APRIL 5, 1901.] 
and Minnesota. In these States the tenure of 
the university president compares very favor- 
ably with that of any other class of educational 
institutions in any part of the country. Among 
the conspicuous college presidents of the United 
States, President Angell stands next in seniority 
to President Eliot, of Harvard. The presi- 
dents of these four State universities have 
served terms varying from seven to thirty 
years, and averaging over fifteen years. The 
significance of this long tenure of office is ap- 
parent, if we recall the uncertain and fluctuat- 
ing fortunes of the two great political parties 
in these Northwestern States during the last ten 
years. 
A particularly striking instance of the de- 
velopment of public opinion against political 
interference may be found in Illinois. In the 
year 1894 the State University was subject to 
the management of a Board of Trustees, consist- 
ing of nine elective and three ex-officio members. 
Of the nine elective members of the Board, six 
were Democrats, as were also at least two of 
the three ex-officio members. One of these two, 
amember in fact as well as in name, was Govy- 
ernor John P. Altgeld, the vigor of whose par- 
tisanship no one will question. In spite of this 
decisive Democratic majority in the Board of 
Trustees, that body elected as the new president 
of the University a gentleman who was well 
known as a member of the opposite political 
party, and who had held, a few years before, a 
conspicuous and responsible position in the 
party councils of another State. * * * 
The freedom of university teaching will prob- 
ably always stand in need of jealous defenders. 
No human institution can secure itself absolutely 
against all influences in restraint of truth, some 
of which are none the less serious because they 
are not of a kind to attract public attention. 
Yet, all things considered, the State universi- 
ties of the Central West may fairly claim to have 
made a good stand for non-partisan treatment 
of university teaching.—The Independent, N. Y. 
CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY. 
SNAKE RIVER CANYON. 
Some brief account of the great canyon of 
Snake river is presented by W. Lindgren (The 
SCIENCE. 
5ol 
gold and silver veins of Silver city, de Lamar 
and other mining districts in Idaho, ‘20th An- 
nual Report, U. S. Geological Survey,’ 1900, pt. 
3, 65-256, numerous plates and figures), sup- 
plementing the description given a few years 
ago by Russell (U. 8. Geological Survey, Water- 
Supply and Irrigation Paper, No. 4, 1897). 
Where the river forms the western boundary of 
Idaho, the lava plateau has an elevation of 
from 6,000 to 7,000 feet; its successive flows, 
revealed in the dark brown canyon walls, are 
from 20 to 150 feet thick. Hereabouts, the 
river has cut down into the pre-lava moun- 
tains, the contact revealing a buried surface of 
strong relief. The canyon walls for a depth of 
2,500 feet are benched on the horizontal lava 
beds ; a remaining depth of the same amount is 
steeply buttressed with porphyries and dio- 
rites. ‘‘The bottom of the old valleys clearly 
lie far below the deep cut of Snake river, how 
far is not known. * * * It may be confidently 
advanced as a working hypothesis that this 
whole district * * * far from having been ele- 
vated since the Tertiary era * * * represents 
an area of depression, standing now at lower 
levels than during the Miocene period ”’ (93). 
ALPINE MORPHOLOGY. 
A MONOGRAPH of unusual interest and value 
is.found in E. Richter’s ‘Geomorphologische 
Untersuchungen in den MHochalpen’ (Pet. 
Mitt., Erg’ heft 132, 1900, 103 p., 6 pl., 14 fig.). 
spurs. 
It is concerned particularly with the origin of 
Kahre (cirques, corries, botner), which consti- 
