November 8, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



626 



electric line which follows, in general, the 

 line of the Higby Lamentation fault, stops 

 being made to study points of geological 

 interest. A view from a large drumlin af- 

 forded an opportunity to recognize the topog- 

 raphy resulting from the faulting of the ex- 

 tensive lava sheets of the region — the anterior, 

 main and posterior. A section in the posterior 

 sheet was shown in which what seemed to be 

 the vesicular surface of one flow was covered by 

 the compact lava of a later flow. It was, how- 

 ever, suggested by Professor A. C. Lane that 

 this vesicular lava may have been formed 

 within the lava sheet as is perhaps in- 

 dicated by its somewhat coarsely crystalline 

 structure. A remarkable section near West- 

 field, where three faults with their drag 

 dips are well shown, was visited (Bull. VI., 

 Connecticut Geol. and Nat. His. Sur., Fig. 16, 

 p. 213). From here the party walked to other 

 points where drag dips were to be seen and 

 visited the post-glacial Westfield gorge. On 

 account of the rain in the afternoon only a 

 small number ascended Lamentation Moun- 

 tain. Lunch was served at the Highland Club 

 near Meriden. 



The excursion was a most interesting and 

 instructive one, both because it was carefully 

 planned and also because of Professor Eice's 

 lucid explanation of the topographic effects of 

 the great series of faults and the evidences by 

 which the complicated structure of the region 

 was unravelled. The unavoidable absence of 

 Professor W. M. Davis, to whose insight we 

 owe the first clear conception of the relations 

 of the Connecticut traps and sand stones, was 

 greatly regretted. 



Herdman F. Cleland 



WiLLIAMSTOWN, MASS., 



October 22, 1912 



TSE PAGEANT AT MOUNT SOLTOKE 

 COLLEGE 



The festival procession of the liberal arts 

 and sciences presented on October 8 at the 

 seventy-fifth anniversary of Mount Holyoke 

 College was not only a thing of brilliant 

 beauty but to many it was also a dramatic 

 revelation of the round of human knowledge. 



Planned by the faculty and presented by over 

 six hundred students, it expressed to the audi- 

 ence of three thousand people in a wonder- 

 fully impressive manner the salient points in 

 the history and ideals of the eighteen subjects 

 represented. The procession passed for two 

 hours through a natural amphitheater sur- 

 rounded by trees glorious with unusually gay 

 autumn foliage. 



The science division was marked by boldness 

 and effectiveness of treatment, combined with 

 richness of coloring and fineness of detail. 

 Heralds clad in rose and yellow were followed 

 by the personification of " Mathematics, the 

 golden key of the sciences." A striking group 

 of mathematicians represented the history o£ 

 mathematics from the fifteenth century B.C. 

 to the seventeenth century a.d. 



The story of man's progress toward ai 

 knowledge of heaven and earth was told by 

 the departments of physics and astronomy. 

 The fire-worshipers of primitive times, and a 

 Chaldean priest studying the stars were fol- 

 lowed by a number of the great thinkers and 

 experimenters from Aristotle to Franklin. 

 The material and intellectual gifts to human- 

 ity, such as the principle of the conservation 

 of energy, the aeroplane, astronomical time, 

 the telegraph, the steam engine, spectrum 

 analysis, the telescope, the cathode ray, sug- 

 gesting new concepts of matter, were symbol- 

 ized by graceful figures suggestively costumed. 



The hint of new concepts of matter was 

 echoed in the chemistry section which dealt 

 with the historical development of the chem- 

 ical element. An aged alchemist, Boyle, La- 

 voisier, Priestley, Davy and Dalton ushered in 

 a throng of dancers representing the elements. 

 At first mingling in confused and unrelated 

 groups in the wild strains of a Russian folk- 

 dance they fell suddenly into harmony at the 

 bidding of Mendelejeff clad in a Russian robe 

 of black and scarlet. The order of the peri- 

 odic system and the division of the elements 

 into families was suggested by eight groups 

 of four elements each, the members of each 

 group being dressed in varying shades of one 

 color in the following order, gray, pink, brown, 

 green, yellow, blue, tan and lavender. Then 



