344 



scimcE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 113. 



they regard his arguments and mathematical 

 demonstrations as incapable of refutation. 

 Among these authorities may be named the fol- 

 lowing : " In the list of names there given my 

 own appears. 



The fact is that I regard the points he attacks 

 as being beyond debate, and simply decline to 

 discuss the matter with him, telling him as 

 plainly as the forms of courtesy permit, that I 

 consider his work of no value. I know person- 

 ally that substantially the same is true of at 

 least two others whose names are on the list, 

 and have no doubt it is true of all. Comment 

 is unnecessary. 



C. A. Young. 



Febkuaby 20, 1897. 



[The responsible editor of this Journal did 

 not know of the insertion of the advertisement 

 claiming the endorsement by Professor Young 

 and others of Mr. Emmens' absurd book. He 

 has written to the Macmillan Co. requesting that 

 no further advertisement of the book be in- 

 serted. Ed.] 



FORMER EXTENSION OF GREENLAND GLACIERS. 



I SHOULD be exceedingly sorry to misstate 

 the views of a fellow worker, as Professor 

 Chamberlin* infers that I have done, from a 

 a short abstractf of a recent paper read before 

 the Geological Society of America, but not yet 

 published. His editorial places quite a differ- 

 ent interpretation upon his views from that 

 which I had gained from a reading of his arti- 

 cles. After a journey of a thousand miles along 

 the Greenland coast, he says: J ' ' The inference 

 was drawn that the ice formerly so extended 

 itself as to reach the present coast over about 

 half of its extent, while in the remaining por- 

 tion the ice fell short." Professor Salisbury § 

 states that the phenomena indicate that the ice 

 has not recently overridden the ' islands of the 

 coast of Greenland,' and moreover that it is a 

 question if this is a possibility. 



In his editorial Professor (Chamberlin states: 

 " In its bearings upon these general problems, an 

 advance of a few miles, more or less, an inef- 



* Editorial, Journ. Geol., V., 1897, 81. 



t Journ. Geol., V., 1897, 95. 



{Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 1895, VI., 219. 



5 Jour. Geol., IV., 1896, 774. 



fectual overtopping of a few heights, more or 

 less, are relatively inconsequential. Our lan- 

 guage is to be interpreted in the light of the 

 major question whose solution we sought." 

 These ' major questions ' are: (1) whether the 

 Greenland ice was the source of the American 

 ice sheet, which I did not suppose that anyone 

 seriously believed at present; and (2) whether 

 the Greenland ice ever reached ' out into the 

 heart of Baffin's Bay.' 



It would not be profitable to restate any of 

 the arguments in my paper, which is soon to be 

 published ; but if this proves what it attempts 

 to prove, namely, that angular peaks have been 

 glaciated, and yet have remained angular, 

 largely because they projected into the ice, and 

 that, in one place, in spite of rugged, unsub- 

 dued peaks, there is perfect evidence that the 

 ice reached beyond the present land margin, it 

 must overthrow any conclusion concerning 

 former ice extension that is based upon angular 

 topography alone. 



A careful detailed study of a single region 

 proves that a land of rugged peaks has been 

 glaciated. Is it then a safe conclusion to draw 

 that the 'ice fell short' o 1 i f the coast, upon 

 the basis of evidence from angular topography, 

 mainly seen from a ship from five to twenty 

 miles distant ? I would go further and ask if, 

 upon such evidence, the conclusion is warranted 

 that the ice did not extend ' out into the heart 

 of Baffin's Bay ?' Personally, I draw no conclu- 

 sion concerning how much of the Greenland 

 coast has been glaciated, nor how far the ice 

 extended ; but I do know that ice can over- 

 ride peaks for a long enough time to scour 

 valleys and hillslopes well, and yet leave the 

 peaks rugged and angular in outline ; and I 

 also know that the ice in the Upper Nugsuak 

 peninsula region once reached 30 or 35 miles 

 beyond its present margin, which is as far as 

 any evidence can be found in this region. For 

 the larger question, how far it extended, and how 

 much coast it covered, I believe it is well to 

 wait until farther evidence is at hand. 



Ealph S. Tarr. 



compliment or plagiarism. 

 The second carefully prepared plea of Pro- 

 fessors Bemau and Smith is simply a conscious 



