26 THE GREAT BASIN. 



This struggle no one can watch with indifference. 



At the business meeting following, Rev. W. Bancroft 

 Hill was proposed for membership by Dr. Van Gieson ; 

 John Sutcliffe by Edward Elsworth ; Herbert B. Mills 

 by Prof. Dwight., 



DECEMBER 2, 1890— PIETY-FOURTH REGULAR MEETING, 



Prof. W. H. Brewer, of Yale University, presented 

 the following paper: 



THE GREAT BASIN. 



BY WM. H. BREWER. 



[This abstract gives the chief points of the lecture, which was illustrated 

 with many views of the scenery and of maps showing the topography.] 



The name "The Great Basin " is applied to a portion 

 of the western part of North America, lying between 

 the Wasatch mountains on the east and the Sierra Ne- 

 vada on the west. 



It is a region of interior drainage ; that is, none of its 

 rivers flow to the sea. Similar regions lie within each of 

 the continents, and this has no one feature not found in 

 others, yet it has a combination of characters not found 

 elsewhere on the globe. It is the most distinctive geo- 

 graphical feature on the North American continent. 



For a proper understanding of its characters it is 

 necessary to consider some elementary facts of physical 

 geography. All the fresh water on the globe comes from 

 the rain and snow that falls upon the land. Water is 

 evaporated everywhere from the surface of the ocean, as 

 well as from the land, is wafted by the winds here and 

 there, and falls in rain or snow. If more falls on the 

 land than can evaporate from its surface, the surplus 

 must flow away in streams to the sea. In New England, 



