Sept. 26, 1872] 



NATURE 



443 



atmosphere. Prof. Voung reports the whole number of lines in 

 the chromosphere seen from Sherman as 1 50, which is three times 

 as great a number as have been olnervei before. This fact alone 

 shows that higher points should be resorted to for astronomical 

 observations. The next element of success depends upon the 

 steadiness of the atmosphere. It can be said in reference to tliis, 

 that a star his been recognised at these high altitudes as having a 

 companion, or being a double star, not previously known as such. 

 An observer on the Pacific coast reports to Prof. Peirce that he 

 can see the companion of the star Polaris from a high poin" on 

 the Sierra Nevada. It is well known that this is a test of great 

 nicety, requiring the utmost puriiy of atmosphere. The best 

 work in astronomy is done in the few best nights at any place, 

 and by these alone the value of the position must be determined. 

 Prof. Peirce showed that the necessities of the Coast Survey 

 extended its operations to all parts of the United .States. To 

 prove the ]iaths by which vessels can best traverse the ocean, to 

 test the beit methods by which 2 000,003,000 dollars of values 

 shall be carried from the West to the East, from the East across 

 the Atlantic, or from the shores of China and Japan to the 

 P.acific coast, and thence across the country, was the business of 

 the Coast Survey. All the United States is deeply interested in 

 every part of the subject. Every ship that is lost by imperfectly 

 surveyed harbours is a loss to the whole country. If the coast 

 survey were thorough, and maps were fully representative of 

 ascertained facts, a pilot would scarcely be necessary, but yet 

 never could be entirely dispensed with, especially in bad weather. 

 The pilots discovered that by putting down every rock that they 

 knew of, they made maps that frightened the captains of ves:els 

 into employing them. Hence these practical observers have 

 added immensely to the number of fa;ts accumulated by the 

 Coast Survey. 



Prof Peirce explained why he considered it unnecessary to 

 carry out at present so thorough a survey of the Pacific as has 

 been made of the Atlantic coast. The needs of the commerce of 

 the coast is the standard by which the work of the survey is 

 determined. He took occasion to mention that the I/asslcr ex- 

 pediti m was at the expense of private individuals, principally of 

 Boston, and was not at the expense of the Government. A 

 general geodetic connection has been efl'ected in these observations, 

 so that the whole United States will benefit by them ; and the 

 points will be taken so as eventually to procure a complete sur- 

 vey of the v/liole continent, passing through each State and the 

 large cities. It is a work that may take a century. It is the 

 hope of Prof. Peirce that this survey will not only be the best in 

 the world, but that its details will be such that before long there 

 will be no necessity for railroad surveys — tiie facts will be spread 

 everywhere. As to the higher operations of the Coast Survey, 

 their ultimate expression will be an accurate determination of the 

 figure of the earth. Observations in America he thinks are more 

 successful and free from local irregularities than in Asia or 

 Europe. Yet there are some such local irregularities here — ■ 

 notably one near Boston, where there is some strange deviation of 

 density from the surrounding country. 



Prof J. ^V. Foster, of Chicago, read a paper on what he con- 

 siders a new species of fossil elephant, called by him Elcphas 

 Missisiippiensis. He presented to the association a fossil tooth 

 found in Indiana, and which he regards as differing specifically 

 from that of any other fossil elephant found in America or on the 

 Continent. The differences are so great that he holds them suf- 

 ficient to constitute the new species. 



Prof J E. Parry, who had been in a good position for study- 

 ing the subject, made a few remarks upon the glacial deposits of 

 Northern Ohio. Prof Foster took exception to several of his 

 positions. 



A very interesting paper was read " On the Mounds of 

 Dubuque and vicinity." 



A somewhat warm discussion took place on the 23rd between 

 Dr. F. II. Dayof Wisconsin and Prof Morse of Salem, occasioned 

 by the former sending a paper to prove that the trilobite not only 

 resembled the lobster in some respects, but was actually closely 

 related to that crustacean, and must have been in structure and 

 movements almost similar. Prof Morse stoutly maintained that 

 the congener of the trilobite at the present day was the Limulus, 

 not the lobster. 



On the same day Prof. F. W. Putnam of Massachusetts, editor 

 of the Xii/tii-alisl, read a brief and well illustrated paper on cer- 

 tain " Stone Carvings of the New England Aborigines." 



Prof. E. B. Andrews of Ohio, the State Geologist, presented 

 a paper on Coal, of both scientific and practical interest. The 



universal law of the accumulation of coal strata seems to be on 

 horizontal lines, determined by water levels. The proof of this 

 is in the marine organic remains found in the coal itself and its 

 associated slates. In addition, there is a distribution through 

 seams of coal of horizontal layers of fine sedimentary matter 

 which constitute the clay partings of the seams. The subsi- 

 dence which carries down the area of the coal-marsh, if it may 

 be so called, is wile-spread in its character .and equable in its 

 movement, having a tendency to a continental rather than a local 

 character. The result of this gives a horizontal parallelism to all 

 the seams of coal at the time of their formation ; and this is 

 equally true where one coal-marsh is formerl over another, making 

 a series of coal measures. So far as Prof Andrews's observation 

 goes, a coal seam has never been accumulated on high grounds 

 or ground anove water-level ; and such formations could not 

 take place, because it would be impracticable to establish the 

 conditions of accumulation on the side of a hill. Hence it is 

 impossible in the nature of things that two distinct seams of coal 

 could ever coalesce, since their subsidences must take place in 

 parallel lines. To suppose otherwise would involve a very un- 

 equal subsidence over very limited area, amounting, indeed, to a 

 convulsion of nature, which is almost incredible. 



It has hitherto been to some extent conceded that the solidifi- 

 cation of coal is an exceedingly slow process ; and the popular 

 notion is that there has been a complete accumulation of a series 

 of layers of coal, &c. , long before thorough hardening takes 

 place. Prof Andrews has, however, found instances indicating 

 that the process of solidification, making complete coal, is com- 

 paratively rapid. Thus it appears that where a guUey has been 

 torn out of a coal seam by a rapid current of water, the small 

 boulders washed by it over the covering stratum of sand a few 

 feet above, are complete coal, having an angular fracture, some 

 being still sharp on the edges and some being slightly water-worn. 

 These boulders in turn have again been covered by subsequent 

 depositions, and are found at considerable depths, near the base 

 of the coal measures. 



There are three leading varieties of bituminous coal ; the or- 

 dinary resinous or caking coal, the splint, and the cannel coal. 

 These pass into each other by almost imperceptible gradations. 

 The resinous coal seems to be the normal condition which the 

 buried vegetation first assumes, and splint and cannel are modified 

 forms, the cannel coal having lost all trace of structure, and con- 

 taining no organised forms, except stigmaria, which is very abun- 

 dant. The ash of coals is the original inorganic matter of vege- 

 tation, often increased by sedimentary matter in the marsh during 

 the formation of coal. 



Prof C. A. White, of Iowa City, gave a general sketch of tl-.e 

 geology of the State of Iowa, in which he stated that the extent of 

 its coal measures was greater than the entire area of Massachusetts. 

 The occurrence of quartzite in the north-eastern portion of Iowa he 

 regards as of the Potsdam formation. There is a remarkable 

 area of drift in the north-westeni part of the State, covering an 

 area of at least 20,000 square miles so deepl)' that no rock crops 

 through. Prof Swallow thinks that the waters receding from 

 this State went to the Pacific. 



In the discussion which took place next day, on Prof. Andrews' 

 paper, several geologists controverted his position that coal seams 

 seldom or never diverged from each other within small areas, 

 adducing instances to prove their statements. Prof Andrews 

 did not doubt that there were occasional instances of the sort, but 

 in general he did not believe that there were frequent cases where 

 seams separated widely. Seams of coal, as a rule, with rare ex- 

 ceptions, were of parallel levels from uniform subsidences. 



On the evening of the 23rd, Prof. Morse delivered to a large 

 and delighted audience a popular lecture on " The Locomotion 

 of Animals," beginning with the lowest forms of animal life, and 

 working his way upwards through all grades to man, illustrating 

 his statements by a series of clever and rapidly-executed illustra- 

 tions on the black-board. 



On the 24th, the Association passed a resolution with regard 

 to what is known in America as " the Chinese Indemnity Fund," 

 the name given to a large sum which China overpaid in settling 

 for damages to United States citizens, and which, when infor- 

 mally tendered to the Chinese Government, was declined, with 

 the intimation that pressure on the subject would be hurtful to 

 Asiatic pride. This fund now amounts to 450,000 dols. , and a bill 

 is now pending in Congress which proposes to appropriate this 

 surplus for the education of Americans and Chinese "in the 

 languages, literatures, and sciences of the respective nations ; to 

 facUitate commercial, diplomatic and scientific intercourse be- 



