DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 



FT Jif^v- L Prof. Edw. H. Perkins. 

 CailOr ^ Waterville 



HOW THIS DEPARTMENT MAY BE OF SERVICE TO 

 NATURE LOVERS AND STUDENTS OF GEOLOGY. 



There are several ways in which a Section of Geology in a semi- 

 popular publication such as the Journal of the Knox Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, may be of service in the State. 



Perhaps the greatest field is in the high schools. The form which 

 geology takes in these schools is usually an elementary course in 

 Physical Geology. Unlike its companion courses in Physics, Chem- 

 istry and Biology, Physical Geology is often given as a mere textbook 

 course with little if any laboratory work. This seems all the more 

 strange when one considers the fact that this Physical Geology does 

 not require the expensive laboratory equipment of the other sciences. 

 In a measure this lack may be due to the failure on the part of the 

 teacher to realize the possibilities at hand for out-door field work. 

 There is probably not a high school in the State but is so located 

 that many of the problems discussed in the text may be studied first 

 hand in the field. Although we lack the deeply weathered soils of 

 the southern states, the processes of weathering are well shown in 

 the pebbles of our glacial deposits. Wind work may be studied 

 along the coast or inland in the old marine sands of many of our 

 valleys. All stages of valley development may be found from nar- 

 row postglacial gorges to broad, open preglacial valleys. There are 

 proofs of movements of the earth's crust in ovir drowned coastline 

 and our marine clays. Glacial features are everywhere well devel- 

 oped. Striated bed rock, till, modified drift, morainic and aqueo- 

 glacial deposits of nearly every possible type, and disorganized drain- 

 age may be found within comparatively small limits. These same 

 deposits when cemented by calcite or iron oxide give excellent ex- 

 amples of sedimentary rocks in the making. These features of our 

 Maine Geology are only a few of the possibilities offered for out- 

 door laboratory work. This department of the Bulletin, by pub- 

 lishing articles on the local physiography, will serve to acquaint 

 teachers with the possibilities of the various sections of the State 

 for field work. 



A second service which this department will give to the scientific 

 students of the State is to act as a clearing house for Geological 

 information. A student may have some problem in his locality 

 which may be of interest to others in the State. The Bulletin 

 gives such a person a medium of communication with others of the 



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