400 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 665 



Levis channel, furnished by the series of 

 Lower Siluric graptolite shales, was also 

 presented, and the relations of the grapto- 

 lite shales to the mobile parts of the earth- 

 crust, the geosynclines, briefly mentioned. 

 Friday evening the party went to Cliff 

 Haven, three miles south of Plattsburg, 

 where the authorities of the Champlain As- 

 sembly had placed at the disposal of Sec- 

 tion E the New York cottage, in which the 

 party were delightfully housed for five 

 days. Excursions were made each day to 

 various points, and in the evening all re- 

 turned to the broad piazzas of the cottage, 

 where they sat and discussed the various 

 trips, within a few feet of one of the stri- 

 king fault-line scarps of the region, looking 

 out over the waters of Lake Champlain. 



On Saturday morning, July 6, the party 

 gathered on the steam launch kindly fur- 

 nished by the state of New Tork, and under 

 the giiidance of Professor Gushing, Dr. 

 Ruedemann and Professor Hudson took a 

 charming sail on Lake Champlain. The 

 party visited Crab and Valcour islands and 

 steadied the paleozoic sediments which are 

 there so beautifully exposed with their 

 many interesting structural features. 



At noon the party enjoyed the delightful 

 hospitality of Professor and Mrs. George 

 H. Hudson of Plattsburg at their charming 

 camp on Valcour island. After lunch a 

 paper was given by John M. Clarke on 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN 



Dr. Clarke spoke of the origin of the 

 Lake Champlain valley as the result of a 

 series of downthrown fault blocks having 

 the evident aspect of a Graben. He re- 

 ferred to the later evidence as confirmatory 

 of Logan's conception of the Lake Cham- 

 plain fault and indicated that this origin 

 was borne out by the present attitude of 

 the downthrown paleozoic against the ab- 

 rupt eastern scarps of the Adirondack 

 crystalline shield. 



Reference was also made by the speaker 

 to the possibility that the geographical 

 name Trembleau, which designates the 

 prominent headland and mountain ridge 

 just soiith of Port Kent, embodies the 

 record of an ancient seismic disturbance, 

 and with this as a text fuller reference was 

 made to the Canadian earthquake of 1663 

 which appears from the records preserved 

 in contemporary documents to be the 

 severest disturbance this continent has ever 

 suffered from terrestrial dislocations. This 

 earthquake Avas evidently a movement of 

 the paleozoics against the crystalline shield 

 along the course of the St. Lawrence river 

 or the St. Lawrence fault, and its destruc- 

 tive effects from Montreal down to Tadou- 

 sac were tremendous. It seemed to the 

 speaker quite reasonable to infer that this 

 displacement must have been continued 

 along the contact line of the paleozoics and 

 the crystallines in the direction of the 

 Champlain fault, although the historic 

 records for this region are very meager. 



After lunch the party divided, one por- 

 tion spending the afternoon on the shores 

 of Valcour island studying stratigraphy 

 and paleontology. The others sailed south- 

 ward to the delta of Ausable river, where 

 a landing was made and photographs taken 

 showing some of the recent shoreline 

 changes. Thence this party sailed across 

 the lake between Stave and Providence 

 islands, and then northwai-d along the Ver- 

 mont shore, returning to Cliff Haven. 



In the evening in the auditorium of the 

 Catholic Summer School the one formal 

 gathering of the Plattsburg meeting took 

 place. The Reverend Jolni Talbot Smith, 

 LL.D., president of the summer school, 

 Avelcomed the members of Section E to 

 Cliff Haven, and said that anything they 

 could do to make our stay pleasant and 

 profitable would be a great pleasure to 

 the authorities of Champlain Assembly. 

 Father Smith introduced the vice-president 



