PAPERS ON GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 203 



crease in the amount of casing-head gas produced, will prob- 

 ably benefit the consumer in steadying the price of this impor- 

 tant commodity. Until the new methods of refining are in 

 operation, however, and unless a large amount of new produc- 

 tion is discovered, and if the present chaotic conditions in 

 Mexico are not abolished at an early date, it is very likely that 

 the price of gasoline will continue to rise for the present. It is 

 very likely that an unprecedented amount of prospecting will 

 be carried on during the coming warm season, and it would 

 not be surprising if a large amount of new production is dis- 

 covered. Much attention is now being turned to the states 

 of Wyoming and Montana and practically every favorable 

 geological structure will be tested during the coming year. 



The recent congressional investigation has emphasized the 

 fact that the constantly increasing demand for motor fuels 

 and the decline in high-grade production are directly respon- 

 sible for the present high prices of gasoline. 



If the American inventor were not capable of extracting 

 larger and larger percentages of gasoline from all types of 

 crude oil, the gas engine industry would now be facing most 

 serious problems. 



Prosperity with its demand for luxuries is now laying a 

 direct tax on the American public. 



THE VARIETY OF PHYSIOGRAPHIC MATERIAL IN 

 A FEW COUNTIES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 



Clarence Bonnell, Harrisburg Township High School 



Mention of the two southern tiers of couuties of Illinois 

 to an audience from the more northern counties, calls up as 

 many mental pictures as the blind men had when seeing the 

 elephant. Whether the picture be one of swamps, mountains, 

 floods, canons, rich farm lands, rocky hills, meandering 

 streams, rushing torrents and cascades, rain unceasing, 

 drought, perfect autumn weather, or fruit-killing frosts of 

 April, depends entirely upon the time and point of contact. 

 No part of the state has a more varied or changeable climate, 

 Chicago not excepted. What is true of the climate is more 

 true of the physiography. 



