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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to be generally felt, and the means to do it 

 will assuredly follow. The colleges seem to 

 be doing too little to advance the sum of 

 knowledge in the direction of biology. Few 

 of them are equipped for research ; and in 

 a large proportion of them the professors of 

 biology are handicapped by having other work 

 to do not connected with their department. 



The Moss Sponge of an Alaskan Forest. 



— In the interior plateau of the Cordilleran 

 and St. Elias regions of Alaska, according to 

 Mr. C. W. Hayes, surface degradation is 

 greatly retarded by the luxuriant growth of 

 moss, which covers practically the entire sur- 

 face of the country. The annual precipita- 

 tion is largely confined to the winter months, 

 and the water from the melting snow is held 

 by the sponge-like moss, which remains satu- 

 rated throughout the short but hot and dry 

 summer. Thus, with a rainfall which in 

 lower latitudes would condition an arid re- 

 gion, a large part of the surface is swampy, 

 quite irrespective of slope — that is, wherever 

 the material composing it is sufficiently com- 

 pact to become impervious to water on freez- 

 ing. On account of this slow and imperfect 

 surface drainage, the slopes are not cut into 

 the ravines and arroyas so characteristic of 

 arid regions. 



Orography f the Mount St, Elias Re- 

 gion. — From the vicinity of Frazer River, in 

 southern British Columbia, says Mr. C. W. 

 Hayes, in his Expedition through the Yukon 

 District, the western mainland range of the 

 Cordilleran mountain system follows the coast 

 toward the northwest as far as the head of 

 Lynn Canal. Here it becomes an interior 

 range, while to the westward its place next 

 the coast is taken by the St. Elias range. 

 The southern Alaskan coast mountains form 

 a broad elevated belt with many scattered 

 peaks, of which none perhaps have an alti- 

 tude of more than eight thousand or nine 

 thousand feet, while there is no dominant 

 chain. The southwestern front of the range 

 rises abruptly from the waters of the inland 

 passage, forming a rugged barrier to the in- 

 terior. A few rivers have cut their channels 

 through the range, and it is penetrated vary- 

 ing distance- by numerous deep fiords. From 

 the head of Lynn Canal northwestward the 

 range decreases in altitude and probably 



spreads out and merges in the broken plateau 

 which occupies the eastern part of White 

 River basin. The elevation of the interior 

 plateau, where it is crossed in passing from 

 the Taku to Lake Ahklen, is about five 

 thousand feet above sea-level. From this 

 point it descends gradually toward the north- 

 west. Southwest of Selkirk the same plateau 

 extends with gradually increasing altitude to 

 the base of the St. Elias Mountains. It is 

 only in a general way, however, that these 

 areas are to be regarded as plateaus. When 

 considered in detail, the surface is extremely 

 rough and broken. The river valleys lie 

 from two thousand to twenty-five hundred 

 feet below the general plateau level, while 

 broad and rounded dome-like summits and a 

 few sharp peaks rise from seven hundred to 

 twelve hundred feet above it; but there 

 appear to be no well-defined ridges or 

 chains of peaks. For about one hundred 

 and fifty miles southwest of Selkirk the con- 

 tours are generally smooth and flowing, and 

 the surface, except in the glaciated portion 

 of the region, shows the effect of long-con- 

 tinued exposure to the action of subaerial 

 agencies. 



The Geological Collection of the Na- 

 tional Mnsenm. — In the arrangement of the 

 geological collections of the United States 

 National Museum, as described in Curator 

 George P. Merrill's Hand-book, the wants 

 of the specialist of facilities for study, and 

 those of the public, in whoin it is desired to 

 arouse an interest in natural phenomena, 

 have both been consulted. An exhibition 

 is set up of series arranged and labeled for 

 the general public, and accessible at the 

 same time to the student and specialist, and 

 a study series is stored away in drawers. 

 The exhibition series is treated essentially 

 according to the plan given by Prof. Geikie 

 in the latest edition of his text-book on 

 geology ; conforming to Mr. Goode's sugges- 

 tion that a museum should consist of a col- 

 lection of labels illustrated by specimens, the 

 curator has striven " to build up the exhibi- 

 tion series on the plan of a profusely illus- 

 trated text-book, in which the specimens 

 themselves form the illustrations, and the 

 text is furnished by the labels." No object 

 has been intentionally exhibited merely on 

 account of its beauty, rarity, or curiosity 



