586 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 119. 



gestive, though it may have been accidental. 

 H. Helm Clayton. 

 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatoey, 

 Keadville, Mass., March 25, 1897. 



arch^ological discoveries made in the 

 gravels at trenton. 



To THE Editor of Science: In Dr. Brin ton's 

 reference in your issue of March 12th to Pro- 

 fessor Putnam's report to the Peabody Insti- 

 tute, he scarcely does justice to the recent 

 archaeological discoveries made by Mr. Ernest 

 Volk in the gravels at Trenton. Dr. Brinton 

 says, referring to Professor Putnam's descrip- 

 tion of chipped stones "found in the glacial 

 deposits of the Delaware Valley," that "it is 

 fair to say that geologists are not agreed about 

 the age of these deposits." It cannot be that 

 Dr. Brinton has Professor Putnam's recent facts 

 clearly in mind or he would not make this 

 remark. 



For Mr. Volk's investigations have been car- 

 ried on on the Lalor farm, which is clearly 

 within the range of the ' Trenton gravels ' as- 

 cribed to glacial floods by every recent geologist 

 who has visited them, including Professors Cook, 

 Shaler, Chamberlin and Salisbury. This farm 

 lies fifty feet above the level of the Delaware 

 river, and abuts directly upon it. Boulders 

 two or three feet in diameter are lying about 

 loose upon the surface in the immediate vicinity. 

 Mr. Volk, under Professor Putnam's direction, 

 has systematically dug over acres of this farm 

 and has found hundreds of chipped pieces of 

 argillite in the undisturbed layers of sand 

 which are everywhere found from two to three 

 feet below the present surface. In the upper 

 twelve inches of the soil, where there are evi- 

 dences of disturbance, great numbers of jasper 

 and flint implements have been found, together 

 with some argillite implements ; but in the 

 lower two feet excavated no jasper and flint 

 implements have been found, but only argillite; 

 thus demonstrating the correctness of Dr. C. C. 

 Abbott's previous observations, and excluding 

 the various extravagant theories propounded to 

 account for their burial by natural causes ; such 

 as overturning of trees, the burrowing of ani- 

 mals and the cracking of the soil. 



I would say that I have had the privilege of 



accompanying Mr. Volk during some of these 

 excavations, and can add my testimony to his 

 as to the genuineness and importance of these 

 very significant discoveries. In this case there 

 is no chance to claim that they have been buried 

 in the talus; for in the cases which I saw with 

 my own eyes the implements were dug up from 

 the undisturbed strata of the sand more than 

 one hundred feet back from, the edge of the bluff. 

 I trust that the Philadelphia geologists and 

 archaeologists will give more personal attention 

 to the work which Professor Putnam, through 

 Mr. Volk, is so successfully carrying on in that 

 disputed district. G. Frederick Wright. 



[When Mr. Volk's specimens were exhibited 

 at Buffalo Professor McGee stated in the Sec- 

 tion that he did not consider that the age of the 

 deposit in which they were found is positively 

 ascertained. The sand layers overlie the gravels, 

 and have usually been supposed to be consider- 

 ably later. Mr. Volk has not found the speci- 

 mens i-eferred to in the true, undisturbed 

 gravels. ^D. G. Brinton.] 



AN imaginary FLEET. 



To THE Editor of Science : Permit me to 

 congratulate you for the extremely just and 

 advanced view you take of what a university 

 should be. In your issue of March 19, p. 471, 

 I find, to my great satisfaction, "Research is 

 not only the primary object of the university ; 

 it is the university itself." So dominant is this 

 sentiment in my mind that I have attempted 

 the establishment of a department where all 

 work, however elementary, shall be carried on 

 after the manner of original research. 



Would that the statement found on p. 473 of 

 the above-mentioned date were true, viz., that 

 the trustees of Cornell University are going to 

 build me a naptha launch for the transportation 

 of my students in paleontology; would also that 

 the launch were forthcoming that a prominent 

 firm writes me about, viz. , one they understand 

 the ' Cornell students ' are making for me. 

 These, with the one I am personally having built 

 by Lintz & Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, would 

 certainly form an enviable fleet for the prosecu- 

 tion of paleontologic research. 



G. D. Harris. 



Cornell University. 



