Febkuaby 12, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



283 



in detail and the paper includes seven excellent 

 analyses. 



Mode of Formation of Till as Illustrated by the 

 Kansan Drift of Northern Illinois : by OsCAK H. 

 Hershey. The following stages are distin- 

 guished : (1) The residuary clay is crushed and 

 kneaded, perhaps moved a short distance, but 

 remains free from foreign material. (2) The 

 process is continued, foreign material is added, 

 and there is greater, probably sub^glacial, trans- 

 formation. This is believed to be represented 

 by most of the till of Stephenson County. (3) 

 Calcareous material is deposited in the till from 

 solution. (4). The horizontal rock caps of the 

 preglacial hills are pushed forward and titled. 

 (5) These rock masses become fractured and 

 are rolled and kneaded together. (6) By a 

 continuation of the process a very stony till 

 relatively free from foreign rocks is formed. 

 (7) The angular limestone debris becomes com- 

 mingled with 10 per cent, to 50 per cent, of 

 rounded Canadian pebbles. (8) The red clay, 

 stage 2, may become mixed with the angular 

 limestone, stage 6. (9) Preglacial and marginal 

 lake-bed silts become mixed with the till form- 

 ing the yellow clay frequently considered to 

 be englacial. Deposition is considered to be 

 largely marginal and mainly subglacial. 



The Geology of the San Francisco Peninsula : 

 by Harold W. Fairbanks. Lawson's* re- 

 port upon the geology of the peninsula is criti- 

 cised, the author taking exception to the use of 

 the term chert and the reference to the siliceous 

 bands in the foraminiferal limestone as veins. 

 He dissents from the reference of the origin of 

 the jaspers to siliceous springs on the bottom 

 of the ocean and urges that they were formed 

 from radiolarian and other siliceous remains 

 dissolved in sea water. The ' silica-carbonate 

 sinter ' deposits are held to be of recent ori- 

 gin and hence of no value as a base for the cor- 

 relation of the Knoxville and Franciscan series 

 (Golden Gate Series of Fairbank). It is be- 

 lieved that Professor Lawson has unduly min- 

 imized the importance of the disturbances which 

 the older uncrystalline rocks show. Attention 

 is called to the absence of any new evidence for 

 continuing to place the Series in the Cretaceous, 



* Fifteenth Ann. Rept., U. S. Geol. Surv., pp. 40&- 

 476. 



and the use of the term laccolith in describing 

 the intrusives is deplored. The granite of the 

 Golden Gate Series is held to be older than those 

 of the Sierra Nevada rather than of the same 

 age. H. F. B. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. — SUBSEC- 

 TION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. 



The Academy met at Columbia University on 

 Monday evening, January 25th, with President 

 Stevenson in the chair. The Sub-section of An- 

 thropology and Psychology immediately organ- 

 ized under the chairmanship of Professor F. H. 

 Giddings and proceeded to the regular program, 

 which consisted of reports upon the winter 

 meetings of the various scientific associations 

 represented in the Section. The first report 

 was by Professor Giddings, upon the meeting of 

 the American Economic Association in Balti- 

 more. The speaker paid particular attention 

 to the presidential address of Professor Henry 

 C. Adams, on ' The Eolation of Economics to 

 Jurisprudence;' to the paper of ex-Secretary 

 of the Treasury Charles S. Fairchild on ' What 

 is the Present Direction of Acquisitive Invest- 

 ments? What are the Economic Effects of 

 Such Investments ? ' and to Professor Arthur T. 

 Hadley's paper on ' The Duty of the Govern- 

 ment towards the Investor. ' 



Dr. Livingston Farrand presented brief ab- 

 stracts of the more important psychological 

 papers read at the meeting of the American 

 Psychological Association in Boston, December 

 29 and 30, 1896, and was followed by Dr. Franz 

 Boas, who spoke of the meeting of Section H 

 (Anthropology) of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, in New York, ap- 

 proving the action of the Section in recom- 

 mending a regular winter meeting, to be held, 

 if possible, at the same time and place as the 

 American Psychological Association and the 

 American Society of Naturalists, and reviewing 

 briefly some of the papers presented at the 

 meeting. 



Mr. Harlan I. Smith reported on the Ameri- 

 can Folk-Lore Society's meeting in New York, 

 on December 20th, dwelling particularly on 

 Miss Fletcher's paper, ' Certain Early Forms of 

 Ceremonial Expression,' and on the discussion 



