Apeil 29, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



589 



plain around it. But there is a more 

 direct raethod of finding out whether or 

 not the Ozark uplift really does possess 

 the great age ascribed to it. Marbut, 

 Davis, Griswald and others, who have re- 

 cently given the region special study from 

 both the geographic and geologic stand- 

 points, all agree in regarding the uplift, as 

 it now stands, as a very modern feature of 

 relief — that is, they assign the age as not 

 earlier than middle or late Tertiary. The 

 proofs that these authors bring forth seem 

 indisputable. Furthermore, there is ample 

 evidence for believing that there were two 

 periods of uprising — one in which the re- 

 gion was bowed up and then reduced to a 

 peneplain, and the other in which the pene- 

 plained surface was again uplifted to near 

 its present position. The remnants of the 

 once level plain are still plainly discernible 

 in the existing general surface. 



There is another wholly different line of 

 evidence, going to show that during all 

 Paleozoic time no island existed in the 

 present Ozark region, and that the forma- 

 tions later than Cambrian were not laid 

 down in concentric zones around the cen- 

 tral crystallines. It is believed that there 

 is ample proof that all Paleozoic formations 

 now represented around the foot of the up- 

 lift extended in unbroken sheets over the 

 entire area now elevated, and were not re- 

 moved until Cretaceous or Tertiary time. 

 Part of the evidence has been published for 

 many years, though it appears to have es- 

 caped notice, but much new information 

 bearing directly on this point has been ob- 

 tained lately. It is essentially this : Far 

 up on the back of the dome — more than 

 three-fourths of the distance from the foot, 

 where the main bodies of the several forma- 

 tions exist, to the central part of the eleva- 

 tion — there are still preserved outliers of 

 Devonian, Lower Carboniferous and Coal 

 Measures. Some of those of the age first 

 mentioned occur very near the summit of 



the great dome, while those last referred to 

 extend to within 300 feet of the crest. 

 Abundant fossils leave no doubt as to the 

 proper reference to the age of these isolated 

 deposits lying on the older magnesian lime- 

 stones which constitiite the main mass of 

 the dome. 



Without going fully into details it must 

 be conceded that the widespread idea of 

 the existence, during Paleozoic times, of a 

 wondrous Ozark Isle, in the midst of a vast 

 continental sea, is a trifle mythical, and it» 

 therefore, must be relegated to the realm of 

 the fanciful. 



Charles R. Keyes. 



NEW YORK STATE SCIENCE TEACHERS' AS- 

 SOCIATION—SECOND ANNUAL 3IEETING, 



ITHACA, DECE3IBER 30-31, 1S97. 

 The growth of this Association during 

 the past two years has been most en- 

 couraging to all friends of science in the 

 State. The Ithaca meeting was marked by 

 a deep interest in the objects of the Asso- 

 ciation ; this was manifest not only in the 

 large attendance, especially of college and 

 normal school professors, but in the earnest 

 discussions at each session, particularly 

 after the Eeport of the Committee of Nine. 

 The meetings of the American Society of 

 ISTaturalists and their affiliated societies on 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, and the presence 

 of a number of their members at the meet- 

 ings of the Teachers' Association, created 

 an atmosphere especially favorable to the 

 objects of the convention. If, perchance, 

 anything could have been lacking to make 

 the environment perfectly auspicious it was 

 supplied by the words and spirit of Presi- 

 dent Schurman's welcome. He showed 

 himself warmly interested in raising science 

 teaching to the highest efficiency and was 

 ready to recognize thorough preparation in 

 science as a requirement for entrance to 

 college. Throughout all the sessions there 

 was abundant evidence that in accepting 



