:Ti.w- ' •Ai-r- -.'.fv. ^^^ ms y^ffM^JM^ TEAI^SAOTIO]SrS OF THE New York Academy of Sciences, LATE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. LIBRARY VOLUME I. NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN. New York; PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY. 1881-83. OFFICERS OF THE ACADEMY. 1881. ^•rcMbcitt. John S. Nkwberry, - . . . Columbia College, N. Y. City. Thomas Egleston, Benj. N. Martin. Albert R. Leeds, .--.-- Hoboken, N. J. Oliver P. Hubbard, - . . . 65 West 19th Street. John H. Hinton, ----- 41 West 32d Street. Louis Elsberg, ------ 614 Fifth Avenue. Daniel S. Martin, Alfred C. Post, George N. Lawrence, William P. Trowbridge, Alexis A. Julien, Louis Elsberg. ^i-vt a 11 ce ^ov» i wt Ittec-. T. B. CoDDiNGTON, Philip Schuyler, Thomas Bland. ^ttt^iittee of Unification. D, S. Martin, J. S. Newberry, G. N. Lawrence, A. R. Leeds, W. P. Trowbridge. fiiitot- of ©t^vKal*. &bitoz of W'taviAactiom. D. S. Martin. Alexis A. Julien. LIBRARY NEW YORK CONTENTS. BOTANICAL GAf^DEIN. Volume I. GENERAL TRANSACTIONS. Page. Biology 31,150,164 Business i, 21, 49, 77, 105, 129. 150. 163, 180 Chemistry. 3.127,136 Geology and M.neralogy [ ;„3; "S. -• ^^4. 49^ 0.^77. _99, Lectures 46. 96, 120, 143, 155, 167 Physics and Astronomy 8, 67, 85, 11 1, 147, 175 ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS. GEORGE M. BEARD. A Psychological Explanation of the Salem Witchcraft Excitement, and the Practical Lessons to be Derived Therefrom,''(April 3, 1882) 150 N. L. BRITTON, Additional Notes on the Geology of Staten Island, N. Y., (Dec. 12,1881) , 56 On Some Large Pot-Holes, near Williamsbridge, N. Y., (June 5, 1882) 181 JOHN P. CHEYNE. The Discovery of the North Pole Practicable, (Lecture, Nov. 28, 1881) 46 P, T. CLEVE. Outlines of the Geology of the Northeastern West India Islands, (Nov. 7. 1881) 21 NELSON H. DARTON. f Notes on the Weehawken Tunnel, (March 6, 1882) 129 CD I CD LOUIS ELSBERG. Page. On the Cell-Doctrine, and the Bioplasson-Doctrine, (Nov. 21, 1881), ivith four wood-cuts 31 ARTHUR H. ELLIOTT. The Methods of Ascertaining the Safety of Kerosene Oil, (March 13,1882) 137 H. L. FAIRCHILD. On a Peculiar Coal-like Transformation of Peat, recently discov- ered at Scranton, Penn., (Dec. 19, 1881) 7' Methods of Animal Locomotion, (May 8, 1882) 164 JOHN H. FURMAN. The Geology of the Copper Region of Northern Texas and the Indian Territory (Oct. 31, 1881), with one wood-cut 15 ERNST VON HESSE-WARTEGG. The Submarine Tunnel between England and France, (Lecture. April 17, 1882) 155 WM. EARL HIDDEN. The Discovery of Emeralds in North Carolina, (Jan. 30, 1882). . . loi A Phenomenal Find of Fluid-bearing Quartz Crystals, (March 6, 1882) 131 CHARLES F. HIMES. Stereoscopic Notes, (Feb. 13, 1882) 114 ROMYN HITCHCOCK. Recent Advances in Photography, (May 29, 1882) 176 LAURENCE JOHNSON. The Parallel Drift-Hills of Western New York, (Jan. 9, 1882). . . 77 ALEXIS A. JULIEN. The Excavation of the Bed of the Kaaterskill, N. Y.. (Nov. 14, 1881) 24 The Volcanic Tuffs of Challis. Idaho, and other Western Locali- ties, (Dec. 5. 1 881), with one woodcut 49 ALBERT R. LEEDS. Diphenylamine-Acrolein, (Feb. 27, 1 882) 127 BENJAMIN N. MARTIN. The Moral Bearing of Recent Physical Theories, (Lecture, Jan. 23,1882) 96 D JOHN S. NEWBERRY. Pagel Geological Facts recently observed in Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, (Oct. 17, i8Si) 4 Hypothetical High Tides, as Agents of Geological Change (Jan. 9,1882) 80 The Origin and Relations of the Carbon Minerals, (Feb. 6, 1882) 109 The Ancient Civilizations of America, (Lecture, Feb. 20, 1882). . 120 JOHN K. REES. The International Time-System, (Jan. 16, 1882) 86 Some Results of Photography as Applied to Astronomy, (Lecture, March 20, 1882) 143 ISRAEL C. RUSSELL. Sulphur Deposits in Utah and Nevada, (May 22, 1882) 168 JAMES H. STEBBINS, JR. On some New Salts of Thymole Sulpho-Acid, and some New Facts concerning the same, (Oct. 3, 1881) 3 W. LE CONTE STEVENS. Wheatstone and Brewster's Theory of Binocular Perspective (Oct. 24, 1 881), with three woodcuts 8 The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, (Dec. 12, 1881), with one figure 58 A New Reversible Stereoscope, (Feb. 13, 1882) 118 JOHN J. STEVENSON. The Mineral Resources of Southwest Virginia, (April 24, 1882). 159 ROBERT H. THURSTON. On the Behavior of Steam in the Steam Engine Cylinder, and on Curves of Efficiency, (Feb. 13,1882) ii! WILLIAM p. TROWBRIDGE. On the Deternnnaiion of the Heating Surface Requiied in Steam Pipes employed to produce any Required Discharge of Air through Ventilating Chimneys, (Dc-c. 19, 1881) 67 F. G. WEICHMANN. Fusion-Structures in Meteorites. (April 10, 1882) i 53 6 PAPERS WITHOUT ABSTRACTS. THOMAS BLAND. Page. I. Description of Two New Species of Zonites from Tennessee, (June 5, 1882), read by title 181 II. Notes on the Distribution of Genera of Terrestrial Molluscs in the West Indies, (June 5, 1882), read by title 181 H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. Glaciers, (Lecture, May 15, 1882), without abstract 167 THOMAS EGLESTON. The Proposed Government Commission for the Testing of Iron and Steel, (March 27, 1882), without abstract 149 GEORGE N, LAWRENCE. Description of Two New Species of Birds of the Families Colum- bid^e and Formicaridas, (May 29, 1882), read by title 176 BENJ. N. MARTIN. On the Life and Works of the Late Dr. John W. Draper, (May i, 1882), without abstract 1 63 WESLEY MILLER. The Prevention of Tubercular Disease in Men and Animals by Vaccination, (June 5, 1882). withotit abstract 181 W. LE CONTE STEVENS. An Improved Form of Organ-Pipe Sonometer, (May i, 1882), without abstract 163 R. P. WHITFIELD. Descriptions of New Species of Fossils from Ohio, with Notes upon some of the Formations in which they occur, (Jan. 16, 1882), read by title 95 COMMITTEE REPORTS. J. S. NEWBERRY and O. P. HUBBARD. On a Memorial to the State Authorities regarding the Completion of the Volumes of the Geological Survey, (Jan. 30, 1882) .... 99 JOHN J. STEVENSON and D. S. MARTIN. Resolutions in regard to the late Dr. John William Draper, (Feb. 6, 1882) ,06 A. H. ELLIOTT and T. EGLESTON. Memorial of ihs late Dr. ALEXANDER Lv.MAN HOLLEY, (March 27. 1882) 147 GENERAL INDEX. For all names in Botany and Zoology, see Index of Nomenclature, following the General Index. For full titles of papers in this volume, and names of their authors, see Table of Contents. Page. Altitudes of Catskill mts 25 Aluminium, ingot of. 181 America, ancient civilizations of 120-124 Ancient civilizations of Amer- ica 120-124 Animal locomotion, methods of 164-167 Animal life in caves 64-67 Annual meeting 124 Anthracite of Colorado 8 Apophyllite 129, 130 Arctic regions, exploration of. 46-48 Arizona, pumice tuff. 52 Artificial conversion ot peat into coal 75 Astronomy, photography ap- plied to 143-146 Atlantis, its possible location. 24 Atmospheric phenomena, Yel- low Day I Aurora Borealis 1 58 Balloons, use of, in Arctic. .47-48 Basalt 4-5, 55 tuff, 52 Bats in caves 64, 67 Behavior of steam in steam- engine cylinder 1 1 r-i 14 Beryl 101-105 Binocular perspective 9-1 5 Bioplasson-doctrine 31-46 Birds, new species 176 Blind fish in caves 59, 64-67 Blue-beach (volcanic breccia) of Virgin Is., W. 1. . . . 21 Brazil, turba 76 Brown hematite in Southwest Virginia 162-163 Calc spar from Weehawken, N. J 129 Page. Calcium di-malate from sugar maple 167 Carbon minerals, origin of.109-111 dioxide in cavities of quartz 133-136 dioxide, exhalation in Utah 170-172 Catskill mts., N. Y., erosion and glaciation 24-31 Cave, mammoth, of Ky 59-66 animal life in 64-67 Cell-doctrine 31-46 Cells, united action of 44-45 Challis, Idaho, mines at 5 volcanic tuff 49 Champlain clays 30 Charmouth, Eng., erosion in valley 27-28 Chemung group in the Cats- j kills 28 j Chimneys, ventilating 67-70 j Chlorite from Weehawken, I N.J 131 Chrvsobetyl 2 Civilizations of America, an- cient 120-124 Coal, anthracite, from Anthra- cite Creek, Col 8 bituminous, in Texas .... 15-16 bituminous,in Arctic reg- ion 48 bituminous in Virginia. 160-162 coking from Crested Butte, Col 7 conversion of peat into. 75 origin of ji-72, 109-1 1 1 Colorado, forest vegetation.. . 8 mining 7 Commission, government, tor testing iron and steel . 149 s Page. Committee on completion of volumes o( State Geo- logical Survey.. 85, 99-100 on mrmorial of Dr. J. W. Drap-r 'J'J 105-108 on memorial of Dr. A. L. Hoiley .. .108,147-149 Copper at Abiquini, r 49 Diphenylamine-acrolem . ..127-128 Discovery of North Pole 4v';-48 Distributi n of tmie, mode of. 86-87 Draper, J. W , memori \\ of. . 77, 105 -108, 163 Drift-Hills of Western N. Y. 77-80 Eleciion, annual 126-127 Electrolysis, literature of 163 Elephant, African 153 Emeralds in North Carolina 101-105 Erosion in Catskill mts 24, 31 in valley near Charmouth, Eng 27 28 of limestone 60, 65 Excavating po act of glaciers. 2 -30 Exploration of Arct'C 46-48 Faul;s in Souhwcst Virginia. 159 3t Covc Creek, Uiah 171 Felsyie 21 F"ish, blind, in caves 59. 64 Flexure of strata in Catsk Us. 24-25 Fluid-bearing quartz crystals. 131-136 Page. Forces, unity of 98-99 Fossils, new species from Ohio. 95 Fusion-stiuctures in meteor- ites 15.3-155 Glaciation in Catskill mts.. .24-31 on New York Island... 30 en Staten Island, N. Y.. . 57 inWcsternNew York. ..78-79 Glaciers 167 excavaHng power of... 29-30 in Western New York. . . 79 over CatskiUs -4-31 Gold deposits in N. Y i at Mt. W heeler, Nevada . . 7 Governm^^nt commission fur testing iron and steel. . 149 Granyte, disintegration of . . . . 168 Guatemala, obsidian imple- ments 105 ! Gunnison, Col., iron ores. ... 7 Gypsum in Northern Texas. . 17 Utah and Nevada .... 172-173 Heating surface required m steam-pipes 67-70 Hematite of Gunnison, Col ... 7 in Southwesc Virginia. . . 162 Hiddenite 2, 102 High tides, as geological agents 80-85 Hoboken serpentine 58 Holley, Dr. A. L., mem'irial of. ro8, 147-149 Horizontal moon, enlarge- ment 116-118 Hornblende slate 59-57 Hot spring at Pagosa, Col. . . 7 Hudson valley, glaciation in.. 25-26 Idaho, forests 5 mining 4-5 volcanic tuffs 49-5° Indian Territory, copper region 1 9-20 International time-system. ..86-95 Implement, she.l 121, 147 stone 49, 85, 105 Iron and steel, testing 149 ores 7, 162-163 Karnes in Catskill Mountains. 27 Kaattrskill Creek and Clove, N. Y 24-27 Kerosene oil, methods of ascer- taining safety of . . . . 1 37-143 9 Page. Lava-plain in Idaho ... 4-'; Lead, native 3 oxide 3 Lecture-course, programme.. 95 Limestone 15-19. 22, 58 erosion of 60-65 Literature of electrolysis 163 Locomotion of animals. . . 164-167 Magnetite of Gunnison, Col- orado. . 7 Mammoth cave of Kentucky. . 59-66 Manganese ore, in Southwest Virginia 163 Maple juice, sap-sand 168 Marbles of Virginia 163 Marmolite 58 Members, election of new. .TJ, 105, 129, 150, 158, 163, 176, 180 deceased. 77, 108, 158, 159, 164 Meteorites, fusion-structures in 153-155 Methods of animal locomotion, 164, 167 Minerals of Weehawken tun- nel 129-131 Mineral resources of South- west Virginia 159-163 Mining, Idaho 4-6 Montana 4-6 Nevada 7,172-175 Southwest'n Colorado .... 7-8 Utah 168-172 Montana, lorests and mining. 5 Moon, horizontal enlargement 116-118 photographs of 143-145 Moral bearing of recent physi- cal theories 96-99 Mound-builders 121-122 Natrolite from Weehawken, N.J. 130 Nevada, mining in 7 pumice-tuff 51 sulphur deposits. . . 172-175 New York, drift hills 77-80 glaciation 24-31,57 gold deposits I New York Island, glaciation.. 30 Laurentian age 57 North Carolina, emeralds. 101-105 fluid-bearing quartz crys- tals 131-136 stone implement 85 Page. North Pole, discovery of . . . .46-48 Observatories, time - signals from 86-87 Obsidian implements from Guatemala 105 Oregon, volcanic ash 55 Organic aromatic bases, com- pounds of 100 Organ-pipe sonometer 163 Origin of carbon minerals. 109-1 1 1 Peat, transformation of... 71-76 artificial conversion into coal 75 Peperino in Texas 52 Perspective, binocular 9-15 Petroleum -testers i 39-143 Photography applied to astro- nomy 143-146 recent advances in 176 Physical theories, moral bear- ing 96, 99 Porphyry '9-49 Pot-holes near Williams- bridge, N. Y 181-183 Prevention of tubercular dis- ease 1 81 Pumice 49-52, 56 Quartz crystals, fluid-beaiing, 131-136 Report of Library Committee . 125 Publication Committee.. 125 Recording Secretary 125 Treasurer 124 Rhodochrosite from Uiay mines, Colorado 3 Rhyolyte 53. ^73 Rocks, thin sections. . . 49-53, I5J- Saba, W. L, geology 23 Safety of kerosene oil 137-143 Salem witchcraft excitement, I5'>-I53 Salmon fishery on Salmon river 6 Sandstone in Northern Tex- as 15-19 Sapphire from Ceylon 1 29 Sap-sand in maple juice 168 Scranton, Penn., peat 71-76 Serpentine 57-58 Shale in Northern Texas . . . . 1 5-19 Shell implements 121, 147 Silver in Lake copper 4 10 Page. Slates 21-22 Snake river, Idaho 4-5 Sonometer, organ-pipe 163 Spoduinene 2, 102 Springs, hot, at Pagosa, Col. . 7 soda, near Fort Worth, Texas 15 salt, in Texas 16 Squid 175 Stalactites in Mammolli Cave. 60 Standards of time 88 Star-photographs 146 Staten Island, N. Y., geology of 56-58 Natural Science Associa- tion 67 Steam, behavior in steam en- gine cylinder 111-114 pipes, heating surface. .67-70 Stereoscope 9, 15, 1 18-1 20 Brewster's theory of 9 Helmholtz' views on . ..13-14 notes 1 1 4-1 18 St. Eustatius, W. 1 23 Stone implement fromWaynes- ville, N. C 85 perforated, from Europe. . 49 Submarine tunnel between England and France.i 55-1 58 Subsidence and elevation. . .22-24, 26, 28-29, 66, 100 Sugar, maple, sap-sand 167 Sulphur deposits in Utah and Nevada 168-175 Sun-photographs 145 Talc schist 56-58 Tellurium, in copper products from Col 4 Temperature, Mammoth Cave 59 Terrestrial molluscs in the West Indies 181 Tertiary strata 21-22 Testing iron and steel, commis- sion for 149 safety of kerosene oil 138-143 Page. Texas, coal 1 5-16 copper region 1 5-20 gypsum 17 pumice-tuff 52 Thin sections of rocks. .49-53, 154 Thymole sulpho-acid 3 Tides, high, erosion by 80-85 Time-system, international. .86-95 Tourmaline 2, loi Trachyte 19, 23, 169 Transformation of peat 71-76 Tremolyte 58 Triassic strata 20 Trilobite . . 7 Tripoli interstratihed with vol- canic ashes 55 Tubercular disease, prevention of 181 Tunnel between England and France 155-158 Turba of Brazil 76 Utah, sulphur-deposits.. . . 168-172 Ventilating chimneys 67-70 Virginia, Southwest, mineral resources of 1 59-163 Virgin Is., W. 1., breccia 21 Volcanic ash 23, 49-56, 169, 171-172 Wagon Wheel Gap, Col 7 Weehawken tunnel, minerals 129-131 West India Islands, distribu- tion of terrestrial mol- luscs 181 geolog)' 21-24 Whale captured off Montauk. 147 Wichita Mountains, Texas.. 19-20 Williamsbridge, N. Y., pot holes 181-183 Witchcraft excitement, ex- planation of . 150-153 Yellow Day (Sept. 6, 1881), atmospheric phenomena i Zero-meridian for standard time 93-94 Zonites, new species of 181 INDEX OF NOMENCLATURE. Page. Amblyopsis spelaeus 59. 64 Anemone patens, var. Nuttal- liana 8 alpina 8 Aquilegia canadensis 8 cerulea 8 Arisaima Draconiium 182 Atrypa reticularis 57 Berberis aquifolium 8 Bryanthus 6 Buchloe dactyloides 4 Calochortus Gunnisoni 8 Nuttali 8 Cambarus pellucidus 59-64 Carcharodon 180 Cleome integrifolia . . 8 lutea 8 COLUMBID^ 176 Dalmanites anchiops 57 Page. Eriogonum 8 Eubalcena Sieboldii . 147 Fenestella 57 Festucascabrella 4 FORMICARID/E I76 Helianthus 8 Nicotiana attenuata. . 8 (Enothera Ca^spitosa 8 Ommastrephes 175 Oncorhynchus nerka 6 Orthoceras Pelops 57 Pinus flexilis 5 Pinus ponderosa 8 Phacelia circinata 8 Primula Parryi 8 Strophodonta hemispherica. . . 57 Strophomena rhomboidalis. . . 57 Zaphrentis prolifera 57 Zonites 181 TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. October 3, 18S1. Regular Business Meeting. Vice-President, Dr. B. N. Martin, in the chair. Twenty-five members present. After the transaction of business the members were invited, in accordance with the usual custom at the first meeting of the season, to present notes and observations recorded during the summer, and responses were made by Mrs. E. A. Smith, Prof. C. A. Seeley, and others. Mr. W. L. Chamberlain referred to the gold deposits recently opened in Fulton and Saratoga counties, N. Y. The ore consists of auriferous pyrites and is contained in the gneiss of the foothills of the Adirondacks. Remarks were made by a member, on a visit to the sandstone quar- ries at Portland, Conn.; by Mr. TODD, on a peculiar atmospheric phe- nomenon, a vaporous band stretching across the sky, apparently not auroral, observed in the Adirondacks; and by Dr. Martin, on a remark- able atmospheric coloration, luminous brilliance of the clouds, etc., observed last month at Saratoga, in the early morning, attributing it to an abundance of a smoky fog produced by the recent forest fires, and calling attention to the fact that ihis phenomenon has been noticed only in the territory east of the meridian of Saratoga. Mrs. P. Hanaford described the same appearances as seen during the "Yellow Day," Sept. 6, near Boston, and also on Nantucket; an- other member, as seen in the Genesee valley, explaining that the strong west and northwest winds prevailing at the time had wafted high in the air vast volumes of smoke derived from the abundant forest fires throughout Western N. Y.; Messrs. TODD, Chamberlain, and others, describing the eleciric brilliance of the gas-lights, the strange modification of the green color of foliage, the absence of smoky odor, etc., as observed at Great Harrington, Mass., and in less degree in New York city; Mr. N. L. Britton, on the same facts as observed several Trans. X. V. Ac. Sci. 2 QcL 3, miles out at sea, off Fire Island and Montauk Point, Long Island, N. Y.; Prof. D. S. Martin, as observed between Saratoga and Cats- kill, N. Y.; and Prof. C. A. Seeley, calling attention to the extremely attenuated character of the carbon particles, produced by their long transportation from distant localities. Mr. Geo. F. Kunz mentioned that Mt. Mica, at Paris, Maine, the locality so famous for colored tourmalines for the last fifty years, had been purchased by a mining company and was being worked for cassiterite, mica and tourmaline, principally through the efforts of Dr. A. C. Hamlin of Bangor, Maine. Dr. Hamlin has the finest known collection of American tourmalines, and he recently reported the discoveiy of a crystal three inches long and one-half inch thick, a transparent gem of a beautiful blue-green color. This was taken from the new mine, and many more remarkable speci- mens may be expected as the work adyances. Mr. Kunz said that during the last year a German agate-hunter re- turned to his native country after 20 years collecting in Brazil, taking with him a large suite of fine colored tourmalines, some five inches long and not more than one-eighth of an inch thick, transparent, and of a green color ; also many fine green crystals with red, yellow, white, and other colored centres, many of these equalling for variety of color anything yet found, most of which will cut as gems. There is also in this lot one exceptionally fine green crystal over one inch square. This collector brought with him also at least 1000 kilos of transparent yellow spodumene, the same as that described by A. Pisani, of Paris, some eighteen months ago, and is dissimilar only in color to the new variety of spodumene found at vStony Point, North Carolina, described in the Feb- ruary number of the American Journal of Science for 1881, by Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, as Hiddenite. Some of the specimens which he brought will cut as fine yellow gems. All these were found in the Minas Geraes district. Recently a new locality for chiysoberyls has been found in Ceylon, where they occur of gem value in an unusual variety of colors, from yellow to brown, and from brown to green. The last color is the variety known as Alexandrite. This gem has heretofore been found- but of very inferior size and color, but here it occurs of re- markable size, having in one case afforded a gem w^eighing 26 kts. They are a beautiful green color by day and a columbine red, or brownish red, by night. The chrysobeiyl cat's eye is found here of the same color, and possessing the same dichroic property as the Alexandrite, viz., changing color, from green to red, and hence might ver}' properly be called an Alexandrite cat's eye. Many of the chrysoberyls are erroneously called and sold as a variety of sapphire. 1 88 1. 3 Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. October lo, 1881. Section of Chemistry. Vice-president, Dr. B. N. Martin, in the Chair. Nineteen members present. A paper was read by Mr, James H. Stebbins, Jr., of which the following is an abstract : ON some new salts of thymole sulpho-acid, and some new facts concerning the same. 60 grms. thymole were dissolved in 50 grms. 66° sulphuric, at a temperature of loo" C. The pink crystalline mass so obtained was dis- solved in water, and converted into the lime salt. Calcuon Salt. — This salt crystalhzes with two molecules of water, in rhombic plates, and shows under the polariscope a beautiful effect of circular polarized light. Formula. a (Ce H., (C H3) (C3 H7) (O H) S 03). Ca + 2H2 O. a. Calcium salt of alpha thymole sulpho-acid. Afnmon/ttm Salt. — This salt was obtained by decomposing the lime salt, with ammonic carbonate. It crystallizes in white rhombic plates, with 2 mols. of water. Formula. a Ce H. (C H3) (C3 H7) (N H, S O3) a H + 2 H. O. The sodium salt has likewise been obtained, and will be described in a subsequent paper. Remarks were made by Mr. James D. Warner on the nature of the corona of the Sun, etc. Mr. Stebbins reported the yellow colora- tion of the atmosphere in September at the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. October 17, 1881. Section of Geology and Mineralogy. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Fifty-one persons present. Dr. Newberry exhibited specimens of native lead and oxide of lead from a mine in the Wood river country, Idaho, crystallized gray copper, and fine crystallized rhodochrosite from the Ulay mines. Southwest Colorado. Dr. T. Egleston pronounced the crystals of Rhodochrosite the finest he had ever seen, and probably the finest specimens ever yet found. Trans. N. V. Ac. Sa. 4 Oct. ij. He stated to the Academy that since its adjournment in June he had made the discovery of tellurium in certain copper products from Colorado. The sample examined had been found to work unsatisfac- torily and was supposed to contain arsenic and antimony, as the pig yielded dense white fumes in the furnace. After a careful examination no arsenic nor antimony was found, but nearly one half per cent of tellurium. The fumes poisoned the furnace, and the copper manufactured cracked in the rolls, was useless except for brass of poor quality, but was quite suitable for the manufacture of cupric sulphate. A number of ounces to the ton of silver and gold were found in the same copper, but too little to make a metallurgical separation possible. Dr. Egleston also announced that after making a long series of exam- inations on the presence of silver in Lake and other brands of' commer- cial copper, he had come to the conclusion that the silver was very un- equally distributed in it ; as assays taken fifteen minutes apart from several different charges, during the last two hours of the process while ladling, show the quantity to vary as much as eight or ten ounces in the different assays. Dr. J. S. Newberry remarked on : GEOLOGICAL FACTS RECENTLY OBSERVED IN MONTANA, IDAHO, UTAH AND COLORADO. Idaho and Montana. — The famous placers at Helena and Virginia, which have yielded thirty millions of dollars, are now exhausted, but vein-mining is in successful progress and yielding rich results at Butte, at the Alice, Lexington, Copper Bell, and other mines. These are true fissure v^eins, traversing a granite formation, and the speaker predicted their abundant yield of silver and copper twenty years hence. These territories have been simply crossed by two government expeditions and their resources have not been at all studied. It is the coming min- ing region, more discoveries of promising mines having been recently made here than in any other portion of the country. On the east of the mountains in Montana and "Wyoming lies a fine agricultural coun- try and excellent stock range, the herds ranging freely throughout the winters, in spite of their severity, with little loss, and grazing upon a native bunch-grass {Feshtca scabrella) and the buffalo grass {Buchloe dactyloides). The climate is salubrious, the country very beautiful in many parts and very promising for emigration. In the adjacent Rocky Mountains range there are also many mining opportunities. The remarkable lava plain, 400 miles long by 75 miles wide, in Cen- tral Idaho, was then described. Snake River, one of the chief tributaries of the Columbia, flows along its southern border for several hundred miles ; its northern tributaries sinking under the lava sheet and flowing in subterranean channels 50 or 60 miles long. The rock is a basalt said 1 88 1. 5 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. to contain every where a small quantity of gold and silver. It is gener- ally covered with an impalpable soil that produces a dust excessively annoying to the traveler, and sustains a general growth of sage brush. In places, however, the rock is bare and looks like a congealed stormy sea. Three buttes are set on the surface of this lava plain, and each has probably been a local volcanic vent ; but it is probable that most of this eruptive material has been an overflow from great fissures of which the position is not indicated on the surface. Snake River crosses a portion of this plain in a canon, at the head of which are the great Shoshone Falls, 20S feet in vertical altitude. An alluvial plain borders Snake River for 200 miles, abounding in black sand which contains much gold. This is, however, extremely fine, having been transported a long distance from its place ol origin, and therefore difficult of separation. New and promising methods and machines are about to be tried in the exploitation of these ex- tensive deposits. A wide mountain belt extends from the north side of the lava plain to and beyond the British line, and is apparently a good mining country throughout. Already a great number of productive and promising mines are opened in the southern portion ot this belt. In the Wood River district the veins are not large, but nu- merous, regular and persistent, and the ore of high grade — mostly argentiferous galena, carrying $100 to $500 in silver to the ton. Near Challis, further north, is the celebrated Ram's Horn mine, located on a true fissure vein, generally not more than five feet wide, but con- tinuous for more than five miles. The wall rocks are slate, the vein- stone siderite (carbonate of iron), the ore gray and yellow copper, yielding $100 to $1200 in silver to the ton. A few miles west of Challis is the mining town of Bonanza, where are located the celebrated Charles Dickens and Custer mines, carrying both silver and gold. Still further West in the Saw Tooth range, a high and very picturescjue mountain chain running north and south, recent discoveries of valu- able mines have been made. From this district north to the Canadian line, a broad mountain belt extends over northern Idaho and north- western Montana, a country which abounds in veins of silver, copper and gold. Among the mines now worked in this region the most cele- brated is the Drum Lomond, in Montana. It is opened on a large vein of rich quartz, and is owned by an old miner who cannot read, but who is said to have refused a million of dollars for the property. It is probably worth much more than this. Most of the mountainous districts of Idaho and Montana are cov- ered with coniferous forests, consisting of the Douglas spruce and the northern nut pine, Pinus fiexilis. The smaller plants form an Alpine flora of much interest, including many beautiful flowering species ; Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. 6 Oct. 17, perhaps the most striking being Bryanthus, which has a fine fir-like foliage and clusters of beautiful purple flowers. It belongs to the Heath family, and closely resembles the heather of Scotland. The streams of this region are clear, cold, and rapid, and abound in fish, chiefly of the salmon family, and these have given the name to Salmon River, the principal water course. Two species of salmon were running up the Salmon River, one the large Ouuinat or Chinook salmon, comparatively rare, and the other the "red fish " {Oncorhynchus nerka). This is a small salmon, 15 to 18 inches in length, and weighing 3 to 5 pounds. As seen in their mi- gration their bodies are brick red to purple in color, the heads dark or light green ; they were then going up to their spawning ground. Red- fish Lake, one of a half-dozen of small lakes on the headwaters of the Columbia, which are the special breeding-places of this interesting fish. Commg all the way from their abode in the ocean, led by an in- fallible but inscrutable instinct, they push on night and day till they reach their remote birthplaces in these little lakes far up in the moun- tains and 1000 miles from their starting point. Here they accomplish apparently the great object of their lives, the reproduction of the species, by depositing the spawn in the shallows of the rivulets which fall into the lake. The always attractive coloring of the fish during this nuptial season becomes greatly heightened ; the body assumes a brilliant, almost lu- minous red, as bright as that of the gold fish, and where numbers are dashing through the water, literally in a blaze ol excitement, they pro- duce an exhibition that is strikingly novel and interesting. When the spawning season is over they probably do not return, as none are seen descending the rivers. The young fish start on their migration to the ocean while yet very small, and within the first year of their lives, remaining away it is supposed some three or four years, during which they acquire their full growth when they return to die where they were born. An active industry has grown up in the capture of the red fish in their annual migrations, but it is pushed with so much energy and un- sparing cupidity that their numbers are rapidly diminishing and the species will apparently be soon extirpated in these waters unless pro- tected by legal enactment. A branch of the Union Pacific Railroad is being constructed from Granger, Wyoming, to the mouth of the Columbia. On this a large amount of traffic is expected, as it will link together many settlements having a considerable resident population and traverse in different por- tions of the route rich agricultural and mining districts. Dr. Newberry then briefly described a small but remarkably rich 1 88 1. 7- Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. placer gold deposit he visited on the west flank of Mount Wheeler, the highest mountain in Nevada, and mentioned the discovery of an out- crop of lower Silurian rocks full of fossils, including several new trilo- bites, discovered by him in Southwestern Utah, but deferred all details till he should make them the subjects of special remark to the Academy. Colorado. — Reference was made to the general character of South- western Colorado, the interesting topography of the region, especially the vast plateau which rises westward from the base of the Rocky Mountains on to the slopes of the Wahsatch ; the ascent of Marshall's Pass by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, the most remarkable feat of railroad engineering performed in the country, and the exceed- ingly picturesque region about the Pagosa, the greatest hot spring on the continent. Where the San Juan River issues from the mountains a prairie occurs, surrounded by picturesque forest-clad hills, and with a beautiful view of snow-clad mountains in the distance. In the centre of the prairie lies a basin 40 by 60 feet across, boiling like a huge caldron, the ebullition being produced by the violent escape of car- bonic acid gas. The banks are Imed by the remains of beetles, snakes, etc., destroyed by too trustful reliance upon the hot waters, and by in- teresting mineral deposits. This is one of the most beautiful places in the country and likely to be a famous resort. Along the route from Pueblo to Gunnison and Lake City, and thence eastward by Del Norte, there are some places of resort for invalids and pleasure-seekers, which are destined to be very well-known, being far more beautiful and salubrious than the now celebrated localities at Manitou and Colorado Springs. One of these is Wagon Wheel Gap, on the Rio Grande. The river is a rapid, turbulent stream, and the Gap is seven to ten miles long, just wide enough to permit a wagon- road. Then a wide, open space is reached, the basin of an ancient lake, girdled by a wonderfully beautiful amphitheatre of mountains. Here 8500 feet above the sea, the hot springs, charming rides, fine hunting and fishing, an atmosphere as pure and clear as crystal, constitute the attractions of a i^esort, which far surpasses any other, and which will be reached by the railroad now being pushed through the Gap about January i, 1882. From Gunnison, specimens have been recently brought of mag- netite and hematite, which probably represent inexhaustible masses, and at Crested Butte, within twenty-five miles of .this locality, is found the best coking coal ni the West. The region borders on a volcanic area, and the coking coal is from that portion of the basin which has mostly escaped the alteration by volcanic heat. It is firm and not affected by the weather, with a small amount of ash and sulphur. Trans. X. V. Ac. Sci. 8 Oct. 24, On Anthracite Creek are found many thousand acres of anthracite of better quahty than that of Pennsylvania. Recent analysis made at the School of Mines, New York, shows it to contain less than one per cent, of sulphur, and three per cent, of ash. The forest vegetation of Colorado is ver}- simple. The pinion or nut pine is very common, also the yellow pine {P. ponderosa), Douglas' spruce, Menzies' spruce, etc. In the mountains the general vegetation is picturesque but not so varied as in the lowlands. The following plants are among the most characteristic in the lowlands of Colorado and Utah. The evening primrose {CEno/ksra Ccespitosa), with its large beautiful white flowers. The wild tobacco {Nicotiana attcnuata). The sun flower {Helianthus). The bee flower {Cleome integrifolid), presenting purple acres by the roadside, and the yellow species (C luted) less common. The American primrose {Primula Parryi). The pasque flower {Anemone patens, Var. Nuttalliand). The Eriogonums, about twenty species, coloring whole mountain sides yellow. The Oregon grape {Bcrberis aqidfolium'). Phacelia circinata, in tufts of purple flowers on rocky slopes. The lily {Calochortus Gunnisoni and C. Xuttalli), pr " black-eyed Susan " (Indian — " Seego "), very plenty in the moister portion of the sage-plains. The clematis {Anejnone alpma), with its purple flowers. The penstemons, of which 20 or 30 species are peculiar to that county, deep crimson, pink, and purple and blue in color, often very showy, and so abundant that whole acres of ground are colored by them. The columbine {Aquilegia canadensis), and also a much larger species {A. cerulea), clothing the mountains of Colorado and Utah, with blue, cream-colored, and white flowers. A large number of dried plants were exhibited from a collection of several hundred species just brought on from Colorado, with collections procured from Prof. Marcus Jones of Salt Lake City, and others. October 24, 1881. Section of Physics. Vice-president, Dr. B. N. Martin, in the Chair. Thirty-one persons present. Mr. W. Le Conte Stevens read a paper, of which the following is an abstract. i88i. 9 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set',- WHEATSTONE AND BREWSTER'S THEORY OF BINOCULAR PERSPEC- TIVE. For some time after the publication of Sir Charles Wheatstone's essay (') in 1838, on the Physiology of Vision, this subject was studied with much zeal by Sir David Brewster, whose name is permanently associated with the lenticular stereoscope, an instrument now familiar in every household. Although the theories advanced by these two physicists to account for the illusion of binocular relief have since been shown insufficient, their mode of accounting for the estimate of dis- tance as perceived in the st-ereoscope has been quite generally accepted. In 1844, Brewster published an essay ('-) "On the Knowledge of Dis- tance given by Binocular Vision," in which he elaborated and abun- dantly illustrated the idea that the apparent distance of an object is determined by the intersection of visual lines. The stereoscope had already been explained as an instrument by which rays of light from two slightly dissimilar pictures were made to enter the eyes, as if com- ing from a single object into which they are combined in front, and on each point of which the visual lines could be made to meet. Thus, in Fig. r, if rays from the conjugate foreground points, Ai and Ao, be 3 'A- d(' ' f I * i 1 ■ 1 . » i Fig. I. (1) Phil. Transactions, 1838, Part II. Reprinted in Phil. Mag-azine, s. 4, vol. III., April, 1852. (2) Edinburgh Transactions, vol. XV., Part III., p. 360. Trans. N. V. Ac. Sc/. 10 Oa. 24, deviated by the semi-lenses, tliey appear to have come from A. In like manner, the background appears at B. If / = interocular distance RL, and « = optic angle, then for the distance of A we have D = ^ i cof i a From this formula it is obvious that D ceases to have any positive finite value when the visual lines cease to converge. If the semi-lenses be taken away, and Ai and A2 be removed to Mi and M2 respectively, while the convergence of visual lines remains un- changed, the images still appear at A and B. Wheatstone seems to have been the first to show experimentally that the illusion of apparent solidity can be obtained in this manner from a pair of projections repre- senting the same object from slightly different points of view. If the eyes be properly trained, the visual lines may be directed to points whose distance is greater or less than that of the objects regarded at the same moment, and Brewster described many striking illusions thus obtained without the aid of the stereoscope. The principle applied by him, as described in the paper to which reference has been made, may be briefly given, and his results can be easily tested by any one who is liccustomed to analyzing his own visual sensations. Upon a uniform horizontal surface (Fig. 2) let two lines, A C and B C, be drawn, form- i ti • -in- / II -i" Fig. 2. Jng a small angle, /3, with its vertex toward the observer. Let the eyes. t88i. 11 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Scl. R and L, be placed above this. If they be directed to the point C, this appears in its true position. If the right eye be directed to B.and the left to A, the axes meet at P; this point Brewster calls the binocu- lar centre ; and since the retinal images of B and A correspond, the visual effect is that of the union of these two external points at the binocular centre. Sweeping the glance toward C, the two lines appear united in the air, and P C is the apparent position of the combination, intermediate in direction between two monocular images, which may be disregarded or hidden from view with screens. If the convergence of visual lines be now diminished, the binocular image is lost until the right eye becomes directed to A and the left to B. The two points appear united at P', and the line PC now appears in the air on the further side of the surface. If the convergence be increased till P is again the binocular centre, and the face be lowered and withdrawn till the eyes are at R" and L", then C P" becomes the position of the variable exterml image. And if lowered until R"L" coincides with the surface, C P ' vanishes at the moment of becoming coincident with the prolongation of G C, the median of the triangle A C B. Brewster's formula for determining the distance of the binocular centre from G is easily deduced and applied. Let i = interocular distance, R L. " a = interval between the corresponding points, A and B. " b = distance, G E, between card and observer. " X = distance G P, or G P', which is positive when measured toward the observer, negative in the direction opposite. Then, observ- ing the usual rule of signs, we have, by Geometry, a b X = ± t ± a Applying this formula, Brewster constructed a table ot distances for the bmocular centre. For negative values it is seen that x becomes infinite when the visual lines become parallel ; and, if they be slightly divergent, the binocular centre is far in the rear of the observer. Either of these conditions would make binocular vision impossible if the theory be correct. In testing the experiment with trained eyes, it is found quite possible to secure binocular fusion of the images of A and B when the interval between these points equals or slightly ex- ceeds the interocular distance. It is also found that fusion of the images of the whole line at any given instant is impossible, especially when the angle ft is large, or the lines are viewed very obliquely, as from R" and L". If the images of A and B fall on corresponding retinal points, the resulting sensation is binocular fusion, whether the visual lines be convergent, parallel or divergent ; and the images of any Trans. X. V. Ac. Set. 12 QcL 24, two points nearer or farther apart cannot fall on corresponding retinal points at the same moment with those of A and B, though small differ- ences are easily neglected. Whatever may be the importance therefore of optic convergence, as a factor ordinarily in determining the binoc- ular judgment of distance, it has no such exclusive and measurable value as that attributed in Brewster's experiments ; and the apparent distance of objects viewed through the stereoscope is obviously not determined by intersection of visual lines, if conditions are such as 10 render these parallel or divergent. The visual effects of optic diver- gence can be more conveniently studied by using stereographs than by the method already described, and a modification of Wheatstone's reflecting stereoscope affords the best means of measuring variations of the optic angle. As the lenticular stereoscope, however, is now almost universally. employed, it is important that this instrument, as found in the market, be examined first. By diminishing the natural convergence of visual lines, the stereo- scopic effect of binocular relief can be quite easily obtained, while gazing upon a stereograph, without any instrument, when the interval between corresponding points of the two pictures does not exceed that between the observer's optic centres. This distance does not often differ very much from 64 mm., which may be taken as an average value. In Fig. 3 the distance betweeathe two central dots is 50 mm. If the reader will fix his gaze upon a point ten feet off, just visible below the edge of the page, and then suddenly raise the visual lines to the figure without changing their convergence, he will see three circles instead of two; the central one moreover will appear as the base of a cone whose vertex is pointed toward him, but capped with a small circle. A little attention then will reveal the fact that when the dots are seen distinctly and singly, the small circle is double and slightly indistinct, and vice versa. On stereographs, however, the interval between corresponding points is always greater than 50 mm. As the result of measurement made upon the foreground intervals of 166 cards, European and American, taken at random, the mean value I have found to be 72.9 mm., the maximum being 95 mm. If binocular combination is secured without Kiu. 3. 1 88 1. 13 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. the stereoscope, therefore, optic diverg-ence is nearly always necessary. To ascertain the extent to which this is counteracted by the semi- lenses of our best stereoscopes, 30 pairs of these were kindly loaned me by Mr. H. T. Anthony, of New York. With very slight variation, their focal length was found to be 18.3 cm., and their deviating power not sufficient to prevent the necessity of optic divergence, when the pictures are binocularly regarded through them, if the stereographic interval exceed 80 mm. As this limit is not unfrequently exceeded, optic diver- gence is often practiced unconsciously in using the stereoscope. Every oculist is familiar with the mode of using prisms to test the power of the muscles of the eyeballs, for both convergence and divergence of visual lines, and knows that 4° or 5° of divergence is not uncommon. Helmholtz Q-) refers to the use of stereographs for the same purpose. But familiar as is the production of optic divergence by artificial means, little or nothing seems to have been written in regard to the modification which the possibility of it imposes upon the theory of binocular perspective held by both Wheatstone and Brewster, .iccepted by most writers on vision since their time, and abundantly reproduced in our text books on Physics.* Of these I have not been able to find one that gives any account of the stereoscope except on the hypothesis that the visual lines are made to converge by the use of this instru- ment. On the uncertainty attached to the judgment of absolute dis- tance from convergence of visual lines alone, Helmholtz (•*) has written more fully than any one else. It is unfortunate that no English trans- lation of his masterly work on Physiological Optics has ever been pub- lished. Although he gives no analysis of the visual phenomena pro- duced in binocular fusion by optic divergence, his discussion of the judgment of distance would certainly tend to cast some doubt upon the explanation of vision through the stereoscope, as found in our text- books. And yet Helmholtz himself employs Brewster's theory in his mathematical discussion {^) of stereoscopic projection. This discussion, on the data assumed, is a model of elegance; but it contains no pro- vision for divergence of visual lines. It is strictly applicable to the conditions involved in taking photographs with the binocular camera, (,3) Helmholtz, Optique Physiologique, pp. 6i6 and 827. * Nov. 15th. Since the abovp was put in type, I have received from Prof. C. F. Himes.of Carlisle, Pa., an article written by him in 1862, in which he mentions his successful attain- ment of binocular vision by optic divergen'.e, and criticises Brewster's theory of distance in relation to the stereoscope. Though his observation was independent, as my own was also, I find that he was preceded by a Gernan, Burckhardt, in i860 or 1861. I have already referred to Helmholtz in this connection {Am. Journal of Scie-ncey Nov., 1881, p. 361), and therefore have claimed no priority in discovering the possibility of this unusual, but still voluntary, employment of the eves. It is the more remarkable that in our text-books the assumption should be so universal, that convergence of visual lines is a necessity in binocular vision for the determination of the apparent point of sight. (*) Idem, pp. 823, 828. (*•> Opt. Phys.. p. 842. Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 1 4 Oct 24, and to the projection of images viewed in the stereoscope when the convergence of visual lines is identical with that of the camera axes, but not otherwise. Instead of human eyes we may assume a pair of camera lenses, an interocular distance apart, and a pair of sensitized plates behind them. Helmholtz's formulas enable us to determine the stereoscopic displacements in the images projected. If proofs from the negatives thus obtained be inverted and placed in front of a pair of eyes in such manner that the visual lines passing through corres- ponding photograph points shall bear to each other the exact relation that existed between the secondary camera axes that terminated in them, these two points will appear as one, and nearly.at the distance of the real point in space to which the camera axes were converged. The effect is much the same as if the eyes, with normal convergence of visual lines, had been substituted for the cameras. But if the proofs be too near together or too far apart, increase of convergence makes the whole picture seem nearer, while divergence makes it farther. The relation between the different parts having been fixed at the time the picture was taken, increased convergence makes the distance from back- ground to foreground seem less, divergence makes it greater. No one can have failed to notice the gross exaggeration of perspective often seen in the stereoscope, when the pictures are so far apart as to make the visual lines parallel or divergent, while the angle between the camera axes, when they were taken, was relatively large. But in no case do these conditions cause variations of such magnitude as Brew- ster's theory of binocular perspective would demand. This is easily illustrated with Wheatstone's reflecting stereoscope. (^) Suppose the stereograph to represent a concave surface with the opening toward the observer, and that the arms of the instrument are properly adjusted. If they are pushed back, so as to make the visual lines divergent, the cavity apparently recedes and deepens ; if pulled forward, so as to make them strongly convergent, it seems to approach and grow shallow. The apparent diameter of the image enlarges in the first case and diminishes in the second. Wheatstone notices this last variation in the account which he gave of his invention and its applications, in 1852, in the Bakerian lecture before the Royal Society C) ; but, strange to say, the variation which is produced in apparent distance and depth under the same conditions seems to have escaped his notice, and the pos- sibility of using his instrument to test the peculiarities of binocular vision with divergence of visual lines, seems not to have occurred to him. For the refracting stereoscope, however, like Brewster, he con- structs a table of apparent distances corresponding to various optic (*) For description, see Phil. Mag., s. 4, vol. III., June, 1852, p. 506. V) Phil. Mag., s. 4, vol. III., p. 504. 1 88 1. 15 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Scu angles, and applicable in using the binocular camera for the purpose of taking slightly dissimilar pictures of the same object. He adds, (*) " when the optic axes are parallel, in strictness there should be no difference between the pictures presented to each eye, and in this case there should be no binocular relief; but I find that an excellent effect is produced, when the axes are nearly parallel, by pictures taken at an inclination of y*' or 2>°, and even a difference of 16° or 17^ has no decidedly bad effect. There is a peculiarity in such images worthy of remark ; although the optic axes are parallel, or nearly so, the image does not appear to be referred to the distance we should, from this circumstance, suppose it to be, but it is perceived to be much nearer.'' This would not have seemed anomalous to Wheatstone, had he sup- posed binocular vision possible with divergence of visual lines, and entered into an analysis of the resulting visual phenomena. This analysis will be given in a future paper. Oct. 31, 1881. General Section. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Twenty persons present. The following paper was read by Mr. John H. Furman : " THE GEOLOGY OF THE COPPER REGION OF NORTHERN TEXAS AND THE INDIAN TERRITORY." The well-marked cretaceous beds of Parker County, Texas, extend for 30 miles north of west from Weatherford, on the road to Graham. They consist of strata of shelly limestone, sandstone and shaly clay, the latter grayish or reddish in color. An occasional thin seam of soft coal is found ; and the water is strongly impregnated with lime. A stratum of sandstone stretches for thirty miles N. W. from Fort Worth. In this rock springs are found containing sodic carbonate, similar to the waters of the artesian wells of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, at a depth of about 270 feet. Towards Graham, the country assumes a semi-moun- tainous appearance, and, for twenty-five miles or more, sandstone ridges alternate with prairies, the hills being covered with scrub oak. Some of the ridges attain an elevation of two or three hundred feet above the prairies. The strata are horizontal, and large portions of the original surface have been carried away by erosion. The upper stratum is in many places a conglomerate, made up of small pebbles. In this region the seams of coal met with are generally soft, and the only workable (?) Idem, p. 514. Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 16 Oct. 31 bed known is one about three feet thick, yielding a fair quahty of bitum inous coal, which crops out and has been traced for several miles near the Clear Fork of the Brazos river in Young County. This supposed coal region has a general N. E. and S. W. direction. Approaching Graham the prairies begin to resemble the plains ; and the ridges, capped with sandstone, show bases of mottled reddish-colored shales, or clay; salt springs and salt streams are found, indicating the border of the great alkaline region. From Graham to Fort Griffin in Shackleford County, thence north in Throckmorton County, the country rises. Every few miles a steppe is mounted, the face of the escarp- ments showing horizontal thin limestone strata. The same features continue, and then the country slopes towards the Brazos river. Scale — 52 Miles to i Inch. A. B. C. HI. Hn. Archer County. Baylor County. Clay County. Haskell County. Hardeman County. Wa. Wichita County. Wr. Wilbarger County. c. c. c. 'Copper Bed. .?■ ff- S- Gravel Drift. n. Narrows. Turning westward through Haskell County, the surface lowers again towards the Brazos, the river coursing south to north, and a plain is crossed, the ground differing from any observed. The soil is mixed and covered with gravel, in many places several feet deep. The pebbles SI. 1 • Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. vary in size from half an inch to an inch atul a half in diameter, and consist of feldspar, quartz, porphyry, and basalt. On the western side of Haskell County the copper bed is reached not far from the Brazos river ; and west of the copper a great belt of gypsum hills, several miles in width, extends northward, parallel with the copper bed, into the Indian Territory. Gypsum occurs there in most of its forms, including selenite which has been locally mistaken for mica. On reaching a scene of attempted mining operations in search of sup- posed veins of copper, a very short examination convinced me that no vein would ever be discovered. Denudation has laid the bed bare, sweeping away the larger portion uncovered and leaving only patches ; but these were sufficient to give a clear conception of the mode of occur- rence. The copper-bearing stratum is an ashy-colored clay shale, more or less tinged with green, the upper portion showing the deep green carbonate of copper, usually two or three inches thick. Overlying this stratum is a cap-rock of gypsiferous sandstone, about three feet thick, with a layer }i \.o }i inch thick, impregnated with carbonate of copper, as though it had soaked it up from below. Underneath the gray or green bed an intensely red clay shale is generally found. Nuggets of copper are scattered over the surface of the red bed, with pieces of cu- prified wood and nuggets of iron pyrites. In the wood the original structure in many instances is perfectly preserved, also appearing cupri- fied in all stages of decay, as though it had become half rotten before the petrifaction was effected. The overlying sandstone frequently con- tains biscuit-like concretions of gypsum. Juniper trees abound and also cover the gvpsum hills, the perfectly preserved cuprified wood, with its knots and bark, showing a fac-simile of that growth. I found in the gray bed fragments of wood partially unaltered, as though it had just commenced to absorb copper; also large pieces of coal, three or four inches or more in diameter, the cracks of the same piece being filled with crystalline carbonate of copper, or with white gypsum, thus appear- ing veined with copper and gypsum. In parts of the bed remaining the resemblance to piles of ashes and charcoal is strikingly deceptive. In one shaft, sunk to a depth of about thirty feet, the horizontal position of the strata was confirmed, the shaft passing through the gupriferous gray bed, and then through a succession of layers of red shale and soft red sandstone, in which not a trace of copper was found. The gray stratum extends seventy-five feet or more under a point of the gypsum hill. In a tunnel traversing this stratum I noticed occasionally pebbles belonging to the gravel drift. This copper formation has a general north and south course, usually less than fifty yards in width, and was traced for a distance of eight or ten miles to the southern boundary ol Haskell County. Trans. \. Y. Ac. Sci. 18 Oct. 31. At one point the gray bed lies between beds of sandstone ; the red bed does not appear, and the underlying sandstone strata are almost white, laminated, and very hard. The bed is more than two miles distant from the gypsum hills ; the gravel drift is noticeable and even abundant. Observing the nuggets of copper ore and the drift pebbles lying about in places on the red bed, the idea forced itself upon me that there might be a remote connection between the two. However, the nuggets of ore are evidently concretions, and no pebbles occur in the gray bed. The gypsum range extends several miles across, with a western declivity similar to that on the eastern side. A plain, a little over one hundred feet below, reaches beyond to the foot of the great Llano Estacado. On these hills and on this western plain the gravel drift is wanting. The copper bed was traced five miles further to the north : also in Knox county, not far from the Wichita river, and forty miles or more north of the southern portion of Haskell county : its occurrence was also reported north of the Wichita river. The copper band here lies between the sandstone and gray bed, with the ted beds beneath. Eastward, between the Brazos and Wichita rivers, the gravel drift is abundant, with many stones of greater diameter. At the " Nar- rows," between the Wichita and Brazos rivers, the width is only suffi- cient to admit the passage of a single wagon. Continued caving in of the bluffs of the two rivers has widened an immense eroded area, rendering a large surface valueless, and while the channels of the rivers are several miles apart, their junction is only a question of time. In the copper region of the little Wichita river, near the centre of Archer county, the ore occurs under the same general conditions, with a differ- ent course, N. E. and S. W., and copper nuggets, coal and cuprified wood are found. Embedded in the overlying sands' one, in some instances several feet above the gray bed, the sandstone frequently attains a thickness of more than fifteen feet. The cuprified wood is altogether different from that of Haskell county, and resembles the wood of the mesquite tree, which I found scattered about. The gravel drift here is identical in character yvith that of the region further west, and pebbles occur in the gray copper-bearing bed beneath the sandstone. The extension of the gravel drift of Haskell county, beyond the Brazos river system, its absence west of the gypsum hills, the larger size of the pebbles in Knox county, bordering the Wichita river, and the occurrence of the drift only in the vicinity of the copper-bearing lines mentioned, and in Archer county, suggested to me a possible relationship of some kind between the two, perhaps their origination in the same region. Be- tween the Wichita and Pease Rivers I crossed several copper-bearing J 88 1. li> Trans. N. Y.Ac. Sci. beds, having a general northeast and southwest direction. In Wil- barger County the gravel drift is in great quantity, and boulders from three to seven inches in diameter occur. In places, and having a north- east and southwest bearing, heavy deposits or Hnes of gravel and boulders attract attention, appearing as though a great flow towards the southeast had met obstructions along its course, the great incline of this region being directed toward the southeast. Beyond Pease Riv^er the gravel drift lessens, but the large boulders are occasionally seen as far west as the gypsum hills. Not far north from the centre of Hardeman County I again found the Haskell County copper bed, the accompanying sandstones being thin and much mixed with gypsum. The copper bed reaches higher than the surrounding country, except the gypsum hills to the west. From this high locality of the copper, known as Prairie-dog Mounds, the country inclines on one side north- ward to a creek emptying into Red River, and on the other side south- ward to the Pease River. South of these mounds, where only here and there patches of the bed are preserved in the midst of a general erosion, I found the largest mass of copper ore thus far discovered, consisting of an aggregation of cuprified wood, resembling the trunk of a tree, more than one foot in diameter. Beyond Red River the bed continues to the vicinity of the Salt Fork of Red River, distant but little over 20 mil*s from ihe Wichita Mountains of the Indian Territory. The bed probably con- tinues nearly to the western end of these mountains, and here must be found the true centre of elevation and the origin of the gravel drift. The Haskell County copper bed was also traced south to the Wichita River, thus establishing its continuity from the southern portion of Haskell County, through Knox and Hardeman Counties, into the Indian Territory, a length of more than 100 miles. Subseqaently, the northern end of the bed was found a short distance from the western end of the Wichita Mountains, on the south side of the range. The copper for- mations of Archer and Wichita Counties continue through Clay County to the Red River boundary of the Indian Territory. The gravel drift does not extend to the north of the Wichita Mountains, but a limestone district occurs about 20 miles in width, that reaches probably as far out to the north, from the Wichita Range, the course of the latter being east and west. This limestone area may be called mountainous, is much disturbed and tilted, and is similar in appearance to the metalli- ferous limestone formation of Mexico. The Wichita Mountains are mainly made up of porphyries, trachytes and basalt, and appear to be two parallel ranges with transverse ranges and small valleys between. About 12 miles west of Fort Sill an extensive body of hornblende slate makes its appearance between the two main ranges. The drift from the mountains extends to the south and southeast. It is found as far west as the Haskell County copper bed, and as far east as the Archer County copper bed is known. The river channels of that section of the country have been formed since this drift period. The development of the Wichita Mountains seems to have marked the close of a period of uplift and simultaneous erosion. Trans. X. V. Ac. Set. 20 Oci. 31, These mountains have the same general appearance as the Reeky Mountains, which pass through the western portion of Texas and the State of Coahuila, Mexico ; and it has been a matter of much interest to observe that similar drifts of local origin are frequently met in the latter regions. The Wichita Mountains appear to be identical in origin with the Rocky Mountains, and constitute the most eastern spur of that system. In Northern Mexico short ranges are encountered, strik- ing east and west, and of these the Wichita Mountains appear to be a reproduction. The Wichita Mountains will be found to contain mineral deposits, possibly of some value ; veins of copper ores do exist 40 miles west of Fort Sill, near Otter Creek, in the mountains ; but I am con- vinced that the copper bed or stratum of Northern Texas will prove of no commercial importance. DISCUSSION. Prof. Newberry remarked that the communication of Mr. Furman was of great interest, since no accurate description had before been given of the geological structure of the region where the copper occurs in northern Texas and the Indian Territory. He had received speci- mens from that region long ago and recognized their similarity to the copper ores of New Mexico, where in the upper portion of the Triassic formation copper forming concretions and replacing wood occurs in many localities, and has been more or less mined for. In one locality near Abiquim very extensive galleries have been cut in the sandstone in search of copper which there replaces branches and trunks of trees and forms concretions which are irregularly scattered through the rock. Here the work was done by the early Spanish explorers perhaps 200 years ago, and the remains of the furnaces in which the copper was smelted are still to be seen at the mouth of the mine. Still further w'est, in southern Utah, the same formation carries copper and con- siderable silver, at Silver Reef enough to pay well for mining, but in no locality yet known are the deposits of copper ore sufficiently concen- trated and continuous to make mining for that material profitable ; so it would doubtless be found in Texas and the Indian Territory. The copper was deposited with the Triassic rocks from a shallow sea in which an unusual quantity of copper was held in solution. This im- pregnated the sediments found at the bottom, replacing wood and forming as nodules about some nucleus. The aggregate quantity of copper in this formation was enormous, but, except where by the erosion of the beds it accumulated at the surface and could be picked up with- out any expense in mining, it would hardly pay to attempt to obtain it by ordinary mining processes. The wood replaced by copper, Dr. Newberry said, was undoubtedly all coniferous, and different from any now living. The beds which contained the cuprified wood also contained much that was silicified. Of this he had examined many specimens under the microscope and had found the peculiar dotted cells which are characteristic of the con- iferse, and these grouped in such a way as to prove the trees to have belonged to the Araucarian group of conifers. So far as yet known the angiosperms, or higher order of plants, did not maRe their appear- ance on the earth's surface until after the copper bearing rocks of the southwest had been depofited. 1 88 1. 10 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. beds, having a general northeast and southwest d rection. In Wil- barger County the gravel drift is in great quantity, and boulders from three to seven inches in diameter occur. In places, and having a north- east and southwest bearing, heavy deposits or lines of gravel and boulders attract attention, appearing as though a great flow towards the southeast had met obstructions along its course, the great incline of this region being directed towards the southeast. Beyond Pease River the gravel drift lessens, but the large boulders are occasionally seen as far west as the gypsum hills. Not far north from the centre of Hardeman County I again found the Haskell County copper bed, the accompanying sandstones being thin and much mixed with gypsum. The copper bed reaches higher than the surrounding country, except the gypsum hills to the west. From this high locality of the copper, known as Prairie-dog Mounds, the country inclines on one side north- ward to a creek emptying into Red River, and on the other side south- ward to the Pease River. South of these mounds, where only here and there patches of the bed are preserved in the midst of a general erosion, I found the largest mass of copper ore thus far discovered, consisting of an aggregation of cuprified wood, resembling the trunk of a tree, more than one foot in diameter. Beyond Red River, the bed continues to the vicinity ol the Salt Fork of Red River, distant but little over 20 miles from the Wichita Mountains of the Indian Territory. The bed probably con- tinues nearly to the western end of these mountains, and here must be found the true centre of elevation and the origin of the gravel drift. The Haskell County copper bed was also traced south to the Wichita River, thus establishing its continuity from the southern portion of Haskell County, through Knox and Hardeman Counties, into the Indian Territory, a length of more than 100 miles. Subsequently, the northern end of the bed was found a short distance from the western end of the Wichita Mountains, on the south side of the range. The copper forma- tions of Archer and Wichita Counties continue through Clay County to the Red River boundary of the Indian Territory. The gravel drift does not extend to the north of the Wichita Mountains, but a limestone district occurs, about 20 miles in width, that reaches probably as far out to the north, from the Wichita Range, the course of the latter being east and west. This limesione area may be called mountainous, is much disturbed and tilted, and is similar in appearance to the metalli- ferous limestone formation of Mexico. The Wichita Mountains are mainly made up of porphyries, trachytes and basalt, and appear to be two parallel ranges with transverse ranges and small valleys between. About 12 miles west of Fort Sill an extensive body of hornblende slate makes its appearance between the two main ranges. The drift from Tratis. N. V. Ac. Set. 20 Oct. 31, the mountains extends to the south and southeast. It is found as far west as the Haskell County copper bed, and as far east as the Archer County copper bed is known. The river channels of that section of the country have been formed since this drift period. The development of the Wichita Mountains seems to have marked the close of a period ot uplift and simultaneous erosion. These mountains have the same general appearance as the RocKy Mountains, which pass through the western portion of Texas and the State of Coahuila, Mexico ; and it has been a matter of much interest to observe that similar drifts of local OHgin are frequently met in the latter regions. The Wichita Mountains appear to be identical in origin with the Rocky Mountains, and constitute the most eastern spur of that system. In Northern Mexico short ranges are encountered, strik- ing east and west, and of these the Wichita Mountains appear to be a reproduction. The Wichita Mountains will be found to contain mineral deposits, possibly of some value ; ve'ns of copper ores do exist 40 miles west of Fort Sill, near Otter Creek, in the mountains ; but I am con- vinced that the copper bed or stratum of Northern Texas will prove of no commercial importance. DISCUSSION. Prof. Newberry remarked that the communication of Mr. Furman was of great interest, since no accurate description had before been given of the geological structure of the region where the copper occurs in Northern Texas and the Indian Territory. He had received speci- mens from that region long ago and recognized their similarity to the copper ores of New Mexico, where, in the upper portion of the Triassic formation, copper, forming concretions and replacing wood, occurs in many localities, and has been more or less mined for. In one locality near Abiquiui very extensive galleries have been cut in the sandstone in search of copper, which there replaces branches and trunks of trees and forms concretions which are irregularly scattered through the rock. Here the work was done by the early Spanish explorers, perhaps 200 years ago, and the remains of the furnaces in which the copper was smelted are still to be seen at the mouth of the mine. Still further west, in Southern Utah, the same formation carries copper and con- siderable silver, at Silver Reef enough to pay well for mining, but in no locality yet known are the deposits of copper oresuffic'ently concen- trated and continuous to make mining for that material profitable : so it would doubtless be found in Texas and the Indian Territory. The copper was deposited, with the Triassic rocks, from a shallow sea in which an unusual quantity of copper was held in solution. This im- pregnated the sediments found at the bottom, replacing wood and 1 88 1. 21 Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. forming as nodules about some nuclei. The aggregate quantity of copper in this formation was enormous, but, except where by the erosion of the beds it accumulated at the surface and could be picked up with- out any expense in mining, it would hardly pay to attempt to obtain it by ordinary mining processes. The wood replaced by copper, Dr. Newberry said, was undoubtedly all coniferous, and different from any now living The beds which contained the cuprified wood also contained much that was silicified. Of this he had examined many specimens under the microscope and had found the peculiar dotted cells which are characteristic of the con- iferae, and these grouped in such a way as to prove the trees to have belonged to the Araucarian group of conifers. So far as yet known, the angiosperrris, or higher order of plants, did not make their appear- ance on the earth's surface until after the copper bearing rocks of the southwest had been deposited. November 7, 1881. Regular Business Meeting. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Twenty-nine persons present. A paper by Prof. P. T. Cleve, University of Upsala, Sweden, was read by Prof D. S. Martin, entitled Outlines of the Geology of the Northeastern West India Islands. (Abstract.) Prof, Cleve's paper contained a resume of his observations made during 1868-9, in and around the Virgin Islands, and published in the Swedish language in the Trans. R. Acad. Set. of Stockholm, in 1871. He regards the whole group as of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, with the exception of Anegada, which, like the Bahamas, is Post-pliocene. The strike of the rocks, and the trend of the entire group, are approximately east and west. The rocks are various, largely eruptive and metamorphic. Of these, Prof. Cleve discussed somewhat fully the character and distribution of the following kinds : — i, Dioryte; 2, Fel- syte ; 3, " Blue-beach" (a peculiar volcanic breccia, locally so-called); 4, Diabase. All these rocks have great thickness, and indicate long-continued vol- canic activity. As in modern lavas, they present two types, basic and acidic. Metamorphic slates are next described ; and then a partly metamor- Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 22 Nov. 7, phic limestone, occasionally with recognizable fossils, sufficient to fix the age as certainly Cretaceous. Santa Cruz Island is then described, and referred to the same series as the Virgin group. All these islands thus indicate, by their east and west strike, and the great up-turning ot their rocks, that they were formed by a north and south pressure, forcing the Cietaceous and asso- ciated volcanic beds into a great line of anticlinal and synclinal folds. This period seems to have been about that of the white Chalk ; but the force continued to act during the succeeding Eocene time, though with diminishing intensity, as is shown by the less inclination of the Eocene beds. The Miocene strata are little disturbed, and the force would therefore seem to have spent itself by that period. Prof. Cleve then refers briefly to the occurrence of similar metamor- phic and volcanic rocks in the interior of the Great Antilles, and re- gards the entire series as having been formed by the same general movement of Cretaceous folding, the Virgin Islands forming the east- ern extension of the line of elevation. The Eocene strata are then taken up and discussed, as they occur in the islands of St. Martin and St. Bartholomew, just east ot the Virgin group. Professor Cleve regards these islands as wholly of Eocene age, claiming that the eruptive rocks, of which they mainly consist, are inter stratified with the limestones, which contain fossils of the age of the Calcaire Grossier, of the Eocene of Paris. He then traces the occurrence of Eocene strata in Antigua, Guadaloupe, parts of Trinidad, and largely in Jamaica ; and re-affirms his conclusion that the move- ment which raised the Great Antilles and the Virgin islands continued during the early Tertiary, though with lessening force. The Miocene formation is then considered. It forms the small island of Anguilla, and occurs on several of the islands, south to Trin- idad ; but has immense development in the Great Antilles. It is chiefly a limestone series, is generally Httle disturbed from a horizontal position, and at times may be seen resting unconformably on the Eocene. By this time, evidently, the disturbing movements had ceased to make themselves felt. The later Tertiary rocks. Pliocene and Post-pliocene, have not been very clearly marked off from each other or from the Miocene. But to the Post-pliocene period are referred the Bahamas, Anegada, and the remarkable series of volcanic outbreaks that characterize the islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis, Monserrat, Guadaloupe, &c. On St. Kitts, Prof. Cleve describes a limestone with over forty species of fossil shells, all but one of which are identified with living species of the Caribbean sei. The same is true of Anegada. The elevation of the Miocene strata of the Great Antilles took place 1 88 1. 23 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. apparently by a "continental " up-lift, whereby large areas of marine deposit were raised without folding or disturbance. Professor Cleve suggests that this movement may have been accompanied by a sinking of part of the sea-bottom in the Caribbean region to the south-east, and that, on the limit between the areas of rise and of depression, fis- sures and faults may have occurred, through which these volcanic out- breaks of the Leeward islands found exit, in the Post-pliocene time. DISCUSSION. Mr. A. A. JULIEN confirmed the accuracy of these petrographical distinctions of the rocks of the Lesser Antilles, from the results of observation during a residence of four years on Sombrero and vicinity. The island of St. Eustatius consists mainly of volcanic ashes in a thick tabular and horizontal stratum with vertical faces along its coast. This is flanked on the south end by a volcanic cone with extinct crater, of which the botto'm is occupied by a plantain plantation, but the sides are bare, and consist of a dark basaltic rock ; and on the horth end by two lower cones, not visited but probably volcanic. On the island of Saba the rock is light colored, rich in crystals ot sanidine, and appar- ently a trachyte, constituting a remarkably sharp volcanic cone, with its sides deeply furrowed from top to bottom by eroded ravines ; certain depressions upon the summit, resembling craters, present in some localities sulphur deposits which have been found of commercial impor- tance. However, the conclusion of Prof. Cleve, as to the recent age and eruptive character of most of the crystalline rocks of this region, appeared surprising in view of their metamorphic associates, and of their similarity to those of the Archsan areas identified by Hartt in Brazil. It was a question whether a nucleus of Archaean, or, at latest, metamorphic pre-Silurian rocks, in general highly tilted, does not form the axis of such islands as St. Martin, St. Barts, etc. Prof. D. S. Martin questioned whether a corresponding movement of disturbance should not be also found in thie Cretaceous strata of a region no farther removed than that of the vicinity of our own Gulf coast. Dr. J. S. Newberry remarked that the importance of the subject of the age and origin of these crystalline rocks still demanded their re- examination and a review of Prof. Cleve's conclusions by some worker ot experience in this peculiar tield. One of the most interesting topo- graphical features on this continent consisted in the line or axis of ele- vation marked by the Windward Islands, separating the deep basin of the Gulf of Mexico on the one side from the abyss of the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It presents a prolongation and connection of the mountain chains which run along the eastern border of the North and Tracts. N. V. Ac. Sci. 24 Nov. 14, South American continents, in a course imperfectly parallel to that on the western border of these continents, with the gulf lying enclosed between these two great ranges. This axis has been the scene of violent volcanic action and has been supposed to mark the place of that mythical area of sunken land, styled Atlantis by the ancients, A tradition long current, recorded by Herodotus and others, points to a densely populated land west of Europe, covered with cities, and threatening the civilization of the Eastern hemisphere, which was punished by the gods by being sunk beneath the sea. According to the recent observations of an English geologist, Mr. Thomas Belt, this legend may have had some foundation in the former existence of a continent, now submerged beneath the Caribbean sea, through which the peaks represented by the Lesser Antilles constituted a mountain chain. Local disturbances have certainly affected this area, but we fail to find any evidence of corresponding disturbance in the Cretaceous strata of our southern States, except perhaps in continental elevations and depressions. Messrs. Guppy, Gabb, and others have studied the rocks of the region, but, up to this time, no one trained to the exam- ination of the difficult phenomena and problems under discussion. November 14, 188 1. Section of Geology. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Twenty-four persons present. A paper was read by Dr. Alexis A. Julien on THE excavation OF THE BED OF THE KAATERSKILL, N. Y. (Abstract.) This paper was supplementary to one read before the Academy tw& years ago, concerning the phenomena of erosion, glaciation, etc., in the Catskill Mountains, in the vicinity of the Kaaterskill Clove. Flexure of Strata.— V\oi. James Hall has indicated the existence of four Hues of flexure, running from N.E. to S.W., the synclinals occupy- ing the summits of ranges, and Prof. Arnold Guyot locates one of these at SUde Mt. The dips at the entrance of the Clcve vary from 8° to 10° to the W.N.W., becoming only 3° four miles to the westward, i. e., more nearly horizontal towards a shallow synclinal fold supposed to occupy Hunter Mt. One of the most interesting discoveries of Guyot was the linear series of three maxima of altitudes above 4000 teet , Slide Mt., Hunter Mt., and Black Dome. The gentle flexure of the whole stratum required to produce this line of maxima may be shown as follows, in the range 1 88 1. 25 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. running S.E. and N.W. through Hunter Mt., 35 miles long. Toward the S.E., the descent from the crest of Hunter Mt. (Alt., 4038 feet), to Overlook Mt. (3150 feet), is 888 feet, in g% miles, equivalent to i in 56, or about 1° ; toward the N.W., from Hunter Mt. to Utsyanthe Mt. (3203 feet), the descent is 835 feet in 25 miles, equivalent to i in 158, or less than %°. Another similar series of maxima, however, occurs further to the v/estward, consisting of Graham Mt. (3886 feet), Bear-pen Mt. (3545 feet), and Ashland Pinnacle (3420 feet), distant respectively 9, 12, and 15 miles westward. of the former series. This southward convergence of the axes of these two folds may probably account for the increased protuberance and greater elevations in the Southern Catskills, Newly determined altitudes. — Many new determinations have been made of points in the vicinity of the Clove, by means of an excellent aneroid, with constant reference to the numerous stations in the vicinity whose altitudes Jiave been accurately obtained by Guyot. A few are here subjoined : Feet. Hotel Kaaterskil], on South Mt 2466 Parker Hill, summit • 2565 Parker Mt., "high ledge." 2874 Clifton House 2101 Newman's ledge, on North Mt 2486 Gap between E. and W. peaks, North Mt 3"^ Toll-gate on Mt. House road 760 Glaciation of summits. — All the crests near the Clove have been now examined. On none above an altitude of 2900 feet have glacial stria; been found, in part because they consist of thinly laminated flags deeply disintegrated by frosts. The highest striae discovered were found on Parker Mt., -'High ledge" (2874 feet), runnmg S. 18° W. (magnetic), and under the roots of a large tree on the SE. slope of Round Top, at an elevation of 2871 feet, running S. 35° E. However, in all cases, a maiked difference exists in the slope of different sides of a peak, the E. and S.E. sides presenting a precipitous face, and the other sides more cr less of a gentle slope, made up of low terraces. The highest stride yet found in the Catskills occur on Overlook Mt., at an elevation of about 3100 feet, implying a depth of ice in the Hud- son Valley Glacier of about or at least 3200 feet. Within the Kaaterskill basin, several miles distant from the Hudson valley, the overflowing ice stream became shallower, having an altitude of about 3000 feet. It thus appears that the surface of the glacier inclined westward over these mountains, with a slope of 200 feet in 3 miles, i in 84, say about The conclusions of the former paper have been confirmed by recent Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 26 jVov. 14, observation, viz., that two glacier streams have swept over these moun- tains, the Continental Glacier from the N. W., submerging and carvinoj out the highest peaks, and the Hudson Valley Glacier from the N., later, more shallow, bearing along vast quantities of materials derived from the crystalline and lower Silurian rocks of the Adirondacks and of the Helderberg Mts., and strewing the whole region with their boulders ; and that no local glaciers have existed in the Catskills after the retreat of the Hudson Valley Glacier. Tilting of the Catskill plateau. — In the previous paper an explana- tion had been given of certain facts which seemed to indicate that the whole formation had been gently inclined to the East and then to the Southeast, before assuming its present W. N. W. inclination, at a period far anterior to the Glacial epoch. A profile section of the ancient Kaaterskill valley was exhibited, reaching from Haines' Falls nearly to the junction of the N. and S. branches of Schoharie creek, proving the gentleness of the slope, the absence of rock, and the exis- tence of a deep and narrow buried canon, now filled up with moraine material and a capping of peat. A comparison of the altitudes of Prattsville (1164 ft.), a point on the Western axis, 12 miles distant from the Kaaterskill Clove, and of the lip of the stratum above Haines' Falls (1857 ft.), at the head of the Clove, shows that a depression of the latter point below a line connect- ing these two points, even to the extent of a single degree, would cause a descent of nearly 700 feet from Prattsville to Haines' Falls, /. e., toward the East. The excavation of the deep Kaaterskill and Piaater- kill Cloves could hardly have been effected by the small streams now occupying their beds. It is more probable that the Schoharie creek for- merly flowed, at a higher level, to the eastward into the Kaaterskill Clove, and afterwards toward the south-east into the Plaaterkill Clove, before the latest tilting of the plateau to the W. N. W. caused a reversal of the flow of the stream, in the very opposite direction, through the greater part of the same valley. An objection to this theory presented itself in the obstacle which has created a turn to the S. W. in the North branch of Schoharie creek, near its junction with the South branch. But on recent examination ths was found to consist not of rock but of a huge mass of coarse moraine material, deposited during the Glacial period on the southern slope of the Schoharie valley. Sculpture of the plateati. — In a terrane consisting of strata which dip at varying and perhaps very high angles, the carving out of ranges and production of ravines and gaps may generally be assigned to the occurrence of flexures, of dykes or faults, or of beds w-hose material is unusually soft, fragile, or rich in minerals of easy decomposition. But the problem of topographical sculpture is less easily solved in a stratum 1 88 1. 27 Trans. N. Y.Ac. Scu like that of the Catskills, consisting- of a regular succession of layers which are horizontally homogeneous and from which the phenomena of disruption are absent. The original disintegration and erosion of the mass which resulted in the production of the ranges was perhaps mainly influenced by the direction of the jointage. With this the trend of the ranges in the vicinity of the Kaaterskill Clove appears to coin- cide. The ravines, cloves, and deepest notches and valleys may be attributed to the streams of the present hydrographical basins, or to those connected with the ancient eastward and south-eastward inclina- tion of the stratum already considered. But recent observations on the juxtaposition and coincidence of the highest gaps in successive parallel ranges may possibly indicate the remnants — in cross-section — of the beds of ancient streams at that level (about 3000 feet); this conclusion, if confirmed, would signify an inclination of the plateau to the N.N.E. (or to the S.S.W..'') at a still earlier period, that immediately succeeding its elevation. Karnes. — In the upper basin of the Kaaterskill, several isolated hills of gravel, etc., occur at an altitude ot 1924 feet, especially on the bank of the stream near the head of the Clove, which are probably kames ; their materials, though largely angular, show traces of imperfect strati- fication. Near " Blythewood," on the North branch of the Schoharie creek, a curious conical and steep isolated kame rises 102 feet above the stream, made up of rounded pebbles of the Catskill grit, rarely a foot in length, overlying a layer of coarse moraine. Its elevation above the sea (1944 feet) exceeds that of any other kame yet observed, those of the Fintry Hills in England reaching 1280 feet, and those of the Androscoggin Lakes, in Maine, 1600 feet. A very interesting series of from eight to twelve very low kames — like parallel ridges, often curv- ing, made up of large rounded boulders — was also found to follow the course of the Kaaterskill near Palenville, in the Hudson Valley, at the mouth ot the Clove, at an elevation of about 700 feet ; these probably mark the course of the sub-glacial stream which issued from the mouth of the Clove. The paper concluded with observations on a deposit of laminated sand underlying the ground moraine : on the feeble erosion of the slopes of the Clove during the period which has elapsed since the close of the Glacial epoch ; and on a new section of the strata of South Mountain obtained from a recent road cutting. Discussion. Prof. E. C. H. Day observed that one portion of Dr. Julien's re- marks reminded him of an idea which had struck him many years ago, with regard to the surface geology of a valley on the south coast of England, near Charmouth, in Dorsetshire. Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 28 Nov, 14, The stream in the valley referred to finds its way to the sea through a narrow pass, which, as attested by the rapid wearing of the coast lire and its present configuration, could only have been of (geologically speaking) very recent origin. How the valley could have been drained prior to the existence of this outlet was a question which might be met by various hypotheses ; and one of these was that there might have been a slight unequal local change of level, sufficient to have had the effect of tilting the surface of the valley, so that its waters were shed then in a direction opposite to that which they now take. This was nothing more than the veriest hypothesis, made many years ago, with- out any subsequent attempt at verification. It may suggest, however, the possibility of such slight local changes occurring, in addition to the greater movements already distinctly recognized, and the desirability of careful investigation to discover whether such may not be traced in the altered direction of streams and in the existence of ancient and unused water courses — even in our own neighborhoods. It may be added that such local tiltings of parts of the earth's crust would necessarily influence the course of subterranean as well as of subaerial waters, thus altering the distribution and force of springs at the surface. Dr. J. S. Newberry stated that the Catskills presented a more com- plex bit of topography and geology, and one that had been more dis- cussed than perhaps any other of similar area in the country. It was once supposed that these mountains were composed of a single geolog- ical formation, which, from this fact, was called the Catskill group ; and it was supposed to be a detached table land, deeply carved by erosion. The late Col. Jewett, of Albany, found strata containing Chemung fossils in the Ca'skills, and from this inferred that the moun- tains were composed of Chemung strata. Prof. Hall and Prof. Guyot, with their assistants, then made a careful study, running through several years, of the topography and geology of all the surrounding region. Their labors established the fact that the Catskills are not an isolated mountain group, but belong to the Alleghany system and are formed by a series of folds or arches composed of the Chemung and Catskill rocks. Of these folds, the convex arches, as is usually the case, were cracked and broken and, therefore, yielded readily to erosior, while the concave arches, protected and solid, yielded less readily and, in time, by the wearing away of their surroundings, were left in relief, forming ridges with a synclinal structure. Hence it will be seen that the topography of the Catskill region is chiefly the result of erosion. So far as regards the changes of level from subterranean causes, re- ferred to by j\Ir. Julien, it would certainly be strange if the foundations of the Catskills were proved to be stable. The old name, "terra firma," once applied to the crust of the earth, is a complete misnomer. i8Si. 29 Tratis. N. V. Ac. Set. and it is really a type of instability. Probably throughout the globe local subsidence and elevation are constantly in progress. In the interior of continents we have no evidence or measure of these, but along coasts the water line tells us that changes are constantly and everywhere taking place, in the relative level of land and sea. About New York the coast is sinking, though very slowly, while further north, in places, it is rising, and Greenland is sinking again. Back from the coast there is no such nilometer, and yet we have no reason to suppose that the earth is more fixed. Some indication is given by the reports of those who dwell in mountainous regions, of changes of level, which have shut from their view that which was before visible, or revealed what was before concealed ; but these observations have not been made with accuracy and cannot be depended upon. In a recent paper before the Academy he had shown the vast changes which had occurred along the coast in this vicinity, viz., that the land once stood 600 feet higher than at present : that the Hudson river had then flowed by the city through a channel from 300 to 500 feet deep, now in large part silted up : that the Palisades then stood from 700 to 800 feet above the river : that the Housatonic then flowed through the East river into New York Bay : that a sub-tropical climate then prevailed throughout this region, with a varied and rich fauna and flora, extending up even to the Arctic Sea : that then a depression of the temperature and great change in the climate ensued, with a cor* responding alteration of the fauna and flora; but that these changes were very slow and progressive — the snows, which at first rested tem- porarily upon the Catskill Mountain summits, became at last perma- nent, and resulted in local glaciers. These glaciers produced extensive erosion, cutting deeply the channels along which they moved. A partial obliteration of their work then ensued through two agencies. First, a continental glacier advanced southward, overtopping all the mountains, grinding down the asperities of the surface, filling old val-> leys, and banking up a great mass of debris along its margin — a part of which is now Long Island. Afterward, the climate becoming milder, local glaciers were again formed similar to those which pre- ceded the great Glacier, and partially obliterated or modified the results of the ancient erosion. It is a complex problem now to distinguish between the phenomena which have been respectively produced by all these glaciers in varied succession, by the erosion of streams, by flex- ures of the earth's crust, etc. The excavating power of glaciers had been denied by some persons ; but ice, hundreds of feet and sometimes miles in thickness — as it was in the old glaciers — moving with irresistible force, and having sand, gravel and boulders beneath it, or frozen into it, was the most potent Trans. N. V. Ac. Sa'. 30 Nov. 14, agent of erosion known. The eroding power of the ancient glaciers, which once reached southward to Trenton and Cincinnati, was attested not only by the planed down rocks, but by the immense sheet of transported debris left by the glacier in its retreat. The glaciated, planed, and polished rocks in the Western States are generally covered by a thick layer of clay, abounding in glaciated boulders. There are also other water-worn materials which have been transported, perhaps thousands of miles, representing the gravel bars sand beds, etc., produced by sub-glacial rivers. Although the mate- rials are entirely of glacial origin, all the stones are here usually rounded. We find in these deposits, called kames or eskers, the evi- dences of the action of running water produced by the melting of ice. their accumulation in heaps, ridges, etc., having been effected by local causes, waterfalls, streams upon or under the ice, etc. The finer material produced by the same grinding action has been deposited along our coast in the vast masses of the Champlain clays. It is well known that the drainage of all glaciers results in milky streams ; e. §■., those which descend from the Alps impart an opales- cence to the Lake of Geneva, and the streams from the Cascade Mountains are clouded with silt derived from the small glaciers at their heads. So, during the Glacial period all the fine material was sometimes washed out of the glacial drift, leaying banks and ridges, kames, hogs- backs, etc., of gravel and boulders, and carried by streams to the coast and there deposited along shore in the Champlain clays. The fine flour and bran ground by the glaciers have been sometimes referred to dif- ferent epochs, but they are produced simultaneously. The Glacial or Champlain clays are of great economical importance to the city, as they are the brick clays of Croton Point, Haverstraw Bay, and other points along the Hudson. Their thickness reaches 100 feet along the lower portion of the Hudson river, 400 feet on Lake Champlain, 500 feet at Montreal, 800 feet at Labrador, 1000 feet at Davis' Strait, and 1800 feet at Polaris Bay. This indicates that the continent was depressed to this extent at each of these points, that the waters of the ocean extended through these valleys, and that here was dead water into which the glacier drainage flowed and was deposited. In the vicinity of New York City it is evident that the glaciers every- where over-rode and disregarded the underlying topography. All the surface of the island is strewn with materials derived from the N. N. W., and the rock has been planished and striated with grooves running in that direction. The hills back of Yonkers are covered by trap bould- ers, which have been conveyed across the river from the Palisade range on its western side ; and it is plain that the glacier completely disre- garded the depression of the Hudson valley, filled it up to a greater or 1 88 1. 31 Trans. N. V. Ac. Scz. less extent with debris, and so rode smoothly over it. Afterwards this and the other valleys were more or less cleared out by the present streams, but a portion of their contents is generally left in their beds, the tunnel between this city and Hoboken being now driven in fact through a part of this clay deposit. On the east side of the city a narrow cafion, 300 to 400 feet deep, has been proved to underlie the East River ; and it would have been a wiser and cheaper plan to con- struct a tunnel through the clay bottom, for communication with Brook- lyn, in place of the present costly and to some extent insecure bridge. Dr. Newberry finally expressed his interest in the careful study of the erosion and sculpture of the Catskills and desire for its continuance. November 21, 1881. Section of Biology. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Thirty-one persons present. The following paper was read by Prof. Louis Elsberg, M. D.: On the Cell-Doctrine and the Bioplasson-Doctrine. Mr. President and Fellows of the Academy, Ladies and Gentlemen :— Last May, at the meeting of the American Laryngolcgical Association, I rendered account of some histological investigations of the cartilages of the larynx, a report of which is published in the October number of the Archives of Laryngology. As the structure of hyaline cartilage has an important bearing on my subject of this evening, 1 crave your attention for a few minutes for a brief review of those investigations. You know the larynx or voice-box consists of a framework of carti- lage or gristle. This cartilage is called hyaline or glasslike, because it is opalescent and looks like milk-glass. Having frequently been ex- amined under the microscope, it has always been looked upon as one of the simplest tissues, namely, as being composed of a hard matrix or basis-substance, in which are imbedded a number of small softer bodies. These softer bodies, the cartilage corpuscles, have since the establishment of the cell-doctrine been called cartilage cells. As these cells were known to be alive, the question which scientific men have had to try to answer was : how can they obtain nutrition, being isolated and enclosed in the firm, unyielding cartilage basis-substance.-' Without going too much into details, I may say that it was assumed that nourishing liquid reaches the corpuscle either by imbibition and diffusion or else through canals or fissures in the homogeneous basis- substance. The idea of the existence of "juice-channels" originates with Von Recklinghausen, although others before him had spoken Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 32 Nov. 21. ?,%.® ^,*:' *SH^^r^|,l| g g of " pores " through which ■z ^ nutrient juices might pass. g 2 Budge and others believe •n ° in the presence of regular ^^■2 canals for this purpose, c'S ^ while Tillmanns and many g ^ S g- with him believe that hya- X c-S = line basis-substance con- ■B S--^ :^ sists of fine fibrils so close- I l.-S K ly held together by a I 5 = J' cement-substance that the 5 ^ c' ^ mass appears to be homo- ^ts^ geneous. It is supposed by some that this inter-fibril- £, o-^ u lar cement-substance is a viscous soft material which •^ ttiffi ^ permits the imbibition of Si S" nutrient liquid; by some r C^ that there are clefts or fis- 5 sures; and by others that ^ there are regular channels "3 tunnelled in this cement- -5 substance. On the other 5: hand, Heitzmann, Spina, c .2 Flesch and others have ■^ found that there are cilia- like offshoots or prolonga- tions of the substance of - « S a the corpuscle penetrating ~ 2 ^ into the basis-substance. ii Such prolongations might carry on nutrition. I have •|-g ^ had the opportunity, six or 'Z'u y p 6 seven years ago, to repeat f. Naiitrgesch.., i860, p. 287 ; " Ueber Muskelkbrperchen und das was man eine Zelle zu nennen habe," Reichert iind Du Bois-Reyntotid'' s Archiv.^ 1861, p. I ; Das Protoplasma der Rhizopoden und der Pflanzenzellen, Leipzig, 1S63. * Monographie der Radiolarien. 1862, pp. 8g, iifi ; " Ueber den Sarcodekiirper der Rhizo- poden," Zeitsch. /. IVissensch. ZoUiogie, 1865, p. 342; Generelle Morphologie, vol. i, pp. 269, 289. 1 88 1. 37 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. maintain and extend the same theory, of which he thus expresses him- self,' "the protoplasm or sarcode theory, that is, the theoiy that this albuminous material is the original active substratum of all vital phe- nomena may, perhaps, be considered one of the greatest achievements of modern biology, and one of the richest in results." And, says Dr)'s- dale^ " if the grand theory of the one true living matter was, as we have seen, hypothetically advanced by Fletcher, yet the merit of the dis- covery of the actual anatomical representation of it belongs to Beale, in accordance with the usual and right award of the title of discoverer to him alone who demonstrates truths by proof and fact. ^ ^ ^ The cardinal point in the theory of Dr. Beale is not the destruction of the completeness of the cell of Schwann as the elementary unit, for that was already accomplished by others, * 4- * but ^hat, from the earliest visible speck of germ, up to the last moment of life, in every living thing, plant, animal, and protist, the attribute of life is restricted to one anatomical element alone, and this homogeneous and structure- less ; while all the rest of the infinite variety of structure and composi- tion, solid and fluid, which make up living beings, is merely passive and lifeless formed material. This distinction into only two radically dif- ferent kinds of matter, viz., the living or germinal matter and the formed or lifeless material, gives the clue whereby he clears up the confusion into which the cell-doctrine had fallen, and gives the point of departure for the theory of innate independent life of each part, which the cell- theory had aimed at, but failed to make good. The one true and only living matter — called by Beale germinal matter, or bioplasm — is de- scribed as ' always transparent and colorless, and as far as can be ascertained by examination with the highest powers, perfectly structure- less ; and it exhibits those same characters at every period of its ex- istence.' * * * " "The name of bioplasm," continues Drysdale, "given by Beale, or protoplasm, as indicating the ideal living matter, cannot be given to any substance displaymg rigidity in any degree : nor to anything exhibiting a trace of structure to the finest microscope : nor to any liquid : nor to any substance capable of true solution. Thus ' nothing that lives is alive in every part,' but as long as any individual part or tissue is pro- perly called living, it is only so in virtue of particles of the above- described protoplasm, freely distributed among, or interwoven with the textures so closely that there is scarcely any part, i\-^ of an inch in size, but contains its portion of protoplasm. Thus we see realized the ' Monographic derMoneren," Jenaiscke Zeitschrift /. Medicinutid Naturiuissenschaft ^ i868, iv, I ; translation in Quarterly Jourtial oj Microscopical Science^ London, 1869, vol. ix, p. 223. ^ Loc. cit.^ 42, et seq. Trans. X. V. Ac. Sc/. 38 A'ov. 21, hypothesis of Fletcher, that all Hving action is performed solely by virtue of portions of irritable or living matter interwoven with the otherwise dead textures." The objection, however, urged by Bastian to Beale is so very pertinent, that it must also find a place here, but I shall not dwell upon other points on which Beale differs from the bioplasson doctrine ; such as, that living matter exhibits the same characters at every period of its existence ; and that it is always per- fectly structureless. " It has always appeared to me," says Bastian,' " to be a very fundamental objection to Beale's theory, that so many of the most characteristically vital phenomena of the higher animals should take place through the agency of tissues — muscle and nerve, for inscance — by far the greater part of the bulk of which would, in accordance with Dr. Beale's view, have to be considered as {fead and inert." In 1873, the morphological knowledge of living matter became exact. In that year, Heitzmann discovered the manner in which bioplasson is arranged throughout the body, and announced the tact that what had until then been regarded as separate form-elements in a tissue are really interconnected portions of living matter ; that not only are there contained no isolated unit-masses in any one tissue, but no tissue in the whole body is isolated from the other tissues ; and that the only unconnected particles of living matter are the corpuscular elements of liquids, such as blood, sperm, saliva, pus, etc., and so-called wandering corpuscles ; so that, to use his own words : " the animal body as a whole is a connected mass of protoplasma in which, in some part, are imbedded isolated protoplasma-corpuscles and various not-living sub- stances (glue-giving and mucin-containing substances in the widest sense, also fat, pigment-granules, etc.)." This announcement marked the commencement of a new era in biology. Heitzmann discovered that the living matter as seen in an amoeba is «(?/ wiihoiit structure, as had, before his accurate investigations, been supposed ; and that its structure, in all cases when developed, is that of a network, in the meshes of which the bioplasson fluid, or the not- contractile, not-living portion of the organism, exists. When there is a nucleus, it is connected by delicate threads with the extra-nuclear net- work ; nucleoli and nucleolini inside of the nucleus, as well as granules outside, are portions of living matter : sometimes in lump, sometimes mere points of intersection of the threads constituting the intra-nuclear and extra-nuclear living networks, sometimes terminals of section of such threads, as first explained by Eimer,^ and after this author by 1 The Beginnings of Life : being some account of the nature, modes of origin, and trans- formations of lower organisms. London, 1872, vol. i, p. 155. - " Weitere Nachrichten liber den Bau des Zellkerns." Archiv /. mikrosk. Anatomie, XIV, 1877, P- i°3- 1 88 1. 39 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. Klein.' Heitzmann discovered that what is true of the structure of bioplasson in the amoeba, where a single small unit-mass of living matter constitutes the entire individual, is true also of the structure of bioplasson of all, even the highest, living organisms. To be sure, much had been previously known regarding protoplasm or living matter, but the knowledge was fragmentary, until Heitzmann demonstrated not only that membrane, nucleus, nucleolus, granules, and threads are really the living contractile matter ; but dXso, first, that this matter is arranged in a network, containing in its meshes the non- contractile matter, which is transformed into the various kinds of basis- substance, characterizing the different tissues of the body ; and secondly^ that the tissue masses of bioplasson throughout the whole body are interconnected by means of fine threads of the same living matter. Unless these two facts of Heitzmann's discovery are accepted, there cannot be urged much against the continued use of the word " cell," misnomer though it be. Ranke,^ after speaking of the " cell-wall," "cell-nucleus," etc.. says: "of these component parts of the cell, one or other may be wanting without the totality ceasing to be a cell. The nucleoli, the cell-wall, or the nucleus may be wanting, and yet we must designate the microscopic form a cell, or elementary organism." Drysdale thus comments upon this quotation, viz. : " if any one choose to describe a gun-barrel as a stockless gun without a lock, he is free to do so; but what good purpose can it serve.' Or is there even any fun in it.'' The truth is, this clinging to the mere name of the cell-theory by the Germans seems to arise from a kind of perverted idea of patriotism and of pietas toward Schwann and Schleiden." But I think Tyson^ has the better of the argument, in saying : " the word "cell" has become so intimately associated with histology, that it is doubtful whether it will ever fall into disuse, nor does it much matter, so long as correct notions of the elementary part are obtained." ]Sow% if there were any separate and distinct " elementary part," it certainly would matter little or nothing whether it were called " cell " or by any other name, provided the name be properly defined and agreed upon. It is not against the name but against the idea of any isolated individ- ualized form-element that the objection lies. Virchow maintains, " that the cell is really the ultimate morphological unit in which there ^ "Observations on the Structure of Cells and Nuclei," Quarterly Journal of Micro- scopical Science^ Jan., 1870, p. 128. " The intranuclear as well as the intracellular network having, of course three dimensions, includes fibrils that lie in the two dimensions of the plane of the field of the microscope, as well as tibrils placed vertically to it. The former appear, of course, as fibrils; but, I should like to ask, as what do the latter appear, /. e., those situated vertically. Clearly as dots, because they are seen endwise ; and for obvious reasons most of them lie in the nodes of the network." ^ The Cell-Doctrine ; its history and present state. Philadelphia, 1878, p. 12S. ^ " Physiologie, 1872," quoted by Drysdale, loc, cil., p. 104. Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 40 Nov. 21, is any manifestation of life, and that we must not transfer the seat of real action to any point beyond the cell."' Against this statement nearly every author nowadays protests, and insists that vital power must be transferred from the "cell" to "living matter"; yet, after all, the disagreement, though ever so strenuously declared, is a mere verbal one : so long as both parties hold that "every higher animal presents itself as a sum ot vital unities" — no matter what these unities are called or how defined. Hceckel, one ot the most avowed advocates of " the protoplasm or sarcode theory," clings to Virchow's politico- physiological comparison, that every higher organism is like an organ- ized social community or state, in which the individual citizens are re- presented by the " cells," no matter how he may define these, each having a certain morptiological and physiological autonomy, although on the other hand interdependent and subject to the laws of the whole. Heitzmann's views necessitate the comparison ot the body to a machine, such as a watch or a steam-engine, in which, though there are single parts, no part is at all autonomous, but all combine to make up one individual. Even Huxley, the popular champion of protoplasm as the physical basis of life, quite recently delivered an address, before the International Medical Congress in London, August 9, 1881, in which he used the following language : " in fact, the body is a machine of the nature of an army, not of that of a watch, or of a hydraulic apparatus. Of this army, each cell is a soldier," etc., etc. According to Hasckel and Huxley, the body is composed of colonies of amoebae ; according to Heitzmann the body is one complex amoeba. I am very anxious to really make the difference between the cell theory and the bioplasson theory clear to every one of you. The essential point of the cell theory is the idea, that the body and each tissue of the body, every plant, and every animal, is made up ot a number of distinct units ; and the essential point of the bioplasson theory is the idea, that all the masses of living matter of each tissue of plants and animals are unin- terruptedly connected, and that every tissue is connected with every other tissue by filaments of living matter. To accept Mr. Huxley's comparison, we must imagine that every soldier is indissolubly con- nected, hand and foot, with every neighboring soldier of the solid army ! There is no better test of the truth of the bioplasson doctrine than the structure of hyaline cartilage. If hyaline cartilage consisted, as "is generally believed," of "a homogeneous ground substance, in which are closed cavities harboring the corpuscles," the bioplasson doctrine would certainly be erroneous. If it merely contained lymph, or juice-channels, no matter what their character, whether open or ' Die Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begriindung auf physiologische und pathologische Ge- webelehre, Berlin, 1858, p. 3. (Translation by Chance, London, 1859, p. 3). 1 88 1. 41 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. closed, whether lined or unlined, whether in " homogeneous basis-sub- stance," or "between layers of cells," or " in cement-substance,"' then, too, the bioplasson doctrine would be erroneous. But the result of my observations, especially those illustrated in figs. 2, 3, and 4, admit of but one interpretation, and that an interpretation favorable to the bioplasson doctrine. It is unnecessary to more than mention that although I have placed on record so few, I have made many different examinations, under many different circumstances, and with varying powers of amplification. I need occupy myself here with only the two fields drawn in figs. 3 and 4, with an amplification of 600 and 1200 respectively. The remarkable specimens from which they are taken show more conclusively than it was ever before shown what the structure or constitution of hyaline cartilage really is. I think I have explained this sufficiently, but its full significance appears in its corroboration of the bioplasson doctrine. To be able to uphold the cell-doctrine, cartilage would have to be, using a homely comparison, like a cake composed of hard dough with raisms. No matter how widely we may extend the definition, to remain within the boundary of the cell-doctrine this metaphor must be appli- cable. Innumerable painstaking researches have led to various modifi- cations of notions entertained regarding the structure of the two con- stituents of the cake and their relation to each other. It may be seen by the most recent publications on the subject, that the acceptation of the existence in the dough of cleavage in certain directions, of inter- laminary and interfibrillar spaces, and of offshoots, even ramifying pro- longations of the raisin-substance, or, at all events, of an ingredient of the raisins, is held to be not incompatible with the cell-doctrine. If, however, we can represent cartilage as a filigree or framework of raisin-substance, in the meshes or interspaces of which framework blocks of dough are imbedded, certainly the fundamental view of the ultimate construction of the tissue is changed, and we are no longer in accord with the cell-doctrine, even though we be inclined to use that term m the widest possible sense. Look for a moment at the two illus- trations on the blackboard, as well as at figs. 2, 3, and 4. The upper figure represents a section of cartilage stained with gold chloride. This, as I have already explained, stains the living matter and leaves the basis-substance unstained. High powers exhibit the appearance, etc., etc. In regard to a name as a substitute for the term "cell,'' I would say that all corpuscular masses may be called, simply, corpuscles 1 These statements of the general belief are quoted from the introductory paragraph of Thin's memoir, " On the Structure of Hyaline Cartilage" (^«ari'^A /ifrrrm 1 1 j 1 1 nrrn n \ m m i h i fi fn il iTi M n ifiTFn ifi iTi n I Ti il 1 1 nrri i ij 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i n 1 1 1 1 r ^ yri''lllll II 1 M M M II n 1 ''11 M I'l 1 M 1 ' 1 IT _ _ '> \\\\\\\\\\ M II 1 M 1 iTl II i nil 1 111 MM r /^~ " " "" ^" rrf 111 IIIIIMIM 1 l_l 1 11 11 li 111' iin IIIMII /iTi II I I I I ■ 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I 1 I t I I I I I I I 1 i' 6. 7 i- f I! a i2 /¥ li- /(, n a II :lo 21 The above section represents the filling of some of the fresh water lakes which formerly existed in Oregon just east of the great volcanic cones of the Cascade Mountains. Numbers I and n represent sheets of basalt, the even numoers softer tuffs and bed of diatomaceous earth, the odd numbers consolidated conglomerates of volcanic materials called "concrete" in my notes. The study of a large number of outcrops of this series of rocks from Southern Arizona to the Columbia River, has convinced me that they are generally volcanic ashes which have been washed down and more or less perfectly stratified in bodies of water which formerly occupied the intervals between the mountain ranges of the great basin. On the Des Chutes a section of more than looo feet shows 25 alternations of strata, many of which are examples of the rocks in question. Here they are interstratified with beds of tripoli, composed of fresh-water diatoms, and layers of basalt. Some of the ash beds are almost entirely Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 56 Dec. 12. composed of lapilli of soft cottony pumice, others are finer, grey, red, white, etc., and contain the trunks ot coniferous trees, and in some in- stances are pierced with holes which represent the stems of upright plants, thickets of which were buried by the descending showers or rapidly accumulating sediment of volcanic ash. Here the source of the materials is to be sought in the line of great volcanic vents which crown the summit of the Cascade Mountains, and from which, at inter- vals, were emitted either floods of lava, poured down on to the plain along the eastern border of the range, or showers of ashes which, borne inland by the prevailing westerly winds, fell on forest, savannah and lake, temporarily destroying animal and vegetable life, and form- ing, when falling or washed into water basins, strata which alternate with fossil-beds, the accumulations of quieter times. In other places these tufaceous deposits were washed from all the highlands into the valleys, forming local masses of considerable thickness without the intercalated beds mentioned above. The accompanying section, copied from my report on the Geology of Northern California and Oregon (Pacific R. R. Report, Vol VI, Geology, p. 47), will illustrate the deposition of these tufaceous rocks in the lake basins where they are interstratified with the fossiliferous beds. Dec. 12, 1881. Section of Geology. The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. Forty one persons present. Mr. N. L. Britton presented *' Additional Notes on the Geology of Staten Island."* Two wells have recently been sunk to a considerable depth on Staten Island, in the vicinity of Stapleton. One of these is on the property of Mr. J. J. Cisco, near the summit of the Serpentine hills ; the section as given by the Superintendent of the Pierce Well-boring Co., who sank it, is as follows : Glacial drift 5° feet. Soapstone 15° feet. The well is six inches in diameter, and sufficient water was obtained to make it a success. The other well is at the pump-house of Bischoff's Brewery, some 500 feet east of the most eastern serpentine outcrop at the foot of the * These notes are supplementary to the paper on this subject read by Mr. Britton on April 4, 1881. (Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci., II, i6i.) 1 88 1. 5« Trans. N. Y.Ac. Set. hills. This has now (Dec.ist) reached a total depth of 210 feet, and the boring is still unfinished. The section thus far has been as follows: Glacial drift 80 feet. Various kinds of tough hornblende schist, apparently varying to serpentine 1 30 feet. As yet no gneiss nor granite has been reached. An outcrop of clay occurs near Clifton, about three- fourths of a mile sojth of the Forts, near the southern edge of the terminal moraine; it has been found, by borings made by Mr. Charles Townsend, in excava- tions for cellars, to be at least ten feet in thickness, and of afi^ht color^ The clay is probably of Cretaceous age, and if so, this is tKeniost eastern point at which beds of that age are known on Staten Island. Mr. W. T. Davis has recently observed a large fossiliferous boulder of Schoharie Grit on the shore at Brighton Point. The fossils have been submitted to Dr. Newberry, and the following species identified : — Dalinanites anchiops ; Orthoceras Pelops, Strophodonta heinisphertca , Atr\'Pa reticularis ; Strophomena rhojnboidalis ; a Fenestella ; and Zaphrentis prolifera. Glacial groovings have recently been noticed on the hornblende-rock which is exposed at tide-level on Brighton Point. Some of the grooves are at least one-quarter of an inch in depth, three inches wide and four feet long. Their bearing varies from N. 15° W. to N. 17° W. Discussion. Prof. D. S. Martin considered the specimen of so-called hornblende schist from the well-boring, not to consist properly of that rock, but to be partly hydrated — apparently a less altered condition of the rock which higher up gives us the soft, semi-fibrous serpentine of the island. Dr. Newberry regarded the serpentine of Staten Island as probably a pseudomorphous condition of hornblende slate. It differs consider- ably from the mottled serpentine of New York Island, which is " verde antique"; that is, is composed partly of serpentine and partly of car- bonate of lime, and is scarcely distinguishable from the Moriah marble, which is quarried at Moriah, Thurman, etc., in the Adirondack region. It is a peculiar rock, and one of the connecting links between the rocks of New York Island and those of northern New York and Canada, Taken together, these afford strong indications of the Laurentian age of the New York Island and Staten Island crystalline rocks. Dr. Newberry further said that the accurate determination of the age of the rocks of New York Island, of Staten Island, and of those under- lying the drift of Long Island, was in the highest degree desirable and important ; and while he was satisfied that the former were Laurentian, and the latter Cretaceous, it was eminently desirable that unquestion- Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. 58 Dec. 12,. able proof should be found of this, if it is true. At present no positive assertions could be made, and the duty devolves on the geological members of the Academy to rid the subject of doubt. The fossils in the boulder referred to by Mr. Britton prove to have come from the Schoharie Grit. In its original condition this was a hard, compact blue limestone, but is here presented in a leached state, by the passage of waters containing carbonic acid, with a loss of its lime, color, and density. It was derived from northern New Jersey, to which locality a belt of this rock runs down from Schoharie county. Its transit by ice was effected without doubt through the valley of the Hackensack, which lies east of the Orange Mountains and west of the Palisades. This glacial movement is indicated by the direction of the stricB observed by Mr. Britton, as well as of those in the Hackensack valley. Mr. A. A. JULIEN recalled the results of his lithological examination of the serpentines both of Staten Island and of Hoboken, presented be- fore the Academy two years ago, in which it was shown that sections of all these rocks abounded in minute fragments of more or less altered amphibole. The conclusion then stated, that these serpentines must be certainly derived from hornblende schist, was confirmed by the in- teresting discovery of the latter rock, both in well-boring and on Brighton Point. Serpentines of the same general character and origin- occur frequently throughout New York and Westchester counties.. The mineral serpentine is also found in small quantity as a vein-deposit, not pseudomorphous, like the main mass, but presenting an amorphous material with banded vein-structure, associated with magnesite, dolo- mite, etc.; e. g., the marmolite of Staten Island, a translucent green variety found at Hoboken, and also at West 60th street on New York Island, etc. At all these localities the amphibole survives in a more or less altered condition ; e. g., the tremolitic talc schists and slaty tremo- litic serpentines of Staten Island and Hoboken, the hydrous antho- phyllyte and unaltered tremolyte rock of West 60th street. New York, the tremolitic amphibolyte of New Rochelle and Rye, in Westchester county, etc. Mr, Britton confirmed the last remarks, by the statement that a stratum of material, strongly resembling the hydrous anthophyllyte of New York, had been struck at the bottom of one of the wells on Staten Island ; also that veins of mixed serpentine and calcite were observed at Stapleton, possessing a banded structure parallel to their walls. At that point the apparent thickness of the serpentine bed is 150 feet, but the crest of the hill is composed of talcose schist. Mr. W. Le Conte Stevens then read a paper on "The Mam- moth Cave of Kentucky." 1 88 1. .^^ Tram. N. Y. Ac. Set. He also exhibited specimens of the blind fish {Amblyopsis spelaeus), and blind crawfish {Cambariis pellucuiiis), and stereoscopic views of various points in the interior of the cave. (Abstract.) At the close of the Cincinnati meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in August last, he was one of a party of seventy-five members who visited the Mammoth Cave, remaming there two days, during which the greater part of the time was spent in exploration. He made no claim to new discoveries, but wished to call the attention of the Academy especially to recent observations, for the most part by Rev. H. C. Hovey, of New Haven, in regard to the tem- perature and structure of the cave. Mr. Hovey read a paper on this subject in Cincinnati, only a brief abstract of which has yet appeared in print, making use of a map, which is the first of its kind ever exhib- ited. The strictest precautions are observed by the authorities con- trolling the cave to prevent visitors from taking surveying instruments in with them : but the present manager, Mr. Francis Klett, has made a careful survey of the most interesting parts, and in time this will probably be given to the public, though possibly the scale of measure- ment may be withheld. The central and right-hand portions of the map exhibited by Mr. Stevens had been enlarged by him from a copy of Mr. Klett's map. The left-hand portion was drawn only from recollection of the localities traversed, and not to scale, being intended only to illustrate principles. The same remark applies to the vertical projection, the lettering of which corresponds with that of the horizontal projection. The temperature observations of Mr. Hovey were conducted with much care, and the very best instruments had been confided to him by the Director of the Winchester Observatory at New Haven. In August, 1881, while the external temperature at the neighboring hotel varied between 90° F. and 100° F., at points farther than 100 yards within the cave, the reading of the thermometer was never more than 56° nor less than ^1)4.°, the mean temperature being 54' for the summer months. At a point 1,000 yards within, a thermometer had been left for six months, including the autumn and winter, and daily visited by Mr. Klett, who reported the variation to be only from 54'' down to 53°. The underground temperature in this latitude, for points 60 or 70 feet below the surface, is usually assumed to be constant and about the same as the mean annual temperature above. According to Prof. Guyot's maps, the isotherm of 60° passes about thirty miles south of the Mammoth Cave, while that of 50*^ passes about forty miles north of Cincinnati. The temperature of the Mammoth Cave is Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 60 Dec. 12, fully 6° lower than has been commonly supposed, and may be taken as a fair representation of that of the crust of the earth in the country immediately surrounding it. Mr. Stevens exhibited a geological map of Kentucky, showing the area of sub-carboniferous limestone in which the Mammoth Cave is situated. This is overlaid with a thin stratum, mostly of sandstone, that is pierced by thousands of sink-holes, through which the surface drainage is carried down into limestone fissures and thus to the general drainage level of the Green River. This stream passes at the distance of less than a mile from the Cave Hotel, the floor of the latter being 312 feet above the water and 118 feet above the mouth of the cave. He briefly explained, with a diagram, the general mode of cave- production in limestone strata, showing that subterranean tunnels must be started by the solvent action of slightly acidulated rain-water, and subsequently enlarged by erosion, along the fissures in the limestone. These agencies are still at work in portions of the cave, and the whole of this limestone country is thus honey-combed with caverns. No tunnel can be thus formed at any point lower than the general drain- age level, since there must be an exit for the saturated water. The production of the fissures is referable to the general upheaval of this area at the close of the coal period : but, that there has been subsidence since the completion of much of the Mammoth Cave, is indicated by the fact that at its lowest parts to-day the floor is covered with water to the depth of thirty feet or more, having subterranean connection with Green River. The fissures intersect at various angles, but many of them are nearly or quite coincident with the dip of the strata, which is very gentle. Water passing through these forms the tunnels, while that passing through the vertical fissures scores out the pits which pierce them. The same pit, starting from a sink-hole at the surface, may have successively lower tunnels as exit passages. If the visitor encounters it while walking through the higher, and therefore older, tunnel, the upper part appears to him as a dome, the lower as a pit. The rate of erosion in the Mammoth Cave has been variable. The older parts are perfectly dry, and entirely free from .stalagmitic deposits, indicating rapid erosion, followed by elevation, so as to deviate the water completely into other channels. In the newer parts the water is still dripping from the surface above, and depositing stalactites and stalagmites ; but as a whole the cave is by no means remarkable for these formations, being much sui passed in this respect by the neigh- boring White's Cave, of more recent origin. Those which do occur are moreover deeply colored with iron, which exists in the soil in the form ■of both oxide and sulphide. In the dry parts, the ceiling of the cave is jTiore or less covered with efflorescent calcic, magnesic and sodic sul- i88i. 61 Trans, N. V. Ac. ScL. phates, which contrast with the iron-stained limestone, giving rise to the beautiful effects that have conferred celebrity on the opening known as the Star Chamber, and the myriad rock flowers of Cleveland's. Cabinet. trCoin-wM'ul ifvt.uelWw '^JjM.UCO* BTo-iieCio* The structure of the pits and domes was then illustrated with the aid of the accompanying map, by describing a journey through the cave. From the hotel, {a, figures i and 2,) the visitor walks to its mouth {b), by the side of a shallow ravine, terminating in what was formerly a large sink-hole. The door of this fell through, about seventy years ago, producing the present mouth of the cave, and cutting off part of the gallery, now known as Dixon's cave {c), which opens out near the Green river, a half mile distant. A walk of 1000 yards brings him to the Great Rotunda {d), about 170 feet in diameter and loo feet high. It is immediately under the hotel, its roof being not more than 40 or 50 feet from the surface. Besides the gallery, called the Narrows {b'), by which access has just been obtained, another tunnel from the further side terminates in the Rotunda, to which the name of Audubon's avenue {b") has been given. The large, almost hemispherical opening, seems to have been cut out by the meeting of nearly opposite streams of water, which found exit, probably, through the main cave („ or, y — y - ~^1d ~ ^^ But from the Mariotte-Gay-Lussac law we have — D T T ±ls - iji or D, = D^ -" (6) substituting this value of D^ in formula (4) there results — V ■= l/^gH.i^^ (7) In this expression the theoretical velocity of flow is expressed in terms of the height of the flue and the absolute temperatures of the flue air and the external air. From formula (7) we have — The quantity of heat transferred to the air may be represented by 0= W.c.{T^- T,) . (9) . Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. TO Dec. 19, in which ^ represents the quantity of heat in units of heat per second, and c the specific heat of air at constant pressure {c = 0.238.) All of the above formulas are well known. The following are believed to be new : The quantity of heat imparted to the air may also be represented by