648 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 131. 



antecedent river. Between its two merid- 

 ianal portions, north and south of the range, 

 the river makes a great bend to the east, 

 turning from the higher towards the lower 

 part of the uplift — a remarkable coincidence, 

 if this was an antecedent turn. It should 

 further be noted that argument by which 

 the antecedent origin of the Green was first 

 supported, involved a similar origin for a 

 number of smaller streams, although there 

 can be little question that most or all of the 

 latter are the result of headwater erosion 

 along the strike of weak strata. Finally, 

 the antecedent origin of the Green gives no 

 adequate explanation to the broad depres- 

 sion of Brown's park near the eastern end 

 of the mountains and chiefly within the 

 rimming ridges. The paper by Irving, 

 above named, explains the Brown's park 

 beds as due to a lake formed by a slight 

 uplift which dammed the river, but gives 

 no consideration to the origin of the park 

 itself. This, as well as the origin of the 

 river, deserves careful study, in view of the 

 frequent reference made to the region in 

 geological writings. As the problem stands 

 to-day, the Ehine in its gorge through the 

 Schiefergebirge, in its middle course, is a 

 better proved example of an antecedent 

 river than the Green in its canyon through 

 the Uinta mountains. 



SANTA CATALINA ISLAND, CALA. 



A STUDY of this interesting island has 

 been made by "W. S. T. Smith (Geology of 

 Santa Catalina Island, Proc. Cal. Acad. 

 ScL, I., 1897, 1-71), following a brief de- 

 scription of some of its physical features by 

 Lawson three j'^ears ago. It is gratifying 

 to see that Smith recognizes as a chapter of 

 geology the processes of taking away as 

 well as those of giving ; the work of denuda- 

 tion as well as that of deposition. Both 

 these processes are plainly involved in any 

 discussion of geology as a matter of earth- 

 history, although it has often enough been 



the fashion to treat the ' geology ' of a re- 

 gion as if it were concerned with composi- 

 tion, structure and deformation alone, giv- 

 ing only the briefest attention to denuda- 

 tion. Certainly, old mother earth has 

 been about as much occupied with the lat- 

 ter as with the former, and our attention 

 might be equally well distributed. Whether 

 this chapter of geology shall be called geo- 

 morphogeny or geomorphy, or whether it 

 affords appropriate material for these notes, 

 is a less important matter. 



Santa Catalina is regarded as a block 

 broken from a much greater area of de- 

 formed basement rocks when the region 

 was part of the mainland. Since then it 

 has been dissected, partly covered with 

 lavas, depressed so as to form an island, 

 and the still emerged part denuded almost 

 to a peneplain ; then elevated, again dis- 

 sected, and again depressed. The argu- 

 ment leading to this succession of events is 

 well sustained. At present the shores are 

 rapidly cut back by the sea. The gap in 

 the island ridge where drowned valleys 

 enter from either side, forming bays with 

 with beautiful concave beaches, is ex- 

 plained as a local sag or structural depres- 

 sion. 



NOTES. 



FuETHER account of the Lammbach dis- 

 aster on the north side of Lake Brienz, 

 Switzerland (see Science, Jan. 1, 1897), is 

 given by C. Schmidt, of Basel (der Murgang 

 des Lammbaches bei Brienz, Schr., Ge- 

 sellsch. Urania, Berlin, no. 43, 1896), with a 

 number of excellent illustrations. Most 

 peculiar is the abrupt termination of the 

 stony flood at certain points, where its mar- 

 gin resembles that of a thin lava flow. 



The Geology of the Fox Islands, Maine, 

 a dissertation by G. O. Smith, of Johns 

 Hopkins University (1896), includes a brief 

 account of their geography. The islands 

 are hills rising over the broad floor of the 



