November 24, 1905.] 



SCIENCE, 



673 



Geometry,' C. A. Petterson, Jefferson High School, 



Chicago. 



Discussion led by G. C. Shutts, State Normal 



School, Whitewater, Wis. 



0. W. Caldwell, President, 

 C. M. TuRTON, Secretary. 



THE ONONDAGA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



The regular monthly meeting of the Onon- 

 daga Academy of Science was held Friday 

 evening, October 20, 1905, the president, Dr. 

 T. C. Hopkins, in the chair. 



Mr. Charles E. Wheelock gave an interest- 

 ing account of some overthrust faults occur- 

 ring across central ISTew York from Little 

 Falls to Ithaca and which are most promi- 

 nently developed in the Scalaris^ and in the 

 overlying Helderberg limestones. He tried to 

 show that these disturbances were found only 

 in rocks immediately overlying the Salina 

 formations from which the various salts had 

 been leached out. As the rocks of central 

 New York dip slightly toward the south, the 

 hypothenuse of the triangle would be shortened 

 by the dropping down of the overlying forma- 

 tions due to the solution of the salts, and thus 

 produce a lateral pressure in the rocks capable 

 of producing the overthrusts. 



Professor Philip F. Schneider read an inter- 

 esting paper on ' The Correlation of Some 

 Alnoite Dikes in East Canada Creek.' Here- 

 tofore but three dikes were known at East 

 Canada Creek, showing only on the Mont- 

 gomery side, with a narrow dike on the Her- 

 kimer side which it was impossible to correlate 

 with either of the others. The paper estab- 

 lished the fact that there were five dikes on 

 the east side and also five corresponding dikes 

 on the west side of the stream. All were lo- 

 cated accurately and figures given as to their 

 width, distances apart and strike, showing that 

 they were corresponding dikes. Megascopic- 



^ The Scalaris limestone as described by P. F. 

 Schneider in the October, 1905, number of the 

 American Journal of Science is the prominent 

 limestone ledge in the Camillus Shale of the 

 Salina formation and immediately underneath the 

 gypsum deposits. It is the first formation of the 

 salt deposit in central New York containing fos- 

 sils, the Leperdiiia Scalaris Jones being the most 

 abundant. 



ally the dikes bear a close resemblance to those 

 already known and it is believed that a micro- 

 scopic study of the same would show that they 

 are practically identical. 



Dr. Daniel S. Martin, of Brooklyn, spoke 

 of the close resemblance of the peridotite dikes 

 in New York, Kentucky and South Africa 

 and the possibility of diamonds occurring in 

 thein in this country. While the material 

 composing all these dikes is practically iden- 

 tical, as shown by their petrographic study 

 and chemical analyses, even to the extent of 

 their containing certain gems in common, as 

 the pyropes and olivenes, nevertheless the 

 diamond is conspicuous by its presence in the 

 African fields and equally conspicuous by its 

 absence in the American localities. 



President T. C. Hopkins spoke of the rumor 

 that two diamonds had been found in the 

 drift deposits south of Syracuse. The owner 

 of the sand bed claimed to have found a good- 

 sized diamond in the drift which was de- 

 posited in a Syracuse bank and later sold to 

 a party in Springfield, Mass., for two hundred 

 and fifty dollars. Another so-called diamond 

 obtained from this same sand pit was shown 

 to Dr. Hopkins by the owner, but a hasty 

 examination convinced him that it was a 

 topaz. However, nothing positive was known 

 concerning the character of the first found 

 stone. Geologists were advised to watch care- 

 fully excavations, both in the disintegrated 

 dike and in the drift material, for possible 

 diamonds. Philip F. Schneider, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



HONORARY DEGREES. 



To THE Editor of Science: I have been 

 very much interested in your note in the issue 

 of October 27, concerning the honorary de-. 

 grees conferred at the recent inaugural of the 

 University of Illinois. Instead of the too 

 prevalent practise of conferring the degree of 

 doctor of laws indiscriminately on all of the 

 gentlemen whom it was desired to recognize, 

 it is pleasing to see the degree of doctor of 

 science given to a gentleman of distinguished 

 scientific attainments, that of doctor of engi- 



