September 6, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



folds at angles with the first series. The 

 relations of various smaller wanes as all 

 parts of one great one were also brought out, 

 and especially the association of minor over- 

 thrown anticlines with a central fan-shaped 

 fold. The former incline towai-d the latter 

 in case of fan-shaped synclines and away 

 from it in corresponding anticliaes. The 

 paper closed with practical suggestions in 

 taking and interpreting observations, but 

 feeling pressed for time, the speaker passed 

 over them with such rapidity that an ap- 

 preciation of them will require the printed 

 text. W. M. Davis in discussion referred 

 to the three zones originally cited and asked 

 if the speaker could estimate from the char- 

 acter of the flowing or fracture, shown by 

 an eroded fold, anything about the original 

 burden of rock that had been removed. 

 Prof Van Hise in reply stated that he 

 thought it could be done within reasonably 

 wide limits, say two to five thousand feet. 



The following paper was by N". S. Shaler, 

 of Cambridge, Mass., and was entitled ' On 

 the Eflects of the Expulsion of Gases from 

 the Interior of the Earth.' The smaller 

 cases of gases emerging from muddy river 

 bottoms, lakes and swamps were first 

 treated, and then the larger manifestations 

 of the same at times of earthquakes, such 

 as those at New Madrid and Charleston. 

 The action was likened to the succession of 

 bubbles in champagne or soda water. One 

 getting started eases up the weight of the 

 overlying column of water, so that many 

 others follow in the same path. The lack 

 of fossils or organic remains in mud and 

 clay where they must have originally been 

 abundant was explained by the dissolving 

 action of these gases, especially while in so- 

 lution. The explosion of vapors in volcanic 

 conduits was then taken up, illustrated by 

 the speaker's observations on Vesuvius and 

 explained in the same way as the simpler 

 cases. 



Arthur HoUick, of ISTew York, next pre- 



sented a paper on ' Cretaceous Plants from 

 Martha's Vineyard.' Eesvilts were obtained 

 from an examination of the material col- 

 lected by David White in 1889. 



At the New York meeting of the Society 

 in December, 1889, Mr. David White read 

 a paper entitled ' Cretaceous Plants from 

 Martha's Vineyard,' which was published 

 in abstract in the proceedings of that meet- 

 ing. The author subsequently published 

 a more extended account in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science for February, 1890, 

 and figured a few of the specimens which 

 were most readily to be identified as creta- 

 ceous species. These papers were based 

 upon material collected by the author and 

 Mr. Lester F. Ward during the summer of 

 1889. The object of these papers was prin- 

 cipally to demonstrate the occurrence of 

 cretaceous strata in that island, hence only 

 sufficient material for that purpose was 

 utilized. During the present year all the 

 material which was collected was turned 

 over to him for examination and report, in 

 addition to which there were a few speci- 

 mens collected personally during the sum- 

 mer of 1893. The general results obtained 

 indicated a flora parallel with that of the 

 Amboy clays of New Jersey, bat as the fos- 

 sil leaves are found in concretionary sand- 

 stones which are mixed with the clays in 

 somewhat uncertain relations, it is very de- 

 sirable to obtain, if possible, remains in the 

 clays themselves. The diflftculty in preserv- 

 ing such as have hitherto been noted has 

 prevented their study. 



J. F. Kemp, of New York, then read a 

 contribution on ' The Titaniferous Iron Ores 

 of the Adirondacks.' The paper opened 

 with a brief statement of the characters of 

 the two kinds of iron ores which are af- 

 forded by the region, the merchantable mag- 

 netites and the titaniferous. The former 

 are in gneisses; the latter in the gabbros and 

 anorthosites of the Norian, which are be- 

 lieved to be intruded through the gneisses. 



