April 9, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



mi. 



THE MBTEIC SYSTEM. 



To THE Editor of Science: Is it not a 

 little incongruous for American scientists and 

 scientific journals to urge upon Congress the 

 legalization of the metric system to the exclusion 

 of the old, while Science prints, without com- 

 ment and in a quasi-editorial way, an abstract 

 of government researches in which all weights 

 are in ounces ?* Would you not be warranted 

 in declining any contribution in which were not 

 given at least the metric equivalents ? 



Burt G. Wilder. 



OoENELi, University. 



[Men of science and scientific journals ought 

 certainly to use the metric system when possible. 

 The United States Department of Agriculture 

 cannot, however, afford to lessen its usefulness 

 and to awaken criticism by making such of its 

 researches as are intended for the general public 

 more technical or difiicult to understand than 

 is necessary. It is consequently not certain 

 that the metric units should have been used in 

 this work on metabolism so long as foods are 

 sold by pounds and ounces. It is often useful 

 to give the common equivalents of the metric 

 system in order that the matter may be under- 

 stood and to teach the equivalents, but it is not 

 often desirable to give the metric equivalents 

 of the common system. Nothing is gained in 

 clearness for Anglo-Saxons, and, as far as mis- 

 sionary work goes, the long series of decimals 

 naturally required to express ounces or feet in 

 the metric system give it a cumbrous and for- 

 bidding aspect. Ed.] 



SCIENTIFIC LITEBATUBE. 

 The Formation of the Quaternary Deposits of Mis- 

 souri. By James E. Todd. Eeports of the 

 Missouri Geological Survey, Vol. X. [1896] , 

 pp. 113-217, with two maps, four section 

 plates, five full-page illustrations, and five 

 small figures in the text. 

 No detailed study of the Quaternary deposits 

 of Missouri has ever been attempted, except in 

 a few limited districts, but short references to 

 them are scattered through all the reports of 

 the several Geological Surveys which have, in 

 the past, been instituted in the State. By a 

 * Experiments upon metabolism, etc., March 26, 

 1897, pp. 493-496. 



careful compilation of these fragmentary notes, 

 supplemented by much personal observation, 

 Professor Todd has collected a large body of 

 valuable information on the later geological his- 

 tory of the northern portion of the state. His 

 intimate knowledge of the general features of 

 the Pleistocene formations as developed in 

 other states, has enabled him to produce a very 

 concise description, and his conclusions, in the 

 main, seem to be fully warranted by the data 

 given. 



The Quaternary formations are classified into 

 (1) the Bouldery Drift, (2) the Loess and Gray 

 Loamy Clay, (3) Terrace Deposits, and (4) Allu- 

 vium. 



In many respects the drift deposits of Mis- 

 souri are remarkable. The till, or boulder clay, 

 is found in the north-central portion of the 

 State in considerable thickness, but thins thence 

 in a southwardly direction, as also toward the 

 Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Over a large 

 portion of the state north of the Missouri river 

 it is less than five feet in average thickness, 

 " and over considerable areas consists of small, 

 shallow, detached patches. Toward the margin 

 of the drift it usually disappears, and gives 

 place to sparsely scattered boulders of northern 

 origin." There is a total absence of distinct 

 moraines, drumlins, kames, eskers, 'kettle 

 holes,' basins, knobs, and the other classes of 

 irregularities of surface usually found in drift- 

 covered regions. No buried forest beds have 

 been reported, and but few strise observed. 

 Probably the most interesting part of Professor 

 Todd's discussion of the drift proper is a de- 

 scription of the small driftless areas in Kails, 

 Pike, Lincoln and Saint Charles counties. They 

 correspond to a similar driftless ridge studied by 

 Leverett in Pike and Calhoun counties, in west- 

 ern Illinois. 



The second great formation of the Quater- 

 nary deposits of Missouri is the Loess and Gray 

 Loamy Clay. The two are considered merely as 

 difierent phases of the same formation. This 

 is shown to extend, in probable original con- 

 tinuity, over nearly the whole of the northern 

 portion of the state, but to terminate south- 

 wardly at an irregular line, whose position 

 seems to be controlled by the topography. It 

 d«scends from about 950 feet above the sea, at 



