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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 48. 



morainic wall; the small inwash-of alluvium 

 probably explaining the purity of these de- 

 posits. The great basin enclosed by the 

 moraine is almost filled by the alluvium of 

 the Dora Baltea, but at the extreme front 

 of the amphitheater directly next to the 

 inner slope of the moraine, and some dis- 

 tance on either side of the medial course of 

 the river, two shallow lakes, Viverone and 

 Candia, with marginal peat deposits, still 

 remain. Other small basins, either lakes 

 or peat bogs, occur on the alluvial plain 

 and in shallow rock basins near the head of 

 the amphitheater. 



THE DEFORESTING OF MOUNTAINS. 



A NATIONAL congress of French geograph- 

 ical societies was held last year at Lyons, 

 and a report of its proceedings has been 

 published by the geographical society of 

 that city. To this volume Guenot, of Tou- 

 louse, contributed an essay on the effects of 

 the deforesting of mountains, a subject to 

 which he had previously given much atten- 

 tion. The Gausses, plateau-like uplands in 

 southern France, have for various reasons, 

 historical and political, been gradually 

 stripped of their forests, and as a result they 

 are largely depopulated; twenty years has 

 sufficed to transform a wooded district into 

 a stony desert. In the Pyrenees the re- 

 ports of the forestry officials show a con- 

 stant relation between deforesting and va- 

 rious injurious effects, such as the stripping 

 of soil from the slopes, the increased vio- 

 lence of floods in the mountain torrents 

 and the decrease of population. In some 

 valleys forest area and population have 

 fallen to half their former numbers; in otli- 

 ers the complete destruction of the forests 

 has been followed by the complete aban- 

 donment of the district. Guenot urges a 

 revision of the existing forestry laws in 

 France, the extension of an organization 

 known as the ' amis des arbres,' and the 

 introduction of tree-planting, as with us 



on Arbor Day. Confidence in the author 

 is somewhat shaken by his exaggerated 

 ideas about American matters; deforesting 

 in this country is held responsible for severe 

 droughts, for extreme heat and cold, and for 

 heav_y rains and floods; while our Arbor 

 Day is described as a popular, national and 

 religious fete, ' celebrated with the most as- 

 tonishing solemnity.' W. M. Davis. 



HAEVAED UmVEESITY. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 winter meetings of the scientific 



societies. 

 The American Society of Naturalists and the 

 affiliated and related societies will meet at 

 the University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 

 phia, on the daj'S immediately following 

 Christmas, December 26th, 27th and 28th. 

 The Society of Naturalists will meet on the 

 afternoon of the 26th to organize and to 

 hear the addi-ess of the President. The 

 meetings promise to be of unusual scientific 

 interest, and all possible arrangements have 

 been made to contribute to the social enter- 

 tainment of the members. The officers of 

 several societies are as follows : The Ameri- 

 can Society of Naturalists — President, Prof. E. 

 D. Cope, University of Pennsylvania ; Sec- 

 retary, Prof. H. C. Bumpus, Brown Uni- 

 versity. The American Morphological Society 

 — President, Prof. E. B. Wilson, Columbia 

 College; Secretary, Dr. G. H. Parker, 

 Harvard Universitj'. The American Physi- 

 ological Society — President, Prof. H. P. 

 Bowditch, Harvard University ; Secretary, 

 Prof. S. F. Lee, Columbia College. The 

 Geological Society of America, President — 

 Prof. N. S. Shaler, Harvard University; 

 Secretarjr, Prof. H. L. Fairchild, University 

 of Rochester. The Association of American 

 Anatomists — President, Dr. Thomas Dwight, 

 Harvard University ; Secretarj', Dr. D. S. 

 Lamb, Washington. The American Psycho- 

 logical Association — President, Prof J. Mc- 

 Keeu Cattell, Columbia College ; Secretarj', 



