SCIENCE 



Feiday, April 14, 1911 



CONTENTS 



The Origin of the Thermal Waters in the 

 Yellowstone National Park: Dk. Arnold 

 Hague 553 



Eistoriometry as an Exact Science: De. Feeb- 

 EEicK Adams Woods 568 



Scientific Notes and News 574 



University and Educational Neivs 577 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The Method of Science: Peofessoe S. M. 

 Patten. Miastor Larva: De. E. P. Pelt 578 



Scientific Books: — 



Lacroix's Mineralogie de la France: Dr. 

 George P. Kunz 583 



Botanical Notes: — 



Tu'o Botanical Journals; A Periodical for 

 Moss Students; Hough's Leaf Key to the 

 Trees; Short Notes: Propessoe Chaeles 

 E. Bessey 586 



Special Articles: — 



The Poisonous Effects of Alcoholic Bever- 

 ages not Proportional to their Alcoholic 

 Contents: Peofessoe D. D. Whitney .... 587 



Biological Society of the Pacific Coast 590 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Selminthological Society of Washing- 

 ton: Maurice C. Hall. The Anthropolog- 

 ical Society of Washington: I. M. Casano- 

 wicz 590 



MSS, intended for publication and bsoki, etc., Intended for 

 reTiev should be aeat to tlie Editor of Bamct, Ganiioa-an- 

 HodioB. N. T. 



■THE ORIGIN OF THE THERMAL WATERS IN 



THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK^ 



INTRODUCTIOlSr 



From the earliest days of systematic 

 geological research thermal springs have 

 been a frequent sub.jeet of investigations 

 by students of natural phenomena. From 

 time to time numerous contributions to sci- 

 entific literature bearing upon the nature 

 of hot springs, partly descriptive and in 

 part theoretical, have been presented to 

 learned societies. Nearly all regions where 

 such waters issue from the ground on an 

 imposing scale appear to have been at one 

 time or another scenes of eruptive energy. 

 In so many instances has this been shown 

 to be the case that thermal activity and 

 volcanic manifestation have come to be re- 

 garded as associated phenomena. It by no 

 means follows, however, that the original 

 source of all these waters was, geologically 

 speaking, deep-seated, and by a large 

 school of geologists it has never been so re- 

 garded. In recent years the results of 

 several suggestive researches have been 

 published, in which the position is taken 

 that superheated waters from igneous rocks 

 are primitive in their origin; that is to 

 say, they are derived from great depths in 

 the earth's crust and are brought to the 

 surface for the first time by volcanic forces. 



The Yellowstone National Park affords 

 one of the most remarkable, and probably 

 one of the most instructive areas of thermal 

 springs and geysers to be found in the 

 world. The varied phenomena of boiling 

 springs and aqueous vapors there stand 

 unsurpassed. Several years ago, after a 



^Annual address of the president, before the 

 Geological Society of America, December 27, 1910. 



