JUNE 21, 1901.] 
covered all of Northwestern Siberia, and ex- 
tended up to the base of the great Asiatic 
plateau which we followed for such a long dis- 
tance on elevated shore lines in Turkestan. 
When this depressed area emerged from the 
sea, it left the seal isolated in the two great 
bodies of water which still remain on its former 
margin. So lately has this taken place, that 
there has not been time for any great changes 
to be effected in the characteristics of these 
animals ’’ (p. 136). 
Certain high-level deposits at Trebizond and 
Dariel Pass are cited as the work of the sea and 
as evidence of subsidence of the land, but no 
fossils are mentioned (p. 137). 
Singularly enough, the comparative freshness 
of the waters of the Caspian and Aral seas 
made the basis for the inference that ‘‘ this 
region has lately emerged from below sea level 
and, in consequence, rapidly passed through 
climatic changes which have transformed | it 
from a recently well-watered region to one that 
is now a desert’’ (p. 137). 
This is the entire evidence upon which the 
marine origin of the loess is postulated. The 
direct evidence of the fossil content of the 
loess is ignored. The public are not even in- 
formed of the existence of this class of evidence, 
nor of such widely current deductions from it 
as those voiced by Dr. James Geikie in the para- 
graph previously quoted and by Sir Archibald 
Geikie in the following extract from his well- 
known ‘Text-Book’: 
“Though on the whole not rich in fossils, 
the loess has yielded a peculiar fauna, which 
singularly confirms Richthofen’s view that the 
deposit was a subaerial one. In the first place, 
the shells found in it are almost without excep- 
tion of terrestrial species. * * * It is worthy 
of note that Helices and Succineas abound at 
present in the steppe regions of central Asia, 
and that many of the species of loess mollusks 
are now living in east Russia, southwest Siberia, 
and on the prairies of the Little Missouri in 
North America. 
“From various parts of the European loess, 
Dr. Nehring has described a remarkable assem- 
blage of animals, which included a jerboa 
(Alactaga jaculus), marmots (Spermophilus, sev- 
eral species), Arctomys bobac, tailless hare (Lag- 
SCIENCE. 
989 
omys pusillus), numerous species of Arvicola, 
Cricetus frumentarius, C. pheeus, porcupine (Hys- 
trix hirsutirostris), wild horses, and antelopes 
(Antilope saiga). This fauna, excepting some 
extinct or extirpated species, is identical with 
that which now lives in the southeast Kuropean 
and southwest Siberian steppes. Besides these 
distinctively steppe animals the loess contains 
numerous remains of the mammoth and woolly 
rhinoceros, likewise bones of the musk-sheep, 
hare, wolf, stoat, etc. It has also yielded flint 
implements of Paleolithic types. The bones 
of man himself were claimed many years ago 
by Ami Boué to have been found in the loess, 
and his opinion has been in some measure 
strengthened by more recent observations.’’ 
(‘ Text-Book of Geology,’ by Archibald Geikie, 
pp. 1059, 1060.) 
The readers of McClure’s Magazine are not in- 
vited to consider the overwhelming force of this 
class of evidence ; nor are they frankly told of 
the absence of marine fossils from the loess; nor 
are they informed that the association of Pal- 
eolithic implements with the loess is familiar 
text-book knowledge; but in lieu of such prosy 
science, they are inspired by the following 
eloquent climax : 
“ The crowning point of interest is reached in 
the discovery by Professor Armasheysky at 
Kief of flimt implements and burnt stones in 
connection with the bones of extinct animals 
fifty-seven feet below the undisturbed surface 
of this soil. The discovery was made in the 
bluffof loess bordering the river Dnieper, whose 
general surface is 683 feet above the sea and 
340 feet above the present stream, and totally 
unconnected with any deposits that may have 
been made by it. In this discovery we have the 
link connecting the recent geological changes 
in the East with those inthe West. The flint im- 
plements of glacial man found in France, Eng- 
land, and the United’ States indicate the same 
stage of culture as that attained by the men who 
were overwhelmed in the great subsidence of 
Central Asia and Southeastern Russia, and of the 
region about the base of Mt. Ararat’’ (p. 138). 
This remarkable article closes with ‘The Re- 
lation of These Discoveries to the Bible Story of 
the Deluge,’ and ‘Harmony of Biblical Story 
and the Geological Facts.’ 
