April 17, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



607 



Then followed emergence, in whicli tlie early- 

 Columbia deposits were trenched and a wide 

 terraced inner valley cut by the river. The 

 widening did not progress as far as in the pre- 

 Columbia period and wide areas of earlier Co- 

 lumbia terrace remained, at altitudes averaging 

 200 feet. Next came submergence, in which 

 the later Columbia was laid down, and then fol- 

 lowed a widespread moderate uplift in which this 

 formation was trenched to a few yards before 

 the present tide level. The next epoch is the 

 present, in which the laud is sinking; tide 

 water extends far inland and it is encroaching 

 gradually. The paper was illustrated by many 

 slides from photographs of maps, diagrams, 

 topographical feature and formation. 



W. F. MOESELL. 



U. S. Geological Suevey, Washington, D. C. 



THE ACADEMY OP SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis, April 6th, forty persons present. 

 Prof. C. R. Sanger spoke on the commercial 

 synthesis of acetylene, illustrating the flame 

 procurable from this gas when burned with a 

 proper proportion of air. 



Prof. Sanger also presented the results of a 

 preliminary biological and chemical examination 

 into the ice supply of St. Louis, and exhibited 

 a device for melting ice in such examinations 

 without danger of contamination from atmos- 

 pheric ammonia, etc. 



The Secretary presented for publication, by 

 title, a paper by Mr. Charles Robertson, en- 

 titled ' Flowers and Insects.' 



Mr. William H. Roever presented a paper on 

 the geometry of the lines of force from an 

 electrified body, in which it was shown that 

 (a) the curve representing a line of force pro- 

 ceeding from a system consisting of two parallel 

 electrified lines, is the locus of the intersection 

 of two straight lines, rotating in the same plane 

 about these two parallel lines as axes with uni- 

 form but different angular velocities ; (b) the 

 curve representing a line of force proceeding 

 from a system consisting of two electrified 

 points is the locus of the intersection of two 

 straight lines, rotating, in the same plane 

 about parallel axes passing through those 



points in such a manner that the versines of their 

 angles of inclination to the plane of the axes 

 change at uniform but different rates. 



William Trelease, 



Eecording Secretary. 



' BOSTON SOCIETY OP NATURAL HISTORY. 



By the courtesy of the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology the Society held its general 

 meeting of March 18th in the physical lecture 

 room of the Institute. Four hundred persons 

 present. Prof. Charles R. Cross spoke of the 

 X-rays, discussing the subject from an historical 

 standpoint. He illustrated the phenomena 

 connected with the disruptive discharges of 

 electricity across an air space, across a space 

 wherein there is little air, and in a tube in 

 which a nearly perfect vacuum is maintained. 

 The experiments and theories of Crookes, 

 Herz and Lenard were reviewed; the distinctive 

 characters of the X-rays, and the experiments 

 of Rontgen described. The fluorescence of 

 certain substances, such as platino-cyanide of 

 barium, a marked peculiarity of the X-rays, 

 was shown by illuminating a Crookes tube 

 placed in a light-tight box ; the rays passing 

 through sheets of vulcanite and aluminum 

 caused a prepared slip of platino-cyanide of 

 barium to glow with a soft phosphorescent 

 light. The work of various experimenters upon 

 photographic plates and upon electrified sub- 

 stances was described in detail. Experiments 

 to show the effect of the X-rays upon Bacteria, 

 while not final, point to the conclusion that the 

 Bacteria are not killed. 



Samuel Henshaw, 



Secretary. 



ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILA- 

 DELPHIA. 



March 31. — A paper under the following title 

 was presented for publication: 'Dr. Collet on 

 the morphology of the cranium and the auric- 

 ular openings in the North European species of 

 the family Strigidse; to which is added some 

 recent opinions upon the systematic position of 

 the Owls,' by R. W. Shufeldt. 



Prof Henry A. Pilsbry called attention to a 

 fine collection of barnacles obtained from the 

 bottom of a vessel recently returned from a 



