, N. Y.,
and Augusta, Maine, to Moncton, N. B., whence it turns back-
ward, running northwesterly and northerly, crossing the St. Law-
rence estuary about half way hetween cape Gaspé and the
Saguenay,
The 600-ft. isobase is probably to be drawn from Georgian bay .
past the outlet of lake Ontario, through the southern part of the
Adirondacks, and thence east-northeast nearly to Moosehead lake.
Here it makes an abrupt bend to the north and west, similar with
the loop of the 300-feet isobase at Moncton, and runs first west-
ward to some point not far from Three Rivers, and thence, turn-
ing again northeastward, it passes along the north shore of the
St. Lawrence estuary. The highest directly determined point
of the former shore line of the submerged area was near Ot-
tawa, somewhat more than 700 feet above the sea level.
On the northern slope of the Adirondacks a gravel and sand
deposit was found, which was evidently formed by a glacial river
that probably owed its origin to the outlet of lake Iroquois, when
that glacial lake had sunk from its highest stage and was drained
between the Adirondacks and the shrinking land-ice. The level
of the marine limit in the neighborhood shows that the post-glacial
elevation there has been no more than three-fourths of the hight
of the Lroquois beach.
When the ice-barrier of lake Lroquois was removed, it seems
that the sea must have extended from the prolonged gulf of St.
Lawrence by one branch into the Ontario basin; by another
through the Ottawa valley and Lake Nipissing into lake Huron,
unless that pass was still occupied by the land-ice; and by a third
branch through lake Champlain down to New York, thus probably
forming a strait in the Hudson valley.
The scarcity or absence of marine fossils in these branches or
inlets of the sea is closely analogous with the conditions of the
Vertebrate Palwontology.— kyerman. 249
much larger, brackish Baltic sea at the time of departure of the
Scandinavian ice-sheet and also at the present day.
As to the extent and geological nature of the uplift, there is a
very close resemblance between the conditions in North America
and Seandinayvia. In each country the maximum upheaval has
taken place in the center of the old Archzean area of denudation
which forms the nucleus of the continent, and at the same time is
the tract where the load of the land-ice was heaviest. The
amount of the upheaval and the ice-load decreased in the same
directions. Thus the upheaval of the gulf of St. Lawrence was.
less than of the adjoining tracts on the south and north; and
this accords with the observations of Mr. Chalmers, who has
shown that the land-ice moved from all sides toward this depres-
sion, gradually thinning out there.
It is also to be remarked that the boundary of the uplifted area
is pretty nearly coincident with the limit of the last glaciation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICAN VERTE-
BRATE PALASONTOLOGY FOR THE
YEAR 1891.
By Joun EyERMAN, Easton, Pa.
Vertebrate Palszeontology has lost one of its most eminent work-
ers and authorities in the death of Joseph Leidy, M. D., LL. D.
For the past forty years Dr. Leidy’s papers on this subject aver-
aged about six a year, many of these papers being memoirs of
more than a hundred pages. Many tributes to his memory have
been written, but the writer calls particular attention to the arti-
cles by Dr. Henry C. Chapman (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1891, pt.
Il, pp. 342-388), Dr. Harrison Allen (‘‘Professor Joseph Leidy:
His Labors in the field of Vertebrate Anatomy,’ Science 18, Nov.
13, p. 274) and No. 26 of this Bibliography.
a. Ami, H. M. See Cope No. e.
b. Ami, H. M.—See Cope No. f.
1. Barbour, E. H.—Remains of the Primitive EKlephant
found in Grinnell, Ia., Science, 16, Nov. 7, 1890, p. 263.
2. Baur, G.—Notes on some little known American fossil
Tortoises. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1891, pp. 411-430.
3. Baur, G.—On the Characters and Systematic Position of
the Large Sea-Lizards, Mosasauride. Science, 16, Nov. 7, 1890,
pp. 262.
250 The American Geologist. April, 1892
4. Baur, G.—On Intercalation of Vertebre. Jour. Morph.
4,, Jan., pp. 331-336. 2
». Baur, G.—On the Relations of Carettochelys, Ramsay.
Am. Nat., 25, July, pp. 631-639, partly pal.
6. Baur, G.—Remarks on Reptiles generally called Dinosau-
ria. Am. Nat., 25, May, pp. 434-454.
c. Baur, G.—Remarks on Reptiles generally called Dinos-
auria. Review in Am. Geol., 8, July, p. 55.
7. Baur, G@.—The Horned Saurians of the Laramie Forma-
tion. Science 17, April 17, pp. 216-217.
8. Baur, G.—The Pelvis of the Testudinata; with Notes on
the Evolution of the Pelvis in General. Jour. Morph., 4, Jan.,
pp. 345-360; ill.
d. Cannon, Jr., G. L.—Identification of a Dinosaur from
the Denver Group. Proc. Colo. Sci. Soc., Vol: Il, 1890, p.
253. The doctrine of the recurrence of ice epochs, alternating
with each other in opposite hemispheres, is a necessary result of the
position taken by the author, The geological evidences of the truth or
falsity of the hypothesis advocated, are not discussed.
opposite.’
Geological Survey of Kentucky; Report on the occurrence of petroleum,
; *Herschel.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 263
natural gas and asphalt rock in western Kentucky, EDWARD ORTON, pp. 233,
Frankfort.
Geological sections and maps. Report submitted April 2, 1891.
This report contains a review of the prominent theories of the origin
of petroleum and natural gas, its geological relations, and the phe-
nomena of the different oil fields, methods of utilization, its physical and
chemical properties. It is based on the observations made by professor
Orton in Kentucky, in the seasons of 1888 and 1889. The geological
structure of western Kentucky is discussed, and illustrated by a section
from Owensboro to Frankfort. This is followed by a brief history of the
development of petroleum and its products in the state, included in the
district reported on, each county or district being treated separately. It
is a valuable report for the state, and will have numerous readers.
On the Lower Devonian Fish-Fauna of Campbeliton, New Brunswick, by
A.S. Woopwarp F. G. §., (Geol. Mag., 11, 9, Jan. 1892, pp. 1-6)
The author describes a number of fishes which were collected during
1891. There are described one new genus, Protodus, which is named
from detached teeth only, and is an elasmobranch, and three new species,
Protodus jext, Diplodus problematicus, and Acanthodes semistriatus.
On the Characters of Some Palwozoic Fishes, by E.D. Cope. (Proc. U.S.
Nat. Museum, Vol. xrv, pp. 447-463, No. 866.)
This valuable paper is divided into seven sections, each complete in
itself. In Part 1, Prof. Cope announces and describes a new elasmo-
branch genus from the Permian of Nebraska. The genus is named from
a single tooth, which resembles in some respects Oxyrhina and Dendro-
dus. He thinks it belongs to a cladodont shark and has named it Styp-
tobasis knightiana, after Mr. W. C. Knight, who found the tooth and de-
‘termined the formation. Styptobasis knightiana ‘was a large shark of car-
nivorous habits and its presence indicates the existence of a marine fauna
whose remains have not yet been discovered.”
Part Il. On New Ichthyodorulites,in which are described Hybodus reg-
wars from the Triassic of Baylor Co.,Texas, and Ctenacanthus amblyxiphias
from the Permian of Texas.
Part III. On the Cranial Structure of Macropetalichthys. In this article
Macropetalichthys rapheidolabis Owen is compared with Coccosteus, Di_
nichthys, etc. It is allied to Dinichthys and referred to the Placoder-
mata (Arthrodira). ‘The general resemblance of Macropetalichthys to
the Arthrodira renders it almost certain that it possesses a lower jaw
and that it is a member of that order.” In his synopsis of the families
of vertebrata (Am. Nat. 23, p. 856), Prof. Cope included this order (Placo-
dermi) in the Crossopterygia on the supposition that they possessed a
maxillary arch and suspensorium. In a foot note to page 856 of his
synopsis he adds: “The position of this order is not yet certain.” In
this present paper he announces that A. 8. Woodward in his catalogue,
has placed Placodermata in the Dipnoi, thus indicating the absence of
maxillary arch and suspensorium. The structure of the skull of Ma-
cropetalichthys tends to confirm this. Newberry and others have allied
Macropetalichthys to the sturgeons; the author concludes that the Arth-
264 The American Geologist. April, 1892°
rodira cannot be placed near the sturgeons on account of the structure of
the pectoral fins, and the cranial structure which has no resemblance to
that of those fishes. F
Part IV. In this part is described the first known specimen cf the
pectoral spine, almost complete, of Holonema rugosa Clay pole, from Mans-
field, Tioga Co., Pennsylvania. The spine is without complete segmen-
tation, differing in this respect from Bothriolepis and Pterichthys. The
spine is continuous to the apex, thereby constituting a generic distinc-
tion between Holonema and Bothriolepis. Length 54 mm, base width 11
mm, middle 7 mm.
Part V. Onthe Paired Fins of Megalichthys niiidus Cope. In this paper,
the author, after announcing the provisional withdrawal of his genus
Ectosteorhachis (Megalichthys) (Proc. Am. Phil. Soc.,1880,p 56) gives
a study of the paired limbs and concludes that it is probably intermediate
between Ceratodus and Pterichthys and possibly Arthrodira. The limb
structure does not resemble either Polypterus or Ceratodus.
Part VI. On the Non-Actinopterygiun Teleostomi. This is practically
the same paper which appeared in the Am. Nat., 25 May, 1891, pp. 479-
481.
In Part VII the author describes two new species of Platysomid, P.
palmaris from the Permian of 8. Indian Territory and P. lacoviéanus from
the Coal Measures of Mazon Creek, IIl.
Stratigraphy of the Bituminous Coal Field of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
West Virginia. By IsraEL C. WHITE. pp. 212; with a folded map, 10
other plates, and 152 figures of sections in the text. (Bulletin No. 65,
U.S. Geological Survey, 1891. Price, 20 cents.)
The classification adopted in this report partly preserves the subdivis-
ions and nomenclature of the Brothers W. B. and H. D. Rogers, adding
thereto such new features as now seem necessary from the present
wider and more detailed knowledge of the coal-bearing strata. The en-
tire Carboniferous system of the Appalachian region comprises three
grand divisions, founded on the conditions of their deposition. The
lower division is exclusively marine; the middle division consists of
shore deposits, interrupted by incursions of the sea, and includes the
lower Coal Measures; and the upper division embraces only fresh and
brackish water deposits, including the upper Coal Measures and the
Permo-Carboniferous series of Dunkard creek. Professor White here
describes the outcrops and stratigraphy of the five series into which the
Upper and Middle Ca’boniferous are subdivided. Many interesting
questions in connection with this work are reserved for discussion when
the remaining southern half of the Appalachian coal field shall have
been more fully studied.
On a group of volcante rocks from the Tewan Mountains, New Mexico, and
on the occurrence of primary quartz in certain basalts. By Josern P. Ip-
DINGS. pp. 34 (Bulletin No. 66, U. 8. Geol. Survey, 1890. Price 5 cents.)
The volcanic series of the Tewan mountains shows a gradual transition
trom rhyolites through andesitic rocks to basalts, ranging thus from one
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 265
extreme to another in mineral composition. ‘The whole series,” accord-
ing to Mr. Iddings, in kis summary of this investigation, “is character-
ized by a variable amount of porphyritical quartz in rounded grains,
which is very noticeable in some of the basalts. These quartzes are
primary secretions or crystallizations from the molten magma, and ex-
hibit no definite relation to its chemical composition, being present in or
absent from rocks of similar chemical composition. Their production
is to be referred to certain physical conditions attending some earlier
period of the magma’s existence. From analogy with the occurrence of
iron olivine in rhyolitic obsidian, it seems probable that the formation
of primary quartz in basalt took place through the influence of water-
vapor while the magma was under considerable pressure ”
On a late volcanic eruption in Northern California, and its peculiar lava.
By J.S. Dinuer. pp. 33; with seventeen plates, and four figures in the
texf. (Bulletin No. 79, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1891. Price, 10 cents.)
Basalt enclosing abundant quartz grains, closely like that described by
Mr. Iddings in the Tewan mountains, is found by Mr Diller to have
been very recently erupted at the Cinder Cone, ten miles northeast of
Lassen peak in northern California. An explosive eruption, ejecting
bombs, lapilli, and volcanic sand, formed this cone about two hundred
years ago, as shown by trees whose dead trunks still project through the
lava that flowed out from the base of the cone before the explosive ac-
tion ceased. Afterward a period of inactivity probably lasted a century
or more, as shown by like deposits which overlie the volcanic sand and
are covered by a second lava flow. The eruption of this latest lava oc-
curred probably somewhat more than fifty years ago and was not accom-
panied by any explosive ejection of fragmental material, the cone being
undisturbed except at the point on its side whence the molten lava is-
sued.
The Cinder Cone rises very steeply to a hight of 640 feet and has an
average diameter of 2,000 feet at its base and 750 feet across its top, be-
neath which the pit of its crater sinks 240 feet. The later lava, occupy-
ing an area three miles long and having an average thickness of nearly
a hundred feet, was extremely viscous at the time of its eruption, and
its cooling crust was repeatedly broken up by the moving mass beneath.
Its surface therefore is composed of sharp, angular blocks, loosely piled
together, which were shoved along as a huge stone pile.
The explosively ejected fragmental lava of the earlier eruption and
both ‘the earlier and later lava flows contain quartz grains, which
frequently are so large and abundant as to give a porphyritic structure,
though more generally they are small and inconspicuous. Their aver-
age diameter is about one-thirtieth of an inch, but very rarely they are
found over an inch in diameter. All of them have been greatly modi-
fied, apparently by the corrosive action of the magma, and each grain is
encircled by a shell of granular, acicular augite, which is separated
from the quartz by a film of glass. The author concludes that the
quartz became crystallized in the magma before its eruption.
266 The American Geologist. April, 1892
This valuable paper is illustrated by numerous views of the scenery of
Cinder Cone and its adjacent tracts of lava.
The relations of the Traps of the Newark system in the New Jersey region.
By Netson Horatio Darron. pp 82; with a folded map, 5 other
plates, and 49 figures in the text. (Bulletin No. 67, U.S. Geol. Survey,
1890. Price, 10 cents.) The traps of the Triassic area in New Jersey
are found to belong to two classes. The most important class comprises
extrusive sheets or overflows, three of which constitute the Watchung cr
Orange mountains, curved in their outcrops on account of flexure of the
enclosing strata. In the second class, comprising intrusive sheets and
dikes, the Palisades, forming the west shore of the Hudson, are the
most conspicuous example. Mr. Darton concludes that the eruptions
producing the Watchung trap sheets were doubtless similar to those of
some of the great lava-flows west of the Rocky mountains, which during
the later Tertiary and Pleistocene periods appear to have welled forth
from long fissures, without the formation of craters or the ejection of
fragmental materials.
Earthquakes in California in 1889. By J. E, KEELER. pp.25. (Bulle-
tin No. 68, U. 8. Geol. Survey, 1890. Price, 5 cents.) This paper is a
continuation of the notes of earthquakes in California to the end of the
year 1888, previously published by Prof. E.S. Holden. It describes all
the shocks felt at the Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton, with others oc-
curing elsewhere, so far as known, in the state. Forty-one days during
the year 1889 had shocks which are here recorded.
A classed and annotated Bibliography of Fossil Insects, pp. 101 —Index
to the known Fossil Insects of the World, including Myriapods and Avrach-
nids. pp. 744. By SamuEL HusBarD ScuppER. (Bulletins 69 and 71, U.
S. Geol. Survey. Prices, 15 and 50 cents.) The writings of more than
five hundred authors are cited in the first of these papers, with concise
descriptive notes. In the second, the bibliography of each known fossil
species is cited in chronologic order. The Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and
Cenozoic eras are taken up successively, and in each of these time divi-
sions the principal classes are separately presented; but under each
class the generic names, and under them the specific names, are ar-
ranged alphabetically.
On the Bear River Formation, a Series of Strata hitherto known as the
Bear River Laramie. By Cuartes A. Wairr,—and The Stratigraphic
Position of the Bear River Formation. By T. W. Sranron. (Am. Jour.
Sez., Vol. xuut, Feb., 1892, pp. 91-115.)
These two interesting papers add another link to the chain of our
knowledge of the age of the non-marine formations which were form-
erly grouped under the one name ‘Laramie.”
Dr. White, in his paper of seven pages, gives a short historical sketch
of the work that has been done on the Bear River formation, from its
discovery in southwestern Wyoming, by H. Engelman in 1859, who, with.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 267
F. B. Meek, referred it on fossil evidence, to the Eocene Tertiary. From
the above date to 1876, these beds were continuously designated by
Messrs. Meek, Hayden and other western geologists as Tertiary, and
then, on Mr. Clarence King’s general map of the 40th parallel, they were
included in the Laramie, where they have remained without question,
except for a few lines in Dr. White’s Review of the Cretaceous of North
America, in which he comments on the peculiarity of the fauna, and
states that pending investigations may show that the beds may occupy
an altogether lower position than had heretofore been generally sup-
posed. The result of these investigations is saic to be “that the strata
which have hitherto been known as Bear River Laramie, are not only not
referable to the Laramie formation, but that they occupy a lower posi-
tion, being overlain by marine Cretaceous strata, the equivalents of which
are known to underlie the true Laramie.”
In this connection it may be stated that the Canadian geologists have
for some years been recognizing a series of fresh—or brackish—water
sandstone terranes of a character precisely similar to the Laramie inter-
bedded between typical marine Cretaceous shales of Montana or Colo-
rado age. Of themthe Belly River series has been traced northward from
the international boundary line to the vicinity of the North Saskatche-
wan river; and the Dunvegan series has been found for a considerable
distance on Peace river underlying marine shales holding characteristic
Pierre (Montana) fossils. This latter sandstone series is also stated by
Mr. J. F. Whiteaves in the report of the Canadian Geological Survey for
1879-80, pp. 115 B, and 119 B to coutain a Cyrena (Corbicula?) “with out-
line very like that of C. durkeei of Meek” and Corbula pyriformis?
from the Bear River series of Wyoming. Assuming these identifica-
tions to be correct we have in the far north an undisturbed sandy non-
marine terrane intercalated in the marine Cretaceous shales, holding
two of the same species of fossils as the Bear River formation, and
occupying a position approximately the same or but a little above that
assigned to it by Dr. White and Mr. Stanton.
Mr. T. W. Stanton, in his paper of eighteen pages, vives the strati-
graphical evidence of the position of the formation as obtained from
four typical sections in southwestern Wyoming, in all of which the
beds are highly inclined, folded or faulted, and in places overlain by
nearly horizontal Wahsatch Tertiary. Mr. F. B. Meek’s original section
on Sulphur creek is first given, and there it is shown not to be continu-
ous from the Colorado subdivisions of the Cretaceous to the Bear River
formation, as was originally supposed, but to include atleast two sections
of the latter terrane, between which lie beds as low down as the Juras-
sic, from all of which characteristic fossils were obtained.
Finally in a table of formations the Bear River is designated as a series
of “very fossiliferous argillaceous and calcareous shale, alternating
with thin beds of sandstone,” and is placed between the “shales and
coal-bearing sandstones” of the Colorado, and the “conglomerates and
coarse sandstones” of the Dakota?
268 The American Geologist. April, 1892
Notes to accompany a Tabulation of the Igneous Rocks based on the Sys-
tem of Prof. H. Rosenbusch. By Frank D. Apams. (Can. Ree. Sci., Vol.
tv, No. 9, Dec., 1891, pp. 465-469, with table.)
In the present transition stage of petrographical classification, it is
a difficult matter to lay before the student a scheme for the determina-
tion and classification of rocks in which their relations to each other as
brought out by their mineral and chemical composition are shown clearly
and concisely. Such schemes or tabulations are usually too much bur-
dened with unimportant details and doubtful sub-divisions which only
serve to confuse and bewilder those using them. In the table accom-
panying these notes, Mr. Adams has succeeded admirably in presenting
a classification of the igneous rocks based on that of Prof. H. Rosen-
busch of Heidelberg, which is very simple, and may be readily compre-
hended by beginners in petrographical work, whilst at the same time
nearly all rock names of real importance are included in it.
The author points out that although there has recently been a strong
tendency among petrographers to consider rocks from a chemical stand-
point, yet a purely chemical classification presents many grave difticul-
ties, and therefore that mineralogical composition, and structure must
still play an important part in any scheme which is to be generally
adopted. ‘
In his table the igneous rocks are first classified in three horizontal
columns, headed “Abyssal (Plutonic) Rocks,” “Dyke Rocks,” and “Effu-
sive (Volcanic) Rocks,” the characteristic structures of each of these
groups being given.
The table is also divided into eight vertical columns according to the
mineralogical and chemical composition of the rocks, headed, “Alkali
Feldspar Rocks,” “Alkali Feldspar—Nepheline (or Leucite) Rocks,”
“Leucite Rocks,” ‘“Nepheline Rocks,” ‘“Melilite Rocks,” ‘“Lime-Soda
Feldspar-Nepheline (or Leucite) Rocks,’ “Lime-Soda Feldspar Rocks,”
and “Rocks containing no Feldspathic constituent.”
The rocks are then subdivided according to their bisilicates and micas,
further subdivisions being made in the more acid ones by the presence or
absence of quartz, and in the basic ones, the presence or absence of olivine.
Briefly summarized the more important points to be noted in connec-
tion with the table are:
1. Ina general way the classification is a chemical one, the rocks
decreasing in acidity from left to right of the table. The prin-
cipal exception is the Nepheline, Leucite and Melilite rocks.
2. Several of the rock groups are given positions which differ
from those which they occupy in Prof. Rosenbusch’s book, the
object being to more clearly bring out their chemical relation-
ships. As examples may be mentioned the Nepheline, Leucite
and Melilita rocks, placed immediately after the Orthoclase
Nepheline (or Leucite) rocks; the Diabases, here classed with
the volcanic rocks; the Finguaites, Alnoites, and some of tlie
Acmite Trachytes which will be found among the Dyke rocks.
The Pyroxene rocks are separated from the Olivine rocks, and
Y
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 269
erected into a new group—the Pyroxenites, a name given by the
late Dr. Sterry Hunt to certain non-feldspathic rocks differing
in origin but having a pyroxene as the principal constituent.
5. Several gaps in former tables have been filledin with recent
discoveries, such as Malchite, a dioritic rock corresponding to
Aplite; lolite, corresponding to Nepheline Basalt, but contain-
ing garnet; Fourchite and Monchiquite Lamprophyric dyke
rocks of the Theralite series.
Little stress is laid on the division of the Volcanic rocks into older
and newer, but it is still retained. In the subordinate classification
many names, based merely on structural differences in the rocks, have
been omitted, ¢. g., Nevadite, granophyric, etc. The typographical
features of the table are excellent, the relative importance of the various
divisions being clearly brought out by the use of several kinds of type.
Important rocks are indicated by heavy-faced type, and when a rock is
a mere variety of the preceding one, the type is shifted to call attention
to the fact.
The author draws attention to the fact that although Rosenbusch’s
group of the Dyke Rocks has called forth much adverse criticism, yet
this group has certain claims for recognition, and itis therefore retained,
the three series of “granitic,” “granitic-Porphyritic,”’ and “Lampro-
phyritic” Dyke rocks, into which it is divided, being separated in the
table by spacing, not by lines.
In conclusion, the author acknowledges valuable help and suggestions
received from Profs. Rosenbusch, Geo. H. Williams, and the late Dr. J.
Francis Williams.
Report on the Sudbury Mining District, Canada. By Dr. Roprert BELL,
Assistant Director, Geological Survey. This report is the result of three
years work by Dr. Bell, assisted by Mr. A. E. Barlow and others. It is
accompanied by a fine map, geologically colored, covering an area of
72 by 48 miles, equal in extent to about four counties. In doing this
geological work Dr. Bell and his assistants had not the advantage of a
settled or surveyed region, but were obliged to do a large proportion of _
the topographical work as well, and to contend against the disadvantages
of a difficult forest country. The map was compiled under the super-
vision of Mr. Scott Barlow, chief topographer, and is very finely exe-
cuted.
The narrowest part of the great Huronian belt comes within this
sheet, and is flanked on the southeast by true Laurentian gneiss, but on
the northwest side this belt is bounded by a mixture of similar gneiss
with great areas of granites and syenites. The Huronian rocks which
are fully described, consist largely of graywackes, with and without
included fragments and pebbles, and are generally heavily bedded, but
frequently coarsely slaty. These merge into quartzites, which are also
largely developed and associated with elongated masses of greenstones
and thick belts of clay-slate. The series is shown to be largely of vol-
canic or pyroclastic origin.
In addition to the undoubted Huronian, there is within this district a
270 The American Geologist. April, 1892
basin of rocks which may be of Cambrian age. They consist of dark
argillaceous sandstones with some shaly beds, underlaid by several
thousand feet of a remarkable volcanic glass breccia, replaced in some
parts of its course by black slates. The breccia contains light-colored
angular fragments which, under the microscope are seen to consist of
silicified pumice, showing, in the most beautiful manner, rows of small
vesicles as perfect as those in recent volcanic glass. This great band of
breccia affords conclusive proof of volcanic action on a grand scale in
these early geological times. At the base of the series is a band of
quartzite-conglomerate with white quartz pebbles.
The celebrated nickel and copper deposits of the Sudbury district
come within this area and are described by Dr. Bell. He gives the re-
sults of his investigations on the relations and mode of occurrence of
these ores. They would appear to be always associated with the green-
stones, and to be most abundant at the contact of these rocks with some
other, especially where the contact is intersected by a line of dislocation
or by one of the gabbro dykes, which are numerous in the district. The
occurrence of gold, silver, lead and other metals is described, and assays
for nickel and gold are given by the chemists of the survey.
There are four appendices: I contains a careful description of the
microscopic and other characters of about fifty kinds of rocks from the
district by Prof. Geo. H. Williams, of Johns Hopkins University.
II gives the levels along the Canadian Pacific Railway and of the prin-
cipal lakes. II] isa list by the best authorities of 73 species of Lepid-
optera, collected by Dr. Bell north of lake Huron, and IV explains the
meanings of the Indian geographical names in the surrounding country.
The report is illustrated by some fine photo-engravings.
LIST .OF RECENT PUBLICATION:
IT. Proceedings of Sctentifie Societies.
Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. Nov.-Dec., contains: On the Geological Age
und Relations of the Potomac Group of Virginia and Maryland, J. 58.
Newberry; On the Microbe of Phosphorescent Wood, A. A. Julien;
Note on Hydrazoic Acid, a new mineral acid, H. C. Bolton. Jan-Feb.
Vo. contains: —Monticellite, anew mineral, J. F. Williams; Recent Work
in North American Mammalogy, J. A. Allen. March No. contains:—
Man of the Stone Age, F. Starr.
Trans. Canadian Inst., Oct., 1891, contains: Notes on Nickel, by George
Mickle; Bone-Caves, by Arthur Harvey; Gold and Silver in Galena and
Iron Pyrites, by R. Dewar.
Jour. Elisha Mitchell Scient. Soc. for 1891, Part I., contains: The Alex-
ander Co. Meteoric Iron, 8. C. H. Bailey.
Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. Vol, III, Part 1, contains: Notes on the Geology
and Petrography of Baja California, Mexico, Waldemar Lindgren;
Recent Publications. 271
Eruptive Rocks from Montana, Waldemar Lindgren; Notes on the Sub-
alpine Mollusca of the Sierra Nevada near Lat. 38°, W. J. Raymond,
Minnesota Academy of Naturai Sciences. Bulletin No. 2, Vol. III,
contains: The field of geology and its promise for the future, W. J.
McGee; A check-list of the paleozoic fossils of Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Iowa, Dakota, and Nebraska, Bruno Bierbauer; The deep well at Minne-
opa, Minn., C. W. Hall: Notes of a geological excursion into central
Wisconsin, C. W. Hall; The Stillwater deep well, A. D. Meeds; The iron-
bearing rocks of Minnesota, H. V. Winchell; Cryptozoon minnesotense in
the Shakopee limestone at Northfield, Minn., L. W. Chancy, Jr.; A recent
visit to lake Itasca, Warren Upham.
III, Papers in Scientific Journals.
Am. Jour, Sci. Oct. No. contains: Structural Geology of Steep Rock
lake, Ontario, H. lL. Smyth; Geological Horizons as determined by Ver-
tebrate Fossils, O. C. Marsh.
Nov. No. contains: Report of the Examination by means of the Micro-
scope of Specimens of Infusorial Earths of the Pacific Coast of the
U.§., A. M. Edwards; The Tonganoxie Meteorite, E. H. 8. Bailey; New
Analyses of Uraninite, W. F. Hillebrand; The Tertiary Silicified Woods
of Eastern Arkansas, It. Ellsworth Call; Occurrence of Sulphur, Or-
piment, and Realgar in the Yellowstone National Park, W. H. Weed and
L. Y. Pirsson; Mineralogical Notes, L. V. Pirsson: Peridotite Dikes in
the Portage Sandstones near Ithaca, N. Y., J. F. Kemp; New Locality
for Meteoric Iron with a Preliminary Notice of the Discovery of Dia-
monds in the Iron, A. E. Foote: The South Trap Range of the Kewee-
nawan Series, M. E. Wadsworth; Geological Facts noted on Grand River,
Labrador, A. Cary.
Dee. No. contains: Percival’s map of the Jura-Trias trap-belts of central
Connecticut, with observations on the upturning, or mountain-making
disturbance, of the Formation, J. D. Dana: Notes on a Missouri Barite,
C. Luedeking and H. A. Wheeler; The Contraction of Molten Rock, C.
Barus; Notes on Michigan Minerals, A. C. Lane, H. F. Kellar, and F. F.
Sharpless.
Jan. No. contains: Theory of an Interglacial Submergence in England,
G. Frederick Wright; Permian of Texas, Ralph S$. Tarr; Chemical Com-
position of Lolite,O. C. Farrington; Relation of Melting Point to Pres-
sure in case of Igneous Rock Fusion, C. Barus; Discovery of Clymenia
inthe Fauna of the Intumes censzone (Naples beds) of westera New
York, aud its Geological Significance, John M. Clarke; New Meteoric
Iron from Garrett Co., Md., A. E. Foote; Farmington, Washington Co.,
Kansas Aerolite, G. F. Kunz and E. Weinschenk; Skull of Torosaurus,
O. C. Marsh.
xeol, Mag. Nov. No. contains: On Plewronautilus nodosocurinatus, A.
H. Foord; Contributions to Precambrian Geology, J. F. Blake; On Nor-
mal Faulting, T. Mellard Reade; Work done by Lobworms, C. Davison;
On Ammonites jurensis, E.T. Newton; On Athyris leviuscula, Norman
Glass.
272 The American Geologist. April, 1892
Dec. No. contains: On Olenellus callaved and its Geological Relation-
ships, C. Lapworth: Petrological Notes, W. M. Hutchings; Pholidoph-
orus germanicus in the Upper Lias, Whitby, A. 8. Woodward; Pseudo-
trionyx from the Bracklesham Beds, A. 8. Woodward; Notes on Stereodon-
melitensis, J. H. Cooke.
American Naturalist, Sept. Vo. contains: A Reply to Prof. Marsh’s
“Note on Mesozoic Mammalia,” H. F. Osborn.
Oct. No. contains: A Sketch of the Geology of South America, G.
Steinmann; Notes on the Hearts of Certain Mammals, Ida H. Hyde.
Nov. No. contains: The Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic Formations in
the East Indian Archipelago (Timor and Rotti), August Rothpletz; The
Hat Creek Bad Lands, J. S. Kingsley.
Canadian Record of Science, July, 1891, contains: On a new Horizon
in the St. John Group, by G. F. Matthew; On some Granites from British
Columbia and the Adjacent Parts of Alaska and the Yukon District, by
F. D. Adams.
Ottawa Naturalist, NVov., 1891, contains: Canadian Gems and Precious
Stones, by C. W. Willmott.
IV. Excerpts and Individual Publications.
On some of the Melaphyres and Felsites of Caradoc, by Frank Rutley.
From Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Nov., 1891, Vol. xivi.
On a Spherulitic and Perlitic Obsidian from Pilas, Mexico, by Frank
Rutley. From Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Nov.,1891, Vol. xnvit.
A New Locality for Meteoric Iron with a Preliminary Notice of Dis-
covery of Diamonds in the Iron, by A. E. Foote. From Proc. A. A.A. 8.
Volj sn.
The Trias of the Vale of Cleoyd. Notes on a section of the Trias and
Boulder Clay in Chapel Street, Liverpool. A Further Note on the De-
composed Boulder and Underlying Red Sandstone in the Chapel Street
Section, Liverpool. By T. Mellard Reade.
The Cause of the Glacial Period and an Explanation of Geological
Climates, by Marsden Manson. From Trans. Technical Society of the
Pacific Coast, Vol. vit.
V. Foreign Publications.
Fold. Kéz. (Budapest) Vol. xx1, Nos. 6 and 7, June and July, 1891,
(Supplement) contains: Die Bewegungen auf den Schemnitzer Erzgiin-
gen in geologischer Beziehung, Szabo; Mineralogische Mittheilungen,
Zimanyt; Uber die gwei geologischen Karnten Rumiiniens.
Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, for the
year 1890.. Sydney, 1891. :
Jahresb. des Vereins fiir Erdkunde zu Metz fiir 1890-91.
Trans. Leeds Geologicai Association. Part v1. 1890-91.
Gestreifte Magnetitkrystalle aus Mineville, Lake Champlain Gebiet,
Staat New York, von J. F. Kemp. Sep.-Abd. aus “Zeitsch. fiir Krystal-
lographie, etc.,” x1x.
Uber das transkaspische Naphtaterrain. Uebersicht der Geologie
Daghestans und des Terek-Gebietes. Ueber das diluviale, arabokaspische
Writings of Alexander Winchell. 273
Meer und die nordeuropaische Vereisung. Beitrage zur Geologie des
Berges Savelan im nordlichen Persien. Ueber die Thatigkeit der
Schlammvulkane in der Kaspischen Region wahrend der jahre 1885-87.
Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Erzlagerstiilten von Moravica und Dognac-
ska im Banat, von Hj. Sjogren. Sep.-Abdiicken. Jahrb. k. k. geol.
Reichsanstalt 1886-87.
Den arktiska floran forna utbredning i liinderna 6ster och séder om
OstersjOu, af A. G. Nathorst.
Wissensch. Verdff. Vereins fiir Erdk.zu Leipzig. I. Band contains:
Beitriige zur Geographie des festen Wassers.
Annales de Géographie, publiées sous la direction de P. Vidal de la
Blache et Marcel Dubois.
Anales del Instituto Fisico-Geografico Nacional de Costa Rica, 1889,
par Prof. E. Pittier.
Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, for 1890.
Bulletin de la Société Géologiqus de France, t. xrx, Oct., 1891, contains:
Note sur ’Eocene tunisien, par M. Aubert; Note sur le 7%ssotéa tissoti,
par M. Douvill¢; Un filon d’argile plastique, par M. Tardy; Note sur le
Sénonien et en particulier sur l’age des couches 4 Hippurites, par M. A.
Toucas; Sur la Géologie des environs de Moustiers, par M. Collot; Sur
la situation des couches 4 Terebratula diphya dans ’Oxfordien superieur,
a ’Ouarsenis (Algérie), par M. E. Ficheur: Notes sur histoire et la
structure g¢éologique des chaines alpines de la Maurienne du Brian-
connais et des régions adjacentes, par M. W. Kilian.
VI. Setentific Laboratories and Museums.
Johns Hopkins University Circulars, No. 94; The Geological Excur-
sion by University Students across the Appalachians in May, 1891, by
Geo. H. Williams.
Bulletin of the Awerican Museum of Natural History, Dec., 91, con-
tains: Observations on some Cretaceous Fossils from the Beyriit District
of Syria, with Descriptions of some New Species, by R. P. Whitfield.
Catalogue of the Michigan Mining School for 1890-91.
SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF THE WRITINGS OF
ALEXANDER WINCHELL.
(Continued from page 139.)
1852. Yeijlow Rain, proving it to be pollen of coniferous trees. (Ala-
bama Whig, April, 1852.)
1852. Analysis of Artesian water. (Alabama Whig, Dec. 22, 1852.)
1852. Chemical examination of “Sandy Land” soil. (Alabama Whig,
two articles.)
1859. On the Geological Position of the Brine Springs of Grand Rapids
| Michigan]. (Grand Rapids papers, Oct , 1859.) This was the first
correct announcement ever made on this subject.
1860. On the Salt Springs of Saginaw. A communication to the su-
perintendent of the Saginaw Salt works (Saginaw /Anterprise,
Feb., 1860.)
1865.
1865.
1865.
1866.
1866.
1865.
1867.
1S68.
1869.
1870.
1871.
1871.
The American Geologist. . April, 18$2
Is the brine at Bay City obtained from the same source as the
brine at East Saginaw? (Saginaw Courier, July, 1862.) The
first announcement that the Bay City wells are supplied from
the conglomerate of the Coal Measures.
How shall we perfect the Agricultural College? (Detroit Adver-
tiser and Tribune, Feb., 1863.) Three articles advocating a more
professional or special organization.
Important railroad connections with Ann Arbor. (Mich. State
News, July, 1863.) This advocated a line from Toledo to Ann
Arbor, Holly and East Saginaw, fifteen years before it was finally
completed.
Draft of an act to provide for the completion of the Geological
Survey. Passed the House, Feb. 10,1865. Lost in the Senate.
Report on the Bruce Oil Lands at Oil Springs, Canada West.
With maps, and two articles contrivuted by him to the Chicago
Republican, Jan. 17 and 20, 1866. Pamphlet.
Petroleum in Middle Tennessee. (Pittsburg Wining and Manu-
facturing Journal,7 Nov., 1866.)
Christian Theology illustrated from Nature, (Vorthwestern Chris-
tian Advocate, Chicago.) A series of 22 articles, the first ap-
pearing, Jan. 2, 1867.
Stromatoporidie. (Proc. Amer. Assoc. 1866, Buffalo meeting.)
[See notice of his geological publications in Jahrbuch, for 1867,
pp. 99, 100, 101. ]
The Geological foundations of our state, (Detroit Weekly Adver-
tiser and Tribune, 27 Nov. 1868. Daily do. 30 Nov.)
Impending crises in Nature. (College Courant, July 12 and 1%,
1869.)
Brazil in the Reign of Ice. With Illustrations (College Courant,
June 4 and 11, 1870.) Opposes the view of L. Agassiz that the
valley of the Amazon was covered by a continental glacier.
The mineral fertilizers of Michigan. Report Dept. of Agricul-
ture, Washington, 1569. ‘
Geological history of Mammoth Cave. (Indianapolis Daily Jour-
nal, Aug., 1871; American Naturalist. Nov., 1871.)
Kakistocracy, or Too much Popular Goveroment. Lecture de-
livered at Mattoon, Ill. 4 Dec., 1871. (Mattoon Journal, 6 Jan.,
1872.) :
Reason for the Faith. Baccalaureate address at Syracuse Uni-
versity. (Syracuse Journal, Northern Christian Advocate.)
The German Gymnasium (Undvensity Herald, Oct., 31, 1873.)
The Genealogy of Ships. (New York Daily Tribune, 16 July, 1874,
New York Christian Advocate; Golden Age; New York Inde-
pendent, etc.) Elicited a number of replies in the 77zbune. An
ironical jew desprit directed against the assumption that suc-
cession and structural relation in aseries of specific forms, is
proof of genetic relation.
1881.
1882.
1882.
1885.
1885.
1884.
1884.
1884.
1884.
1884.
1884.
1884.
1884.
Writings of Alexander Winchell. a75
The Battle Fields of Faith. A baccalaureate address delivered
at Syracuse University, June 21, 1874. (Syracuse Courier and
Journal, June 21; Northern Christian Advocate, 2 July, 1874.)
The Beautiful. An address delivered before the State Female
College, Memphis, Tenn., 14 June, 1876. (Western Methodist, 8
July, 1876; Northern Christian Advocate, July, 1876.)
State and School. (New York Daily Tribune, 12 July, 1876.) A
criticism of the address of Charles Fitch before the New York
State Teachers’ Association.
Huxley in New York. A review of his three lectures, (Chiistiun
Union, 11 Oct., 1876.)
On the Origin of Species. )Syracuse Journal, 20 March, 1877.)
Eighth lecture of a series.
The old age of continents. A University Lecture, (Syracuse
Journal, 31 Jan., 1878.)
Science gagged in Nashville, (Nashville Amertcan, 16 June, 1878.)
Reply to the Nashville Christian Advocate (Nashville American,
19 July, 1878.)
A plea for Modernized Education. Address before the National
Convention of DKE, delivered in the Academy of Music, New
York, 24 Oct., 1878. (New York Daily Tribune, 25 Oct.; Syracuse
Journal, 28 Oct.; Hducational Weekly, etc.)
Culture and Knowledge. Address before the .Esthetic circle,
Syracuse, and repeated by request in the hall of Y.M.C. A.,
Syracuse, 14 Nov.1878. (Syracuse Jowrnal, 17 Nov., (1878, and
many times reproduced in various parts of the country.)
Primitive stages of cosmical evolution (Sczence, ii. 179, Apr. 16,
1881).
The Interpretation of Nature. Address at the dedication of
Agassiz hall, Martha’s Vineyard, 20 July, 1882. (Jnstitute Her-
ald, July 21, 1882.)
Misconceptions about evolution. (Northern Christian Advocate,
Sept. 14, i882.)
Contents of a work on Religion and Intelligence. Pamph. 8vo.
8 pp. Feb., 1883.
Communism in the United States. (North American Review, May,
1883.)
Editorials for The Index, 17 June, 1884. 2,000 words.
Horror Mongering. (/ndev, 12 July, 1884.) 874 words.
Open Letter to Teachers on the teaching of geology. (Cireular
issued by 8. C. Griggs & Co.) 775 words.
The Mania for Facts. (/uder, 15 Sept., 1884). 1,050 words.
Minor editorials. (Jndzv, 15 Sept., 1884.) 1,986 words.
The race factor in civil institutions. (/nder, 29Sept,1884.) 1,000
words.
Minor editorials, (7nder, 27 Sept., 1886.) 242 words.
Decay of the American conscience. (Zinder, 11 Oct. 1884.) 1,000
words.
276 The American Geologist. April, 1892
1884, Trades-Union unreasonableness. (/nder, 25 Oct., 1884). 1,138
words.
1884. Minor editorials. (Zndex, 25 Oct., 1884). 601 words.
1884, Are the churches decaying? (/ndev,8 Nov., 1884.) 1,364 words..
1884. Minor editorials. (Index, 8 Nov., 1884). 1,274 words.
1884. Minor editorials, (Index, 22 Nov., 1884). 310 words.
1884. Non-classical collegiate courses, (Indev, 6 Dec., 1884.) 1,200 words.
1884, Minor editorials. (/ndev, 6 Dec., 1884.) 1,814 words.
1884. Notice of Lowrey’s Philosophy of Ralph Cudworth. (Zndex, 6
Dec., 1884). 281 words.
1884. The rights of Religion in School. (Index, 20 Dec., 1884.) 1,147
words.
1884. Evolution as a hobgoblin. (Index, 20 Dec., 1884.) 1,300 words.
1884. Minor editorials. (Index, 20 Dec., 1884.) 1,753 words.
1885. Have we any Scientific Literature? (Index, 3 Jan. °85.) 1,320:
words.
1885. Minor editorials. (Jndew, 3 Jan., 1885.) 900 words.
1885. The constitution of University authority. (Jnder, 17 Jan., 1885.)-
1,417 words.
1885. Minor editorials. (Zndexr, 17 Jan., 1885.) 1,064 words.
1885. The decay of the land. (/ndev, 31 Jan., 1885.) 1,389 words.
1885. My views on the elective franchise. (Chronicle, Ann Arbor, 25-
April, 1885.) 885 words.
1885. Table for determination of minerals. (Young Mincralogist and
Antiquarian, April, 1885.) 550 words.
1885. Continent building. (The University, 13 June, 1885.) 1,717 words.
1885. Table for the determination of rocks. (Young Mineralogist and
Antiquarian, May, 1885.)
1885. Congra'ulatory address to Prof. Asa Gray. Adopted by the Sen-
ate of the University of Michigan. Published in the Reg?ster,.
Ann Arbor, with Dr. Gray’s reply, 25 Nov., 1885.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Arrow Pornts FROM THE LoEss AT Muscavring, lowa.—The hills on
which the city of Muscatine stands are covered with a very fine deposit
of loess, which in some places must be nearly any feet thick. It is easy
to find the border of this loess lake.
In this deposit have been found great quantities of land shells, several
pieces of bones, the remains of at least two American reindeer, a consid-
erable part of the antler of the elk or common deer, pieces of wood, etc.,
etc. For several years I have thought there ought to be found in this.
loess unmistakable evidence that men were here when the surface of
this lake was nearly 150 feet above the present high water of the great
river at our feet.
Much of the loess is excellent for making brick. At several points
hills are for this purpose cut away, leaving banks sometimes more than
C orrespondence. Oe
twenty feet high, of the finest loess. Recently I have been able to gather
some information concerning relics of man from this deposit. Mr. Chas.
Freeman, a brick-maker, says he took from the loess, on the north side
of Eighth street, near St. Mathias church, at a depth of about twelve feet,
an arrow point.
In answer to my questions he said it eould not have fallen from the
top, for he took it out himself and noted especially the print in the loess.
There seemed to be no possible chance that it could have gotten there
through a hole or crevice. The loess at this place is very fine-grained, of
a yellowish brown color, exhibiting slight indications of strata. At
another yard, about two blocks from the above, on Iowa avenue and
Ninth street, this same gentleman was moulding brick in the old fash-
ioned way. In thrusting the clay into the mold he felt something sharp,
and an examination brought to light an arrow-point.
At first sight it would seem as if this find would have been worth little or
nothing, but on cleaning the arrow point it was found to be largely covered
with blue clay, quite different from the rest of the loess at this place.
A bed of this same blue clay was strikingly shown here about ten
feet below the surface, showing that this arrow-point was well covered
by this same clay.
I examined this bank, and unless the arrow-point could have been so
covered in the process of mixing, it must have been originally buried in
the blue clay, which is ten feet or more belew the present surface.
In the suburb of this city, about one mile from where it enters the
Mississippi, Mad creek has cut away a hill forming a bank forty to fifty
feet high. At about twelve feet from the top isa bed of gravel and
sand. In this gravel Mr. Joe Freeman, a young man in the third year
class in our high school, found a considerable fragment of the tooth of
an elephant. In this same bed I observed numerous flint chips. The
upper portion of this hill is loess. At the foot of the bank the creek
runs over an argillaceous or arenaceous limestone of Devonian age.
On both sides of the Mississippi in this locality on the most command-
ing bluffs are numerous mounds of earth, the work of men. These are
believed to be very ancient. So far I have not observed mounds on the
loess. May not these arrow or spear points mentioned above, have been
made and used by the builders of these mounds? F. M. WITTER.
THE SERPENTINES OF THE Coast RANGES IN CALIFORNIA.—In a paper
on “ The Pre-Cretaceous Age of the Metamorphic Rocks of the Califor-
nia Coast Ranges,” published in the March number of the AMERICAN
GnoLocist, Mr. Harold W. Fairbanks states that his view that the ser-
pentine in the Coast ranges is an altered eruptive, is in opposition ‘to
the views of others who have studied those rocks, except those given in
a few brief statements published in the Bulletin of the Geological
Society of America, in 1891. He also states that professor Whitney and
his assistants held that the serpentine is an altered silico-argillaceous
rock, referring to Whitney’s “Auriferous Gravels” in support of his
statement. On turning to page forty-two of the last mentioned work, it
978 The American Geologist. April, 1892
will be seen that I was considered responsible for most of the nomencla-
ture of rocks mentioned in that volume, and that the results were not
then fully published. At that time I was an assistant to professor Whit-
ney, and therefore, with his other assistants, am held responsible by Mr.
Fairbanks for the view which he has quoted. The results of my work
were published in 1884, for the peridotities, in my “Lithological Studies.”
In this work there were described more or less altered peridotites or ser-
pentines from Colusa county, in the Coast range, and from Inyo, Sierra,
and Plumas counties in the Sierra Nevada. All these described speci-
mens were considered to be more or less altered forms of peridotite, in
proof of which eight colored lithographic figures were given. (See my
* Lithological Studies,” pp. 129-182, 142, 158, 189-192, plate 5, figures 1, 2,
3; plate 6, figures 3, 4,5, 6; plate 7, figure 1.) It was also then stated
that the microscopic and lithological characters of the Coast range peri-
dotite and serpentines studied, as well as those from the Sierra Nevada,
indicated that they are eruptive. I may also say that, so far as the
specimens described by myself were concerned, the results obtained by
me were accepted by professor Whitney in 1882 as satisfactory and con-
clusive. As I have never studied any serpentine that I considered other-
wise than derived from the alteration of peridotite or some allied erup-
tive rock, Mr. Fairbanks’ confirmatory observations are of very great
interest to myself. M. E. Wapswortn.
Michigan Mining School, Houghton, Mich., March 2, 1892.
ENGLACIAL DRIFT OF LONG IsLAND. In the December number of the
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, Warran Upham calls the attention of glacialists
to certain criterea of englacial and subglacial drift.
In my study of the drift formations of Long Island, I had noticed a
difference between the bottom and surface portions of unmodified till,
but was never able to draw a line between them. Of course, when the
two were separated by a layer of stratified material, the surface part
could easily be recognized from the hardpan, but where this line of
separation does not take place it is difficult to determine exactly where
the one leaves off and the other begins. It is true,as Mr. Upham re-
marks, that the upper drift is yellowish in color, and is looser in texture
than the hardpan, but the two blend into each other in such a way as to
render a distinct separation impossible, and yet I am inclined to think
that they are two distinct formations. One was laid down probably
when the glacier advanced; the other was deposited when the ice-sheet
retreated. The surface drift is variable in depth, and there are sections
where it is absent altogether or is only represented by a few large
boulders: as at Rockhill, near Eastport, Long Island, where a huge
erratic is seen resting on the stratified gravel, the finer material having
been washed away. In general, however, this yellowish sandy boulder
drift covers the surface of Long Island. It covers the hills as well as
the depressions at Brooklyn, and large niggerheads are everywhere seen,
where the lots are vacant, protruding out of the drift which is only a few
feet in thickness. Along the line of the terminal moraine it is very much
Correspondence. 279
the same, although not so determinable in places. It is very light on the
Shinecock hills, for here the stratified gravel comes very near the surface.
The bottom drift is also variable, and subject to many modifications.
The Rockaway Beach railroad, that cuts through the ridge north of
Woodhaven, exposes an interesting section of drift. The moraine is
broken up by old subglacial streams, and adjacent to these depressions,
the material near the edges of the bank, show signs of stratification, but
these stratified layers never extend clear across the cut except near the
surface. In the center of the bottom part of the drift is a mass of
boulders in a sandy matrix, and over this is the hardpan, which is also
fullof erratics. Then comes the modified drift, and over all the so-called
-englacial drift which probably was laid down after the floods had sub-
sided. The modification of the drift at this point tends to prove, I think,
that kettle-holes were in some way connected with subglacial rivers.
North of the terminal moraine the whole bottom part of the drift
seems to be modified, although a small section was exposed at Ridge-
wood, where underneath some fifteen or twenty feet of stratified sand
and gravel was a stratum of unmodified boulder clay of unknown
depth, and there may be other sections like it that have not been ex-
posed. Ridgewood, near Brooklyn, is situated near an old water chan-
nel that comes up through the Newtown creek depression. The under
boulder drift was probably deposited when the ice-sheet lay over the
island. The stratified sand and gravel tell the story of the floods dur-
ing the melting of the glacier, and the upper deposit or englacial drift
was laid down when the ice-sheet retreated. This upper drift thins out
towards the depression showing that the floods must have prevailed
while the deposition was going on. The waters must have receded, how-
ever, before the ice-sheet had disappeared, for the depression as well as
the ridges are covered with unmodified boulder drift.
Professor Agassiz said: “All American drift is bottom drift.” And in
a sensethis is true. I am inclined to think that the so-called subglacial
drift is as much englacial as the surface portion of unmodified till, that
is, both were held 77 the ice-sheet until deposited.
On Long Island as the glacier advanced from the main land the sub-
glacial streams advanced with it, modifying the drift and carrying much
of the detritus beyond the southern limit of the ice-sheet. The south
side of the island is chiefly composed of this stratified material. These
ancient streams can be traced by the depressions from the sound to the
sea, and the upper deposit of unmodified drift that covers in general,
the stratified deposits, shows, I think, that the streams were subglacial
and not superficial. There is little direct evidence on Long Island of
superglacial drift. The subglacial beds of stratified gravel are not so
s‘anty as Mr. Upham supposes, for, as far as my observations go, they far
exceed all other glacial deposits. The greater part of the terminal moraine,.
moraines of recession, or kame moraines, and the bottom part of the
valleys and plains owe their modified condition to subglacial currents.
I am aware that the terminal moraine is generally spoken of as being
composed of unmodified drift. This is true. of the surface part only,
280 The American Geologist. April, 1892
for when broken into there are few places that do not show signs of
stratification especially along old lines of drainage. On the extreme
west end of the island where the flood of waters was great, nearly the
whole of the moraini¢ material is affected by it. The old subglacial
channels are innumerable along the whole extent of the terminal moraine
and the marginal kames and kame deltas were formed by the icy cur-
rents that issued from the front of the ice-sheet. Where the currents
were strong the moraine is correspondingly broken, and the kames in
front become more prominent as may be seen in the vicinity of Fort
Hamilton and Greenwood cemetery. These marginal kames extend out
for some distance from the ridge proper, and it is rather difficult to de-
termine their exact southern limit, except by the slight covering of un-
modified drift. I am inclined to think that the ice-sheet did not end
with the so-called terminal moraine, for even the kame deltas that extend
southward to the ocean are covered with a yellowish sandy clay, very
much like the englacial drift referred to by Mr. Upham.
It is true, that the boulder line seems to end with the marginal kames,
yet there is such a blending of the two, that no distinct line can be
drawn between the marginal kames and kame deltas. The unmodified
boulder drift covering the former would show, however, that the so-
called englacial till extended farther southward than the subglacial till,
in its unmodified form. It has seemed to the writer that these southern
kames could not have been formed without the aid of an ice-sheet, and it
may be that a study of this so-called englacial drift will lead to the
solution of the problem, for this superficial deposit covering the plains
on the south side of Long Island has never been satisfactorily explained.
I made mention of it in my pamphlet on the formation of Long Island,
published in 1885 and was unableto account for its origin. It still re-
mains a puzzle, but I think we are getting nearer an explanation.
Eastport, L. I., Jan., 27, 1892. JOHN Bryson.
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS.
Proressor G. FREDERICK Wricut delivered a series of ten
lectures in Boston during February and March, on ‘The Antiquity
and Origin of the Human Race,” as one of the free Lowell In-
stitute courses. The bearing of geology on this subject centers
in the question, How long ago was the Glacial period? Professor
Wright in reply accepts the conclusions of Prestwich, Gilbert, N.
H. Winchell, and others, based on the amount of postglacial
erosion of waterfalls, and on other evidence, which from many in-
dependent observations, computations, and estimates, give 7,000
to 10,000 years, more or less, as the time since the great ice-
sheets of North America and Europe were melted away. Man
was contemporaneous with the latest and maximum extension of
the ice on both continents, as is known by his stone implements
Personal and Setentific News. 281
in the gravel deposits formed by streams which brought this mod-
ified drift from the ice in which it had been enclosed as englacial
drift. Under the lavas of Table mountain, California, and of
Nampa, Idaho, the implements and other relics of men, and even
their bones, including the famous Calaveras skull, have been
found and assigned to a vast antiquity, but they may probably be
no older than the latest general glaciation. The last great local
accumulation of glaciers and ice-sheets on the Sierra Nevada and
more northern parts of the Cordilleran mountain belt to Alaska
is referred by Wright, as by Russell and Becker, to a subsequent
time, during the Recent epoch. No proof of man’s existence
during even the later part of the Tertiary era has been obtained,
and Prof. Wright believes that the evolution of the human race
has been comprised wholly within the Quaternary era, probably
occupying no more than 50,000 or 100,000 years. The substance
of these lectures will be mainly included in a book entitled ‘Man
and the Glacial Period,” soon to be issued in the International
Scientific Series, supplementing the author’s previous work on
“The [ce Age in North America.”
Pror. Epwin J. Ponp, oF tHE U. 8. Coast AND GEODETIC
Survey, died in Washington in February, of scarlet fever. He
was a young man of sturdy habits and a most earnest student of
natural science, known to but a small circle of scientific people,
owing to his modest demeanor, and his long residence in mission-
ary labors in the education of colored youth in the remote south,
An ardent student of geology and botany, he was a constant col-
lector and contributor of data to others who published them.
Although having resided in Washington but a short time, he had
made many interesting discoveries in local geology. The writer
first knew him in Texas, where, with his class of students, Prof.
Pond discovered and collected the remarkable and as yet unpub-
lished fauna of the Shoal Creek limestone, which he deposited in
the National Museum. He published several short papers in Sci
ence on Texas geology. eee ad 2
Tue Swiss ComMITTEE OF ORGANIZATION for the sixth session
of the International Congress of Geologists has been constituted
definitely as follows: K. Renevier, president; Alb. Heim, vice
president; H. Golliez, secretary, and ©. Kscher-Hess, cashier;
Dr. A. Baltzer, Dr. Ed. Brueckner, L. Dupare, Dr. K. Du Pas-
quier, Dr. Kdm. v.-Fellenberg, Dr. F. A. Forel, Dr. H. Frey,
Dr. J. Frueh, Dr. U. Grubenmann, Dr. A. Gutzwiller, Dr. A.
Jaccard, Dr. E. Kissling, Dr. Fr. Koby, Dr. F. R. Lang, P.
deLoriol, G. Mariani, Dr. F. Muehlberg, IL. Rollier, Dr. H.
Schardt, Dr. C. Schmidt.
At a meeting held 28 Dec., 1891, this committee decided that
the next session of the Congress will be held at Zurich, near the
end of August or the commencement of September. The length
of the session can be reduced to four days. One of these days,
282 The American Geologist. April, 1892
at least, will be devoted to the meetings of the sections, in which
questions of more special interest will be treated. There will be
three sections, viz: 1. Mineralogy and petrography; 2. Strati-
graphy and paleontology. 3. General geology.
~ The committee intend to have two sorts of excursions, viz:
Foot-excursions, and railroad and steamboat excursions. ‘The
former will be for the purpose of studying the geological features
in trips across the Jura and the Alps, and would be suitable only
for those accustomed to long walks. The second will be planned
to enable the participants to see the principal classic regions in
Swiss geology. By the time of the session it is expected that
there will be a number of mountain railroads, which will enable
the visitors to see some of the most elevated portions of the
region. Excursions will also start, preceding the session, from
different points, west or north from Switzerland, and will converge
at Zurich. Also after the session other excursions will depart
from Zurich, radiating through the Alps, and then will reunite at
Lugano, where the Congress will finally close.
Suitable later announcements will be made, giving more details.
It is evident that the Swiss Committee have entered upon their
duties vigorously and in good season.
PRINCETON ScrENTIFIC EXpEpDITION OF 1891. This expedition
under Prof. Scott, explored the so-called Ticholeptus beds of the
Deep River region, Montana, during the months of August and
September and secured a large amount of valuable material. These
so-called Ticholeptus beds which are lacustine, are comparatively
limited in extent and lie between the Belt ranges. The beds lie
uncomformably upon inclined Carboniferous (?) limestone and
slates. Fossils were found in abundance at only two places.
According to Prof. Scott, the Deep River beds are composed of
at least two and perhaps three distinct horizons and in this respect
he differs from Prof. Cope, whose list of species from this locality
is misleading in the fact that the species are all grouped under
one horizon. — Prof. Cope, however, did not personally visit the
locality. In the first horizon ten genera were identified; in the
second twelve; in the third or top bed four. — In all these beds
there are still some genera to be identified. Prof. Scott comes to
the conclusion that the Deep River (7¢choleptus) beds form a com-
plete transition between the John Day and the Loup Fork.
Mr. W. J. McGEE, or THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUR-
VEY, gave the lectures on Geology in series 8, in the course of
public lectures of Columbian University, Washington. They were
twelve in number, extending through January and February, 1892.
Dr. EK. W. CLAypoLE, AKRON, O., gave a course of twelve geo-
logical lectures in March, before the Rose Polytechnic Institute
at Terre Haute, Indiana.
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AMERICAN GEOLOGIST
AN EXPERIMENT DESIGNED TO SHOW THE UP-
WARD MOVEMENT OF SUBGLACIAL
DEBRIS.
By Ossian GutuHrie, Chicago, ILI.
The following experiment was devised sometime since by Mr. Guthrie to show that
subglacial material rises through the ice during its forward movement. Since the experi-
ment has been referred to in this journal* as showing that subglacial material does have
such motion, it has been deemed advisable to give an account of the experiment an
equally wide distribution. The experiment of Mr. Guthrie was described in a paper
entitled “The Lake Michigan Glacier and Glacial Channels across the Chicago Divide’’
presented to the Geological Society of Chicago, October 30, 1890. Ed,
A box was constructed 8 ft. long, 3 ft. high, and 10 inches
wide, to represent a valley. The inclination of the box was
slight, about six inches in the eight feet. The bottom of this
box (large A in the cut) extended about three feet beyond the
box at the upper end, fora fulcrum for the lever K. The box
had no cover and but one end, (small A) which was designed to
represent the upper end of the valley and also aid in applying
the pressure required to move the ice. Through this head a slot
or mortise was cut, 3x10 inches, through which the piston D
moved; this head also formed one side of the hopper or chute G
which extended from one foot above the top of the valley to the
bottom. This hopper or chute opened into the upper end of the
valley directly in front of the piston D to which, through the
agency of the lever K, a total foree of 1,500 pounds could be
applied if necessary. The sides of the box were supported
against the great pressure by several strongly bolted clamps.
This box was then filled to the top with broken ice FF, and the
*AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, Vol. IX, March 1892, p, 187.
284 The American Geologist. May, 1892
hopper was filled with a mixture of broken ice and red sandstone,
about half and half in bulk. The sandstone gave the mixture ¢
dark color, and also gave it a specific gravity much greater than
that of the pure ice in the valley. The lever was then operated,
and the hopper kept supplied with the mixture until it was forced
up through the clear ice in the valley, as shown by the dark mass
between FF in the cut. A freezing mixture was then applied to
the sides of the box, and the whole covered with canvass and
allowed to remain until frozen, when one side was removed and a
photograph taken from which the cut was made. Three similar
experiments had been made previously, with gravel and cement,
all resulting the same.
The colored material introduced at the bottom of the upper
end of the valley appeared at the surface of the ice with rounded
front, ‘‘in true glacial style.”
PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW BRACHIO-
PODA FROM THE FRENTON AND HUDSON
RIVER GROUPS OF MINNESOTA.*
N. HW. Wincnetn and Cuarites Scuucwert, Minneapolis.
Lingula riciniformis var. galenensis.
The conspicuous difference between LZ. réciniformis Hall, and
this variety, is that the former is constantly two thirds the size of
the latter, and that the greatest width is across the center of the
length of the valves, while the variety is widest in the anterior
third, In the Galena horizon at Oshkosh, Wis., this variety is
not rare, and there attains twice the size of LZ. réctuiformis Hall.
Plate xxix, figs. 10, 11.
Formation and locality. Galena shales, north branch of the Zambro
ELVieCE,
Lingula (Glossina) deflecta.
Shell medium size, subtriangular; lateral margins diverging
more or less rapidly from an acute apex, to the broadly rounded
and deflected anterior third. Shell substance thick, and marked
by strong, irregular concentric lines of growth, between which are
*The designations of figures and plates refer to Vol. 1II of the Final
teport on the Geology and Natural History of Minnesota. Advance
prints distributed Apr. 1, 1892.
New Brachiopoda.— Winchell and Schuchert. 28d
numerous finer ones. Ina profile view the line of conjunction of
the valves is more or less convex dorsally. Pedicle (ventral)
valve flat or slightly concave along the center lengthwise, and
strongly convex transversely.
Brachial (dorsal) valve strongly convex, both transversely and
longitudinally. In the interior of this valve the cardinal margin
is broadly flattened, striated, divided centrally by a well defined
narrow depression which terminates at a point one-fourth the
length of the shell from the posterior edge. Near the posterior
end of the depression are faint traces of the umbonal scar. The
vascular trunks are discernible on each side and anterior to the
rostral depression; thence having the same curve as the outer mar-
gin of the valve, proceed to a point somewhat beyond the poster-
ior half of the shell, where they gradually converge and meet near
the anterior margin. Vascular branches originate only from the
outer side of the vascular trunks. There is no other species of
Lingula from the Lower Silurian, with the peculiar detlected anter-
ior portion of the shell so characteristic of this species.
Plate xxIx, figs, 15-18.
Formation and locality. Near the base of the Galena, near Fountain,
and in the Hudson River, near Spring Valley, Minn.
Lingulasma galenensis.
Shell large, oblong; subpentagonal. Anterior margin slightly
convex, somewhat produced in the center. This species differs
from L. schucherti Ulrich, in that the brachial (dorsal) valve is
deeper; platfornt and median septum shorter, and the crescent
smaller. In the pedicle (ventral) valve the platform is also shorter
and is of an entirely different shape. The muscular scars of this
species are also more distinct, while the interior pedicle area is
absent.
Plate xxx, figs. 1-4.
Formation and locality. Near the top of the Galena limestone, Bear
creek, south from Hamilton, Minn. Also in the Galena limestone at
Decorah, Iowa.
Strophomena septata.
This species seems to be a local development of SN. frentonens/s
and so far as external characters are concerned no distinguishing
features can be pointed out Compared with S. rugosa we find a
still closer general resemblance, both externally and internally.
2S The American Geologist. May, 182
It can, however, be separated readily from both when the interior
is shown, by the strong mesial septum of the pedicle (ventral)
valve. This originates between the diductor sears and continues
to increase in strength to near the anterior margin where it often
coalesces with one or two of the vascular ridges. In S. trenton-
cnsis the thickening of the interior near the anterior margin of the
pedicle valve is obsolete, or entirely undeveloped—whieh is
another distinguishing feature. The cardinal processes in beth
these species ure also more elevated, while the rostral thickening
upon which it rests is less strongly developed than in S. rugosa.
The septum of the pedicle (ventral) ‘valve in S. septate, will also
distinguish it from S. ¢neurvata, in addition to its smaller size,
and comparatively greater width than length.
Plate xxx1, figs. 1-3.
Formation and locality. Common in the upper third of the Trenton
shales at St. Paul and Minneapolis, and at Pleasant Grove, Olmsted Co.,
Minn.
Strophomena planodorsata.
Large, semi-circular or sub-quadrate in outline, comeayo-con-
vex, wider than long, greatest width along the hinge-line or
immediately in front of it. Surface with fine radiating strizw every
other or every third one somewhat stronger than those intermedi-
ate, crossed by exceedingly delicate and closely crowded concen-
tric lines, and towards the anterior margin by a few larger sub-
imbricating lines of growth.
The size, large flattened area of the dorsal valve, and the sub-
quadrate muscular area distinguish this species from all others of
the S. rugosa type.
Plate xxx1, figs. 8-10.
Formation and locality. Hudson River group, Spring Valley; Tron
tidge, Wis.: Wilmington, Il.
Strophomena scofieldi.
Shell small, semi-circular in outline, biconvex, with a more or
less prominent fold and sinus toward the anterior margin; hinge-
line a little shorter than the greatest width; area of pedicle (ven-
tral) valve forming an angle of about 140° with the plane of the
lateral margin, centrally occupied by a convex perforated delti-
dium; that of the brachial (dorsal) valve fitting closely against
the other valve. Surface marked by numerous crowded,
New Brachiopoda.— Winchell and Schuchert. 287
rounded, radiating striz, increasing in number by implantation,
and from 110 to 120 along the outer margin in adult shells,
crossed by delicate, crowded, concentric lines and a few coarser
growth marks.
Brachial valve not deep, evenly convex or with a fold near the
anterior margin. Cardinal area very narrow, and slightly re-
flexed. Crural plates prominent, very oblique, coalescing medi-
ally; upon this thickening at the base two low ridges originate
which continue upward and outward into the small low cardinal
processes, about one half of which is covered by the deltidium.
Immediately underneath the crural plates are two pairs of small
adductor muscular scars, separated by a low rounded and short
septum which bifurcates anteriorly.
Pedicle valve somewhat deeper than the other, evenly convex
or with a broad shallow sinus near the anterior margin. Hinge
teeth prominent and joining with the outer elevated margin of
the short, sub-oval muscular area. This area is centrally divided
by a low ridge separating the two pairs of adductor and diductor
scars.
This species is of the type of S. sénwata (James) Meek (Pal.
Ohio, vol. 1, p. 87, pl. v, figs. 5a to 5/f), but can be distin-
guished readily from that species by the smaller size and greate1
number of striaz, which is about 60, The profound fold and sinus,
greater size and less numerous strive of S. su/eata de Verneuil,
will distinguish it from S. scofield/.
Plate xxx1, figs. 17-20.
Formation and locality. Ware near the top of the Trenton shales at
Minneapolis and St. Paul: common near the base of the Galena in asso-
ciation with Clitambonites diversa at several localities to the south of
Cannon Falls.
Strophomena emaciata.
Shell small, depressed, biconvex, semi-circular in outline;
hinge-line somewhat less than the greatest width of the valve.
Surface marked by numerous angulated radiating striz, increas-
ing in number by interpolation, from 65 to 75 of the large and small
ones along the anterior margin.
Pedicle valve depressed convex, sub-angulated medially, great-
est point of elevation about mid-length. Cardinal area narrow,
less than 1 mm. in width, strongly elevated with a very convex,
288 The American Geologist. May, 1892
apically perforated deltidium, which is somewhat wider than
long, and excavated posteriorly for the reception of that of the
other valve.
Brachial (dorsal) valve nearly flat or slightly convex, with a
shallow mesial sinus, having its origin near the beak and rapidly
widening to the anterior margin, which is more or less sinuous
according to the depth of the medial depression. Cardinal area
linear with a short, broad deltidium partially covering the cardinal
process.
This little species of Strophomena is separated readily from all
other biconvex forms of this genus, in having a rapidly widening
mesial sinus in the brachial (dorsal) valve, and the pedicle valve
sub-angular along the median line, while in all other related spe-
cies these characters are the reverse.
Plate xxx1, figs. 21-24.
Formation and locality. Near the base of the Galena, associated. with
Clitambonites diversa, south of Cannon Falls.
Leptzna charlotte.
Shell small, transversely semi-oval, plano-convex, geniculate,
with the sides slightly convex, and converging to the broadly
rounded front, or drawn out tongue-shaped; hinge-line as long
or somewhat shorter than the greatest width of the shell. Sur-
face marked by tine, closely crowded, alternating strive as in
Rafinesquing alternata, crossed by exceedingly delicate concentric
lines, and over the visceral disc of each valve by more or less
continuous zigzag undulations or wrinkles,
L. charlotte ditters from any other American species of Lep-
fend in its zigzag concentric surface corrugations, and other
minor features which can be seen more readily in the illustrations
than by any written comparison, Plate xxxu1, figs. 1-5.
Plate xxx11, figs. 1-5.
Formation and locality. Upper portion of the Trenton limestone and
base of the Trenton shales in the Bryozoa layers at Minneapolis and
St. Paul.
Plectambonites gibbosa.
Shell small, semi-circular in outline, strongly concayvo-conyex,
wider than long, greatest width along the hinge-line. Surface very
finely striate, with six or seven stronger striations on each valve,
muchas in 2. transversalis.
Pedicle (ventral valve) very gibbous and sub-carinate medially ;
New Brachiopoda.— Winchell and Sehuehert. 289
lateral slopes rapid and slightly concave; greatest elevation about
mid-length. Cardinal area strongly elevated, slightly concave,
somewhat wider than that of the other valve; delthyrium about as
wide as long, with a small deltidium in the posterior portion, and
more or less occupied by the cardinal process and deltidium of the
other valve. Teeth small, supported by strong dental lamellee.
Diductor muscle pits deep, short, strongly diverging and separated
posteriorly by a small septum.
Brachial (dorsal) valve concave and closely following the curva-
ture of the other valve. Cardinal area wide, flat, retrorse; del-
thyrium with a large, simple cardinal process more or less covered
by a deltidium which is usually imperfect medially. Crural
processes short and widely divergent. Adductor muscle sears
broadly triangular in outline, lobate, with the outer margin
strongly elevated.
The convexity of its valves, and the interior characters of the
brachial valve will distinguish at once this species from P. sericea
Sowerby and P, decipiens Billings. Plate xxxut, figs. 13-17,
Plate xxx1, figs. 15-17.
Formation und locality. Galena limestone four miles south of Cannon
Falls, and at Mantorville, Minnesota.
Orthis meedsi.
Shell of medium size, suborbicular, in outline; biconvex; an-
terior margin broadly deflected dorsally; hinge-line about one-
fourth shorter than the greatest width; surface marked by strongly
elevated, sharply rounded strizw, from forty-five to seventy on
each valve along the anterior margin, crossed by numerous thread-
like lines of growth; striz arranged in bundles of two or three,
those of the pedicle valve bifureating, while on the brachial valve
an increase takes place by interpolation. |Kxfoliated specimens
show two or three rows of small black spots terminating on the
striew, which may represent perforations in the shell substance.
Pedicle (ventral) valve slightly convex, with a broad shallow
inus; cardinal area of moderate width; slightly concave, elevated
beyond, or depressed below that of the brachial valve; delthyrium
small, triangular; beak slightly incurved. Interior characters of
the valve are like O. pectine//a but less sharply defined.
Brachial valve strongly convex centrally, with the lateral post-
erior areas somewhat concave; cardinal area very narrow, slightly
290 The American Geologist. May, 1892
concave, with a broad delthyrium, which is occupied in part
by a striated cardinal process.
Plate xxxu, figs. 39-42.
Formation and locality. Top of the Trenton shales at St. Paul, in
association with 0. pectinella and variety sweeneyi. Cannon Falls, Ken-
yon, Fountain, and elsewhere in Minnesota; Neenah and Oshkosh, Wis.;
McGregor, Iowa.
Orthis meedsi var. germana.
This variety is ditferentiated from the above species by the fol-
lowing characters: Smaller in size and squarer in outline; valves
more strongly and evenly convex: hinge-areas nearly equally wide
but narrower, with the beak of the pedicle valve slightly elevated
beyond that of the brachial; pedicle valve with a slight, some-
what angulated fold, while the brachial; has a shallow but dis-
tinct sinus which originates immediately below the apex of the
valve. These produce a slight sinuosity in the anterior margin,
the direction of which is the reverse of that in O. meedsz.
Plate xxxui, figs. 48-45.
Formation and locality. Not rare in the Galena formation at a horizon
which is about 30 feet above strata holding Clitambonites diversa at several
localities south of Cannon Falls, near Kenyon and Fountain.
Orthis proavita.
Shell of medium size; subquadrate; hinge line equal to, or a
little less than the greatest width of the shell; cardinal angles
rounded or rectangular; sides gently convex and converging to a
more or less flattened or slightly concave anterior margin. Sur-
face marked by simple, sub-angular strie having their origin at
the apex of the valves or immediately below it, addition taking
place by interpolation on the brachial and bifurcation on the ped-
?
icle valve; one to three striz terminating on the cardinal margin
on each side of the umbo; 36 to 42 in number on mature exam-
ples, crossed by a variable number of imbricating growth lines
near the anterior margin. In some of the specimens the anterior
margin is sharply reflexed as by old age.
Pedicle valve has an insignificant mesial elevation. Area com-
paratively narrow; delthyrium broad, triangular, two-thirds oc-
cupied by the cardinal process of the other valve; beak somewhat
incurved. Interior characters as in O, subquadrata.
Brachial valve more or less strongly convex, greatest elevation
A New Brach copoda.— Winchell and Schuchert. 291
about mid-length. A shallow, or sometimes well pronounced
broad sinus is present, having its origin in the upper third of the
valve. Area narrow, perpendicular or slightly inclined forward.
Differs from O. iphigenia Billings, in having the fold and sinus
reversed, and less number of strive.
Plate xxxul, figs. 51-58.
Formation and locality. Not rare in the upper portion of the Hudson
River group at Spring Valley.
Zygospira uphami.
This species occurs in the Galena limestone about 50 feet above
the layers holding Z. recurrirostris in abundance. Its general
expression shows it to be a descendant from Z. recurvirostr’s but
differing from it in its much larger size, stronger convexity of
_the valves and somewhat finer striz. The last feature is more
apparent than real, due to the greater size of Z. uwphami. Some
specimens from which the shell has partially been exfoliated,
show the interior of the pedicle (ventral) valve to have a_ strong
muscular cavity extending from the beak to about one third of
the length of the shell. From the antero-lateral margins of the
area originate two prominent, diverging ridges, probably the
markings of the main trunks of the vascular system, which become
obsolete near the front margin. The crural plates of the brachial
valve are very strong, and at their bases coalesce with a stout but
rather short median septum, upon each side of which posteriorly
are situated two depressions of the adductor scars; the second
pair undefined.
Z. uphami is the linking species between Z. recurvirostris
and Z. erratica Hall, and Z. headi Billings. Its nearest relations
are with Z. erratica.
Plate xxx1V, figs. 45-48.
Formation and locality. Middle of the Galena horizon at Weisbach’s
dam, near Spring Valley, and near Wykoff and Fountain.
Hallina, n. gen.
Shells small, articulate, rostrate, biconvex, semi-plicate. Ped-
icle opening bounded laterally by incomplete deltidial plates.
Calcified brachial supports comparatively long, somewhat longer
than one-half the length of the brachial valve, and in form much
as in Waldheimia. The detailed structure of the articulating and
292 The American Geologist. May, 1892
cardinal processes is unknown. In thin sections it is shown that
the crural plates of the brachial valve do not converge medially
and join with the posterior end of the median septum as in Wald-
heimia, but that they probably coalesce with each other; a med-
ian septum is not present. Muscular scars undetermined, Shell
structure impunctate, distinctly fibrous,
Type. Hallina saffordi, n. sp.
Named in honor of the veteran palivontologist, of Albany, N. Y.
Halling saffordi and H. nicolleti do not show a punctate shell
structure, either in thin section or on the exterior surface of the
shell. The rudimentary deltidial plates, absence of a median
septum in the brachial (dorsal) valve, and the impunctate shell
structure will distinguish //a//ina from Waldhermia and related
genera,
This is the earliest known terebratuloid genus, and it is repre-
sented by two abundant and widely distributed species
Hallina saffordi.
Shell very small, rostrate, regularly elongate, oval, striate and
evenly bi-convex. — Pedicle (ventral) valve somewhat more conyex
than the other; point of greatest elevation about mid-length,
slightly carinated, but otherwise evenly convex in all directions.
Beak strongly incurved, but not in contact with the umbo of the
brachial valve, with a small pedicle opening which is partially
surrounded anteriorly by incomplete deltidial plates. Teeth
well developed and supported by delicate, strongly oblique dental
plates; other interior characters undefined,
Brachial valve evenly convex with a very shallow sinus in the
anterior half. Brachial supports straight from the crural plates
for a short distance forward, then bending backwards and later-
ally, turn and proceed forwards a short distance beyond mid-
length, and nearly parallel to each other, where they bend rather
abruptly upwards, and medially join ata point which isat about
one-half the length of the calcified brachia. Thin sections do
not show strongly thickened crural plates, nor a median septum
amalgamated with the former atthe posterior end. There is prob-
ably a small cardinal process present.
Surface marked with from 15 to 20 subangular strie, which
terminate on the posterior third of the valve; no concentric lines
New Brachiopoda.— Winchell and Schuchert. 293
of growth observable. Shell structure fibrous and apparently im-
punctate.
Plate xxxIv, figs. 55-58.
Formation and loculity. Common in the “Glade” limestone at Lebanon,
Tenn.; also near the top of the Birdseye limestone at High Bridge, Ky.
Hallina nicolleti.
Shell small, rostrate, biconvex, oval or sub-cireular in outline.
Pedicle (ventral) valve convex; point of greatest elevation about
mid-length, with a shallow, very narrow sulcus down the centre,
bordered on each side with a low rounded ridge, which towards
the anterior margin becomes more prominent. ©The antero-lateral
limits of the shell may be smooth, or with as many as five low
rounded plications or marginal undulations. Beak strongly in-
curved, and with a small, oval pedicle opening, bordered by rudi-
mentary deltidial plates on each side.
Brachial (dorsal) valve evenly conyex, and trilobed toward the
anterior Margin; in some specimens the lateral lobes may have
as Many as six low rounded plications along the front margin.
Calcified brachial supports much as in LHallina saffordi, except
that the outer bands are curved laterally, while the anterior,
recurved portion is shorter. Articulating processes and muscular
sears unknown.
Halling nicolleti is an easily recognized species, in its small
size and camarelloid exterior. It differs from /allinu saffordi
in the fold and sinus, and the usually obsolete marginal plica-
tions. Its associated species are the same.
Plate xxx1v, figs. 59-62.
Formation and locality. Abundant in the upper third of the Trenton
limestone at Minneapolis, Mantorville, St. Charles, Rochester and Foun-
tain. Also at Decorah, in Towa, and Beloit, Wis.
Rhynchotrema inequivalvis var. laticostata.
In the shales of the lower portion of the Galena south of Can-
non Falls R. tnaquivaleis (= R. inerebescens) often attains a far
greater width than is usual for the species. The four plications of
the fold are closely arranged, while the five or six on each side of
it are spread out, and are therefore larger than in that species.
The junction of the two valves along the anterior margin is also
more largely flattened. These specimens if found alone would be
294 The American Geologist. May, 1892”
regarded at once as a distinct species. Their development begins
in the upper portion of the Trenton shales, where specimens are
occasionally picked up at St. Paul. It is, however, not until this:
species is found in association with Clitambonites diversa Shaler,
that the variety becomes common and attracts one’s attention.
In the Trenton of New York and Kentucky occasional specimens:
are met with approaching var. /aticostata, but none of them are:
so strongly transverse as the Minnesota individuals.
Plate xxxtv, figs. 26-29.
THE DRIFT OF THE NORTH GERMAN LOWLAND.
Rouuw D. Sarispury, Madison, Wis.
Dr. Felix Wahnschaffe, of the German geological survey, has-
recently issued a small volume entitled ‘‘The Causes of the Sur-
face Form of the North German Lowland.’’* As the title indi-
cates, the volume is primarily geographical, but it discusses the
geography of the area under consideration from the geological
standpoint. The book is particularly welcome to American
glacialists, since for the first time it presents in compact form the
general conclusions which have thus far been reached in Germany
in the field of glacial geology, and affords a convenient and ade-
quate basis for a comparison between the corresponding phenom-
ena of Germany and the United States. Most of the publications
on the glacial geology of Germany, which have heretofore ap-
peared, have been special reports on circumscribed areas. These
publications have not been widely distributed, and are not so well
known to American geologists, as could be desired. Dr. Wahn-
schatfe’s publication will therefore be of great interest and service,
since it will aid in correlating the phenomena on opposite sides of
the Atlantic. It is the purpose of this article to review the salient
features of Dr. Wahnschatfe’s volume, and at the same time to
make some suggestions concerning the correlation of German and
American glacial formations.
The yolume has many excellencies. The author’s sense of pro-
portion is good, and special points are not magnified at the ex-
pense of other equally important ones. The book does not at-
tempt more than it accomplishes. In Germany, no less than in
*Die Ursachen der Obertliichengestaltung des Norddeutschen Flach-
landes. pp. 166, Stuttgart: Verlag von J. Engelhorn. 1891.
Drift of the North German Lowland.—NSalishury. 295
America, there are many questions connected with the formations
of the ice age, concerning which there is not unity of opinion,
and individual opinions are held, with certainly not less tenacity
in Germany than in America. It is a conspicuous merit of the
volume before us, that the author has stated with much fairness
and discrimination the conclusions of other geologists where they
do not agree with his own. In his copious bibliographical notes,
the author shows his intimate familiarity with the literature of his
subject. This is true not only of German literature, but of that
of other countries as well. Although we are compelled to dis-
sent from some of the conclusions reached by Dr. Wahnschatfe,
and although we could have wished a fuller discussion of some of
the questions involved, the volume is nevertheless a very satis-
factory discussion of the glacial formations of the area under con-
sideration. The order of treatment is generally historical, so that
the volume gives us a sort of history of the evolution of opinion
concerning the glacial formations of the territory described.
The questions of glacial geology have been studied for the most
part independently in Germany and in the United States. It is
gratifying to observe how closely the conclusions arrived at by
the geologists of the one country agree with those of the other.
Yet there are some points of difference. In some cases these
differences are hardly more than verbal, and yet these verbal
ditferences have more than once given rise to misunderstandings
and to controversy. In other cases the differences are radical.
The differences in the Prepleistocene geology and topography of
the ice-invaded territory of Germany and America may be largely
responsible for the difference in the history of opinion in the two
countries. The differences in the methods of work have likewise
helped to develop diverse interpretations. It is interesting to
note that the differences between the present conclusions of Ger-
man and American glacialists are much less considerable than
those of an earlier date,
Topography and Relief of North Germany due mainly to Drift.
Dr. Wahnschatte devotes a chapter to the discussion of the re-
lations of the Prepleistocene formations of north Germany to the
present surface. His conclusion, which seems to be well founded,
is that the relief and topography of north Germany are mainly
due to the disposition of the drift formations. A table of deep
borings extending through the drift into the Prepleistocene forma-
296 The American Geologist. May, 1802
tions below, reveals the interesting fact that in many places the
upper surface of the Prepleistocene formations is below the level
of the sea. Were it not for the drift, a very considerable portion
of porth Germany would be covered by salt water. In several
places where the depth of the drift is known, its lower surface is
more than 100 meters below the level of the sea. In one place
its lower surface reaches the astonishing depth of 169 meters be-
low sea-level.
The disturbances of the Prepleistocene formations by ice-pres-
sure during the glacial period are discussed. ‘The conclusion is
reached that such disturbances, resulting in the folding and dis-
torting of strata, were widespread, but that they did not attain
such proportions as to exert an important influence upon the geog-
raphy of the region atfected.
Thickness of drift. The chief interest in the book centers in
the discussion of the glacial formations themselves. The thiek-
ness of the drift) presents variations not less than those which
characterize the corresponding formation in our own country. [In
many localities the depth of the drift is more than 100 meters.
The greatest depth given is 171 meters, but even at this depth the
bottom of the drift had not been reached at this locality. One
hundred and seventy-one meters is somewhat more than the great-
est thickness of the drift known to the writer in the United States.
The average depth of drift on the north German ‘‘flatland”’ is
probably greater than that over most areas of equal extent in our
own country. This is no doubt in part. the result of the softer
character of the formations over which the ice there spread.
They were more easily eroded, and to a greater depth were con-
verted into drift.
At the beginning of the chapter which discusses the effect of
the ice upon the geography of north Germany, the author reviews
the history of opinion concerning the drift of Germany. This
involves a review of the history of opinion concerning the glacial
hypothesis, from the time when it was shown to be impossible, to
the time when, in spite of its impossibility, it was demonstrated.
This is not the first time that that which was believed to be matli-
ematically impossible has proved to be true, particularly in geol-
ogy. Concerning the application of mathematics to geology Dr.
Wahnschatfe quotes approvingly the statement of F. von Rich-
thofen: ‘‘Mathematical caleulation is inclined to take too little
Drift of the North German Lowland.—Salishury. 297
cognizance of the facts which are established by observation, and
in their stead to start from premises which have nothing to do
with the problem in hand. The result is that mathematics, by
very painstaking methods, sometimes reaches results which are
altogether without value for the explanation of the real relations
of ‘things:” (p. 62.)
Stria. One of the striking differences between the glacial
phenomena of Germany and America is the paucity of striz in
the former country. The ice there invaded territory whose
formations belong largely to the Cretaceous, Eocene and Neocene
periods. They are unindurated and therefore not adapted to the
reception and retention of striz. These formations contributed
generously to the drift, and were finally deeply buried by it, so
that rock exposures are relatively rare. The strong contrast be-
tween the two countries in the matter of strizcan hardly be more
forcibly illustrated than by indicating that within the space of ten
pages the striae of each known locality in Germany are not only
mentioned, but discussed, as well as such other phenomena of
glaciation,— planation, polishing, roches moutonnées, ete.,— as
are intimately connected with striz. Since striz on bed rock, and
their accompaniments were at the outset regarded as the most
convincing proof of an ice sheet, and since the surface inferior
to the drift in Germany is rarely exposed, and since these ex-
posures are rarely of such material as to exhibit strive, planation,
ete., it is not strange that the glacier hypothesis did not find so
ready acceptance in Germany as in our own country.
Til mainly subglacial. The till of Germany Dr. Wahnschatfe
regards as almost wholly subglacial. While admitting the possi-
bility of superglacial till, he does not regard it as having any
considerable development in Germany. In this respect Dr. Walhn-
schatfe’s opinion is sharply in contrast with that of some Ameri-
‘an geologists, who hold to the idea of very considerable thick-
nesses of superglacial till overlying the subglacial, and in con-
sonance with the view of other American geologists who believe
that superglacial material has but relatively slight development in
our country, The reasons assigned (pp. 82-3) by Dr. Wahn-
schatfe for classifying essentially all the till as subglacial, would
not be of force as applied to material transferred from a sub-
glacial to a superglacial position, if such transference takes place,
And such transference is assumed to be possible (p. 86). The
298 The American Geologist. - May, 1892
references cited in support of the position that subglacial material
may become superglacial, are based on observations on existing
Alpine glaciers. Here the supposed transfer of stony material
from the bottom of the glacier to its upper surface is accompanied
by conditions which would not exist, or which would not exist to
the same extent in plane regions. I believe it is true that the
transference of subglacial material to a superglacial position is
facilitated by these conditions, if not entirely dependent on them.
The ice-sheet which invaded Germany had descended from a
mountainous region. The ice-sheet which invaded the United States,
while it descended from high lands, did not start from, or pass over,
a region nearly so mountainous as that of Scandinavia, from which
the German ice-sheet took its source. It would be expected there-
fore that Germany would be more favorable territory than the
United States for the development of superglacial till, whatever the
process by which it became superglacial. Under these cireum-
stances it would seem that if any difference exist between the quan-
tity of superglacial till in the two countries,Germany should have
the more. Dr. Wahnschaffe’s opinion as to the paucity of super-
glacial till in Germany is therefore significant, and is in harmony
with the writer's opinion concerning the same sort of till in the
United States.
The Ground Moraine. Dr. Wabnschatte discusses the method
of transportation and deposition of the ground moraine. The
views of the various German Geologists who have expressed opin-
ions upon the subject are cited and discussed. Heim is cited as
holding the opinion that material can be carried forward beneath
the ice only where and when it is frozen to the ice itself. Haas
introduces variety, if not value, into the series of opinions con-
cerning the method of deposition of the ground moraine, by sup-
posing that wherever the thickness of the ice was considerable, its
weight must have converted its lower portion into water, so that
between the ice and the land surface beneath it there was a layer of
water in which the deposition of the till took place,and that the ice
really rested upon the land surface only near its margin where its
thickness was not great. From this view Dr. Wahnschatfe dissents.
He adyocates the view—so far as the writer is aware the only one
ever held by glacialists in America—that the ground moraine was
accumulated gradually beneath the ice. The lower portions of
any considerable body of till in any given loéality, are therefore
Salisbury. 299
Drift of the North German Lowland.
older than the upper, by some short period of time, at least. In
support of this position, bowlder pavements and isolated bowlders
in beds of till are cited, whose upper surfaces were striated by the
passage of the ice-current over them, after they had ceased to
move. The only reference which Dr. Wahnschatfe makes to the
amount of material which can be carried beneath the ice at any
given time is the citation of Penck’s opinion that till to the thick-
ness of several meters may be carried beneath the ice at one time.
We should have been glad of Dr. Wahnschaffe’s opinion concern-
ing the positions in which ground moraine material is deposited,
with reference to the margin of the ice. But to this point we find
no reference.
Two Glacial Epochs. The history of opinion concerning the unity
or Otherwise of the glacial period is discussed, though less fully than
geologists could have wished. The meagerness of the discussion at
this point is probably the result of the fact that the object of the
book is primarily geographic, rather than geologic. Dr. Wahn-
schaffe believes that there were two glacial epochs, and most of
the German glacialists hold the same view. The evidences cited
for a bi-fold division of the drift, and therefore for two glacial
epochs, are mainly (1) the existence of vertebrate remains in the
beds of sand and gravel which separate beds of till in the vicinity
of Berlin; (2) beds containing marine shells in like stratigraphic
position at various localities in the northern part of Germany ;
and (3) diatomaceous earths, likewise between beds of till. Most
weight is attached to the first line of evidente (p. 87). Dr. Wahn-
schaffe recognizes the possibility that the diatomaceous earths
might have accumulated near the edge of the ice in situations tem-
porarily abandoned by it, during the retreating phase of an oscil-
latory movement. Under these circumstances, the next advancing
phase of the ice’s oscillatory movement might bury the diatoma-
ceous earths beneath a new bed of till. In view of this possibility
Dr. Wahnschatfe points out the fact that these diatomaceous
earths interbedded with till do not necessarily indicate an inter-
glacial epoch. Neither does our author regard the deposits of
marine shells as conclusive. Many of them are not known to be
in the position in which they were deposited by the sea, and the
various shell beds have not been correlated with each other with
any degree of certainty. They appear to belong to more than
one horizon. Those marine shell beds which retain the position
300 The American Geologist. May, 1892
in which they were deposited by the sea, must mean a recession
of the ice sufficient to allow the sea to occupy the area where they
occur. But the question might be legitimately raised whether a re
cessionof the ice no greater than these shell beds would necessitate,
must necessarily be interpreted as proof of two glacial~ epochs,
Such recession, particularly if of short duration, might be looked
upon as no more than a great oscillation of the edge of the ice.
The vertebrate remains in the sand and gravel layers between beds
of till in the vicinity of Berlin, would seem to us to have thesame
significance as the shell beds. So far as these fossils indicate a
temperate climate, their significance as indicating a genial inter-
glacial interval, is increased. Dr. Wahnschatfe does not give the
species represented in these fossil beds, nor does he indicate the
climatic conditions to which they testify. But if we are rightly
informed, they are fossils of species which do not indicate a climate
of great severity. The abundance of terrestrial mammalian re-
mains in the gravel and sand separating beds of till in certain re-
gions, is perhaps more significant than the abundance of marine
shells in corresponding situations, since the mammalian remains
accumulate more slowly.
The evidences of more than one ice epoch which are most strongly
relied upon by glacialists in America, are not brought out in the
treatise before us. It would seem either that the evidences do
not'exist inGrermany, or that they have not been made use of. The
author does not indicate that there are in Germany (1) soils rest-
ing upon till or any form of older drift, buried by later glacial
formations. He does not indicate that there are (2) beds of drift
whose surfaces are much weathered and deeply oxidized, now buried
by later drift deposits, whose surfaces are much less weathered
and oxidized; nor does he, in this connection, emphasize (3) the
difference between the amount of sub-aerial erosion suffered by
the surface overspread with the drift which is regarded as first
elacial, as compared with that suffered by the surface overspread
with drift which is regarded as second glacial. In another con-
nection, the fact is referred to that the lakes of (rermany lie for
the most part in and north of the Baltic ridge which crosses (rer-
many in a course roughly concentric with the north German coast.
This lake area lies wholly within the limits of the second glacia-
tion, according to Dr. Wahnschatfe’s interpretation, but the
abundance of lakes in the Baltic ridge and north of it, is not
*
Drift of the North German Lowland.—NSalishury. 301.
cited as evidence of the greater youth of the surface of this re-
gion. Nor does Dr. Wahnschatfe refer (4) to the more extensive
disintegration of the bowlders of the drift in the southern part of
Germany,as compared with that of the bowlders in the northern.
Ditferences in the direction of the movement of the ice at differ-
ent times, as indicated by differences in the direction of striae, and
especially as indicated by the different regions from which material
was successively transported to a given region, also constitute 2
valuable criterion when taken in connection with the points above
stated. In his chapter on striz Dr. Wahnschatfe refers to the
phenomena which indicate different directions of ice movement.
But in discussing the question of two glacial epochs, these diver-
gent movements are not made to support the theory of two ice
epochs.
The foregoing are among the criteria which are especially relied
upon in America as proving a recurrence of glaciation at widely
separated intervals. We believe they are much safer and more
widely applicable criteria than those given in the volume before
us. My own study of the drift formations of (rermany in 1887
and 1888 convinced me that the third and. fourth points stated
above are as well illustrated in Germany as in America. In my
judgment they are of more significance as indicating a long in-
terval between the deposition of the earliest and latest glacial
formations in Germany, than all the fossil remains of whatever
sort, which have yet been described.
EBetent of Second Glaciation. As in America, the extension
of the ice in Germany, in the second epoch, according to our
author, was much less than in the first. The limits of the last
ice advance however are still in doubt. It extended at least so
far as to cover the eastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklen-
burg, a large part of Brandenburg, Pommern and Kast and West
Preussen. While some of the German geologists would limit the
second ice invasion in the western part of Germany to the lower
course of the Elbe, Dr. Wahnschatfe believes that there is sufli-
cient evidence that it extended further south. Tle finds traces of
the work of the ice sheet of the second epoch in the vicinity of
Magdeburg. He also believes that the bowlder-bearing sand which
covers the ‘“Luneburger Heide” southwest of the Elbe, is last
glacial. The basis for this conclusion concerning the sand of the
“Luneburger Heide” is not fully given. A single crossing of the
302 The American Geologist. May, 1892
Heide in 1887 led me to the belief that the surface formation was
not last glacial. But Dr. Wahnschaffe’s conclusion doubtless
rests on much fuller data than my own.
Nomenclature. The classification and nomenclature employed
in mapping the drift of north Germany is so different from that
to which the American geologists are accustomed, that both the
maps and the accompanying descriptions are liable to misinterpre-
tation unless one is familiar, in advance, with the exact meaning
which is attached to each particular term. Many of the terms in
use are the same as those employed in America, but the signifi-
cance attached to some of them is altogether different. | In Amer-
a most unfortunate name
ica, for example, the term upper till
—is generally understood to mean englacial or superglacial till.
In Germany, the same term (oberer Geschiebemergel) has a very
different signification, and to one not posted concerning the tech-
nical meaning of the term, a most deceptive one. The term itself
might suggest the till of the last glacial epoch as distinet from
the till of greater age, but this is not its meaning, though no till
is “upper” till (oberer Geschichbemergel) which is not of last glacial
age. But not all of the till of the second glacial epoch is classed
as “upper” till,
A mantle of bowlder-bearing sand frequently covers the till of
the last glacial epoch. The same sand sometimes rests upon the
older drift. Whether this super-till mantle covers second glacial
till, or whether it rests upon the earlier drift where the later failed
to be deposited or preserved, it is known as ‘‘upper bowlder-bear-
ing sand” (oberer Geschichbesand), or, briefly, as ‘‘upper sand”
(oberer Sand). If IT understand correctly the meaning of the
terms, the bed of till immediately beneath the ‘‘upper sand” is
classed as ‘‘upper till” (oberer Geschiebemergel), if it be, or if it
be believed to be, last glacial. The same bed or till, if not coy-
ered by the mantle of ‘‘upper sand,” is likewise ‘‘upper till.”
The ‘‘upper till” of any given locality is therefore the uppermost
layer of second glacial till, which there exists. If there be sey-
eral layers of second glacial till separated by beds of sand or
gravel, as is often the case, only the uppermost. of these several
beds is “upper till,” while all the other layers of second glacial
till are grouped with all the layers there may be of first glacial
till, as ‘‘lower till” (anterer Geschicbemergel. )
Just as the uppermost layer of second glacial till in any place
Drift of the North German Lowland.—Salishury. 303
constitutes ‘upper till’ (oberer Geschiebemergel), so the wpper-
most layer of sand, if it overlie the uppermost layer of second
glacial till, or if it be the stratigraphic equivalent of that which
overlies the uppermost layer of second glacial till, is ‘‘upper
sand” (oberer Sand), All second glacial sands which lie between
beds of second glacial till,or below the lowest of them,are classed
with first glacial and inter-glacial sand, as ‘‘lower sand” (witerer
Sand). The infelicity of this classification and nomenclature is
alluded to by Dr. Wahnschaffe, although it has been found to be
a classification which is serviceable in mapping. Interpretations
have changed since the existing nomenclature was adopted, but
the nomenclature has not changed to correspond with the newer
interpretations.
The ‘‘upper bowlder-bearing sand” often immediately overlies
a layer of bowlderless, stratified sand, whose proper stratigraphic
position is said to be beneath the «‘upper till.”” This stratified sand
is not understood to be ‘‘upper sand.” Because of this strati-
graphic relationship, the bowlder-bearing sand at the surface is
looked upon as the remnant of a layer of ‘‘upper till” which has
escaped removal at the hands of glacio-natant and post-glacial
waters, while the finer clayey parts of the till were carried away.
In this case therefore the ‘‘upper sand” is a remnant of the
‘upper till” and is really its equivalent. We do not understand
that the uppermost bed of till, lying below ‘:upper sand,” but
separated from it by a bed of stratified sand, whose stratigraphi-
cal position is below the ‘‘upper till,” would be classed as ‘‘upper
till,” even though it be the uppermost existing bed of second
glacial till. The idea that the ‘‘upper sand’’-is aresidue of ‘‘up-
per till,’ formed as indicated, seems to be a prevalent one. — It is
in this category that Dr. Wahnschaffe places the bowlder-bearing
sand which covers the ‘‘Luneburger Heide.” As already indicated
the reasons given for such reference (p. 96) do not appear to me
to be conclusive. Indeed none of the reasons assigned for be-
lieving that the ice, in its second invasion, crossed the Elbe in
western Germany, seem to me to carry conviction.
Dr. Wahnschaffe, as well as other German glacialists, recog-
nizes the fact that within the formations of second glacial age
there may be, and in many cases are, several beds of till separated
from each other by layers of sand and gravel. While American
glacialists are fully agreed with Dr. Wahnschatfe that several
304 The American Geologist. May, 1892
beds of till separated by layers of sand may arise within the
period of one glaciation, we shall be likely to dissent from his
implied (though not explicitly stated) conclusion, that every bed
of sand interstratified with till, records a retreat of the ice, bar-
ing the surface on which the sand accumulated, and that each bed
of till overlying such bed of sand, records a re-advance of the
ice. IT am not authorized to speak for American glacialists in
general, but IT hold it altogether possible that the deposition of
till may be succeeded by the deposition of stratified sand, and
this again by till, beneath the marginal portion of the ice, inde-
pendent of any change in the position of the ice’sedge. If each
of the several layers of till which may locally alternate with sand
were continuous over wide areas, and if the intervening layers of
sand were also continuous over wide areas, oscillations of the ice
margin would seem to best explain the phenomena. Dr. Wahn-
schaffe does not indicate whether or not this is the condition of
things in Germany. It would be a condition of things most diffi-
cult of demonstration if true. From my acquaintance with the
German drift, | do not think it generally true, and I see no reason
for assuming an oscillation of the ice’s edge for each change from
ice to water deposition, within the body of the last glacial drift.
It is not to be understood that the writer is arguing against osceil-
lations of the ice’s edge. Such oscillations, both seasonal and
periodic, are believed to have occurred, and these oscillations may
have given rise to many alternations of till and sand. But it is
not deemed necessary to assume oscillations of the ice’s edge to
explain all alternations of fill and sand.
Topography of the ground moraine. Two distinct types of
topography are represented by the ground moraine, according to
the volume before us. In the one case the surface is plain or
but shghtly undulatory, and more or less dissected by valleys,
some of which are dry. Within those areas of ground moraine
where the topography is of the plainer type, there are occasional
sharp sinks of limited size, sometimes occuring singly, and some-
times in series. Many of these depressions have become the seat
of ponds or bogs. Their existence is attributed to the action of
water plunging down through crevasses from the surface of the
ice, and wearing hollows in the land surface below.
The second type of topography which characterizes the ground
moraine, as classified by the German geologists, is designated
Drift of the North German Lowland. —Salishury. 305
“oround moraine landscape’ (Grundmordnenlandschaft), the most
characteristic feature of which is its ‘‘rapid changes of level’
within short distances. This topography is further described as
follows: ‘‘Between the numberless ridge- and mound-like eleva-
tions, which are altogether without order in their arrangement,
_e@ an equal number of depressions, giving to the surface a broken
aspect. The elevations enclose countless roundish ponds and
marshes, largely filled with peat and swamp deposits, as well as
larger and more or less irregular swamps and i This abun-
= so great
that upon the maps the till surfaces between them appear almost
dance of lakes,and marshes is sometimes
sieve-like.” (p. 96.)
The region where the typical ‘‘ground moraine landscape” is
best exhibited is stated to be along the Baltic ridge (p. 96), with
which this type of topography appears in general to be intimately
connected. It would appear from Dr. Wahnschaffe’s description
(pp. 97-8) that the constitution of the drift where this type of
topography is developed is more sandy than is common to the
ground moraine in other regions. The elevations within this Bal-
tic ridge are said to be composed largely of sand and gravel over
which there is frequently a layer of till.
In discussing the origin of the depressions which mark the
‘‘oround moraine landscape’ Dr. Wahnschatfe follows his usual
plan of giving the opinions of other geologists as well as his own.
K. Geinitz would attribute them chiefly to the eddying action of
waters during the time of the melting of the ice. Against this
view Dr. Wahnschaffe argues that the depressions were already
in existence at the time of the deposition of the uppermost layer
of till, since this lines them and mantles the adjacent elevations.
He maintains that their origin is therefore earlier in time than
the melting of the last ice sheet. Upon the topography of the
‘‘oround moraine landscape” of the Uckermark, Dr. Wahnschaffe
insists that the waters arising from the melting of the last ice-
sheet had no considerable influence. In this view he is supported
by Drs. Keilhack and Schroeder, and their position seems to be
irrefragable.
The origin of the topography which has been designated
‘‘oround moraine landscape” (Grundmorduenlandschaft) has been
much discussed by those who have had to deal with it. Various
views concerning its production prevail. Among the factors
306 The American Geologist. May, 1882
commonly believed to have contributed to its development, most
of the German geologists appear to give a prominent place to ice-
pressure, which is conceived to have bulged up drift material at
the edge of the ice, producing hummocks and short, discontinuous
folds. Dr. Keilhack places the development of the ‘ground
moraine landscape’ topography under consideration, beneath the
oscillating margin of the ice, at the time when this margin stood
along the line of the Baltic ridge, during the last glaciation. He
ascribes it to the unequal accumulations of drift beneath the mar-
gin of the ice, and to the irregular bulging of the drift, effected
by the pressure of the ice. Similar topography north of the Bal-
tic ridge, is believed to have been produced in the same manner,
at a later time, when the edge of the ice had receded to the posi-
tion where such topography occurs. Schroeder is quoted as ad-
vocating the view that the peculiar topography here described was
developed beneath the ice during the time of its slow retreat (p. 98) ;
but whether beneath the margin of the ice, or remote from it, or
whether the peculiar topography is the result of unequal accumu-
lation or of ice-pressure, is not indicated.
Dr. Wahnschaffe believes that the ‘‘ground moraine landscape’
was developed beneath the ice during its advance in the later ice
epoch, and that the topography thus developed was not materially
altered during the final retreat of the ice over the same region
(p. 100), although the ice edge remained stationary on the ridge
for some considerable period during its retreat. It is to be borne
in mind that the topography here described is best developed
along the ‘Baltic ridge,” which is in a general way concentric
with the shore of the Baltic. | Dr. Wahnschaffe sees much sig-
nificance in this position. He points out the fact that this sort
of topography stands in a similar relation to great basins in vari-
ous other parts of the world. In northern Italy, ridge-like belts
of drift with a similar topography, border the Italian lakes on the
south. In the Bavarian Alps similar ridges of drift rise higher
than the basins enclosed within them. More conspicuous exam-
ples of the same relationship in America are referred to, where
thickened belts of drift (our terminal moraines) exist, in a general
way concentric with the Great Lakes of the interior.
Dr. Wahnschaffe’s conception of the relation of the Baltic
ridge to the Baltic sea, is something as follows: The ice starting
from the Scandinavian mountains descended into the Baltic basin
Salisbury. 307
Drift of the North German Lowland.
and filled it. As it advanced to the southward, it rose from the
basin of the Baltic onto the higher land to the south, carrying
with it much material which it had scooped out of the basin, and
especially, much that it gathered from the southern slope of the
same, during its ascent to the land beyond. As the ice pushed
out upon the land with its great load of debris thus acquired, its
velocity was diminished. Where the greatest retardation took
place, there would be the most extensive accumulation of glacial
debris (p. 102). The site of this retardation and consequent ex-
tensive accumulation is marked, according to Dr. Wahnschatfe, by
the Baltic ridge, which indeed owes its existence largely to the
accumulation of drift brought about in this way. The ‘ground
moraine landscape” is associated with the ridge, and is, according
to Dr. Wahnschaffe, the result of this peculiar method of drift
accumulation, for where the drift accumulation was greatest, there
would it be piled up in rough topographic forms. The author sees
no insuperable difficulty in believing that this sort of topography-,
developed beneath the advancing ice sheet, could be subsequently
overridden by the further advance of the ice, without being de-
stroyed.
From: Dr. Wahnschatfe’s view concerning the origin of the
‘knob and basin” topography of the Baltic ridge, we are com-
pelled to dissent. According to his view the last ice sheet ad-
vanced far beyond the Baltic ridge, at least as far as Magdeburg.
If this opinion be correct, the Baltic ridge must have been buried
under a very great depth of ice. The Baltic ridge is a very con-
spicuous ridge. In many places its topography is very rough—of
the pronounced knob and basin type. To suppose that glacier
ice buried and overrode such a ridge with such a topography to
such a depth as must have been if the ice advanced so far south
as Magdeburg, is to attribute to the ice a degree of plasticity
which we are not prepared to admit. It seems to the writer that
Dr. Wahnschatfe’s position practically denies to glacier ice much
power of erosion, even when overriding to great depth the rough
surface of a conspicuous ridge, composed of loose sand, gravel,
and till, while it attributes to the same ice extraordinary power of
erosion in passing through the Baltic basin, a little further north.
The depth of the ice in the basin was of course greater than that
of the ice which passed over the ridge, and in its erosive action
in the basin it possessed whatever advantage comes from increased,
308 The American Geologist. May, 1892
thickness. We are prepared to admit that the same thickness of
glacierice may effect very different amounts of erosion in different
regions; but we are not prepared to admit that a rough ridge of
loose materials, standing squarely athwart the direction of ice
movement, would constitute a belt where the erosion would be
slight, if the ice passed over it in any considerable thickness.
Dr. Wahnschatfe does not deny eroding power to the ice. Against
such a view the great body of drift which covers north Germany
stands as an unimpeachable witness. But his conclusion con
cerning the origin of the topography of the Baltic ridge seems to
us to necessarily imply that the ice sheet which buried the ridge,
and advanced many miles beyond it, was here essentially impo-
tent, so far as erosion is concerned.
From what has preceded it will. be seen that the ‘‘ground mo-
raine landscape,” arranged as it is in a great belt stretching across
(yermany, corresponds with the terminal moraines of North Amer-
ica. The constitution of the drift where this topography prevails,
confirms this correlation. This relationship Dr. Wahnschatfe
recognizes (p. 101), but it is to be distinctly borne in mind that
the Baltic ridge, characterized by the topography which marks
the terminal moraines of the United States, is not regarded asa
terminal moraine by Dr. Wahnschatfe, or by most of the other
north German geologists. The view of professor Penck that the
‘‘moraine landscape” is the result of the intimate association of
multiple terminal moraines (Hudmordéne), is more nearly in accord
with the American view. But the formation to which the Ger-
mans have commonly applied the name of terminal moraine
(Ludmordne),is regarded by most of them as something very dis-
tinct from the Baltic ridge.
If the topography and the constitution of the Baltic ridge were
not altogether conclusive in demonstrating its terminal morainic
character, according to American classification, additional evi-
dence might be found in the fact that it is bordered on the south
by extensive plains of gravel and sand, corresponding to our over-
wash plains (p. 107). The constitution of these plains corresponds
exactly with that of plains in similar positions in our own country,
heing coarsest near the moraine and becoming finer and finer with
increasing distance from it.
The intimate relationship between the ‘‘ ground moraine land-
scape (equal the terminal moraine of the United States) and great
Drift of the North German Lowland.—NSalishury. 309
‘basins is, so far as the United States is concerned, much less gen-
‘eral than Dr. Wahnschaffe seems to imply. While it is true that
our terminal moraines surround lakes Erie, Michigan and Superior,
it is also true that similar moraines frequently stand in no definite
relation to well defined basins. The moraine loop which runs down
into central Iowa, is not associated with any well-defined basin.
‘The moraine crossing New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania is al-
together independent of any basin, and if such drift ridges are
sometimes developed independently of basins, they cannot be said
to be dependent upon them. The depressions were of course in-
fluential in determining the course of ice movement, and so in de-
termining the position and form of the ice’s edge, and it is the
accumulation of drift made beneath the ice’s edge while it was
‘stationary or oscillating, which constitutes, according to American
usage, the main part of the terminal moraine.
The conception of American geologists concerning the origin
of the terminal moraines (‘‘ ground moraine landscape” ), is not
very different from the view of Dr. Keilhack concerning the origin
of the Baltic ridge. It is believed that beneath various parts of
the ice’s edge, varying amounts of glacial debris accumulated dur-
ing any given period of time. ‘This in itself, would give rise to a
ssubmarginal ridge of unequal hight and width, wherever the edge
of the ice remained constant in position for any considerable
period. Every minor retreat of the ice may have been accompanied
by changes in the details of the form of its edge, and as the mar-
gin of the ice changed both in position and in form, new accumu-
lations of drift would be made beneath it, comparable to the first.
When the ice re-advanced, never so little, its form might be again
changed, and the submarginal accumulations would be made in a
new position and in a new form. Thus it is conceived that by re-
peated retreats and advances within narrow limits,and by repeated
alterations in the form of the ice-margin with or without general
oscillations, the terminal moraine material was accumulated. The
first condition for the development of a terminal moraine there-
fore, is a stationary ice margin, or a margin which oscillates
backward and forward within narrow limits, while the details of its
form are continually changing. The extent of these oscillations
will be one of the considerations determining the width of the mo-
rainic belt. The waters issuing from the edge of the ice, which was
always melting, often worked considerable changes upon the ma-
310 The American Geologist. May, 1892:
terial deposited by the ice directly, changing both its topography
and its constitution. Our terminal moraines are therefore looked
upon as accumulations of drift, made beneath the oscillating but
nearly constant edge of an ice sheet, more or less modified by glacio-
natant waters. The irregularities of topography are regarded as-
largely the result of unequal accumulation. Horizontal and ver-
tical ice-pressure, as well the vigorous action of ice-water, con-
tributed to the development of the rough terminal morainic
topography. This seems to be similar to the view of Dr. Keilhack,
except that he would assign to ice pressure, a more important role.
Endmoriine. The formation which has received the name of
terminal moraine (Hndmordne) in Germany, is a narrow, wall-
like ridge, or a series of steep mounds arranged in linear
order. Its width for one region is stated to range from 100 to:
400 meters. Tor the same region its average hight is said to be
from five to ten meters, though it is occasionally considerably
more. The slopes of the ridge, or of the more or less separated
hills, have an angle of 30° to 40°. In some regions there are two:
of these terminal moraines, the one lying several miles within the
other. These narrow ridges or series of mounds are made up
largely of bowlders. Their constitution and form haye giver
them the name of ‘‘bowlder walls” (Geschiebewdlle). In some
cases, the finer material, sand, till, etc.,seems to hardly more than
occupy the interstices between the bowlders. In other places,
sand and till are more important constituents. They sometimes:
occur within the body of the moraine (Hidmordne), interbedded
with those portions which consist essentially of bowlders. In
some cases, till mantles the ‘‘bowlder wall.’’ In other places the
terminal moraine (Hidimordine) is composed essentially of strati-
fied sand and gravel (p. 113), upon the surface of which only are
abundant large bowlders. The course of this ‘‘bowlder wall” is
somewhat irregular. (Generally speaking, it is made up of a
series of curves concave toward the direction from which the ice
came. Locally, the sharp ridge may grade into a bowlder belt by
widening, though it is expressly stated that not all the bowlder
belts of north Germany are to be regarded as the equivalents of
this terminal moraine. In many regionsthis terminal moraine, or
‘‘bowlder wall,” has not so great altitude as the ‘‘ground moraine
landscape” with which it is closely associated. It courses over
the surface of the greater Baltic ridge without much regard to the
Drift of the North German Lowland.— Salisbury. 311
topography of the latter, and while it is locally a very conspicu-
ous feature because of its sharp definition and wall-like character,
it is quantitatively rather insignificant compared with the great
ridge characterized by the ‘‘ground moraine landscape.” The
‘‘oround moraine landscape” topography is generally best de-
veloped immediately within this terminal moraine (Hudmordne).
Outside the same, there are extensive areas of sand and gravel
(overwash plains), whose surfaces show little relief.
This diminutive ridge, to which, and to which only, the name
terminal moraine is applied by the north German geologists, has
no exact counterpart, so far as I know, in the United States. It
is explained by supposing that the ice, in its retreat northward
remained stationary for a somewhat protracted period in the posi-
tion which the little ridge now occupies. It is believed to have
been constructed out of ground moraine material, from which the
finer parts were removed by the waters arising from the melting
of the ice. The interlardings of till and stratified sand are ex-
plained by supposing oscillations of the ice margin. When the
ice overrode the incipient ridge. it is supposed to have left a
record of its transgression in a bed of till. When the ice re-
treated, discovering the growing bowlder wall, this retreat is sup-
posed to be recorded in the beds of stratified sand and gravel
which sometimes occur between the coarser materials of the
moraine. ‘This terminal moraine (Ludmordne) has not been traced
throughout its whole extent. It has been traced for considerable
distances in the region north of Berlin, and is known at various
points east and west of that region. By Dr. Wahnschatfe it is
not regardedas marking the limit of ice advance in the last glacial
epoch. So far as I am aware, it is not known except in connec-
tion with the ‘‘ground moraine landscape” topography, though
the universality of this relationship is not indicated by our author.
Bowlder Belts. The bowlder belts into which the German term-
inal moraine sometimes passes are identical in character with the
bowlder belts of the United States. The American bowlder belts
are believed to be accumulations of bowlders which were carried
forward within the body of the ice (considerably above its base),
and to have arrived at the surface of the ice before they reached
its terminus, because of surface ablation. ‘Transferred thus from
an englacial to a superglacial position, they were carried forward
upon the surface of the ice to its edge, andthere ‘‘dumped” upon
312 The American Geologist. May, 1892:
the surface of the land.* Had the edge of the ice been constant
in position for a long period of time, it is believed that these
bowlders would have accumulated in the form of a ridge, or
‘‘bowlder wall.” That they are so spread out as to constitute a
bowlder belt, instead of a ‘‘bowlder wall,” is thought to be evi-
dence that the margin of the ice was not constant in position.
I was fortunate enough to visit the terminal moraine of the
Germans, in the localities which are described as typical, with
Drs. Behrendt and Wahnschaffe in the summer of 1888. From
the disposition and the form of the ridge under consideration, L
was led to believe, that, like our own bowlder belts, it was largely
composed of materials which had become superglacial before
reaching the margin of the ice, and that the bowlder wall consti-
tutes a good example of a “dump” moraine, Dr. Wahnschatte
urges that the ice sheet could have nu superglacial material (p.
107). But it is believed to be possible that material might have
been received far up into the body of the ice in the course of its.
passage over the mountainous lands to the north, and that by
surface ablation this englacial material arrived at the upper sur-
face of the ice sometime before it reached the limit of its south-
ward journey. Under these circumstances, such superglacial ma-
terial might possess many of the characteristics of the ground
moraine material. It would have been subjected to much more
wear than would the material carried from the outset upon the
surface of the ice. :
My conception of the correlation of the German terminal mo-
raine (Hudimordue), and the ‘‘ground moraine landscape” (Grund-
nordnentaudschast), with the drift formations of the United States.
is this: The Baltic ridge, characterized by the :‘ground moraine
landscape” or’ +-knob and basin” topography, constitutes a belt or
“tangle” of terminal moraines, accumulated beneath the oscillat-
ing margin of the ice, when and where it was for a long time
nearly stationary. This variety of terminal moraine has been
designated ‘‘submarginal.”” The German terminal moraine
(Endimordne). vesting upon this great submarginal terminal mo-
raine, is a -‘dump” moraine. accumulated during some minor in-
terval of the time occupied in the accumulation of the greater
moraine, when the ice edge was more constant than at other times.
“Chamberlin, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol. 1,
p. 28, 1890.
Drift of the North German Lowland.—NSalishury. 313
dumping its surface material along a tolerably definite line.
Where the line of dump was inconstant, the line widened to a belt,
and here the -‘dump” moraine became a bowlder belt, which is
but.a variety of a ‘‘dump” moraine. That this -‘duinp” moraine
is to be distinguished from the greater belt with which it is asso-
ciated is evident. The Germans have chosen to apply the name
terminal moraine to this wall-like ridge alone. | What corresponds
to our main terminal (submarginal) moraine, they have designated
ground moraine (Grundimordnentandschaft), because it was accuin-
ulated beneath the ice. We have chosen to designate both the
@ to their ‘‘ground moraine landscape,”
and the bowlder belts associated, terminal moraines, because they
formation correspondin
were accumulated at the terminus of the ice. We have separated
the two types, as distinct varieties of the general species, terminal
moraine.
So far as I am able to ascertain from Dr. Wahnschatte’s volume,
he regards the German terminal moraine as accumulated beneath
the ice and composed of ground moraine material. It is therefore
not easy to see why the term Ladimordine is more applicable to it.
than to the Baltic ridge, if this latter were fashioned as Dr, Keil-
hack believes, beneath the margin of the ice. According to Dr.
Wahnschatfe’s view of its development, the designation terminal
moraine would be inappropriate. since he does not believe it to
have been made beneath the margin of the ice. Neither the Bal-
tic ridge nor the Ladmordne mark the limit of ice advance in
Germany in the second Glacial epoch, according to our author.
In this respect the phenomena of Germany correspond with those
of our own country, where the larger terminal moraines do not gen-
erally mark the limit of ice advance, subsequent to the first glacial
epoch. My own conclusion concerning the relation between the
limit of the later advance of the ice, and the main terminal
moraine, was the same as that of Dr. Wahnschatte. *
Kumes(’?) Associated with the terminal moraine, there are. in
various places, hills and sharp ridges of stratified sand and gravel
(Durchragungsziige), partially, or sometimes wholly covered with
upper till. These elevations are sometimes arranged in linear
order, but they do not always sustain this relationship to each
other, They may be more or less isolated. or may be so disposed
as to form a belt. The layers of the sand and gravel constituting
*Am. Jour. Sci. Vol. xxxv, p. £07, 1888.
314 The American Geologist. May, 1892
the main part of these elevations very generally dip from the
center outward. Where the elevations are elongate, the axis
from which the layers dip is the same as the axis of the ridges.
The surface of these hills and ridges is often marked by an abun-
dance of large bowlders. The mantling till, where it exists, is
continuous with the till which constitutes the surface of the
‘‘oround moraine landscape” belt, in the immediate neighborhood,
The association of these ridges and hills with the terminal moraine
(Eudmordne), has led Schroeder to the belief that they are closely
associated with the latter in origin (p. 110), as well as in position.
Their form is ascribed neither to erosion, nor to accumulation.
They are regarded as swells or folds pressed up by the ice at its
border, during a period when the edge of the ice was nearly con-
stant in position. Because of the peculiar sort of disturbance
which the stratification of these elevations has sometimes suffered,
Dr. Wahnschatfe’s inference seems justified, that lateral thrust by
the ice must also have played some part in their origin. Wahn-
schaffe appears to agree with Schroeder that these hills and ridges
were essentially contemporaneous in origin with the terminal mo-
raine (Hidmordue). From the description before us, it is not
clear that they do not constitute an element of the ‘ground mo
raine landscape.” It will be seen that Wahnschatfe and Schroed-
ers view concerning the time and method of origin of these sand
and gravel hills, corresponds somewhat closely with Dr. Keil-
hack’s view concerning the time and the method of origin of the
elevations and depressions of the region designated ‘ground
moraine landscape.” We have already seen that Dr. Wahn-
schatfe’s view of the origin of the ‘‘ground moraine landscape, ”
is different. But we believe that Dr. Keilhack’s explanation of the
“eround moraine landscape” is more nearly correct, and that it is
in perfect harmony with Wahnschatfe and Schroeder's view con-
cerning the origin of the sand and gravel hills and ridges asso-
ciated with the terminal moraine (Hndmordne), and with the
“oround moraine landseape.”’ Dr. Wahnschatfe indicates the
close association of the one class of drift hills with the other, but
unfortunately he does not state whether the sand and gravel hills
are more commonly associated with the outer or with the inner
border of the ‘ground moraine landseape.’’. He would seem to
imply that the association of the German terminal moraine (4nd-
morcdne) with the hills here noted, is very close; but since he does
Drift of the North German Lowland.—Salishury. 315
not indicate whether the Ludmordine is more commonly found on
the outer or on the inner face of the ‘‘ground moraine land-
scape’ belt, this relationship between the ‘‘2udimordine” and the
“Durchragungszuge’ does not serve to indicate the relation be-
tween the latter and the ‘*Grundmoranenlundscha/ft.”’
We believe that the three sets of phenomena, the ‘ground
moraine landscape’ (= our terminal moraine), the German term-
inal moraine (= a ‘‘dump” moraine), and the hills and ridges of
gravelandsand( Durchragungszuge und Kime), are closely associated
in time of origin. We believe that they all represent marginal
accumulations, and that together they constitute what is known in
America as a belt of terminal moraines. The gravel and sand
hills and ridges, with occasional bowlders below the surface, and
abundant ones upon it, we regard as kames, and believe that they
correspond to the kames so commonly associated with the termi-
nal moraines in America. Locally such kames make up a large
part of our terminal moraine accumulations. This correlation is
based in part upon Dr. Wahnschatfe’s description, and partly upon
my own observations. If this interpretation be correct, the termi-
nal moraine (HLudmordine) of the Germans, and the accumulations
here regarded as kames, should be more commonly associated
with the outer face of the belt affected by the ‘‘ground moraine
landscape” topography than with the inner. But kames are not
confined to such positions. Locally they are abundant and well
developed on the inner face of the terminal moraine belt, and
less commonly at points remote from it. Geinitz has regarded
the sand and gravel hills as Asar and kames, (p. 113) but this
view does not seem to approve itself to Dr. Wahnschaffe.
There are a few ridges of stratified material not stated to be
closely associated with the Baltic ridge, which would appear to be
osars. One such is mentioned by Dr. Wahnschaffe at Lubasch in
Posen. Others of similar form are excluded from the class osars,
apparently on the ground that they are covered by till, while
typical osars have not their crests covered by till, though their
flanks may be. We do not get the impression from the refer-
ences to kames and osars (asar) that discriminations between them
have been carried to the same extent in Germany as in America.
But the distinction between kames and osars has only recently
come to be generally recognized here.
The discussion concerning the position of the ‘‘old” valleys, and
316 The American Geologist. May, 1892
their relations to the courses of the present streams, is an interest-
ing study in river drainage. The valleys of the ‘‘old” streams
have been filled to considerable depths with sand, emanating from
the glacier formations. In some places, and for considerable
stretches, these ‘‘old” valleys are now dry. In other places they
are occupied by inconsiderable streams. It would be a matter of
ereat interest to know whether the ‘‘old” valleys are pre-glacial,
or whether they are interglacial in origin. We infer that their
sand filling is regarded as last glacial (p. 128). If it could be
shown that the excavation of the ‘‘old” valleys was interglacial,
or that any considerable part of their excavation was interglacial,
such demonstration would be a convincing proof of a long inter-
glacial epoch.
Loess. On the southern border of the north German lowland
there is a narrow belt of country covered with loess, although the
loess is not confined to that portion of Germany which is properly
designated “‘lowland.” It reaches to the southward so far as to
cover the lower portions of the southern upland. The loess is
well developed in the northern part of Saxony and in the vicinity
of Halle and Magdeburg. The topography of the loess-covered
country is gently undulatory. A large number of the German
geologists who have studied the loess appear to have adopted the
eeolian hypothesis. Dr. Wahnschaffe, on the other hand, believes
the loess to have been deposited by water, and by water which
arose chiefly fromthe melting of the ice in the /ast glacial epoch.
He conceives the water which deposited the loess to have accum-
ulated in a number of more or less connected basins, lying be-
tween the ice on the north, and the highlands beyond the ice on
the south. The waters thus confined between ice and upland had
an outlet, so it is believed, toward the northwest; but it is held
that the movement of the water was so gentle that it was able to
carry away only the finest clayey material, while the materials of
silt-grade of coarseness were deposited in the area covered by the
water, and constitute the loess. The northward drainage from
the highlands on the south, and the southward drainage from the
ice on the north, both contributed to the formation. The altitude
of the loess is stated to be about 282 feet in Saxony, while it rises
to the hight of 600 feet in the Harz mountains.
The chief reasons quoted from its advocates in support of the
xoOlian hypothesis, are the presence of fossils of land animals.
Drift of the North German Lowland.—Nalishury. 317
Dr. Wahnschaffe does not give specifically the reasons for his be-
lief in the aqueous origin of the loess, though he devotes some
space to a consideration to the arguments of those who believe
that it was deposited by the wind. We think that Dr. Wahn-
schaffe’s arguments against the eolian hypothesis have much
force. After a brief examination of the loess in several points
in the vicinity of Magdeburg, in company with Dr. Wahnschaffe,
I was convinced that his view concerning the origin of the loess
was the right one for that region. I have no data for an opinion
‘concerning the time of the origin of the German loess. If it be-
long to the time of the last glaciation, it does not correspond in
point of time of origin with the great body of the loess in the
United States; but that is no reason for believing that Dr. Wahn-
schaffe’s interpretation is not right. It is believed that the loess
in the United States originated at different times. I am inclined
to think that some of it may have originated in connection with
the last glacial epoch, and I know no reason why that may not
have been the time of the chief accumulation of the loess in
Germany.
The Lakes. The relationship between the distribution of lakes
and the extension of the ice sheet is the same in Germany as in
the United States. The lakes are chiefly confined to the area
which suffered glaciation, and to the area which suffered glacia-
tion the second time. But it is to be observed that they do not
have a general distribution over the whole of the area which the
last ice sheet invaded, as Dr. Wahnschatfe would define that area.
Southwest of the Elbe, for instance, lakes are almost wholly
wanting. This fact is in itself an evidence, though alone not a
conclusive evidence, that this region was not glaciated in the last
epoch. It is to be remembered that not all German glacialists
are agreed that this region (the Luneburger Heide) was covered by
ice in the last ice epoch. The absence of lakes supports the neg-
ative. Lakes are most abundant along the Baltic ridge, where
the ‘‘ground moraine landscape” is best developed, just as they
are most abundant in our country, along the courses of the termi-
nal moraine. They are not infrequent north of this ridge, and in
some parts of Germany they cannot be said to be rare south of it.
The question as to the origin of the lakes which lie within the
drift-covered territory of Germany, is one concerning which there
has been much discussion and much difference of opinion. Inter-
318 The American Geologist. May, 1992:
esting as the history of opinion on this point is, we shall content
ourselves at this time with mentioning only Dr. Wahnschatfe’s
views. Be it remarked, however, that it has always seemed to-
the writer that much of the discussion concerning the origin of
the German lakes, masked a broader question, which embraced
the narrower one discussed. Enclosed depressions are one of the
conspicuous features of the ‘‘ground moraine landscape.” Many
of these depressions do not become lakes because of pervious bot-
toms. But the dry ‘‘kettles” are just as significant as those filled
with water. The depressions are associated with hills and ridges
which constitute the second conspicuous feature of our terminal
morainic topography. ‘The association of these two features is
such as to make it necessary to suppose that the explanation of
the one must take account of the other ; that the processes which
called forth the one, were responsible also for the other. The ques-
tion at issue, therefore, is not the origin of the lake basins, but
the origin of the ills and basins (whether occupied by water or
not), that is, the origin of the ‘‘ground moraine landscape” (our
terminal moraine ) topography. This is not so much a criticism
of Dr. Wahnschatfe’s discussion as a comment upon some of the
discussions which have preceded this volume, and which are cited
in it.
Dr. Wahnschatfe recognizes several classes of lakes. One class
is designated the ‘‘ground moraine lakes ” (Grundmordnensecen).
Itis to this class of lakes to which the foregoing comment is rele-
vant, and Dr. Wahnschatfe does not regard their origin as a ques-
tion distinct from the origin of the topography of the Baltic. He
would therefore make the origin of these basins contemporaneous.
with the origin of the topography with which they are associated.
A second class of lakes are associated with the HLudmordne, and
occupy depressions, of which this ridge constitutes one of the
bounding walls. They are basins formed by morainic dams. A
third class of lake basins are attributed to the eroding action of
the waters arising from the melting of the ice, either as they
plunged through crevasses, excavating small circular hollows.
below, or as they flowed through their sub-glacial or extra-glacial
courses. Many of the lakes which are connected with each
other as beads on a string, are referred to such an origin. Still
other lakes, few in number and small in size, may be the result
of underground solution.
Gas Wells Near Letts, lowa.— Witter. 319
Post Glacial Changes. Not the least valuable chapter of the
book is the discussion of the surface changes which the German
territory has undergone in postglacial time. Certain criteria,
which have at one time and another been used as evidence of
change of level, are discussed and their errors clearly pointed out.
Evidence of great changes of level in post-glacial time is not
found inthe coast region. ‘The topographic distribution of the
loess in southern Germany, so far as its altitude in different
regions is given, would raise the question whether there may not
have been considerable surface warping in that region.
Although I have dissented from some of Dr. Wahnschatfe’s con-
clusions, some of these differences are more apparent than real,
because of the diverse use of terms. Others are more funda-
mental. To accomplish the purpose for which this paper is
written, it has been necessary to emphasize the points wherein
American and German views differ most widely, passing over in
silence many of the more numerous points of agreement. But
the book is throughout suggestive, and on the whole a most satis-
factory compendium of present knowledge concerning the glacial
formations of Germany.
GAS WELLS NEAR LETTS, IOWA.
By Pror. F. M. Wirrer, Muscatine, Lowa.
In the early partof December, 1890, Mr. T. L. Estle, living in
Section 3, Township 75 N. Range 4 W. 5th Principal Meridian,
sunk « well on his farm for water. In drift at a depth of about
100 feet he struck gas which burned readily, but in two or
three days the gas ceased to flow. Between 40 and 80 rods
west of this place about the same time Mr. R. M. Lee bored for
water, At about 100 feet he failed to get water and stopped
boring.
Inthe evening he commenced to pull out his casing, and sueceeded
in raising it perhaps 8 or 10 feet. During the night a great roar-
ing was heard, and on approaching the well with a lantern the gas
took fire and a great flame shot several feet into the air with a
frightful noise. In a few days the flame was extinguished, and
the gas piped into Mr. Lee’s house, a few rods away, where for
over a year it has furnished him light and fuel.
320 The American Geologist. May, 1892
This well now furnishes Messrs. R. M. Lee, T. J. Estle, J. E.
Lee and Robert Lee with all their fuel and light. Mr. Robt. Lee
is a little over one mile from the well.
It is carried in common gas pipe laid on the top of the ground.
The pipe is 2 in., 1} in., and the last half mile 1 in. in diameter.
This well supplies 12 fires and 16 lights.
No estimate has been made as to how many more it might sup-
ply, but the number would certainly be quite large.
Mr. J. E. Lee stated that the opening admitting the gas from
the casing of the well to the main was considerably less than the
size of an ordinary lead pencil, and that it flowed a half mile in
the main in 14 seconds. How this rate was satisfactorily ascer-
tained we did not learn.
The same gentleman said the pressure at first was about 53
pounds, which has steadily risen till it is now 12 pounds. From
a large stream issuing in our faces we could detect a faint odor
resembling ether or chloroform. It gives a fine steady light and
most intense heat in the stoves and artistic grates. It seems in
all respects to be equal to or superior to the best artificial illum-
inating gas. The gas is used just as it is when it issues from
the well.
Within a circle of about three miles in diameter in the town-
ships named above, from at least seven wells sunk for water, gas
issued. The depth to the gas ranges from about 90 ft. to 125 ft.
At a depth from 6 to 25 feet below the gas a good, constant sup-
ply of water is obtained. It seems to be very easy to shutoff the
gas by the rapid sinking of the casing in a sort of blue clay with
some sand, in which the gas is thought to be stored. The clay
seems to form a tube as the drill and casing descend, and this
prevents the gas from getting into the well, unless it is given a
little time at the right place. The country for miles around
is full of wells, which are all believed to be sunk to the water
below the gas, without discovering the gas for reasons given
above.
I made the following tests on the water from below the gas.
With potassium ferrocyanide I observed no reaction. On evapo-
rating perhaps 50 ce, a considerable amount of solid matter was
obtained. This was of a somewhat yellowish brown color, and
effervesced readily with hydric chloride. This solution when
tested with potassium ferrocyanide gives a deep blue. I was led
Gas Wells Near Letts, Iowa,.— Witter. 321
to believe from these tests that the water contained a carbonate
and some compound containing iron in solution.
At a depth of 18 or 20 feet, water has generally been found in
this locality, but the supply is variable. Mr. Robt. Lee has a
well which he dug several years ago, the water of which was ex-
cellent and in good quantity. This well is about 18 feet deep and
carefully walled. Last summer he bored for water about 100 feet
from this well. At a depth of a little more than 100 feet he
found a little gas issuing at irregular intervals. Immediately
after the appearance of the gas the water in the shallow well
became muddy and unfit for use, and has remained so, though
the water seems to be much worse at times, which are irreg-
ular.
It seems to me that the gas rises outside of the casing to the
porous bed holding the water of the shallow well, and passes
through this to the well and injures the water.
The country in which these wells are located is comparatively
level. Indications. are at hand everywhere of a boggy or peaty
nature. There are but few low hills and no ravines of any note.
The soil is a rich black loam, and the whole region is said to be
destitute of the boulders so common in many parts of Lowa, and
especially of Muscatine county. Mr. J. E. Lee stated that wells
in this region had been sunk 280 feet, and no rock had been
reached.
The well in Muscatine county from which gas is used is
on the farm of Mr. Jno. Idle, in Section 35, Township 76, Range
4 W. j
The farmers in the neighborhood of these gas wells are about
to complete an arrangement to put down a_ well 2,000 to
2,500 feet deep. This is to determine whether there is oil below
the gas.
It is my own impression that the gas comes from considerable
beds of vegetable matter buried in this unusually heavy drift de-
posit in this region. The area, it seems to me, which is thus un-
derlaid, is 6 or 8 miles long, and perhaps 3 or 4 miles wide.
I should expect to find the rocks here directly below the drift
to be of the Devonian age.
This locality is on the east side of the Cedar river. The near-
est well to the Cedar is about two miles distant. No gas has yet
been found on the west of the Cedar,
322 The American Geologist. May, 1892
CLIMATIC CHANGES INDICATED BY THE GLA-
CIERS OF NORTH AMERICA.
By Israen C. Russeti, Washington, D, C.
Prof. Dufour has shown that the existing glaciers of Europe
and Asia are retreating.* This is proof of a marked climatic
change over a great area, within the last one or two decades, and
renders it important to know if evidence of a similar change is
furnished by the glaciers of other regions. Should it be found
that glaciers on other continents are also retreating, it would not
only be an interesting contribution to physical geography, but
have an important bearing on the study of the causes of the
Glacial Epoch.
The data presented in this paper in reference to recent changes
in the glaciers of North America, have been assembled in response
to a letter addressed to the Director of the U. 8. Geological Sur-
vey by Prof. Dufour, and is here published with the hope that it may
lead to the accumulation of additional data in the same connection.
Distribution of Existing Glaciers in North America.
Glaciers may be arranged, provisionally at least, in three
classes, viz:—alpine, piedmont and continental. It is also con-
venient to designate those which enter the ocean and break off in
bergs, as tide water glaciers. Examples of each of these types
occur in North America.
The glaciers of North America are confined to the Cordilleran
system and to-the Greenland region. Small ice bodies are known
to exist on the higher volcanic peaks in Mexico, but of these we
have only indefinite information. Their southern limit in the
United States is in the High Sierra of California, in about latitude
37° N. The ice bodies in that region are small but have the
essential features of the largest alpine glaciers. They are con-
fined to cirques near the mountain summits and do not descend
below a horizon 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the sea. In
northern California, Oregon, and Washington, glaciers become
more numerous, of greater extent, and extend to lower hori-
zons than in the High Sierra. They occur about the summits
of Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainer, Mt. Baker, and several other peaks
in the Cascade mountains, which have an altitude exceeding
10,000 or 11,000 feet. In the Rocky mountains they begin
at the south, with snow bodies in Colorado, which by some
«Bull. Soc. Vaud Se. Nat., Vol. xvi, 1881, pp. 422-425.
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glaciers. —Russdl. 323
are considered as true glaciers, and increase in number and
‘extent towards the north. In the Cordillera system in Canada,
glaciers are numerous, but have been explored to only a lim-
ited extent. Those best known are in the Selkirk mountains
and on the Stikine river. Farther north in the same great mount-
ain belt, many glaciers are known to exist, and in Alaska they
reach their greatest development. As one follows the glacial belt
northward the lower limit of perpetual snow descends lower and
lower, until finally at the base of Mt. St. Elias its elevation is
only about 2,500 feet above the sea. The glaciers extend below
the snow line and reach sea level near the mouth of the Stikine
river in about latitude 57°. From there northwestward to Cook’s
inlet there are hundreds, if not thousands, of magnificent ice
streams which descend nearly to the ocean level, and scores which
enter the ocean and breaking off form bergs. Local glaciers
clustering about high peaks, occur on the Alaskan peninsula and
the Aleutian islands. This great glacier belt is approximately
3,000 miles long. The most thoroughly snow and ice covered
portion is in the region about’ Mt. St. Elias, where not less than
30.000 square miles of exceedingly mountainous country is com-
pletely buried beneath a vast névé field which is drained by
glaciers of the alpine type flowing both north and south. Those
flowing south are the more important. On gaining the flat lands
between the base of the mountains and the sea, they expand and
form Piedmont glaciers. Of these, the Malaspina glacier, having
an area of about 1,500 square miles, is the best known example.
An interesting fact in connection with the distribution of glaciers
on the west coast of North America is that their northern limit is
less than one hundred miles north of Mt. St. Elias. Mountains
in central and northern Alaska having an elevation of 4,000 or
5,000 feet are without snow during the summer and no glaciers
exist upon them, As is now known this region was not glaciated
during the Glacial Epoch.
On the east side of North America existing glaciers are con-
fined to Greenland and to neighboring islands. The ice sheet coy-
ering Greenland is of the continental type and, as is well known,
is the largest existing ice body in the northern hemisphere. The
glaciers on the islands west of Greenland are of the alpine type,
and many of them are known to be of great size, but their ex-
ploration is far from complete.
j24 The American Geologist. May, 1892
Are the Glaciers of North America Advancing or Retreating ?
The glaciers of this continent have been known for so short a
time that only small portions of their histories have been read.
Their study is comprised almost entirely within the past decade
and has been carried on in such a desultory way that for the most
part only qualitative evidence as to their advance or retreat is
available.
Character of the Evidence: Kvidence of the advance or retreat
of the ends of alpine glaciers, or of the borders of piedmont
and continental glaciers, may be obtained in various ways. (Gla-
ciers which are advancing sometimes plow into the debris in
front of them and force it up in concentric ridges, usually with
the formation of cracks in the soil. The surfaces of the ridges
formed in this way are frequently covered with vegetation, which
in addition to their forms and the character of the material of
which they are composed, serves to distinguish them from termi-
nal moraines. When a glacier advances into a forest, the trees.
are broken off and piled in confused heaps about the margin of
the ice. The upper surface of a glacier is known to flow faster
than the ice below, and an advance is probably accomplished by
the upper surface flowing over and burying the ice which rests on
the ground. For this reason, advancing glaciers usually present
bold scarps at their extremities, and, in general, are not covered
with a broad sheet of debris.
In retreating glaciers the layers of new snow deposited on the
névé fields and changing to ice as they flow downward, are melted
before reaching the margins of the ice streams, andthe slow moy-
ing ice at the bottom is thus left exposed and melts away. The
retreat is accomplished not by a contraction in the volume of the
ice-body, but by the melting of its distal extremity. The ice
which is not covered by fresh layers melts at the surface, and the
englacial debris which it contains is concentrated in a general
sheet forming fringing moraines. Whena sheet of debris of this
character is extensive and covers the lower portion of a glacier.
from side to side, it indicates that the ice beneath is practically
stationary and consequently is melting and retreating. The ends
of retreating glaciers’ frequently have a gentle surface slope, and
in many instances are so ¢ompletely concealed by debris that the
actual terminus of the ice cannot be distinguished. When the
moraines are heavy, however, and especially when they are clothed
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glaciers.—Russell, 325
with vegetation, the melting of the ice beneath is greatly retarded,
and in some observed instances the glaciers thus protected termi-
nate in bold scarps.
- When a glacier retreats more rapidly than soil can form on the
abandoned area, so as to admit of the growth of plants, a deso-
late tract is left about its end, on which concentric lines of stones
and boulders may indicate halts in the retreat. Barren areas of
this nature, when the lack of vegetation is not due to the action
of water from the ice, are good evidence of recent glacial reces-
sion. When glaciers which flow through a valley having steep
sides, become stagnant, a general lowering of the surface, de-
creasing up stream, takes place, which leaves the bordering slopes
bare of vegetation. The action of rain and rills on such surfaces
may indicate to some extent the length of time they have been
exposed. The presence of fine glacial debris on slopes from
which it would be easily washed by rain, may also furnish evi-
dence in the same connection. Retreating glaciers sometime
leave detached masses of ice which are melted in the course of a
few years and hence indicate rapid changes. |The amount of sub-
aerial erosion on glaciated areas may also serve to indicate the
length of time they have been exposed.
These various classes of evidence usually enable one to deter-
mine definitely whether a glacier has recently advanced or re-
treated, and may sometimes afford a clue to the rate of these
changes. In the study of the glaciers of America we have at
present no definite quantitative measurements, and must rely on
such phenomena as have been indicated.
California: Some of the small glaciers in the High Sierra
were visited by me in 1883 and 1884. I found that they were
certainly not advancing, and from the occurrence of barren area
about their extremities judged that they were slowly receding, but
could not obtain evidence as to the rate of the recession,
Observations by J. 8. Diller, of the U. 8. Geological Survey,
on Mt. Shasta, indicate that the glaciers in northern California,
like those farther south, are retreating. Evidence of this is
furnished by barren areas about the ends of several of the glaciers
and by a conspicuous lateral moraine on the side of the Whitney
glacier, which in 1887 was about twenty-five feet above the level
of the adjacent ice.
Oregon and Washington: The glaciérs on the Cascade mount-
326 The American Geologist. May, 1892
ains have been visited by a number of persons, but I have been
unable to obtain satisfactory evidence of advance or recession.
An inspection of photographs of the glacier on Mt. Rainer indi-
cates that they end in areas bare of vegetation, which presum-
ably were recently occupied by ice.
British Columbia: The glaciers of British Columbia, although
numerous and important, are but imperfectly known, and only a
few observations on recent changes have been made. Many of
these glaciers, however, have been seen by Dr. G. M. Dawson,
who informs me that in no instance are there evidences that they
have recently advanced, and considers it is safe to assume that they
are either stationary or slowly receding.
R. G. MeConnel, of the Canadian Geological Survey, has
kindly informed me that the glaciers, both on the Stikine river
and in the Rocky mountains, have shrunken back from fresh look-
ing moraines, and that the intervals between the ice and the mo-
raines, in all instances examined by him, were destitute of trees
and contained but little vegetation of any kind. In his opinion a
marked retreat has occurred within the last century or two, but
whether it has been in progress during the past one or two dec-
ades cannot be decided from the evidence in hand. Observa-
tions made by Macoun and Ingersoll confirm this conclusion. *
I visited the IHlecellewaet glacier at Glacier station, on the
Canadian Pacific Railroad, in the spring of 1891, and found a.
barren area, intervening between the ice and the encircling forest,
several hundred yards in breadth, which had evidently been but
recently abandoned by the glacier. A small moraine on the
western side of the glacier also suggested a recent shrinking of
the ice. ‘The evidence of a recent retreat of this glacier has
also been noted by W. 8. Green +
An absence of vegetation about the extremity of one of the
glaciers on Stikine river was noted by Blake,} and may probably
be taken as an indication of a recent retreat of the ice. A legend
current among the Stikine Indians indicates that two glaciers on
opposite sides of the stream were formerly united and that the
river then flowed through a tunnel beneath the ice.
*Mountaineering in British Columbia, by Ernest Ingersoll, Bull. Am.
Geog, Soc., Vol. xviit, 1886, p. 18.
+tAmong the Selkirk glaciers, London, 1890, p. 69.
tAmerican Jour, Sci, Vol. xirv, 1867, pp. 96-101.
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glacters.— Russel, 327
Alaska: The evidence that a general retreat of the glaciers of
Alaska is still in progress is abundant, and in a few instances is
of quantitative value.
Lynn Canal: About this magnificent inlet there are many ice
streams of the alpine type, which descend nearly to sea level, but
none of them are now actually tide water glaciers. About the
ends of many of them there are dense forests of spruce trees
which must have been growing for at least one hundred and fifty
years, but between the forests and the present terminus of the
ice there is in several instances a barren area covered with morainal
deposits and bearing every indication of having but recently been
abandoned by the glaciers.* These conditions are especially
noticeable at the extremity of the Davidson glacier, situated on
the western side of the inlet near its head, which expands into a
broad ice foot on leaving the wild gorge through which it flows.
Between the present terminus of the ice and the encircling forest
there is a barren tract half a mile broad, which has been left by a
retreat of the ice so recently that vegetation has not been able to
take root upon it. A decided retreat of the ice has here recently
occurred, and to all appearances is still in progress, but no ob-
servations of its rate have been made.
Conditions similar to those seen at Davidson glacier were ob-
served in connection with several other ice streams in the same
region. In Taku inlet, the Norris glacier comes down to sea
level, but is separated from the water by broad mud flats. There
is no indication that this glacier has recently advanced and an
accumulation of debris over its surface indicates that it is melt-
ing away. The Taku glacier near at hand, is of the tidewater
type and evidence of recent changes are wanting.
Glacier Bay: The evidence of recent changes in Muir Gla-
cier have been presented by Wright,+ who has shown that
it has quite recently been both more extensive and of less size
that at present. Additional evidence of these changes have
been supplied by Reid, { who concludes that Muir Glacier and
other ice streams now discharging into Glacier bay, were form-
*Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 1, 1890, p. 152.
+The Ice Age in North America, by G. Frederick Wright, New York,
1889, pp. 51-57.
{Studies of the Muir Glacier, by H. F. Reid, National Geographic
Mag., Vol. rv, 1891, pp.
328 The American Geologist. May, 1892
erly much more extensive than at present, aud at the time of
the Vancouver's expedition in 1794, probably occupied the
whole of the bay to a point some distance below Willoughby
island. The retreat during one hundred years is thought to
be in the neighborhood of fourteen miles. This conclusion,
however, rests on certain passages in the narrative of Van-
couver’s voyage* which may possibly refer to floating ice, and
not to actual glaciers, and therefore not have the quantitative
yalue indicated above. But under any plausible rendering of
Vancouver's account, it does not seem possible to escape the con-
clusion that the ice in Glacier bay was far more abundant at the
time of his visit than in recent years.
Observations made by Wright and Reid in 1886 and 1890,
respectively, show that Muir glacier has retreated during this in-
terval more than 1,000 yards. This observed rate of recession
would, if continuous for one hundred years, produce a retreat of
approximately fifteen miles, and affords ground for believing that
the great retreat supposed to have occurred since Vancouver's
visit is approximately correct.
John Muir has kindly contributed the following note concerning
the retreat of the glaciers of southeastern Alaska, which con-
firms the evidence already presented:
“All the glaciers that have come under my observation in southeastern
Alaska have retreated and shallowed since first I became acquainted
with them in 1879 and 1880. Those in which the declivity of the chan-
nels is least, have of course receded the most. During the ten years
between 1880 and 1890, Muir glacier has receded about one mile, at its
mouth in Muir inlet.”
St. Elias Region: Much space could be occupied in recording
observations which indicate a general recession of the glaciers
about Yakutat and Disenchantment bays and along the adjacent
ocean shore, but a brief summary of this evidence is all that
seems necessary at this time.
The lower portions of a large number of glaciers in this region
are completely covered by continuous sheets of debris which has
been concentrated at the surface through the melting of the ice.
This debris is not being carried forward and deposited in terminal
moraines, but is distributed over the surface of the ice in a thin
*Voyage of Discovery around the World, by Vancouver, Vol. v, pp.
420-423. Quoted by Wright in Ice Age of North America, pp. 55-57.
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glacters.—Russell, 329
‘sheet and marks the stagnant condition of the glacier on which it
rests. In several instances, especially on the outer border of the
Malaspina glacier, the moraines resting on the ice are clothed
with vegetation, which over many square miles has the character
of a forest, composed principally of spruce trees, some of which
are three feet in diameter. Within the forest covered border and
forming a belt concentric with it, there is a barren tract covered
with stones and boulders. The forests growing on the glacier
and also thousands of lakelets, both in the outer border of the
barren moraine and in the adjacent forest-covered moraine, indi-
cate conclusively that the ice-sheet is stagnant and consequently
wasting away. On the coast bordering the Malaspina glacier on
the south, there were formerly two projections called point Rio
and cape Sitkagi which were noted by the explorers one hundred
years ago. In traversing this coast in 1891, | found that no capes
exist at the localities referred to. At the site of cape Sitkagi
there is evidence that the sea has recently invaded the glacial
boundary. On the sides of many of the alpine glaciers in the
St. Elias region there are steep slopes bare of vegetation although
well below the upper limit of tree-growth of adjacent areas, which
indicate that the ice streams have recently shrunken within their
beds. My conclusions after two visits to the glaciers in the St.
Elias region is that without exception they are rapidly retreating.
Near point Manby there is a locality where the Malaspina gla-
cier has‘recently advanced about 1,500 feet into a dense spruce
forest, cutting off the trees and sweeping them into confused
heaps. After advancing, the ice retreated, leaving a typical mo-
raine surface filled with lakelets. This is the only instance of a
recent advance that has come under my notice.
The head of Yakutat bay was visited by Malaspina in 1791,
and again by captain Puget in 1794. Each of these explorers
found the inlet blocked by a wall of ice from shore to shore.
No other observations in this connection were made until my
Visit in the summer of 1890.* From what may now be observed
it is evident that the Dalton and Hubbard glaciers, which come
down to the water at the head of the inlet and break off in bergs,
must have extended some five or six miles beyond their present
* Map indicating the position of the ice in 1791 is shown on plate 7
and its extent in 1890. on plate 8, of my report on an expedition to Mt.
st. Elias, in Nat. Geog. Mag., Vol. 1. This is only a sketch map, and
cannot be relied upon for measurement of. distances.
330 The American Geologist. May, 1882
position at the time of Malaspina’s and Puget’s visits, and were
then united so as to completely block the entrance to Disenchant-
ment bay, which is a continuation of Yakutat bay. These obser.
vations show conclusively that the glaciers mentioned have re-
treated five or six miles within the past one hundred years. The
small recession that has here taken place, in comparison with the
changes reported in Glacier bay, during the same time, is prob-
ably due to the fact that the névé from which Muir glacier flows,
is much lower than the snow fields drained by the Hubbard and
Dalton glaciers, and presumably more sensitive to climatic:
changes.
North Side of the St. Elias Mountains: — Dr. C. Willard Hayes,
of the U. $8. Geological Survey, in crossing from Selkirk house
on the Yukon river to Copper river, in 1891, passed for a portion
of the way along the northern border of the great system of
mountains which culminate in Mt. St. Elias, and discovered sey-
eral large glaciers of the alpine type flowing northward from the
névé field north of Mt. St. Elias, and also other glaciers draining
névé fields about Mt. Wrangell and flowing southward. Respect-
ing the evidence of recent changes in these glaciers, Dr. Hayes.
has kindly supplied the following notes:
Two large glaciers and many small ones were seen flowing from the-
St. Elias mountains northward into the White river basin. Another
flows from the southeast into the pass and drains into both the White-
and Copper river basins, About the head of the Nizzenah are four large -
and many small glaciers. Flowing into Copper river from the coast
range are four or five glaciers, one of them—Miles glacier—being larger
than any seen further in the interior. Observations were thus made on,
twelve glaciers, and with one exception to be described later, all show a
more or less rapid recession. The evidence of this recession in most
cases is the accumulated moraine covering the terminal edge of the
glacier; or where there is not sufficient englacial drift to accumulate and:
form a protective mantle, the stagnant ice melting to a feather edge.
The White river lobe of Russell glaciers is of the moraine covered:
type, while the Nizzenah lobe has the feather edge. On the Klut-
lan and Russell glaciers the outer portion of the moraine covered ice-
supports a dense vegetation, which becomes gradually more scanty and
disappears about half a mile from the edge of the ice. The recession
of the smaller glaciers along the Nizzenah appears to have been.
more rapid than the advance of the vegetation so that between it and.
the ice is a belt of bare moraine.
Miles glacier terminates in an ice cliff fronting upon Copper river-
and the river has as yet cut only part way through the dam formed by~
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glaciers.— Russell, 331
the northern lateral moraine. This moraine must, until very recently,
have been backed up by the glacier itself, though the front of the latter
has now retreated two miles to the eastward.
While the fact of recession is manifest, the rate is more difficult to de-
termine. In one case, however, it is possible to connect the amount of
recession with an important episode in the history of the region, namely,
the eruption of a wide spread deposit of volcanic ash which extends
from near the head of the Pelly westward to Scolai pass. With regard
to the age of this deposit Dr. Dawson says:* “While the eruption must
have happened at least several hundred years ago, it can scarcely be
supposed to have taken place more than a thousand years before the
present time.”
For a distance of about three miles in front of the Klutlan glacier
there is a deposit of moraine material perhaps 200 feet thick, composed
of volcanic ash and angular rock fragments. This evidently fixes the
position of the glacial front at the time of the volcanic eruption, and the
amount of recession since that event. It is interesting to note that on
the present glacier surface the volcanic ash is found only ashort distance
from the end, showing that since the eruption, while the front of the
glacier has receded about three miles, nearly the whole mass of the
glacier has been renewed by fresh addition from its source.
The single exceptional case already referred to, is the Frederika gla-
cier, which seems to be advancing its front instead of retreating. It has
its source in the high mountains forming the eastern members of the
Wrangell group, and flows south in a lateral valley, joining the valley of
the Nizzenah at right angles. The front of the glacier is parallel with
the river and about three-fourths of a mile from it, the intervening space
being a gravel plain. The glacier terminates in a nearly vertical ice
cliff about 250 feet high. It is slightly convex, and stretches entirely
across the valley abouta mile in length. The surface of the glacier is
free from moraines but is extremely rough and broken, unlike the ordi-
nary surface of stagnant ice at the end of a retreating glacier. At the
foot of the cliff is a small accumulation of gravel and fragments of ice,
probably pushed along by the advancing mass.t
An explanation of this anomalous case is suggested. Ten miles to the
westward of the Frederika another much larger glacier flows into the
valley of the Nizzenah. This is formed by the union of three separate
Streams, and of these the eastern appears to be retreating much more
rapidly than either of the others. But this eastern branch probably has
its source in the same basin as the Frederika glacier, and it seems not
impossible that by some means the drainage has been diverted from the
western to the eastern outlet, thus causing the rapid retreat in the former
glacier and advance in the latter.
*Report on Yukon District, p. 45 B.
This is the only instance of an advancing glacier known on the west
coast of North America. I. C. R.
oar The American Geologist. May, 1892
Greenland: Regarding recent changes in the ice sheet of
Greenland there is but scanty evidence, and such observations as
have been made on the advance and retreat of the margin of the
ice are conflicting. Holts found in 1880, between latitude 61 and
65° 30’, on the west coast, according to Lindahl,* that ‘‘the bor-
der of the ice appeared to have retreated quite recently in many
places; in others it had decidedly advanced.” Nansen remarks
in this connection that we cannot even conjecture what the present
conditions are, and thinks that the observations show that there
is no strong tendency either towards advance or retreat. Warren
Upham, who has recently reviewed the literature relating to the
Greenland ice sheet, informs me that in his judgment the ice is
now slightly increasing in thickness and generally in extent.
This conclusion rests largely on the general absence of debris on
the borders of the ice sheet. His studies have also led him to
the conclusion that Greenland, in common with other portions of
the northeast border of this continent, is now having an appre-
ciable increase in cold.
The observations of those who have traversed the inland ice
seems to indicate that nearly its entire surface is in the condition
of anévé, and suggest that growth and not retreat must be in
progress. The absence of debris on the borders of the ice sheet
referred to by Upham, is important in this connection, and seems
to indicate that no great waste of ice occurs before it is discharged
into the sea. So far as one may judge from the observations of
others, it seems as if the evidence available points to an increase
of the ice sheet, as supposed by Upham, but I do not give much
weight to this conclusion. Dufour, however, in a paper cited in
the beginning of this essay, is inclined to the opposite conclusion.
He states that in 1880 he made a communication on the retreat of
the glaciers of Europe and Asia before a scientific congress at
teims, and that during the discussion which followed one of the
persons present, who had been in Greenland several times, men-
tioned that he ‘shad noticed that the glaciers of that land had also
*Am. Nat., Vol. 22, 1888, p. 593.
+First Crossing of Greenland, Vol. 1, p. 491.
{The conclusions of Mr. Upham are also contained in the following
papers:—*On the cause of the cold of the Glacial Epoch,” Am. Geol.,
Vol. v1, 1890, p. 336; and “The ice sheet of Greenland,” Am. Geol., Vol.
virl, 1891, p. 150: OC riteria of englacial and subglacial drift,’ Am. Geol.,
Vol. vir, 1891, p. 385.
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glaciers.—Russdl. 358
retreated considerably.” It is known that-the glaciers of Green-
Jand were much more extensive during a former epoch than at
present, and left records at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the
present ice surface.* It may be suggested that the observations
referred to by Dufour possibly relate to these ancient records.
Weight of the Evidence: The observations summarized in this
paper in reference to the Cordillera region, although unsatisfac-
tory in many ways, indicate with a single exception which seems
to have a special explanation, that the ice bodies in that region are
retreating. This conclusion not only rests on direct observa-
tions of several individuals, but is sustained by negative evidence
as well. An advance of a glacier, especially in a forested country,
is apt to be strongly marked, and would attract the attention of
even a casual observer, but in no instance, with the exception
reported by Dr. Hayes, and the slight extension on the border
of the Malaspina glacier already mentioned, has a recent advance
of the glaciers been reported.
The fact that the glaciers at the head of Yakutat bay have re-
treated several miles within the past one hundred years, as well
as the still greater recession of the glaciers of Glacier bay during
the same period, indicates the present general recession of the
olaciers of the Pacific coast has probably been in progress for more
than a century. During this time there must have been many
minor oscillations which our imperfect observations do not de-
tect but the fact that the general movement has been backward
is well sustained.
The shrinking of the glaciers of the west coast of North
America, together with the conclusions reached by Prof. Dufour
to the effect that the glaciers of both Kurope and Asia are reced-
ing, indicate that the Greenland ice sheet is the only one in the
Northern Hemisphere which is not now diminishing.
Climatic changes: The advance and retreat of glaciers depends
on climatic change. Glaciers, like enclosed lakes, record the
result of the sum total of climatic changes which favor the re-
tention of moisture on the land. In general it is safe to assume
that increased precipitation will favor their growth and a rise of
temperature lead. to their retreat. A general decrease in the
glaciers of the Pacific coast suggests that other evidence of a
secular climatic change should be found in the same region. ‘To
*Am. Jour. Sci. 3rd ser., Vol. 24, pp. 100-101.
334 The American Geologist. May, 1892
discover if there is any connection between the retreat of glaciers
and recorded observations on climatic changes, it would appear
that an inspection of the records of mean annual temperature
and mean annual rainfall, without discussing the causes of these
changes, would be sufficient. Difficulty in the way of making
this comparison arises, however, from the fact that in the glacial
records we have only the general result of a long series of changes,
all minor features of which are lost; while in the weather records
sufficient time has not been covered by the observations to show
secular changes a century or more in extent, which would be
necessary to reach a satisfactory conclusion. The weather records
on the Pacific coast did not begin until 1849, and were not made
at a sufficient number of stations to furnish a basis for determin-
ing general climatic changes until a number of years later. This
lack of observations render it impossible to make the comparison
desired. The same proves to be true also on attempting to cor-
_relate the retreat of the glaciers with the weather records of the
entire North American continent. The only conclusion to be
reached in this connection seems to be that the data relating to
both the fluctuations of glaciers and to climatic changes are inad-
equate for satisfactory comparison. .
Curves showing secular changes in temperature and rainfall of
the world for more than one hundred years, derived from all
available weather records, have been published by Dr. Bruckner, *
of the University of Berne. The observations of temperature
embrace the period between 1730 and 1885 and show a gradual
rise during the latter part of this interval. The curve indicating
rainfall includes the period between 1775 and 1885, and shows a
gradual decrease towards the end of this period. These results
seem in harmony with the decrease of the glaciers of Europe and
Asia and of the west coast of North America, but how accurately
the curves indicate actual changes in the elements of climate re-
ferred to it is impossible to say. The general rise in the tempera-
ture curve, the gradual fall in the curve representing precipitation,
towards the end of the periods of observation are probably in-
fluenced by the varying character of the observations during
different portions of the period. The correspondence between
the general retreat of the glaciers in the northern hemisphere and
the changes in the records of temperature and rainfall referred to
*Penk’s Geog. Ablandlunger, Vol. 1v, 1890, p. 329.
Climatic Changes Indicated by Glacters.— Russell, 335
above may be valid, but it seems to me for various reasons, that
but little weight should attach to it.
The comparison of the retreat of glaciers on the west coast
with the rise and fall of the lakes of that region, more especially
of the enclosed lakes, would be instructive, but here again, as in
the case of the weather records, no records covering a suffi-
cient length of time are available. Observations on the rise and
fall of Great Salt lake show many fluctuations, but no general
decrease which is comparable with the retreat of the ‘Cordilleran
glaciers. *
The geological records of lakes Bonneville and Lahontan show
two maxima separated by a minimum, which latter indicates a
period of desiccation, and followed by a second minimum which
extends to the present day. The retreat of the glaciers on the
west coast seems in harmony with this record. The desiccation of
the lakes referred to has accompanied the retreat of the glaciers
on neighboring mountains, but -has been more rapid. It is be-
lieved that the lakes of the Great Basin had their last maximum
at the time the Sierra Nevada was covered with glaciers. A gen-
eral decrease in the glaciers appears to have accompanied the de-
siccation of the lakes and is still in progress.
The retreat of the glaciers on the Pacific coast, as shown by
rough quantitative determinations at Yakutat and Glacier bays,
has been in progress for not less than one hundred years. The
character of the forests about the extremities of the glaciers of
Lynn canal, show that the ice streams have not advanced beyond
the barren areas in which they now terminate, within at least one
hundred and fifty or two hundred years. In the case of David-
son glacier, the barren area intervening between the ice and the
encircling forest is about half a mile wide. If this retreat was
accomplished within one hundred years it would show that the ice
foot receded at the rate of about two feet per year. +
Similar conclusions have been reached in reference to other
glaciers in the same region and, although definite measurements
*The fluctuations of Great Salt lake have been discussed by G. K.
Gilbert, who shows that they coincide but imperfectly with observed
variations in temperature and precipitation in the same region. U.S.
Geol. Surv., Monograph No. 1, pp. 280-248.
TThis is an exceedingly rough estimate for the reason that the breadth
of the barren area about the foot of Davidson glacier has not been
ee The statement that it is half a mile wide is from eye estimate
simply.
336 The American Geologist. May, 1892
are lacking, these considerations show that the retreat has been
very gradual, and was undoubtedly accompanied by many minor
changes of which we have no record. The indications are that
the retreat of the glaciers has been so gradual that it is doubtful
if ordinary weather observations would be able to detect the
change, unless carried over a period of several decades, and
therefore could not be expected to appear in the weather records
now available. For example, a decrease in the mean annual rain-
fall of the Pacific coast to the extent of one-tenth of an inch per
year would, in the time covered by the retreat of the glaciers,
produce marked results, but would scarcely be detected in a series
of observations covering less than a decade, and even then the
stations would have to be numerous to allow one to draw definite
conclusions. Similar considerations hold true also in reference to
an increase of temperature.
These considerations indicate that the growth of glaciers and
the initiation and decline of Glacial epochs, are caused: by very
gradual climatic changes which would only become conspicuous,
as climatic changes are now studied, after the lapse of centuries.
Washington, D. C., February 29, 1892.
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
Sir ANDREW C. RAmsay, BART.
With the death of the late director-general of the geological
survey of Great Britain and Ireland, at his home at Beaumaris (1. of
Anglesey) on the 9th of December, 1891, at the age of 77, a con-
spicuous and long familiar figure disappeared from the geological
world. A born geologist, he needed only the opportunity for
showing his power and this came during a visit to the Isle of
Arran (for the benefit of his health, never too strong), through
accidental contact with Prof. Nichol, of Glasgow. Mapping and
modelling the island, his work attracted the attention of Murehi-
son at the meeting of the British Association, at Glasgow, in 1840.
Through his assistance Ramsay was attached to the survey and
assigned to South Wales. . In 1845 he was made local director
for Great Britain, which office he held until on the death of Sir
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 337
Roderick Murchison in 1871, he became director general, retain-
ing the post till 1881.
To Ramsay geology is indebted for bringing into prominence
the doctrine of earth sculpture. In his first paper on the denuda-
tion of South Wales he showed that ‘‘ the existing topography of
the land has a long and interesting history much of which may
still be deciphered,” This idea he afterwards enlarged in his
«« Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain,” a series of
lectures delivered at first to working-men.
Another of his favorite subjects was the erosion of their beds
by glaciers, and the now familiar doctrine of the excavation of
the basins in which lie many of the lakes so numerous in glaciated
regions. This doctrine yet retains some value in special cases,
but it was doubtless pushed by its able author beyond due bounds.
He also was among the first to attempt to establish the recurrence
of glacial episodes in the distant past, as for example, in the
Permian and Devonian eras and to make prominent the idea of
paleontological breaks in the record of life, which he did in his
addresses before the Geological Society of London in 1863 and
1864, dates which form an epoch in the history of the science,
In addition to these side issues the results of his direct labors
may be found in the volumes of the geological survey during his
directorship.
REVIEW OF RECENT GEOLOGICAL
LITERATURE.
Tenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey to the Secre-
tary of the Interior, 1888-89. By J. W. Powett., Director, Washington,
1890. Part I. Geology, pp. xv, 774; with 98 plates, and about 70 figures
in the text. Part II, Irriga‘ion. pp. viii, 1238.
These volumes were distributed to working geologists and libraries a
few months ago. During the fiscal year reported, an aggregate area of
43,222 square miles, including parts of twenty-three states and territo-
ries, was surveyed and mapped The topographic surveys have been
extended over the whole of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New
Jersey ; more than half of Virginia and West Virginia; approximately
two-fifths of Missouri, Kansas, and Arizona; a quarter of Maryland and
Tennessee; and a sixth of North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky,
and California.. About a tenth part of the national domain has been
thus accurately surveyed.
358 The American Geologist. May, 1892
Summaries of the work of this survey, and of the present state of
knowledge of North American geologic systems, with correlation of
formations throughout the country, were in progress of preparation, as
follows: on the Pleistocene, by T. C. Chamberlin ; Neocene, William H.
Dall; Eocene, W. B. Clark ; Cretaceous (including the Laramie ), C. A.
White ; Jura-Trias, I. C. Russell; Carboniferous and Devonian, H. 8.
Williams; Silurian and Cambrian, C. D. Walcott; Algonkian and
Archean, C. R. Van Hise ; correlation by vertebrate paleontology, O. C.
Marsh ; correlation by pal:eobotany, Lester F. Ward ; resumé of North
American stratigraphy, W. J. McGee; and discussion of principles of
correlation, G. K. Gilbert. Three of these memoirs, by White, Williams,
and Walcott, have been siuce issued as bulletins of the survey.
Professor Pumpelly’s report of the progress of his investigation of the
structure of the Green mountains shows that they consist of compressed °
folds overturned toward the west. The cores of the folds are pre-
Cambrian crystalline rocks, which are generally hidden. Metamor-
phosed detrital rocks form the surface, apparently comprising the entire
Cambriam system and the Silurian upward to the Hudson River forma-
tion.
In the work of the Atlantic Coast division, under the direction of
Prof. N.S. Shaler, the morasses and superficial deposits of Massachu-
setts have been mapped, and are found to exhibit a gradual decrease
of stratified gravel, sand and clay, and an increase of the areas of till, in
proceeding from the seaboard inland to the western and higher part tof
the state; moraines have been discovered in the interior, far back from
the great terminal moraine which forms the crest of Long Island, and
the drumlins are found to display diverse degrees of development, the
least prominent grading insensibly into ordinary sheet till.
The structure and origin of the Appalachian mountains have been
studied by Mr. G. IK. Gilbert, and Mr, Bailey Willis, and the latter has
undertaken a series of experiments to represent in miniature the folds
of these mountains by subjecting layers of plastic material to lateral
thrust.
Exploration of the rock formations surrounding lake Superior, by
Prof. C. R. Van Hise, has been extended over a large area, in north-
eastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin and Michigan. For the
extensive series of rocks, supposed to be beneath the Cambrian and
above the Archiean, well developed in this district, the name Algonkian
is proposed, This is another addition to the synonymy of the already
burdensome and complicated nomenclature of this uncertain horizon in
the geological scale.
In the Glacial division, under the direction of Pres. T. C. Cham-
berlin, work has related tothe glacial Lake Agassiz ; to the terminal
moraines, and the succession of deposits which make up the general
drift sheet: the gravels and sands of glacial origin continuing beyond
the limit of the ice incursions in the basin of the Mississipi; trains of
boulders in Wisconsin ; and the osars, kames, and valley drift in Maine.
Reports on most of these subjects are nearly ready for publication.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 339
Dr. A. C. Peale in central Montana, has examined a type section of
the entire Paleozoic system from the Carboniferous to the Algonkian,
inclusive, finding every principal division distinctively developed.
The field work in the Yellowstone National Park, under the direction
of Mr. Arnold Hague, comprised the continuation of observations of the
geysers, and especially the careful study of the Excelsior geyser, which,
after lying dormant for nearly six years has burst into renewed activity,
concurrently with the disappearance of several hot springs and small
streams. The topographic maps of the Park, and the delineation of the
areal geology, are completed.
Mr. 8. F. Emmons has nearly finished the preparation of monographs on
the Ten Mile and Silver Creek mining districts in Colorado, and on the
Denver coal basin. A most interesting formation, underlying the city of
Denver from which it is named, was discovered during the year covered
by this report and has been described by Mr. Whitman Cross. It is prob-
ably of Eocene age, and consists of sediments-eroded from andesitic lavas ,
but the situation of the area thus denuded has not been determined.
In California Mr. G. F. Becker, spent the greater part of the year in
surveys of the Gold Belt, tentatively mapping the geologic formations
of about half of the auriferous region. Well-preserved glacial strice
have been found on portions of the walls of the Yosemite Valley, and
on the head-waters of the Kaweah river, farther south than any locality
previously known. ‘Here, as elsewhere in the Sierras, the ice marking
is wonderfully fresh. Although the streams are roaring torrents of
high declivity they have corraded but a few feet of rock since the
glaciers disappeared.”
Mr. J. $8. Diller, in charge of the Cascade division, was occupied
during most of the season of field work in the collection of speci-
mens of voleanic rocks from various points of the Cordilleran mountain
belt, to form part of a series for distribution to the educational institu-
tions of the country. The number of specimens collected to represent
each variety of rock in the series, is 250.
The chief work of Mr. W. J. McGee during the year was the com-
pietion of his researches on the Pleistocene formations of northeastern
Iowa. Dr. G. H. Williams was engaged in study of the crystalline
rocks of the Piedmont region in Maryland; and Mr. L. C. Johnson in-
vestigated the Tertiary beds of the coastal plain in the southern states.
This report also reviews the palieontologic work done for this survey
by Prof. Marsh, Dr. Newberry, Prof. L. 3°. Ward, Mr. F. H. Knowlton,
Prof. W. M. Fontaine, Mr. C. D. Walcott, Prof. H. 8S. Williams, Dr. C. A.
White, Dr. W. H. Dall, and Mr. 8. H. Scudder ;: the work in the chemical
and physical laboratories by Prof. F. W. Clarke, Dr. Carl Barus, and
their assistants; the work of the petrographic laboratory by Messrs
Diller, Hague, Iddings, Bayley, and others; and the work in mining
statistics, and technology by Dr. David T. Day.
The total value of the metallic products of the United States, during
1888 was $256,245,000, of which iron was $107,000,000 ; silver $59,000,000 ;
and gold and copper, each $33,000,000, Among the non-metallic mineral
340 The American Geologist. May, 1892
products, which had an aggregate spot value of $328,914,000, bituminous
coal was $122,000,000, anthracite coal, $89,000,00C ; building stone, lime,
and petroleum, each about $25,000,000; and natural gas $22,662,000.
Next to these. but far below, are cement and salt, each about $4,000,000.
The report of the director and the administrative reports of the heads
of divisions, which together fill 252 pages, are accompanied by three im-
portant papers, entitled, General account of the Fresh-water Morasses
of the United States, with a description of the Dismal Swamp district of
Virginia, and North Carolina, by N.S. Shaler ; the Penokee Iron-bear-
ing series of Michigan and Wisconsin, by R. D. Irving and C. R. Van
Hise ; and The Fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Oleuellus zone, by C.
D. Walcott. Reviews of the tirst and second of these papers were pre-
sented in the March Gro.ocisr and of the second in vol. viii, p. 82.
Part II, relating to irrigation, describes the surveys which have been
entered upon in the great arid region of the plains and of the Cordil-
leran belt, with its enclosed basins. The topographic work was in
charge of Prof. A. H. Thompson, and the engineering and hydraulic
work under Capt. C. E. Dutton.
Mt. St. Elias and its Glaciers. By I. C. RusseLt. The mist which has
so long enshrouded this mountain has been in part dispelled during the
past summer by the expedition of Mr. Russell of which he gives an ac-
count in the American Journal of Science and the National Geographic
Magazine. Though unable to reach the summit on account of bad
_ weather, he camped with his party at an elevation of eight thousand feet
for twelve days, and made one unsuccessful expedition toward the sum-
mit, the only one allowed by the weather. Snow also prevented much
examination of the rocks but he reports them as consisting for the most
part of brown sandstone and dark shale, with intrusions of diorite and a
few beds of limestone. The dip is almost invariably to the northeast
but the thickness could not even be estimated in consequence of crush-
ing and overthrusts on a grand scale. No clue is given to the geological
date of the rocks, but as specimens of shells yet living in the adjoining
sea were found in recent strata on the sides of the mountain the conclu-
sion is reached that its elevation must be very recent. Indeed, Mr. Rus-
sell says that in his opinion the glaciers took pos:ession of the ground
at once, leaving no interval for the action of stream-erosion.
The hight of the limit of perpetual snow is given at 2000 feet and
some of the glaciers are fifty miles in length. Many of these unite to
form the great Malaspina glacier with an approximate area of 1500 square
miles and lying at an elevation of about 1500 feet. This glacier de-
bouches on Yakutat bay and the Pacific ocean between which and the
ice intervenes a wide drift-covered area partly overgrown with timber.
Mr. Russell calls special attention in his concluding paragraphs to the
marginal lakes which are formed at the hight of a thousand or fifteen
hundred feet, wherever the drainage is blocked by the ice and to the
deltas and terraces that are formed on the edges by these lakes which will
be left,-he says, high on the mountain side when the glacier melts away.
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 341
The hight of this mountain which has been so long in doubt has been
measured by Mr. Russell as closely as was possible with the means at
his command, and found to be 18,100 feet, with a possible error of 100
feet. This, with one exception, that of the U.S. Coast Survey, which
gave 19,500 feet, is the greatest hight that has been assigned to this
peak. Other estimates have varied from 12,672 feet upwards. Its posi-
tion as determined by Mr. Russell is just within the U. 8. frontier and
he calls it a corner monument of the national domain.
Parka decipiens by Str J. W. Dawson and Pror. D. P. PENnHALLOW.
In a memoir presented to the Royal Society of Canada this problematic
organism is well discussed by both these writers. Parka so well named
decipiens has been an object of controversy ever since its first description
in 1831. Regarded by Dr. Fleming as a seed this view was confirmed by
later observers, especially by Hugh Miller. ‘Then the opinion was ad-
vanced apparently by Lyell, that these bodies were the eggs of some mol-
luse such as Natica, or of some crustacean such as Pterygotus, the latter
of which was frequently found in the same beds. Other writers fol-
lowing these adopted apparently without original investigation, the same
view. Having received from Scotland some fresh specimens of Parka,
these were made the subject of a careful investigation by the two botan-
ists named, and their deliberate conclusion reverses the latter and recurs
to the earlier view of their nature. Judging from the statements that
they make, and the figures given therewith, little room for doubt re-
mains as to the accuracy of this determination. They make the species
and two varieties media and minor.
In another pamphlet reprinted from‘the Canadian Record of Science,
Prof. Penhallow establishes also on material received from Scotland the
genus Zosterophyllum with one species Wyretonianum, found associated
with Purka decipiens in Devonian rocks, in Caithness. He also describes
a Lycopodites (milleri) from the same beds.
Prof. Penhallow also describes in the same transactions two specimens
of semifossil wood from the Post-glacial beds of Dlinois. To one of
these he applies the name Quercus marcyana from Prof. Marcy of Evans-
ton, who sent him the material and to the other that of Pdcew evunstoni
from the place where both were found. The pine occurred in a thin
layer of peat immediately overlying the boulder-clay, and apparently in
the place of its original growth. The oak lay at a higher level in sand,
and had probably been floated to the place. Both trees were in the
lowest of the three lake-ridges at Chicago, near the spot from which
some years ago the bones of a mastodon were exhumed.
Altitudes between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains. By WARREN
UpnHam. pp. 229. (Bulletin No. 72, U.S. Geological Survey, 1891. Price
20 cents.) The altitudes of railway stations, summits, bridges, and low
and high water of streams are here tabulated, with distances in miles
and tenths, compiled from the profiles of about 18,500 miles of railway
lines in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Montana, and portions of
b42 The American Geologist. May, 1892
adjoining states, with the entire system of the Canadian Pacific railway,
and its connections from Port Arthur to the Pacific. Series of altitudes
along the course of the principal rivers are also arranged separately
in tabular form, including the lowest and highest stages of the Missis-
sippiand Missouri rivers, during many years at stations along all their
course, as determined by the Mississippi and Missouri River Commis-
sions. The basis of reference throughout is the mean sea level.
The Viscosity of Solids. By Cart Barus. pp. 139; with6 plates,
and 28 figures in the text. (Bulletin No. 73, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1891.
Price 15 cents) This treatise is a contribution toward the solution of
questions bearing on the viscosity of rock masses, following a general
plan devised by Mr. Clarence King. The experimental investigation of
the viscosity of steel leads the author to believe that he has discovered
a reliable working hypothesis substantially corroborative of Maxwell’s
theory on this subject.
The Minerals of North Carolina. By FRreperick A. GENTH. pp.
119. (Bulletin No. 74, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1891. Price, 15 cents.) Since
the publication of the latest previous catalogue of the minerals of this
state in 1881, there has been great activity in the development of its
mining: and by the reopening of old localities and the discovery of new
deposits, a considerable number of species have been added. The
author states that “ minerals formerly supposed to be rare are now found
abundantly, and through the recent developments of chemical industry
even such unusual species as samarskite, mouazite and zircon have
acquired commercial importance. For example, in response to an in-
dustrial demand, North Carolina has supplied zircon and monazite by
the ton, and samarskite by the hundred weight; and the output can be
increased almost indefinitely.”” Many new analyses are presented in
this memoir.
Record of North American Geology for 1887 to 1889, inclusive By
Nexson Horatio Darton. pp. 173. (Bulletin No. 75, U. 8S. Geol.
Survey, 1891. Price 15 cents.) The scope of this record includes Geo-
logic publications printed in North America, and publications relating
to North American geology wherever printed. The entries, which are
all arranged in a single alphabetic sequence, comprise authors’ names,
with full titles of separate papers and concise descriptive notes of their
contents ; titles of journals, state and national government reports, etc.,
under which authors and short titles of the contained papers are given ;
and subject references, which are geographic, stratigraphic, and mis-
cellaneous.
A Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States. ( second edition ). Com-
piled by Henry Gannerr, Chief Topographer. pp. 393. (Bulletin No. 76,
U.S. Geol. Survey, 1891. Price, 25 cents.) This work contains consider-
ably more extensive data than its earlier edition, which was published in
1884; the additions being mainly altitudes determined by railroad sur-
veys. Itis also more convenient for reference, as all the points noted
Review of Recent Geological Literature. 343
are arranged in a single alphabetic list, instead of the former separate
grouping for each state and territory.
Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. By Epwarp Wuyn-
PER. pp. Xxiv, 456 ; with four maps, 20 full page illustrations, and 118
figures in the text. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892.) In
this very interesting narrative of the author’s mountain climbing in
Equador, the geographer, geologist, archeologist, meteorologist, botan-
ist, and zoologist (especially the entomologist),encounter many valuable
scientific notes. Mr. Whymper found that a stay during several days
at high altitudes accustomed him to endure the rarified atmosphere
with less discomfort. Mercurial barometers were used for the determi-
nation of the great hights of Chimborazo (20,498 feet), Cotopaxi (19,613
feet ), Antisana ( 19,335 feet ), Cayambe (19,186 feet ), and the other some-
what less lofty volcanic cones of this portion of the Andes. The best
aneroid barometers were found to be very unreliable at the altitude of
Quito (9,350 feet), and during all the high ascents, so that they required
careful comparison with the mercurial column for learning the irregular
variations in their index-errors.
The genus Lituites, Breyn.—Dr. Gerhard Holm publishes in the Pro-
ceedings of the Geological Society of Stockholm (Vol. 15, pp. 736 et al.)
a valuable contribution to this genus, especially so far as relates to the
lobes. He was fortunate enough to obtain some beautifully preserved
specimens of ZL. litnus Mont., L. tenucaulis Rem, and some other forms,
among which is one new one (L. dzscors). He finds that there are in com-
plete specimens no less than five lobes, with the exception of LZ. discors
Holm, in which there are three lobes, and ZL. precurrens, in which there
are only two. There is, however, some doubt about this last species, and
it may probably have to be referred to another genus.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
I, State and Government Reports.
Indiana. Department of Geology and Natural History. Sixteenth
Annual Report. Maurice Thompson, State Geologist. 1888. pp. 472,
10 plates and Natural Gas Map. Indianapolis, 1889.
Sulletin of the U. 8. National Museum, No. 42. A Preliminary De-
scriptive Catalogue of the Systematic Collections in Economic Geology
and Metallurgy in the Museum, by F. P. Dewey. pp. 256 with plates.
Washington, 1891.
Report on the Coal Measures of the Plateau Region of Alabama, by
H. McCalley; with a Report on the Coal Measures of Blount county, by
A. M. Gibson, Geological Survey of Alabama. pp. 238, with map and
sections. Montgomery, 1891.
Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota. Nineteenth
844 The American Geologist. May, 1892
Annual Report, for 1890, by N. H. Winchell. pp. 255 with illustrations.
Minneapolis, 1892.
IT. Proceedings of Scientific Societies.
The Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Vol. xiv,
Nos. 3 and 4 contain: Manual of the Paleontology of the Cincinnati
Group, by Jos. F. James; Description of some Subcarboniferous and
Carboniferous Cephalopoda, by 8. A. Miller and Chas. Faber.
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 1891,
Part 111 contains: Notes on some little known American Fossil Tor-
toises, by Dr. G. Baur; A new Meteoric iron from Garrett Co., Md., by
A. E. Foote; Preliminary Notice of some Minerals from the Serpentine
Belt, near Easton, Pa., by John Eyerman.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THe DELTAS OF THE Monawk.— Pending further investigation, per-
mit me to make the following brief preliminary statement relating to
observations bearing on the origin of the terraces of the Mohawk valley
and the Iroquois beach.
The terraces of the Mohawk valley are strongly developed, especially
along its north or Adironack side. Each terrace is associated with some
tributary of the Mohawk. More and longer streams enter from the
north than the south, and they tlow down steeper slopes and have greater
transporting power. Each terrace is built up about the mouth of a
stream in the form of a delta,as though the stream had entered a lake
or estuary of still water. In a few instances where there is a consider-
able distance between the larger tributaries there is no terrace. In
general, the magnitude of the terraces appears to be proportional to the
size of the streams which made them. The long heavy terrace below
Herkimer appears to be the delta of Canada creek, which is the largest
tributary from the north. This great deposit choked the Mohawk valley
from side to side for a considerable distance, and was probably the
agent which turned the river out of its old bed and forced it over the
rocky ledge at Little Falls a few miles below.
If these terraces are in fact deltas, then the water in which they were
made must have been either a lake or a marine estuary. Prof. Merrill
has already described estuarine deltas along the Hudson from New York
city to Fishkill, rising toward the north, and then again at Albany and
Schenectady at an altitude of 340 feet. If the old Hudson marine estu-
ary reached Albany it was. probably continuous with the post-glacial
submergence of the Champlain basin. In this event it is hard to see
how the Mohawk valley could have escaped being a marine estuary also.
If it was, then the great deposits near Albany can hardly have been
made by the Mohawk, but are probably the delta of the upper Hudson,
This explanation comports best with the delta-form terraces of the Mo-
Correspondence. B45
hawk which were plainly formed in the same water body. The upper
Hudson is by far the largest stream descending from the Adirondacks
and would naturally build a correspondingly large delta.
At Rome the level of the Iroquois beach projected into the Mohawk
valley appears to find a perfect continuation in the water-plane in which
the terraces were formed. If the Mohawk was a marine estuary and had
free connection with the Iroquois basin on the level of its great beach,
it seems natural to conclude that the Iroquois beach is also of marine
origin. No doubt a great glacier-dammed lake once filled the Ontario
basin and had a river outlet past Rome down the Mohawk. But a ma-
rine invasion of later date may have obliterated its marks and built up
over them the present estuarine deltas of the Mohawk and the Iroquois
beach. The fall of 100 feet in the old water level from Rome to Schen-
ectady is not necessarily the fall of a river, but is probably a part of
the general ncrthward rise, or a mere local variation. What I have seen
thus far indicates that the terraces of the Mohawk are estuarine deltas
and not true river terraces. F. BursLey TAyLor.
Fort Wayne, Ind., April 9, 1892.
A Correction. Note on the Paper on Devonian Rocks of Buchanan
County, Towa, in the Americun Geologist for September, 1891—In the paper
mentioned in the title of this note I made the statement that beds of
brecciated limestone lie at the base of the Devonian series in Buchanan
county, Iowa, and that this was succeeded by the Independence shales.
The Independence shales were originally exposed by putting downa
shaft in the bottom of what is known as the old Kilduff quarry, near In-
dependence. In this shaft, beds containing Gyroceras and Gypidula were
found immediately overlying the shales, but none of the beds showed
any signs of being brecciated. Beds of brecciated limestone are ex-
posed in the bed of the river below the bridge at Independence, and it
was concluded that since no such beds were found above the shales at
Kilduff’s, the breccia must lie below them. Subsequent observations,
made more thoroughly and in detail, revealed this state of affairs: The
Gyroceras beds to a thickness of twenty feet or more, have in general,
over an area reaching at least from Fayette to Troy Mills, been broken
up, and the angular fragments re-cemented to form the brecciated lime-
stone so conspicuous at many widely separated points within the Devon-
ian area of Iowa. The beds affected were not entirely converted into
breccia, for it is occasionally found to be the case that over patches sev-
eral rods in diameter the Gyroceras beds, with their associated layers,
retain their original position undisturbed. It would seem that the shaft
at the Kilduff quarry passed through one of these undisturbed patches,
and so led to the conclusion that the breccia exposed at the bridge in
Independence could not be above, but must lie beneath, the shales. Those
who are interested will kindly note this correction in connection with
the article in the Gronoarst, Vol. VIII, p. 142.
A few points have been found where the shales, by a little digging,
may be seen beneath the breccia. S. CALVIN.
346 The American Geologist. May, 1892
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS.
Torpocgrarnic Map or tHE Unirep Stratres.—Mr. Henry Gan-
nett, Chief of the Topographic work of the United States Survey,
is the author of an elegant suite of maps of the United States re-
cently printed by the survey. Last year he issued a limited edi-
tion of a large map of the series in nine sheets, which recently
have been reprinted in a reduced scale of 50x20 inches upon a
single sheet.
The map is intended primarily to show the hypsometric and
drainage features of our country, with a minimum of political
features. only sufficient to enable the natural features to be
located. The altitudes are shown by contour lines printed in
brown, the streams in blue and _ political features in black. Va-
rious editions are issued showing either one, two or all these
features, and are artistically and beautifully printed.
These maps are an invaluable addition to the cartography of
our country, not only for their educational value, but as appro-
priate bases for the platting of physiographic and geologic data of
every kind, and Mr. Gannett has done a_ service to science by
their preparation.
Pror, H. 8. Witttams, professor of geology at Cornell Uni-
versity has accepted the chair of geology at Yale University.
Pror. JAMES EK. Topp, or Tapor, Lowa, has been elected pro-
fessor of geology and mineralogy at the University of South Da-
kota, Vermillion.
Mr. Rosert ETHERIDGE, WELL KNOWN by his paleontological
labors during many years of active work on the geological survey
of Great Britain, has retired with well-earned honors, and his
place as assistant keeper of the geological department of the
British Museum has been filled by the appointment of Mr. A.
Smith Woodward, author of the catalogue of fossil fishes in the
British Museum. Mr. Woodward's name is already well known
among paleontologists in America, as he visited this country
about two years ago, and remained for several months.
A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY FoR LowA has been provided for by a bill
recently passed by the State Legislature. For the support of the
survey for the next biennal period the bill appropriates twenty
thousand dollars. The Geological Board will consist of the Goy-
ernor, the State Auditor, the President of the University, the
President of the Agricultural College, and the President of the
Towa Academy of Science.
A coursE oF University Extension Lectures on World
Making has been given at Davenport, Des Moines and Iowa City,
by professors from the State University of Iowa. The success
attending these lectures shows that the intelligent public may
easily become deeply interested in geological problems.
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OF DOUBLE MOUNTAIN, STONEWALL COUNTY.
SECTION
THE
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST
Vou, IX. JUNK, 1892. No. 6
THE DOUBLE MOUNTAIN SECTION.
(Puare VIII)
By E. T. DumBLE and W. F. Cummins, Austin, Tex.
In pursuance of the work of the survey, in making a section
across the Permian strata of Texas, we left Abilene early in Octo-
ber, 1889, and traveled north and a little east to the contact of
the Carboniferous and Permian, on the Clear fork of the Brazos
in Throckmorton county. From here we turned directly west
crossing the Permian beds to the Double mountains, where we
expected to find the contact between the underlying Permian and
any Triassic or Jurassic beds which might occur, and the overly-
ing Cretaceous. While we found no Jurassic, the section of these
mountains is nevertheless of interest, since it is the most northern
point in this northwestern portion of the state at which the beds
of the Lower Cretaceous are exposed, and the most easterly ex-
posure of the Trias which we have been able to recognize.
The Double mountains are situated in the southwestern corner
of Stonewall county between the Double Mountain fork and the
Salt fork of the Brazos, just south of the thirty-third parallel of
latitude, and in longitude 100° 25’. They consist in reality of
three peaks or buttes, one of which, however, is so situated with
reference to the other two as to be invisible on the approach from
the southwest in consequence of which they have received their
name. ‘T'wo of the peaks present the usual butte structure so
characteristic of the Cretaceous hills, when capped with the Ca-
348 The American Geologist. June, 1892
prina limestone. The third, however, is a true peak in form, the
hard limestone having been eroded from its top. Lower down
the different beds of massive gypsum form benches around the
side of the mountains and the clays which form their bases have
been washed into innumerable canons which are often entirely
impassable.
Salt creek, a branch of the Double Mountain fork, is located
about four miles east of the mountains. From this creek, which
is the beginning of the ascent, to the summit of the highest peak,
is by barometric measurement eight hundred and forty-five feet,
of which amount three hundred and twenty feet are passed before
the ascent of the mountain proper begins, giving it an elevation
of five hundred and twenty-five feet above its immediately sur-
rounding country.
Climbing’ the successive ledges of sand, gypsum, clay and
limestone until the summit of the mountain was reached, we ob-
tained a view embracing many miles of the country. It stretched
out before us gently undulating, open, without timber save here
and there a scattering thicket of mesquite. The Salt fork to the
north and the Double Mountain fork to the south wound their
ways eastward toward their junction as slender threads of yelicw-
ish red. Very few evidences of settlement were to be seen. On
the flats were many water-holes filled by the recent rains, and cat-
tle could be seen scattered here and there in all directions. To
the svuth, probably as much as twenty-five or thirty miles, a
series of flat topped hills were seen stretching along the horizon,
while to the west, at avery considerable distance, there were
three or four buttes of similar form to that on which we were
standing, and which we took to be Mt. McKinzie and its neigh-
bors. These were backed by the blue scarp of the Staked Plains.
Kiowa peak, some thirty miles to the north, was invisible.
GENERAL SECTION.
Section of the eastern peak of Double mountain, beginning atthe top:
ae
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a 1. Caprinay limestone... eee eee Sone teste Ulan
a + 2 Comanche Peak’series, ..)...0...1 een oe eee ee
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TRIASSIC
Double Mountain Section. —Dumble and Cummins. 349
z | 4, Shaly clay, underlaid by red or terra-cotta _
aS BAU StOME ater |, c/n save Staye.e: sinera ve 105 feet.
2 HOM PEE GyPSUMIAWAS A etic i saeerne “onece ss OO *
= HomNt dlr Gry MSW SUS eis ate teicieietave,si0=t2 «ences we. horas
= lt WUNVeR GW OBUNEE DEUS. tattle aae ss eases sss 135 “*
CRETACEOUS.
1. Caprina Limestone.
The Caprina limestone which caps the mountains has a total
thickness of forty feet. It is deeply fissured in places, and the
rapid erosion of the softer underlying materials has scattered its
debris down all sides of the mountain. In structure, it presents
the usual characteristics of this limestone and on the surface often
shows a ferruginous weathering of the Caprina so common in
western Texas. The rock inthis locality contains many Hippurites
of large size,and tbe Caprina forms found in it are varied and some
of them heretofore unknown. ‘They have, however, since been
found in rocks of the same horizon, in an exposure on Barton
ereek near Austin, and also at other localities in Western Texas.
2. Comanche Peak Serivs.
The rocks of the Comanche series are here separable apparently
into three distinct divisions, the upper of which is a series of im-
pure argillaceous limestones having an entire thickness of twenty
feet, the top being much more shaly than the bottom. The fossils
are very numerous and well preserved, but diligent search failed
to show a single Grypha pitcheri in it. The second division is
somewhat similar in composition but more indurated and is of
a yellow color. Some of the fossils in this bed had been altered
into calcite. In it we found very few specimens of Gryphuwa
pitchert. The third division consists of a shaly limestone con-
taining a great abundance of very small fossils overlying a marly
limestone, which is in turn underlaid by the Gryphea conglom-
erate, which here as elsewhere is almost a solid mass of individ-
uals of this species. The fossils throughout are abundant and
well preserved, and correspond in the main with those of typical
sections farther east.
3. Trinity Beds.
Immediately underlying the Gryphwa conglomerate is a bed of
yellow sand about ten feet in thickness, which at the time of
making the section was considered as the upper portion of the
350 The American Geologist. Tune, 1892
Trinity sands. It differed, however, from the beds previously
referred to this horizon in Texas, in the fossils which were found
in it. These consisted of anoyster which differed from O. frank-
Jini Coquand, and is now recognized as a new species, Pleurocera
strombiformis Schloth, Exogyra texana Roemer, Gryphwa pitch-
eri Mort. The association of these fossils in this way had not
been reported previously, and in order to be certain of their ex-
istence together in the same stratum we dug into the bed far
enough to prove it absolutely. Since later investigations have
shown the ‘‘Alternating Beds” to be a part of the Trinity sands,
and the fussiliferous part, and that at their thinning out on the
northern border the fossils still continue for a limited distance in
a caleareous sand, this bed would seem to indicate a similar con-
dition at this locality, and that it should be referred to the ‘‘Al-
ternating Beds” of the Trinity division: Otherwise it would ap-
pear to be a transition bed between the Trinity sands and the
Comanche group.
Underlying the yellow sand are twelve feet of purple and mot-
tled sand which are very gypsiferous, and below them we find a
bed of cross bedded indurated sands.