Geology and Mineralogy 637 



from the time when the St. Lawrence valley was filled with 



ice, and the great lakes at the southern margin of the ice 

 sheet drained southward into the Mississippi. 



PAPERS RELATING TO THE COLLECTIONS IN THE 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM 



AMONG the interesting papers relating to the Museum should 

 be mentioned the " Catalogue of Meteorites," by F. W. Clarke, 

 and the description of " The Gem Collection," by G. F. 

 Kunz (Report, 1886). G. P. Merrill's paper on "The Col- 

 lection of Building and Ornamental Stones" (Report, 1886) 

 is much more than a catalogue, being an exceedingly val- 

 uable monograph, treating the stones in both geological and 

 economical relations. The same author has given, in his 

 "Preliminary Handbook for the Department of Geology" 

 (Report, 1889), and " Handbook for the Department of 

 Geology, Part I " (Report, 1 890), not only admirable de- 

 scriptions of the collections, but also valuable treatises on 

 dynamical geology and lithology. Another such paper, far 

 transcending the character of a simple catalogue, and rank- 

 ing as an important treatise, is F. P. Dewey's " Preliminary 

 Description of Catalogue of the Systematic Collections in 

 Economic Geology and Metallurgy " (Bulletin, No. 42). 



REPORTS OF PROGRESS 



As these papers are themselves abstracts of a mass of litera- 

 ture, any attempt to give abstracts of them would be use- 

 less. Nor is it necessary to comment on the utility of such 

 summaries of scientific work. The names of the authors are 

 sufficient guarantee of the quality of the work. These papers 

 are contained in the Reports for the years 1880 to 1888. 



