EDITOR'S TABLE. 



839 



are cool in summer and warm in winter, 

 but are superior to "adobe" dwellings in 

 point of dryness and cleanliness. This su- 

 periority is due to the fact that wherever 

 the soil is smoothly cut the slight chemical 

 union, which speedily takes place under the 

 influence of the atmosphere between the 

 silica and the carbonate of lime, coats the 

 surface as if with a light washing of cement, 

 and so prevents crumbling. One may note 

 spade-marks as clean-cut and fresh-looking 

 as if newly made on the walls or ceiling of 

 "dug-outs" that have been occupied for 

 years. When the threatened (?) "Mongo- 

 lian invasion " comes, what hosts of happy 

 Celestials will find here congenial homes ! 

 And if, for their better contentment, they 

 rechristen the Missouri the Yellow River, it 

 will be no serious misnomer. 



In point of fertility our Western loess- 

 beds are the counterpart of those described 

 by Mr. Williams, except that they do not 

 seem to suffer equally in seasons of drought. 

 The greater depth of the Nebraska deposits 

 exceeding in many places two hundred 

 feet and, possibly, their more perfect cap- 

 illary structure, may explain this difference. 



As to the origin of the loess-beds of the 

 United States, the belief of Dr3. Hayden, 

 Aughey, and others that they are lacustrine 

 deposits has been hitherto accepted. But 

 it is curious to note how many of their 

 peculiar characteristics are explained, and 

 their general features harmonized with the 

 geological and meteorological phenomena 

 of the great region lying between them and 

 the summit of the Rocky Mountains, by the 

 hypothesis that they are subaerial rather 

 than subaqueous deposits. Nearly all the 

 arguments adduced by Baron von Richtho- 

 fen in support of his theory of the origin 

 of the loess-beds of Asia may be adduced 

 with equal force, mutatis mutandis, in sup- 

 port of a like theory here. Of more than 

 one hundred and twenty species of shells 

 found and identified in the loess-deposits of 

 Nebraska, as given by Dr. Aughey on pages 

 267 and 268 of " United States Geological 



Report" for 1874, it will be seen that a 

 large proportion are land-shells. And it 

 appears from the same " Report " that, while 

 the deposits are rich in the remains of land- 

 animals, no considerable number of aquatic 

 species have ever been identified. 



Dr. Aughey says, page 254 : " Occasion- 

 ally I have found the teeth and a stray bone 

 of a fish, but have not been able to identify 

 any species. The remains of rabbits, go- 

 phers, otters, beavers, squirrels, deer, elk, 

 and buffalo are frequently found. Through 

 the entire extent of these deposits are many 

 remains of mastodons and elephants." To 

 one who has ever encountered a dust-storm 

 on the great plains west of these deposits, 

 when the landscape to either horizon is ob- 

 scured with flying clouds of powdery dust, 

 like drifting fog, and has noted the almost 

 continuous belt of sand-hills extending from 

 Western Kansas through Eastern Colorado 

 and Wyoming and Western Nebraska, evi- 

 dently formed by these high winds, whose 

 prevailing direction is always eastward, and 

 marking the deposit of the heavier particles 

 dropped from the flying mass of dust-freight 

 which they had gathered in their fury from 

 the arid foot-hills and high plains still far- 

 ther westward, the theory of Von Richtho- 

 fen commends itself with peculiar force. 

 And if a period of still greater aridity be 

 conceived of, before these high regions, the 

 American analogues of the Asiatic steppes, 

 had received their present scant protection 

 of stunted grasses, the conviction arises 

 that, even assuming the volume and velo-; 

 city of the wind to have been no greater 

 then than now, its prevailing direction being 

 the same, our loess-deposits of the North- 

 west, like those of China, may be accounted 

 for, both as to their origin and chief pecul- 

 iarities, by reference to known causes still 

 existing, whose action has been, indeed, 

 greatly modified but not wholly suspended ; 

 and without recourse, necessarily, to the la- 

 custrine hypothesis. 



William T. Holt. 

 Denyeb, Colorado, January 4, 1S84. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE EDINBURGH REVIEW ON THE 

 SPENCERIAN PHILOSOPHY. 



THERE is obviously a decline in the 

 influence of malign criticism in re- 

 cent times. Even the savage " quarterly 

 reviewer " has lost many of the terrors 

 with which he used to be invested. An 

 excellent example of this is afforded by 

 the history of Spencer's " Synthetic Phi- 



losophy." It has been tempting game 

 for the critical sports, and they have 

 pursued it nnweariedly. It had but 

 few friends and multitudes of enemies. 

 A new departure in philosophy, it in- 

 curred the hostility of the devotees of 

 all old philosophies. Dealing with the 

 larger aspects of science, it kindled the 

 jealousy of narrow-minded scientific 



