GENERAL MEETING. 9 
Mr. Harkness set forth the apparent difficulty of discrimina- 
ting between a névé and a glacier proper, and requested that some 
geologist would define the term “glacier.” 
Mr. Emmons said that a true glacier is an ice river, conform- 
ing in shape to the more or less restricted channel in which it 
flows, and this characteristic might form a base of distinction be- 
tween the true glacier and the névé-field, the latter being com- 
parable to the lake which forms the source of a mountain stream. 
Thus the névé would become a glacier only when from a broad and 
shallow ice-field it had become compressed into a narrower and 
deeper mass, between confining walls. 
Other remarks were made by Messrs. E. FARQUHAR, GILBERT, 
Datu, and ELiiort. 
Professor W. C. KERR made a communication on 
THE MICA MINES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
[Abstract. ] 
The profitable mines are restricted to a plateau limited eastward 
by the Blue Ridge and westward by the Smoky Range. These 
were anciently worked on a very extensive scale. Few other modern 
mining operations have been so profitably conducted as those at the 
points occupied by the early miners. The ancient work was per- 
formed with blunt-pointed tools—doubtless of stone—and was con- 
fined to the partially decomposed portions of the granite veins, but 
large pits were nevertheless excavated. One of these measures 
150 by 75 feet, and, despite a partial filling with débris, retains a 
depth of 35 feet. Facts connected with the arboreal vegetation 
show that some, and perhaps all of these openings were aban- 
doned as much as five hundred years ago. The modern industry 
began in 1868, and, although it has assumed considerable import- 
ance, is not yet conducted in a systematic way. 
The character of the mica and its associated minerals were dis- 
cussed and illustrated by specimens. 
