April 30, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



703 



city eighteen years ago and now, and spoke of 

 the great growth of New York vertically as well 

 as horizontallj\ He paid a brief word of tribute 

 to his friends of his former visit, particularly 

 Newberry, Leidy, Dana, Cope and Hayden, 

 whose help and good will have ever been a 

 great inspiration to him. 



In reviewing the work of world-wide reputa- 

 tion that the American geologists are producing, 

 Sir Archibald Geikie paid a warm tribute to 

 their industry, their perseverance, their breadth 

 and their scientific acuteness. He contrasted, 

 in a very favorable way to the United States, 

 the policy of the British and United States 

 governments in regard to the printing, publish- 

 ing and distribution of government reports. 



After these brief addresses an opportunity was 

 given for meeting the guest of the evening, 

 for personal social meetings among the members 

 of the Academy, and for greeting the guests 

 from a distance, including several well-known 

 geologists. 



KiCHAED E. Dodge, 



Secretary. 



BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Society met February 17th ; seventy- 

 three persons present. 



Professor N. S. Shaler spoke of the subter- 

 ranean water of southeastern New England, 

 stating briefly the distribution of earth water, 

 the characters of the superficial deposits, and 

 of the supply yielded by the deeper rocks. In 

 America the bed rocks yield but little water, a 

 case of supply being unknown. Good water 

 depends upon the length of time the rocks have 

 had to decay ; it is obtained from the uncom- 

 pacted rocks and from drift deposits ; in 

 Massachusetts the supply from the latter rarely 

 fails. Wells that penetrate into preglacial de- 

 posits are largely charged with iron and seldom 

 furnish good water. The till or boulder clay 

 gives good water, except where lime abounds ; 

 the water-holding power of these clays is, how- 

 ever, small. Sand plains are favorable for a 

 good water-supply. Professor Shaler gave a de- 

 tailed description of the sources of the water- 

 supply of southeastern Massachusetts, especially 

 of that of Martha's Vineyard, and in closing 

 said that the desire for pure water was increas- 



ing and would shortly be a demand. Boston, 

 from its proximity to the Bristol, Plymouth 

 and Cape sand plains, is favorably situated for 

 an abundant supply, and a reservation of 10,- 

 000 acres in the region mentioned would be a 

 benefaction for future generations. 



Dr. C. R. Eastman prefaced his paper on some 

 Devonian bone- and fish-beds of North America 

 with an account of the difficulties encountered 

 in the study of fossil fishes, owing to the imper- 

 fectness of the material and the lack of sys- 

 tematic exploration. He discussed the struc- 

 ture of Coccosteus and described remains of 

 lung-fishes that simulate shark's teeth, found 

 in the Devonian of Iowa. 



At the meeting on March 3d sixty-five persons 

 were present. Mr. T. A. Jaggar, Jr., gave an 

 account of his experimental studies of mountain 

 building, illustrating his remarks with a series 

 of models. The scope of geological experimen- 

 tation was explained, and the conditions under 

 which rocks fracture, the determinant of flexi- 

 bility and the influence of initial dip noted. A 

 most interesting experiment shows deformation 

 at both ends ; the opposite direction of thrusts 

 shows on one side only ; the ratio of force to re- 

 sistance is not influenced by the scale. Mr. J. 

 B. Woodworth remarked upon the geology of 

 the Gay Head Cliff", describing briefly the geo- 

 logical characteristics of the New England group 

 of islands, and giving a detailed account of the 

 formation studied at Gay Head. 



A general meeting was held on March 17th; 

 ninety-three persons were present. Mr. Frank 

 Russell gave an account, illustrated by lantern 

 views, of his two years' voyage down the Mac- 

 kenzie, sketching briefly the characters of the 

 surrounding country and describing with some 

 detail the diflfioulties that arose owing to the 

 customs and traditions of the Dog-rib Indians. 

 Some of the customs of the Eskimos were noted, 

 also the natural history of the musk ox, Barren 

 ground caribou and bison. 



Samuel Henshaw, 



Secretary. 



THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



The regular monthly meeting of the Texas 

 Academy of Science was held on the evening 

 of April 2d. 



