110 PROCEEDINGS OP THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING 



PHYSIOORAPHIC FEATURES OF WESTERN EUROPE AS A FACTOR IN THE WAR 



SY DOUGLAS W. JOHNSON 



(Abstract) 



Every military caiupaigu is controlled to some extent by the surface features 

 of the country over which the contending armies must move. The physiography 

 of a region may therefore profoundly affect both the detailed movements of 

 armies and the general plans of campaign. An examination of the phys- 

 iographic features of western Europe in the light of recent events enables one 

 to comprehend more fully the strategic importance of many places mentioned 

 in war dispatches and throws valuable light upon the question as to why the 

 neutrality of Belgium was violated. 



Presented in abstract extemporaneously. 



VOTE OF THANKS 



The following- vote of thanks was passed : 



The Geological Society of America desires to express its most cordial 

 thanks to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel])hia for hospitality 

 extended to the Society on the occasion of its twenty-seventh annual 

 meeting. 



The Society desires further to express to its local committee its high 

 appreciation of the indefatigable labors which have resulted in one of 

 the most successful meetings in the Society's history and for the generous 

 liospitality manifested by the provision of daily luncheons and the gen- 

 eral smoker of Tuesday evening. 



JOHN BOYD THACHER PARK: THE HELDERBERO ESCARPMENT AS A 



GEOLOaiCAL PARK 



BY GEOEGE F. KUNZ 



(Al)Stract) 



A most important benefaction to the State of New York is the beautiful 

 John Boyd Thaeher Park, opened with appropriate ceremonies September 14, 

 1914. During the winter of 1913-1914 the American Scenic and Historic Pres- 

 ervation Society cooperated with Mrs. Emma Treadwell Thaeher, widow of 

 John Boyd Thaeher. to realize her generous purpose of donating to the State 

 a superb trust of 350 acres of land for a public park, as a memorial of her 

 husband, and in March, 1914, a bill was introduced and passed in the legis- 

 lature accepting the gift and constituting the American Scenic and Historic 

 Preservation Society the custodian. The park embraces the most picturesque 

 and geologically interesting part of the Helderberg range in Albany County. 



The remarkable geologic formations to be seen in this park include one of 

 the finest exposures of the Upper Silurian and Devonian strata in the country 

 and offer classic types of several formations, as is shown by the designations 



