304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



has gradually grown up. Its substance was presented before the 

 Geological Society of America at the winter meeting in Philadelphia, 

 December, 1895, and again before the Harvard Geological Confer- 

 ence in April, 1896. 



The end of the Cape is pleasantly reached by a four-hour run in a 

 steamboat from Boston across Massachusetts bay to Provincetown, in 

 whose neighb6rhood the most significant of the features here described 

 are to be found. By driving to High head, the northernmost point of 

 the "mainland," a general view of the peninsula of Provinceland may 

 be gained: thence driving or walking to Highland light, one may see 

 a portion of the long harborless cliff that forms the " back " or eastern 

 side of the Cape. Walking northwestward along the beach to Peaked 

 hill life saving station, the action of the surf can be observed at 

 leisure ; and thence crossing the sandy belt to Provincetown, the 

 varied forms of the dunes can be studied in detail. A second day 

 may well include a visit to Race point, the northwestern extremity of 

 the Cape, and a return southward along the wasting shore to Wood 

 end, or Long point, whence the town can be regained by boat, pre- 

 viously arranged for. 



Cape Cod is an excellent region for the study of shore forms in the 

 light of their development from some antecedent outline, and tlieir con- 

 tinued change towards some future state. Although the " mainland " 

 of the Cape rises about two hundred feet above sea lev^el, it is built of 

 uncompacted clays and sands, with occasional boulders, and is there- 

 fore easily consumed by the waves. Standing far out beyond the 

 general shore of New England, it receives a violent attack from storm 

 waves, which alter the shore line so rapidly that the changes are 

 measurable even in the short time covered by our records. 



Extracts from Previous Writings. 



The following extracts summarize a number of previous references 

 to the Cape. 



In the Geology of INIassachusetts (I., 1841), E. Hitchcock makes 

 brief mention of the erosion on the eastern coast and the growth of 

 the Cape into Massachusetts bay (323), the southward growth of 

 Nauset beach, a mile in fifty years (324), the dunes of Provincetown 

 (325), and the "diluvial elevations and depressions " of Truro (367) ; 

 Provinceland is "alluvial ; that is, washed up by the ocean" (371). 



Lieut, (afterwards Admiral) C. H. Davis wrote a " Memoir upon 

 the geological action of the tidal and other currents of the ocean" 

 (Jlem. Amer. Acad., Boston, 1849, IV. 117-156), in which he called 



