December 27, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



885 



(Heidelberg); Schenk (Berne); Siedentopf 

 ("Wurzburg) ; Streit (Berne); Westieu (Ros- 

 tock); Zimmerman (Leipzig). 



CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY (XXI). 

 THE MOOES OF NORTHWEST GERMANY. 



At the eleventh session of the German 

 Geographical Congress, held at Bremen in 

 Easter week, last spring. Dr. Tacke gave 

 an account of the moors of northwest Ger- 

 many, their utilization and their economic 

 importance. He described two classes: 

 the low marshy moors, of grassy growth, 

 and the upland moors, of peaty and heath- 

 ery growth ; the first rich and the second 

 poor in calcareous and nitrogenous matter. 

 When sufficiently drained, spread over with 

 sand, and enriched with artificial potash- 

 and phosphate-bearing fertilizers, the low- 

 lying marshy moors well repay cultivation. 

 In the last thirty years extensive areas of 

 waste land have thus been brought into pro- 

 ductiveness. The more extensive upland 

 moors are less easily redeemed. An old 

 but ill-advised method consists in burning 

 off the peaty surface at the end of a dry 

 season, producing wide-spread smoky skies. 

 An improved method, introduced from Hol- 

 land, requires the stripping of the peat, 

 which may be sold for fuel, and the mix- 

 ture of the bottom soil with the under- 

 lying sand. Then after sufficient fertiliz- 

 ing, the sui-face becomes fruitful. Exten- 

 sive undertakings for colonizing the moors 

 have been successfully carried out in recent 

 years. (Geogr Blatter, Bremen, xviii, 1895, 

 198-202.) 



THE ISLANDS OF EAST FEIESLAND. 



The islands of East Friesland, lying 

 along the low German coast between the 

 estuaries of the Ems and the Weser, are 

 ■ described by Buchenau (Geogr. Blatter, 

 Bremen, xviii, 1895, 202-204) as the last 

 fragments of a formerly continuous coastal 

 margin, built of sand drifted by waves and 



winds. Dunes cover much of the surface. 

 Behind the coastal barrier, at first grassy 

 moors, then fresh-water reed-marshes and 

 finally salt-water fens were formed on the 

 slowly sinking mainland, the rate of depres- 

 sion being estimated as certainly less than 

 the figure usually quoted, or three-fourths of 

 a foot per hundred years; but in the elev- 

 enth century a more rapid sinking probably 

 took place, as great losses of land followed 

 that date. AVhen first formed, the fens be- 

 hind the sandy coastal barrier must have 

 had but a small run of tide; it is presumed 

 that the English Channel had not then been 

 worn through, and that, the tides entered 

 the North Sea only around Scotland. After 

 the southern Channel was at last opened — 

 about 1000 B. C, as estimated by some 

 geologists — the tides gained greatlj^ in 

 strength; the coastal barrier was overflowed 

 and repeatedly broken through ; the fen- 

 land, flooded at high tide, bare at low, was 

 gradually washed away. From the time 

 when the Channel was opened, the people 

 waged an unceasing battle with the sea, 

 and as continually suffered defeat ; until at 

 last, driven by necessity, they planned a 

 systematic defense against storm and wave, 

 thus rescuing about half of what had before 

 been lost. The vegetation of the islands 

 is well adjusted to its exposed situation. 

 The grass on the open meadows is kept 

 very short by the action of the winds. 

 Bushes are found only in the valleys be- 

 tween the dunes. There are no trees, ex- 

 cept when planted near sheltering houses 

 or dunes; any branch which rises above its 

 shelter is soon killed by the storm winds. 



PHYSIOGEAPHIC NOTES FEOM ICELAND. 



Johnston Lavis, well known from his 

 studies on Vesuvius, went to Iceland in 

 1890, and contributes an entertaining ac- 

 count of his expedition to the Scottish Geo- 

 graphical Journal for September of this 

 year. Interesting topographic features are 



