THE MUSEUM. 



20I 



skills. To the west the low heights 

 along the Mohawk are visible for 

 miles, and to the northwest we have 

 the Mayfield Mountains in F'ulton and 

 Hamilton Counties. Northward we 

 look directly ot the Kayaderosseras 

 Range and Mount McGregor while 

 over and beyond h'es a jumble of black 

 forested peaks almost countless in 

 number. These immense masses of 

 hypersthene the oldest known rock- 

 strata of the globe, form the south- 

 eastern part of the Adirondack wilder- 

 ness. But to the east the most mag- 

 nificent view is had. Far out ovei" the 

 Saratoga Plains are seen the historic 

 heights on the west bank of the Hud- 

 son, — the Saratoga battle-field where 

 Burgoyne and his Hessian hirelings 

 met their fate, while next in order 

 across the Hudson rise the Washing- 

 ton County range of hills with the 

 rounded dome of W-illard's Mountain 

 as its principal elevation while far be- 

 yond as a background against the sk\ 

 stand the serrated summits of th ■ 

 mountain ranges of Vermont anJ 

 Massachusetts. These are plainly vis- 

 ible in an actual extent from north to 

 south of over one hundred miles; an 

 apparently continuous mountain range 

 whose peaks fade from sight in the 

 dim distance both to the north and 

 south. Dropping the eye again from 

 the Vermont elevations to the Saratoga 

 Plains we will see — if our point of view 

 be judiciously chosen — Saratoga Lake 

 with its waters showing blue between 

 shores which from this distance appear 

 continuously wooded. From our out- 

 look the distance in an air-line across 

 the plain to the lake is about seven- 

 teen miles. Is it not possible that the 

 Mohawks may have resorted to certain 

 favorable points on this uplift to sig- 



nal, by means of fires, to their breth- 

 ren at the fishing resorts on the lake 

 where the Mohawks annually went'' 



It would have been entirely practi- 

 cable and I have in mind a certain 

 spot on the northern crown of the hill 

 which would have been an ideal situa- 

 tion for this purpose, the ground litre 

 falling nbruptly away to the north, 

 and curiously, right here on the very 

 verge of the hill an unusual number of 

 fiint implements have been picked up; 

 also spalls and chippings of flint, and 

 an odd find of flint chips. A number 

 of polished celts and other implements 

 of stone have been found on different 

 portions of Touareuna. 



Whether stone implements have 

 been found on the twin summit to the 

 south of the Mohawk I am unable to 



say. 



Glenville, N. Y. , istSep., 1896. 



Science GleaniriKs. 



The last article gave a few points, 

 briefly, in regard to rank in the animal 

 creation. But rank is a basis of class- 

 ification uhich will be the theme of 

 this paper. 



Classification in science is intended 

 to be an aid to memory. By associa- 

 tion, some characters common to a 

 number of objects, are brought to be 

 reviewed by one effort of the mind, 

 and the result to the memory is much 

 like the increased strength of the 

 bound bundle of rods in our hand. 

 The historical facts the very name it- 

 self \i designed to carry with it, if the 

 classification is correct, adds its power 

 to the value of the association. 

 Whether a whale is to be classed as a 

 mammal or a fish would seem to be a 

 matter of not much importance to 

 mankind; and if scientists had been 



