THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



(guwtwU) founxal tit $mm. 



ON THE PRE-GLACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE 

 REGION OF THE GREAT LAKES. 



By E. W. Claypole, B.A., B. Sc. (London), Antioch College, Ohio. 



The alliance of Geology with Physical Geography is not of 

 long standing. Each science had separately done good work 

 before by combining their forces they attempted yet greater 

 undertakings. When Geology discovered and published the 

 fact that the present outlines of the earth's surface had not al- 

 ways existed Physical Geography demanded the reproduction 

 of the outlines passed away. The sister sciences thereupon 

 joined hands, and set themselves to the task of reconstructing 

 what we may call Extinct Geography. Long and arduous as it 

 is, their efforts have already been crowned with no small measure 

 of success — a success the greater, as might be expected, in pro- 

 portion as the date is more recent. Quaternary maps are more 

 full and correct than Tertiary, and Tertiary than Secondary ; 

 while the palaeozoic coast-survey has hardly yet begun. 



The following attempt to reconstruct the early Quaternary 

 Geography of the great American Lake District is offered as a 

 small contribution to this department of science. The region is 

 one of the most interesting upon the continent, both to the geo- 

 logist and the physical geographer. Speculations have been 

 made on the origin of these great inland sheets of water, but the 

 Vol. VIII. m No. 4. 



