94 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



limpid and colorless as the most beautiful rock crystal ; and 

 this suggested the inquiry whether the color was due to the 

 inclusion of organic substances which were destroyed by 

 heating, or to some change of the molecular constitution of 

 the crystal caused by the heat. To determine this question, 

 Professor Forster subjected a series of these crystals to a 

 careful examination, and, as the result, came finally to the 

 conclusion that the black color was not the result of any pe- 

 culiar molecular condition, but that it was produced by the 

 presence in the crystal of bodies containing organic carbon 

 and hydrogen. 15 C, xviii., 283. 



GLACIERS OF SPITZBERGEN. 



According to Captain Koldeway, of the Germcmia steam- 

 er, the glaciers of Spitzbergen differ especially from those of 

 Switzerland in stretching down into the sea, where they end 

 in a perpendicular wall, and in having the upper surface 

 somewhat polished, and free from all roughness and ice- 

 blocks. In the glaciers examined at Augusta Bay and Wil- 

 liam Island there were no crevasses. Moraines, however, oc- 

 curred, those of the great glacier of the former locality con- 

 sisting of limestone and basalt. 12 A, April 6, 1871, 454. 



VALLEY GLACIERS IN NEW ENGLAND. 



In discussing the glacial period in New England, some 

 years ago, Professor Dana announced his belief that the un- 

 der part of the great continental glacier, lying in the Valley 

 of the Connecticut, moved in the direction of the valley, 

 either while the glacier was at its maximum thickness and 

 held on its southeasterly course, or after its partial decline. 

 He now, in the October number of the Journal of Science, 

 proceeds to state the evidence in regard to the Connecticut 

 Valley movement, and to show that other large valleys of 

 Central and Western New England had also, in the same 

 sense, their valley glaciers ; that is, they determined the di- 

 rection of the ice that lay within them. The facts appealed 

 to for the support of these conclusions are drawn partly from 

 his own observations, but also from the reports of Dr. E. 

 Hitchcock, Professor C. II. Hitchcock, Professor Hagar, and 

 others. 



These observations show that on the higher lands, both 



