Januaky 15, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



91 



the point that moraines in existing glaciers 

 are steepest toward the ice and that they 

 were the best illustration of what took place 

 in the ice period. Inferences, therefore, re- 

 garding the relations of the old moraines to 

 the ice should always be drawn with this 

 in mind. 



Variations of Glaciers. Harey Fielding 



Eeid, Baltimore, Md. 



The paper gave a summary of the first an- 

 nual report of the International Committee 

 on Glaciers. Information received relating 

 to the variations of American glaciers dur- 

 ing the past year, as well as of those in 

 other parts of the world, indicated a general 

 recession, although there were some minor 

 exceptions. Illustrations were given and 

 an earnest appeal was made that all geolo- 

 gists and travelers visiting glaciers estab- 

 lish permanent bench marks and directions 

 from which photographs can be taken, as 

 other visitors may reach such regions. 

 Very complete records can thus be made. 



The reading of this paper closed the 

 work of the day. At 7:30 p. m. the So- 

 ciety reassembled for the annual dinner at 

 the Hotel Ealeigh. All felt great satisfac- 

 tion to see Prof. Emerson in his familiar 

 place as toastmaster, and the presence of 

 about fifteen ladies, mostly wives of the 

 Fellows of the Society, started an innova- 

 tion that it is to be hoped will be continued, 

 for it improves greatly the social side of 

 meetings. The banquet was most enjoya- 

 ble from all points of view, especially in that 

 the Society had an opportunity to extend 

 its congratulations to the retiring President 

 upon the approaching celebration of his 

 golden wedding anniversary. 



On Thursday morning at nine o'clock 

 nearly all the visiting Fellows assembled 

 at the office of Captain Green, at the new 

 Congressional Library, and were most cour- 

 teously conducted over the building. All 

 viewed its magnificant halls and frescoes 



almost with astonishment, and certainly 

 with great satisfaction that a building so 

 long needed had at last been worthily con- 

 structed. 



At 10 a. m. the regular sessions were re- 

 sumed with a slim attendance, which, how- 

 ever, rapidly grew as the members who had 

 been at the Library returned. It was voted 

 that two sections be organized after the 

 reading of the first two papers, inasmuch 

 as it would be otherwise impossible to finish 

 the programme. A letter was also read 

 from Lieut. Peary outlining a plan for 

 another expedition to Greenland next sum- 

 mer, in which it was hoped that various 

 institutions would combine and locate sta- 

 tions for the observation and study of the 

 ice sheet at various points along the coast 

 and in cooperation. The Society gave its 

 approval of the plan in a general way. The 

 reading of papers was then resumed as fol- 

 lows: 



Mechanics of Glaciers — Moraines and Stratifica- 

 tion. Harry Fielding Eeid, Baltimore, 

 Md. 



Observations were made on the Forno 

 Glacier last summer to test the ideas pre- 

 sented to the Society at the Philadelphia 

 meeting. Measures of the movement were 

 begun but not finished. What is usually 

 called the ' ribboned structure ' is probably 

 the outcrop of the strata, as Agassiz con- 

 tended. 



Moraines require a new classification in- 

 to : 1st, those which have their origin be- 

 low the neve line ; and 2d, those which 

 have there their origin above it. The latter 

 present characteristics which have not hith- 

 erto been carefully described. It was shown 

 that the debris above the neve line proceeds 

 diagonally downward into the body of the 

 glacier itself as it becomes buried by the 

 successive annual snowfalls that cause the 

 general stratification. The paper was beau- 

 tifully illustrated by lantern slides. Presi- 



