June 26, 1891.J 



SCIENCE. 



359 



not been told them. But, alas, the interests of a great business 

 corporation seemed to demand the destruction of the last remnant 

 of these most celebrated works of the glacial age. Many were the 

 regrets expressed at the near prospect of the accomplishment of 

 this Teal calamity to the interests of scientific education. 



But so it was not to be. Mr. M C. Younglove, the president of 

 the company, then gave his word that the groove which had ex- 

 cited their admiration should be preserved. For three years the 

 workmen have sacredly spared the spot. Gunpowder and dyna- 

 mite have been kept from injuring these most wonderful exhibi- 

 tions of nature's most wonderful geologic work, until we are per- 

 mitted to record that to-day it has been placed beyond danger. 

 At Mr. Youngiove's invitation, Rev. Dr. Sprecher and myself have 

 carefully surveyed the premises with him, and, on presentation 

 of the case to the company at its annual meeting on tlie island to- 

 day, the following resolution was unanimously passed : — 



" Besolved, that, in the name of this corporation, the secretary 

 and treasurer be and are hereby authorized to deed to Mr. M. C. 

 Younglove a piece of the groove at the south-east corner of the 

 north quarry at Kelley's Island, said deed to convey a strip of land 

 fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long; said strip of land to he 

 deeded by him to some scientific or historical society, to be pre- 

 served in perpetuity for the benefit of science." 



This was adopted by unanimous vote of the stockholders. 



The grooves thus preserved are probably the most remarkable in 

 the woi'ld. They occur in the hard limestone of the vicinity, 

 where the ice movement from the north-east encountered the pro- 

 jecting rock, and spent its main force upon it. As the ice pushed 

 up and over the obstruction, a mingled mass of mud, sand, gravel, 

 and bowlders was shoved along beneath it. Under this force the 

 bowlders became ploughshares; the gravel and sand, rasps and 

 files; and the frozen mud, a pumice-stone to furrow and score and 

 polish the whole. Originally a large area of this glaciated surface 

 was exposed to sight. But in the progress of work upon the ex- 

 tensive quarry, the larger part of it has been removed. What is 

 left, however, is ample for an object lesson. The portion of the 

 groove preserved is thirty-three feet across, and the depth of the 

 cut in the rock is seventeen feet below the line extending from 

 rim to rim. Originally there was probably here a small depression . 

 formed by pre-glacial water erosion, into which the ice crowded 

 the material which became its graving tool; and so the rasping 

 and polishing went on in increasing degree, until this enormous 

 furrow is the result. The groove, however, is by no means simple, 

 but presents a series of corrugations merging into each other by 

 beautiful curves. When exposed for a considerable time it will 

 resemble nothing else so much as a collection of prostrate Corin- 

 thian columns, lying side by side on a concave surface. 



These grooves have long attracted the attention of the collectors 

 of geological curiosities. Those persons in Cleveland who are in- 

 terested to see specimens of this remarkable phenomenon can 

 gratify their desire by noticing the collection of stones on the 

 Public Square, just opposite the First Presbyterian Church. This 

 was placed there by the Western Reserve Historical Society, and 

 contains one of the first millstones used in the country. But be- 

 side it is a notable fragment of one of the glacial grooves from 

 Kelley's Island. Mr. Younglove also has a still more remarkable 

 specimen in front of his residence at 614 Euclid Avenue. Speci- 

 mens of these grooves have also been procured for the Harvard 

 College Museum, and a specially large and fine one was sent a 

 year ago by Mr. Younglove to Oberlin, and adorns the college park 

 in front of the library. 



Col. Whittlesey paid much attention to the study of the grooves 

 on Kelley's Island as they were in progress of being uncovered, and 

 secured many fine specimens for the collection of the Historical 

 Society, which can be seen in their rooms. The society also has 

 a lai'ge number of original drawings of the grooves, executed by 

 Col. Whittlesey, and accompanied by much unpublished descrip- 

 tive matter. Neither has attention to those remarkable exhibitions 

 of glacial action been confined to this country. lu my recent work 

 on the " Ice Age in North America," I have taken pains to intro- 

 duce several photographs from this place. In a recent issue the 

 London Atlienceum (March 28, 1891) fairly went into ecstacies over 

 them, exclaiming, " How paltry appear the furrows ploughed by 



ice on our glaciated rocks be.side the monstrous groovings eroded on 

 the Sandusky Islands in the vvestcrn part of Lake Erie, and figured; 

 from photographs, at pp. 233-243 of this book." 



The direction of these grooves is a little south of west, corre- 

 sponding to that of the axis of the lake. This is nearly at right 

 angles to the course of the ice scratches on the summit of the 

 water-shed south of this, between the lake and the Ohio River. 

 The reason for this change of direction can readily be seen by a 

 little attention to the physical geography. The high lands to the 

 south of the lake rise about seven hundred feet above it. When 

 the ice period was at its climax, and overran these high lands, it 

 took its natural course at right angles to the terminal moraine, 

 and flowed south-east, according to the direction indicated by the 

 scratches on the summit. But when, the supply of ice was not 

 sufiBcient to overrun the high lands, the obstruction in front turned 

 the course, and (he resultant was a motion towards Toledo and 

 the Maumee Valley, where, in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, an ex- 

 tensive terminal moraine was formed. The grooves on the islands 

 near Sandusky were produced during that stage in the recession 

 of the great ice-sheet. 



The groove preserved is only a small portion of what still exists, 

 but it would be too much to ask to have more given by the com- 

 pany. As it is, the public spirit shown by the directors, gathered 

 from Boston to Duluth, has rarely been equalled by a similar cor- 

 poration. Quarrying has already proceeded nearly aU around this 

 specimen, and soon the monument preserved will be a monument 

 indeed, the groove being left to cap a pedestal about thirty feet 

 high, and conspicuous from every side. About one half the sur- 

 face will be cleared of dibris, so as to show fifty feet of the length 

 of the groove, while the other half will remain as it is, beneath its 

 protective covering of pebbles, gravel, sand, and mud, which acted 

 as the graving tools in the firm grasp of the ice. In this condition 

 it is to be presented to the Western Reserve Historical Society of 

 Cleveland, to remain for the admiration and instruction of all 

 future generations. I trust the citizens of the vicinity will ap- 

 preciate the noble gift enough to occasionally visit the place and 

 receive the deep impressions it is so well calculated to make. 



G. Frederick Wright. 



Kelley's Island, O., June 9. 



Pacific Air over the Rocky Mountains. 



In last August I called attention in Science to the enormous 

 mass of Pacific air which for three months had been passing east- 

 ward over the mountains: also to the fact that there had been 

 but little precipitation during the summer until near the middle of 

 August, when, for the first time, solar halos appeared, and were 

 followed by violent electrical storms. From September to the 

 middle of last January the atmospheric circulation was in general 

 feeble, consisting largely of gentle winds from the north-west. 

 Late in January the south-west currents began to flow again, at 

 first feebly, but becoming more and more persistent and aggres- 

 sive. A remarkable series of storms has followed, one storm fol- 

 lowing another at intervals of four days to three weeks. At first, 

 after a rush of north wind had ended a storm, it would be one or 

 two weeks before the south-west winds were re-established. But 

 as time went on it took less and less time, until in April two of 

 the worst of northers cleared off with the upper south-west wind 

 still in possession of the field, rushing over the higher mountains 

 as if nothing had happened, and in a few hours it became the sur- 

 face wind on the plains. At present the plains near the moun- 

 tains are wetter than for years. 



I have had opportunity to observe these storms at a point 20 

 miles east of the mountains, 27 miles north-east of Colorado 

 Springs, at 6,800 feet elevation, and near the top of the high ridge 

 which extends east from the mountains known as the Divide be- 

 tween Arkansas and Platte waters. Seen from that place the 

 most common development of the general storms was as follows. 

 First, high cirrus streamers and films are seen coming from the 

 quadrant south to west, more often from about south-west. For 

 a day or more the surface winds continue variable, but finally the 

 south-west wind descends to the surface. Then for several days 

 the south-west wind continues, sometimes with a high velocity. 



