January 14, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



49 



tenth annual meeting. The Council met at 

 10 a. m. and performed the usual routine 

 business of canvassing the votes for officers 

 and new members and the reports of the 

 Secretary, the Treasurer and the Editor. 

 The Society held its first formal session at 

 2:30 p. m. in the lecture room of the Peter 

 Eedpath Museum of McGill University. 

 This is the lecture room in which for so 

 many years Sir J. William Dawson, past 

 President of the Society, delivered his lec- 

 tures, and it was felt by all present to be 

 peculiarly appropriate that the Society 

 should gather within its walls. One of the 

 first proceedings was to send a greeting to 

 Sir William, who was prevented by illness 

 from being present. 



A cordial address of welcome was pre- 

 sented by George Hague, Esq., of the 

 Board of Governors of McGill University, 

 who happily referred to the ties that unite 

 men of science and that recognize no polit- 

 ical boundaries. President Orton, of the 

 Society, returned a felicitous response to the 

 address of welcome, after which the report 

 of the Council was distributed in printed 

 form. This showed the Society to be in a 

 very prosperous condition. There are 242 

 members on the roll, which with the four 

 elected at the meeting make a total of 246. 

 As will readily appear, this number embraces 

 practically all the geological workers in 

 North America. The Bulletin, the published 

 proceedings of the Society, is meeting with 

 a gratifying sale outside of the active mem- 

 bers. From this source the past year 

 $772.05 were realized, which defrayed about 

 half the expense of publication. The So- 

 ciety has an invested fund of $3,000, and 

 closed thefiscal year November 30,1 897,with 

 a further balance in the Treasurer's hands. 

 This will make possible the more elaborate 

 illustration of future papers. The Society 

 has now a valuable library from exchanges, 

 and this year added a librarian. Professor 

 H. P. Gushing, of Adelbert College, Cleve- 



land, to its list of officers. The library is 

 placed in Cleveland, which is a central point 

 as regards the membership. 



When the vote was declared, the follow- 

 ing nominees were announced as elected by 

 an almost unanimous ballot : 



President : John J. Stevenson, New York City. 



First Vice-President : Benj. K. Emeeson, Amherst, 

 Mass. 



Second Vice-President: Geokoe M. Dawson, Ot- 

 tawa, Ont. 



Secretary : H. L. Faiechild, Eoohester, N. Y. 



Treasurer: I. C. White, ';,Morgantown, W. Va. 



Editor: J. Stanley-Brown, Washington, D. C. 



Councillors: W. M. DAVIS (for unexpired term o£ 

 B. K. Emerson), Robert Bell, Ottawa, Ont.; M. E. 

 Wadswoeth, Houghton, Mich. 



John M. Clarke, of Albany; George L. 

 Collie, of Beloit; Arthur M. Miller, of Lex- 

 ington, Ky., and James E. Talmage, of Salt 

 Lake City, were elected Fellows. Two 

 proposed amendments to the constitution 

 were carried. Professor W. B. Scott de- 

 livered an appreciative and impressive me- 

 morial of Edward D. Cope; and one of 

 Joseph F. James, prepared by T. W. 

 Stanton, was read by J. F. Kemp, in the 

 absence of its author. The reading of pa- 

 pers was then begun. 



Notes on the Sands and Clays of the Ottawa 

 Basin. E. W. Ells, Ottawa, Canada. 

 Dr. Ells included in the area discussed 

 the region lying between Lakes Huron, 

 Erie and Ontario, and the Ottawa river. 

 He gave a brief review of the rocks lying to 

 the north, which have been the source of 

 the loose materials now forming the surface 

 deposits. The sands and the marine clays, 

 so prolific in shells, and several kame-like 

 ridges were described, and the evidence of 

 submergence beneath the sea was adduced 

 at length. In general the interpretation 

 corroborated the views already urged by 

 Sir J. William Dawson, and widely famil- 

 iar. 



The discussion was quite protracted and 

 developed a variance in interpretation on 



