120 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1205 



Oriskany Creek rises in the soutliem part 

 of Oneida county, flows south for three and 

 one half miles, following the normal direction 

 of the Chenango Eiver drainage across the 

 Madison county line, and one and one quarter 

 miles west of the village of Solsville is di- 

 verted abruptly to the northeast, eventually 

 emptying into the Mohawk Kiver. 



For the distance of a mile west, south and 

 east of Solsville the main valley is a nearly 

 level plain consisting of two glacial terraces, 

 through which Oriskany Creek flows for 

 nearly two miles in a narrow valley about 

 fifty feet below the terrace level. 



From Solsville to Oriskany Falls — nearly 

 four miles — ^the stream is constricted within 

 a valley only a few hundred yards wide for 

 the greater part of the way, choked with 

 kames which expand to the east and north 

 into one of the larger kame areas of central 

 Ifew York. The stream is utilized extensively 

 for water power, one pond being situated at 

 Solsville and two others within a distance of 

 a mile and a half to the east. The track of 

 the Utica division of the New York, Ontario 

 and "Western Railroad follows the stream bed 

 in this part of its course. 



Due to severe and continued rain on the 

 night of June 10, the three ponds mentioned 

 broke their dams almost simultaneously about 

 four o'clock the following morning. A wave 

 of huge proportions rolled down the narrow 

 valley destroying buildings and ruining crops 

 in its path. 



The village of Oriskany Falls is situated in 

 the valley between a steep rock hiU on the 

 north and a large kame on the south. Fortu- 

 nately the inhabitants were warned of the im- 

 pending disaster by telephone. However, two 

 persons were drowned. Leaving the village 

 street the flood followed the sharp turn of the 

 creek to the southeast, the waters in part 

 flowing along the railroad track between a row 

 of buildings and the kame, and washing away 

 the railroad embankment near " the falls." 

 At this point the railroad track was suspended 

 in mid air for at least 100 feet to the bridge. 

 The area devastated was estimated as one 

 eighth of a mile wide in the village. 



Three and one half miles north of Oriskany 

 Falls, near the village of Deansboro, the same 

 stream also washed out a railroad embank- 

 ment for many feet. 



The writer was staying in a neighboring 

 town at the time and was an early witness of 

 the scenes above noted. 



H. N. Eaton 



State College, Pa. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Laws of Physical Science. By Edwin F. 



N'oRTHHUP^ Ph.D. J. B. Lippincott Co. 



210 pp. 



The author of this volume has proposed to 

 collect in compendious form the principal 

 facts and relations that have been established 

 in the study of physical science. The book 

 does not pretend to be a test-book or to go 

 into the discussion of the principles stated, 

 but the attempt has been made to present 

 all the more important laws and principles of 

 physics in such form that they may be easily 

 referred to by a student or worker in the 

 subject, and to give in each instance refer- 

 ences to sources where a fuller discussion may 

 be found. 



The plan has left the author great freedom 

 of choice and he has browsed about, gather- 

 ing here and there not only the more formal 

 laws and wider generalizations, but facts, 

 relations, and even definitions from all do- 

 mains of physics including physical chemistry. 

 IN'o attempt is made to connect them into a 

 systematic body or treatise beyond the ar- 

 rangement of the various topics under the 

 main divisions of the subject in something 

 like logical grouping. 



The large number of laws and relations 

 given — there are about five hundred separate 

 topics — makes it necessary for each statement 

 to be brief and clear-cut, leaving the detailed 

 explanation to be looked up by the student 

 in the text-book or treatise to which reference 

 is made. The demands of condensation have 

 been met for the most part very successfully 

 in statements which though compact are clear 

 and correct. In a few instances, however, the 



