Nov. 1905] rROCEEDINGS S. I. ASs\\ ARTS AND SCIENCES. 13 



hill and a descent down ag-ain in traveling: to and fro in any direction, 

 and a marg-inal street along- the entire water front is sug-g-ested. 



To the residents of Staten Island the report has the familiar ring- of 

 numerous other similar reports which have been made from time to 

 time in the past by public officials and bodies and by committees of 

 various associations or by public spirited individuals. Compared with 

 some of these, however, the present report is exceedingly superficial 

 and contains nothing, either in facts or conclusions, that has not been 

 previously presented better elsewhere. — A. H. 



IV. — In the British publication Natnrt\\o\. Ixxii, May nth, 1905, 

 pp.40, 41, may be found a note in relation to the Kreischerville amber, 

 in which the facts are exagg-erated in a n>ost amusing manner, viz: 

 *'A discovery of the occurrence of this substance in large masses has 

 been recently made in the Cretaceous deposits of Kreischerville, Staten 

 Island, N. Y. The amber, which is being extensively worked for 

 commercial purposes, occurs in a bed containing layers of vegetable 

 debris * * * " etc. 



This is a striking example of the wall known fact that the import- 

 ance of any discovery or incident is usually exaggerated in direct 

 proportion to the distance from the point of origin, but it is some- 

 what strange that a dignified and presumably accurate scientific pub- 

 lication like Nature should not have taken the trouble to ascertain 

 the facts and to state them correctly. — A. H. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



